MLS New York Red Bulls

MetroStars Weekly Report

Published on February 2, 2004 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
New York Red Bulls News Release


Gaven On Final Roster: U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team head coach Glenn "Mooch" Myernick announced his final 20-player roster for the 2004 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, which will take place from Feb. 2-12 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Included in this final roster was MetroStars 17 year-old midfielder Eddie Gaven. The team traveled to Mexico a week ago with 22 players, but Myernick was forced to drop two players from the travel roster by the Jan. 31 deadline imposed by CONCACAF.

At 17 years and 89 days, Gaven became the youngest player ever to appear on a U.S. Olympic Qualifying Team, passing fellow New Jersey native Claudio Reyna. Reyna was 17 years and 336 days when he made his appearance in the tournament. Third on the list is current U.S. National Team and Chicago Fire star DaMarcus Beasley, who appeared at 17 years and 362 days.

The U.S. U-23s will first face Panama on Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. (local/ET), followed by matches against Canada on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. and Honduras on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12 p.m. All three U.S. opening round matches in Group A will be played at the 10,000-seat Estadio Tres de Marzo (in the Zapopan area of Guadalajara) and can be followed by fans live via ussoccer.com's MatchTracker, presented by Philips Electronics.

2004 Open Cup Dates Set: Last week U.S. Soccer announced the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup format, which revealed that the MetroStars will see their first Open Cup action on July 20, 2004. The 2004 Open Cup bracketing will be similar to 2003, but with an expanded number of games in the first two rounds. The first round will feature match-ups between USASA teams from the Premier Development League and regional qualifiers. In the second round six teams from the USL Pro Soccer League and two A-League teams join the mix to take on the first round winners. The second round winners will play six more A-League teams and the two non-playoff teams from the 2003 MLS standings (Columbus Crew & Dallas Burn) in the third round. The balance of the MLS teams, including the Metros, will face the third round winners in the fourth round before the quarterfinals are set.

2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule Qualifying - Ends May 23*

Pairings Announcement - May 25 First Round - June 2 & 8 Eight USASA regional qualifiers vs. eight PDL teams

Second Round - June 15 First Round winners vs. six USL PSL, two A-League teams

Third Round - June 30 Second Round winners vs. two MLS, six A-League teams

Fourth Round - July 20 Third Round winners vs. remaining eight MLS teams

Quarterfinals - Aug. 4 Fourth Round winners Semifinals - Aug. 24 & 25 Quarterfinal winners Final - Sept. 22 Semifinal winners

*Qualifying for USASA Region III does not end until May 31

Metros Trio Again Called by Arena: U.S. Soccer has announced that Eddie Pope, Jonny Walker and John Wolyniec are among the 17 players that have been called into U.S. National Team camp beginning on February 4, by manager Bruce Arena. The camp will take place in Bradenton, Florida and last 10 days before the team departs for Amsterdam, where they will play their first road match of 2004 against Holland on February 18th.

The trio all participated in the team's last camp and they all saw action in the U.S. team's friendly match against Denmark on January 18th, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. The contest marked the full international debut of Jonny Walker and John Wolyniec. In addition, the game marked the National Team's first contest at the HDC.

Ziadie Called in Again: MetroStars defender Craig Ziadie has again been called into camp by the Jamaican National Team. Ziadie will be in camp with the Reggea Boyz from February 8-19, and will compete in a match against Uruguay on February 18 in Jamaica.

Clark Out: MetroStars midfielder Ricardo Clark underwent a successful procedure on January 16th to repair a sports hernia injury. Dr. Richard Cattey performed the procedure in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The United States U-20 and U-23 star will likely be out for eight weeks.

When the Jonesboro, Georgia native joins the Metros he will undergo an aerobic program as part of the rehabilitation of the injury.

The MetroStars sent Clark to see the specialist after the player complained of discomfort during U-23 training last week at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Off-Week: After two weeks of training Bob Bradley gave the team a week off before they leave for their first pre-season trip to Bradenton, Florida on Saturday, February 7.

MetroStars.com Stands Tall: In a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts and Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal the Metros website, MetroStars.com, was rated as the top Major League Soccer site. The study rated all 131 MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL and NHL team websites. It is important to note that though the 84th overall ranking was higher than some other NBA, NFL and NHL team site's that are located in the New York metropolitan area.

Within Major League Soccer, the Metros edged D.C. United's site, which was selected as 95th overall. The study used four areas to rank teams: content, design, commerce and fan interactivity. MetroStars.com rated 19th in the design category.

Young Metros In Dallas Cup: The MetroStars U-18 will be competing in the 2004 Dallas Cup in the U-19 division. Touted as one of the most prestigious youth tournaments in the world, the Dallas Cup will take place April 4-11 in Dallas, Texas. This marks the first time that the MetroStars will send a youth team to the tournament.

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