ARENA: IF A CONCACAF TEAM IS SEEDED AT THE WORLD CUP DRAW, THE U.S. SHOULD BE THE ONE
CONTIGUGLIA: AGREEMENT WITH U.S. TEAM CLOSE
CUE: WE UNDERESTIMATED MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
RAMIREZ: TOP WORLD CHAMPION U-17 MEXICAN PLAYERS GOING TO PLAY FOR CLUBS IN EUROPE

LOS ANGELES (November 29, 2005) – Four of the most important personalities in North American soccer made important announcements during their presentations today at the 8th Honda Symposium which took place at The Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Bruce Arena, the Manager and Technical Director of the U.S. National Team for the last seven years, noted that, “If a CONCACAF team has the possibility of being a seeded team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final Draw, the United States has done what is necessary in the region to deserve it.”

In regards to his team for Germany, Arena said, “We are considering 12 to 14 players based in Europe for our 23-player World Cup squad.”

Arena mentioned four players who did not play much in 2005 but will be part of his team, saying, “We went through an important year in 2005 where neither Eddie Johnson, John O’Brien, Claudio Reyna nor Cory Gibbs were around much due to injuries, and those are four players that you would think are clearly going to be on our roster for Germany.”

In regards to his outlook for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Arena said that, “The only country in the world that I think can ever have high aspirations and say ‘we want to win the World Cup’ is Brazil. Everybody else hopes they get a good draw and hopes they play well and get some breaks.”

About MLS, Arena said that the MLS season is not long enough and not challenging enough for player development.

In regards to Freddy Adu, Arena noted that perhaps Adu will be able to help the team, and that perhaps Arena will include him on his final roster. Arena said that he plans to observe Adu during the next National Team camp in January.

Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia, the President of U.S. Soccer since 1998, said at today’s Honda Symposium that an agreement with the players of the U.S. Men’s National Team is close to being completed.

“We have an agreement on the economics of the relationship, and we’ve had that for about six months. We are very close to finalizing the entire deal on the non-economic issues and I would predict in a pretty short period of time we would have an announcement to make on that matter. It will carry through 2010 and the payment structure for 2010 will be based on the performance in the 2006 World Cup.”

Dr. Contiguglia also said that the Federation is in the process of negotiating a new agreement with the U.S. Women’s National Team. “We are also negotiating a women’s collective bargaining agreement and that is under tense conversation right now, and I am hoping that we will have an agreement with them in the near future as well.”

In regards to the Federation’s financial situation, Dr. Contiguglia revealed that when he took office in 1998, U.S. Soccer had a deficit of $2 million dollars, and that almost eight years later it now has a surplus of $40 million dollars.

Finally, during his presentation, Dr. Contiguglia confirmed that he is not running for reelection when his current term expires in March. In regards to his successor he noted, “I think that Sunil Gulati, who has announced his desire for the position, will do a very good job.”

Additionally, Antonio Cué, the president and co-investor-operator of Club Deportivo Chivas USA, revealed that both he and his partner, Club Deportivo Guadalajara owner Jorge Vergara, remain totally committed to the franchise.

“I think [Mr. Vergara] is committed 100%,” said Cué. “He continues to be excited about the project. It’s a 5 year project, it’s not a 1 year project. I think we made a lot of mistakes, we underestimated the league, and we have to work from that element. I think that Jorge continues to be very proud of this project. He really believes that soccer in the U.S. is going to be important. There are a lot of Mexicans and there are a lot of latinos involved in soccer in the United States and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. When we started we thought about a 5 year program, we still have 4 more years to make it what we were expecting, and I think that is going to happen.”

In regards to reinforcements for the club, Cué noted, “We are working on different options, but obviously it is going to be tough to find a player as good as we need to improve the team. It’s not going to take one player, I think it’s going to take a few players to make this team different than last year.”

Cué also mentioned that his dream for Chivas USA is to provide players for both the Mexican National Team and the U.S. National Team.

Additionally, he stressed the importance of both the Mexican league and Major League Soccer to develop projects together and, in that way, enrich each other simultaneously.

Jésus “Chucho” Ramirez, the head coach of Mexico’s U-17 National Team which won the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Youth Championship, announced today at the Honda Symposium that “I will become responsible for Mexico’s three youth National Teams (U-15, U-17 and U-20) with a group of people scouting throughout the country, and we will also include in our search Mexicans who live in the U.S. who might be interested in the Mexican National Team program.” Ramirez confirmed that he will be directly coaching the U-20 and U-17 Mexican National Team.

In regards to the future of the players on his team, Ramirez acknowledged the professional motivations of his players by confirming that five of the players who made up the U-17 Mexican National Team in Peru will be joining teams in Europe and South America in the near future. These players include Jorge Hernandez, Cristian Sanchez, Efrain Juarez, Adrian Aldrete and Ever Guzman.

When asked about the message that he would send to Mexico’s Senior National Team players that will compete in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ramirez said, “As long as you are convinced of what you want, you can play in different ways and win. I believe that you have to love what you do. Nothing comes easily, and my message would be that you have to work in order to achieve success.”

Ramirez was honored for bringing Mexico its first world championship in a FIFA competition at any age level at today’s Honda Symposium.

Created in 1998 by Fútbol de Primera and sponsored by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., the Honda Symposium annually provides a forum for leading personalities in the world of soccer to speak openly about the game. Previous Honda Symposium participants include FIFA Senior Vice President Julio Grondona, FIFA Vice President and Spanish Federation President Angel Villar, FIFA's Dr. Michel D'Hooghe, former FIFA Director of Communications Keith Cooper, CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer, South Africa 2010 CEO Danny Jordaan, former U.S. Soccer President Alan Rothenberg, U.S. Soccer Executive Vice President Sunil Gulati, CONCACAF Executive Committee Member Guillermo Cañedo White, AEG President Tim Leiweke, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, CD Guadalajara (“Chivas”) owner Jorge Vergara and World Cup coaches Bora Milutinovic, Javier Aguirre, Marcelo Bielsa and Steve Sampson, among others.

Honda has supported soccer programs and played a part in the growth of this exciting sport in America. Honda’s current support includes 15 years as a sponsor of the Honda Player of the Year Award and 8 years as a sponsor of the Honda Symposium, as well as 10 years as the official Automotive Sponsor and Official Vehicle of Major League Soccer and Founding Sponsor and Official Vehicle of Club Deportivo Chivas USA.

Fútbol de Primera is the official U.S. radio broadcaster in all languages of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the official radio home of the Mexican National Team. FDP’s Daily Show and Sunday Show, hosted by Andres Cantor, is the longest-running nationally-syndicated Spanish-language radio program and can now be heard on over 150 radio stations throughout the U.S., Mexico, Central & South America and Australia. Earlier this year FDP launched a new 24-hour Spanish-language sports channel on XM Satellite Radio called XM Deportivo (channel 147), which carries all of FDP’s programs and game broadcasts.