Caught in Possession

With lots of new faces and interesting topics to cover in the Land of the Black-and-Red, I've got several DC United features in the works. The first one just posted on MLSnet:

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080207&content_id=138236&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp

I'll be following the language issue closely as Soehn and co. work to get this team gelling in the next month or so. Certainly, there's no reason it can't work – soccer teams around the world have been dealing with this sort of thing for decades and globalization has only hastened the process – but it's still a bit of an obstacle to be overcome and many of the players involved have not been in these situations all that often.

At a fundamental level, these guys are ballers and athletes first and foremost, and anything extra just complicates the routines and rhythms that form their professional lives. When interacting with the person next to you – on the field, in the locker room, on the team bus or plane, wherever – is more labor-intensive than normal, divisions and misunderstandings can sneak in. The potential for locker room cliques and cold, distant relationships are increased and squad unity may suffer.

“The amount of research we do when we look at players, not just the type of player they are on the field, but the type of person they are off the field and in the locker room. We do a lot of research to make sure we get the type of guy that we feel fits the organization and the expectations we put on ourselves.”

That’s what Tom Soehn said at the press conference introducing Carvallo, Niell, Martinez and Peralta, and it’s only one of numerous allusions he’s made to the priority United places on chemistry and character reckonings when they evaluate players. It’s tempting to write his words off as boilerplate – especially given the sheer repetition involved – but this language situation provides a reminder of how simple things can suddenly get difficult when you’re dealing with tetchy or high-maintenance personalities.

So next time you’re stuck in yet another long, boring staff meeting at your job, just think about what it might be like in two languages – and with only one genuinely bilingual person in the room. To quote Devon McTavish:

“It takes some time. It takes some time just to communicate. Every meeting we have, Tommy talks for a couple sentences, then lets Jaime take over and translate, so it takes time. But it’ll be fine.”

Comment posted by Charles Boehm @ 4:54 PM