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Don’t panic if you are US Soccer fan. Not just yet. The US is still in the hunt to make it in the 2006 World Cup. The United States is one of six teams vying for a spot to represent North America and the Carribean. The top three teams will advance to Germany in 2006. So, what’s going on?

At the moment, US Soccer Federation and the Players union can’t agree on players’ compensation in the National Team. The USSF might use replacement players who have never played before in the National Team to play the first qualifier match against Trinidad on February 9th. This is the first of 10 final qualifying games for the North American and Carribean region for the 2006 World Cup.

With the replacement players, the US might suffer an early setback enough to derail their chances to qualify for the World Cup considering the level of competition against teams like Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago and Panama. Without their best and most experienced players on their side, the US will most likely suffer a setback.

The US National team’s has been playing without a contract since December 2002. Details of the dispute are revealed in this snippet from an article from Reuters.

The USSF has proposed a 38 percent rise for the players based on their fees between 1999 and 2003.

Union chief Mark Levinstein said the players wanted “significant raises in excess of 50 percent more than its previous contract”.

However, a no-strike provision is the biggest issue in the latest exchange between the two sides.

“We’re not bending,” Levinstein told Reuters.

“This (a no-strike provision) is clearly an unacceptable proposal but we’re very hopeful that the federation will see how absurd this is, calling in Major League Soccer players who have never represented the U.S. before.”

If USSF recruit replacement players and loses the first couple of games, it will be a shame for US Soccer. To come this far in the soccer world and miss the World Cup because of labor dispute would be a real shame.

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