Gomez Rejoins Crimson Booters; Team Meeting Relieves Tensions

Harvard's varsity soccer captain Solomon Gomez announced at a closed meeting last Friday that he was quitting the squad after the Cornell game due to criticism of his leadership of the team. But because of the free discussion at the meeting and the closer player relationships that have resulted, Gomez reconsidered his decision and decided yesterday to rejoin the squad.

At last Friday's meeting, several players claimed that Gomez was unapproachable and that he gave the impression of not being responsive to players on the team.

Gomez said that many players had approached him, but that some players with personal problems had hesitated to seek advice off the field. Gomez said he quit the team not because of the criticism but because the criticism had been going on "in cliques behind my back."

The actual team meeting, where differences and criticisms were openly aired, seemed to solve the problem.

"I was actually laughing after I told them I was quitting," Gomez said. "Here they were, speaking up and finally saying things in the open that they had passed around in small groups. It made me very happy."

Coach Bruce Munro said that he immediately noticed the change in the team. "Some have said that we have tensions on the team because the 4-4-2 system hasn't jelled," Munro said. "I think it's just the opposite. We hadn't jelled because of tensions between the players. Monday we played the 4-4-2 as well as England in the World Cup."

Now that the team had become more open and communicative, the question was whether Gomez would return. After talking to many players who sought him out, Gomez changed his mind.

The team reaction has been good. "Fantastic," said Phil Kydes. "The situation was a crisis, but everyone got it off his chest and now we'll be all the better for it."

Munro was a little less optimistic. "I imagine tensions will build again, but the team meeting was a good idea," he said. "Last year tensions were much worse. Why, every day I had two or three players in my office. This year it has come out in the open, and I think the team discussion was the best thing I've done in years."

There have been two points of contention on the team: Gomez's "unapproachable" impression and the team's substitution system. Both problems have reached a tentative understanding.

Gomez is a professional soccer player. He concentrates very hard on perfecting every play, and he is especially concerned with winning.

"He is a sophisticated player." Kydes said. "Every pro has a strong personality. Sol's concentration on winning put some of the other players on edge."

But now that Gomez has indicated his willingness to talk to and assist other players off the field, the team appears more at ease.

"At practice yesterday we were all working together," Gomez said. We went through exercises and I got 100 percent cooperation. That's unusual. Several players came up and told me that they were glad I had returned."

"They must understand," Gomez added, "that I can not go up to them and tell them they have a problem. But if they come to me and ask for my advice, I will give them all the help I can."

Many of the substitutes on the bench were members of the group that criticized Gomez. Harvard has yet to win a game by more than two goals, and substitutes have played very little.

Gomez feels substitution should be made according to the momentum of the play. "If a guy is playing well, he shouldn't be pulled," Gomez said. "To substitute for only five or ten minutes is not good because the player never really gets to show what he can do."

Munro has been caught in the middle of the substitution argument. "I know that on a collegiate team if I play only 11 players I'll eventually have only 11 guys on the team. But you can score two or three times in two minutes, and we just haven't had big leads this year."

The solution suggested by Gomez is to preplan substitutions by quarters according to each player's desires. "If two guys at the same position get together and decide what periods they would like to play, then the coach will have less painful decisions to make."

The substitution problem does not appear to be settled yet. Harvard has close matches with Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, and Brown in the next four weeks. Added to this situation is the fact that the 4-4-2 system is designed to win a low-scoring game. The Crimson cannot expect to build up large half-time advantages.

But the difference in the team now is that players have the opportunity to present their arguments freely off the field rather than in the play of the game.