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Matthaeus Joins Metro Stars

November 9, 1999 / 4:29 PM EST / AP

Lothar Matthaeus didn't come to America to save Major League Soccer. He just wants to be another player even if he is better than everyone else.

"I don't feel one player alone can make a difference," he said Tuesday upon joining the league. "But together with a new commitment, we will be able to turn this around and accomplish as much success as I have accomplished in my 20 years."

The 38-year-old Matthaeus is coming off one of his best seasons in which he was selected Germany's player of the year. He has played in five World Cups and 25 World Cup games, more than any player in history.

The defender-midfielder will join the league's worst team, the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, in January after his contract with Bundesliga power Bayern Munich expires.

"The potential is there," he said. "There are a number of young talented Americans, myself and Tab (Ramos). We should be able to lead the players to a better season this year."

More important, Matthaeus gives MLS a stronger identity. MLS lacks stars Colombia's Carlos Valderrama, well past his prime, is the most recognizable player and Matthaeus' presence can only help a league whose attendance and television ratings stagnated in its fourth season.

"This is an enormously important signing," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "We are careful to keep a balance of well-known internationals and our homegrown American players. This is done in a context of what we need to do as a league."

"We recognize this is a business for the long term, and we must rely on our big signings of international players, but while we continue to ensure that our young American players are the core in our league."

Matthaeus is comfortable with that. The captain of the 1990 World Cup champions and a winner of six German league titles, one Italian league crown and two German Cups, claims he merely wants to fit in right now.

When asked about the hiring of a new coach after Bora Milutinovic left the MetroStars, Matthaeus diplomatically said it was not up to him.

"I will be able to do my job with any coach," he said, "whether it be a European, South American, American."

He also said he would use his influence to try to attract other top-level players to sign with MLS but only if the MetroStars or the league asked.

If Germany asked Matthaeus to play for the national team in next year's European Championship, he would listen. But his agreement with the MetroStars is for him to play only in the MLS in 2000.

"If the coach calls, we'll see what happens," he said. "It's still a matter if I can keep up the level of play and if the coach in Germany might call me up."

Matthaeus thinks MLS, generally regarded on a par with second-division European leagues, has gotten a bad rap. He'd like to change that perception, although it would take longer than the one yer for which he has signed.

"The level of play in America is not as bad as it often is made out to be," he said. "Obviously, I am not the youngest player anymore. I realize that, so I have to take things one year at a time. If at the end of the first season it is still fun and I am able to play on the level I like to play, I would consider extending my agreement."