Sockers’ Newman to Sit Out : Assistant Coach to Take Over for Game Tonight

Everything seemed status quo with the Sockers last Saturday. They practiced, Coach Ron Newman had a team meeting and the players were told to go home.

However, Newman subsequently asked his assistant, Johan Aarnio, to stick around--and Aarnio knew something was wrong.

And something was very wrong. Newman had learned earlier that day that his wife, Olive, would be undergoing major surgery Tuesday at Sharp Memorial Hospital. She was listed in fair condition late Tuesday.

Newman was obviously not in the frame of mind to worry about coaching, and Aarnio would be the man to replace him when the Sockers play Minnesota in Game 2 of their Major Indoor Soccer League semifinal series at 7:30 tonight in the Sports Arena.

“Ron is so close to Olive,” Socker owner Bob Bell said. “His life style, in all that he does, includes Olive. For example, she has missed just one game in the last 18 years. As bad as her condition was, she was there Sunday night.”

The Sockers, 8-1 winners Sunday night in Game 1, were told Tuesday morning that Olive Newman had undergone surgery and that Aarnio would coach Game 2.

“I know Ron’s system well,” Aarnio said. “I welcome the opportunity to coach, but this is a terrible situation for it, with Olive’s condition. I love Ron so dearly. I’m out to give him a real assist now.”

The players, who are close to both Newmans, were concerned.

“Situations like this pull players together more,” Socker player Cha Cha Namdar said. “Ron already is under a lot of pain and pressure. If we lose, Ron will feel even more pressure. He might think it happened because he wasn’t there. We don’t need to put that worry on his mind.”

Aarnio has previously been in this position, coaching when he would rather not have to be coaching. He coached the Sockers last year when they beat the Cosmos, 7-3, to complete a three-game sweep of their North American Soccer League championship series. Newman had flown home the day before the game because his daughter, Tracey, was having pregnancy complications.

“We’ve been through this before,” Aarnio said Tuesday. “I met with the team today and told them what this means in terms of Ron not being here. I told the players it means the same thing it did in New York a year ago. We are going to need everyone to take a little more responsibility.”

Aarnio, for an evening at least, inherits a team which has won 10 straight playoff games and is 15-0 lifetime at home in the playoffs. He minimizes his role.

“It’s not my job to go in and change the world,” Aarnio said. “My job is simply to maintain the status quo. If everyone does what they’re supposed to--and if I do what I’m supposed to--we should have some success at it.”

Aarnio has been Newman’s assistant four years, so he is familiar with the way Newman wants things done. They will meet sometime before tonight’s game to discuss strategy, Aarnio said.

Newman and Aarnio met five years ago when Aarnio, then a local prep soccer coach, was conducting a youth soccer clinic. They talked afterward and Newman was quite impressed.

“He got in touch with me three months later,” Aarnio said. “He said he had been trying to contact me for those three months.”

Newman asked Aarnio to become his assistant, which has twice translated into temporary head coach.

Namdar is not concerned that the temporary change in command will affect the players in the game.

“We have to respect whomever is in charge,” he said. “If Johan tells us what to do, we know it’s what Ron told him. We’ll follow what he says.”

And hope they are soon listening to Ron Newman’s coaching--and Olive Newman’s cheering.

MISL PLAYOFFS

AT A GLANCE

SOCKERS VS. STRIKERS

(BEST-OF-FIVE SERIES)

Game 1 Sockers 8, Strikers 1 Game 2 Tonight Sports Arena 7:35 p.m. Game 3 May 10 Minnesota 5:35 p.m. Game 4 May 12 Minnesota 5:35 p.m. Game 5 May 14 Sports Arena 7:35 p.m. NOTE: Game 4 and Game 5 if necessary. All times PST.

OTHER SERIES

TONIGHT’S GAME

Baltimore vs. Cleveland (Series tied at 1. Next game Friday)