SOCKERS PREVIEW : The Drive for Five : Pressure Is Not Something San Diego Feels While It Pursues Another Title

Most championship teams face a lot of pressure to repeat, but then again, the Sockers have never been like most championship teams.

“Pressure?” asked midfielder Brian Quinn. “This is fun. I know a lot of guys back home (in Ireland) who don’t have jobs. Here, I’m getting paid $50,000 to $60,000 for doing what I like to do. We’d be playing anyway if we weren’t getting paid.”

Name a professional athlete in a so-called major sport who would say that. It would be as difficult as finding a professional baseball, basketball or football team that repeated in the 1980s. San Diego baseball fans are all too familiar with the difficulty of just making the playoffs two years in a row.

The Sockers begin their “Drive for Five” straight indoor championships in Baltimore Friday night. San Diego won North American Soccer League indoor titles in 1981-82 and 1983-84 and the Major Indoor Soccer League championship in 1982-83 and 1984-85.

As San Diego fans have come to expect, the Sockers are once again relaxed and laden with talent.

Pressure for the Sockers would be not having a team or league in which to play in the United States. These guys moan and groan a lot about how they should be paid more, but their collars would get a little tight if they were forced to go back to Europe to play for a pittance of what they are earning in the MISL. And most of them are earning considerably less than utility infielders.

“I know we enjoy what we do,” Coach Ron Newman said. “We keep drudgery out of the game. I try to keep them from burning out, and I start by making practices different.”

Socker practices have been and always will be different .

They are loose. Very loose.

Quinn razzes goalkeeper Jim Gorsek after beating him with a half-volley from the top of the circle . . . Gorsek screams at Quinn, at his defensemen and at everyone else . . . Wait a second, is that Newman running down the left sideline? . . . Veteran Kaz Deyna circles the field with arms waving--a la Juli Veee--after tipping in a goal in an intrasquad game.

An abundance of talent also enables a team to be relaxed, and the Sockers appear to have an overabundance of talent. In a recent practice, Veee, George Katakalidis and Gary Collier were playing on second team.

“I have to think this is the strongest squad we’ve had,” Newman said.

Without Veee, who returned to San Diego after playing in Las Vegas last season, the Sockers posted the MISL’s best record, 37-11. They scored a league-high 302 goals and allowed the second-fewest goals (201).

In the playoffs, San Diego won 10 of 12 games played on the field. One victory turned into a loss while the Sockers were on a flight from Minnesota to San Diego. That came via the infamous Dale Decision, in which MISL Commissioner Francis Dale ruled that the Sockers used an ineligible player in their 5-4 shootout victory over the Strikers. However, San Diego rebounded to crush Minnesota, 7-0, in the fifth and final game of their semifinal series.

In the championship series, the Sockers ran past the Baltimore Blast in five games.

“Last year, there were four or five teams that could compete with us,” Jean Willrich said. “Every year it gets more difficult to win. Sometimes, it’s tough for the older guys to get up again. We know we’re a very talented team, but talent alone can’t make it.”

Could the Sockers have too much firepower and not enough fluid to stop the opposition this season?

“We have to make sure to work on defense,” Newman said. “A lot of good offense is not the greatest defense. But in the past, we’ve persuaded great offensive players to take up defensive responsibilities. Eventually, we got defense from Juli and Steve (Zungul).”

With Veee, Zungul and cohorts--including the team’s Most Valuable Player last year, Branko Segota--could the team have too many strong egos and not enough soccer balls?

“You can have too much talent and too many egos,” Quinn said. “You have to know your chiefs and know your indians. The guys who are chiefs try to help the other guys on this team.”

They play a lot of pranks, but the Sockers are also extremely professional when it comes to getting the job done.

“I know we can’t play every game up to our best,” Willrich said. “But in the end, we are there where we belong.”

This team has also never lacked confidence.

“We have the best team,” Zungul said, “so we expect everybody to stare at us and keep an eye on us. Many of us have won so many times and accomplished so many things that we have a nothing to lose attitude.”

A position by position look at the Sockers:

GOALKEEPERS

The most intense player on the team and the most superstitious player will share the goalkeeping responsibilities for the second season in a row. Jim Gorsek was 19-8 with a 4.04 goals-against average. Zoltan Toth had the best record in the league, 18-3 with a 4.21 average. In the playoffs, Gorsek was the main man, going 7-1 with a 2.44 average. Toth was 3-2 with a 5.92 average.

MIDFIELDERS

They can score and score quickly. Branko Segota was third in scoring with 66 goals and 40 assists. In the playoffs, the man with a rocket shot had a league-leading 22 goals. Brian Quinn, who sprained his right knee in practice and will not make the opening trip, had 17 goals and 23 assists, Jean Willrich scored 43 goals and assisted on 43 others, and Kaz Deyna had 30 goals and 21 assists. There had been speculation that Deyna, 37, would retire after last season, but he signed a two-year contract during the off-season. Hugo Perez is back after not participating in the playoffs because of a conflict with the U.S. National team. Perez had 23 goals and 37 points in 27 games, including 12 goals in his last 11 games. Cha Cha Namdar, Jacques Ladouceur and Raffaele Ruotolo are among the young players Quinn says “help keep the club hungry.”

FORWARDS

The player who led the Sockers in the three main offensive categories last season will be united with the team’s all-time leader in those categories. Steve Zungul had 68 goals and 68 assists for 136 regular-season points. In the playoffs, he had 37 points. Juli Veee returns after scoring 50 goals and getting 21 assists in 39 games for the defunct Las Vegas Americans. In his four previous years as a Socker, Veee led the team every season in goals, assists, points and penalty minutes. He has the most goals (193), assists (148) and points (432) in Socker history. “Juli gives us extra options offensively,” Quinn said. “He is strong and powerful and you know he is going to score.” Ade Coker scored 16 goals and 3 assists in 20 games. He missed 28 games with a bruised knee and an appendectomy. Dzung Tran, a 20-year old from Vietnam, is the only rookie to make the club.

DEFENDERS

Overshadowed by the great offense, the defense is an integral part of the team’s success. Only Baltimore allowed fewer goals last season. After a brief holdout, Kevin Crow is back. He blocked 113 shots, nearly double the total of any other Socker, and was named the Most Valuable Defender in the MISL last season. Speedy Fernando Clavijo blocked 47 shots, scored five goals and gained four assists. George Katakalidis blocked 61 shots, Gary Collier blocked 50 shots in just 27 games and Brian Schmetzer had 22 blocks despite missing 16 straight games after breaking a bone in his right foot in February. Waad Hirmez rejoined the team last season after playing with the Wichita Wings. Hirmez played at Point Loma High and played outdoor with the Sockers in 1981 and 1983. Ligament damage sidelined Guy Newman last season and will keep him out until at least Christmas.