Sockers Breeze by the Comets
Fernando Clavijo has a knack of turning less into more.
When the Sockers play short-handed, the speedy defender is as much an offensive threat as he is a penalty-killer.
Clavijo scored two short-handed goals in the first quarter Friday night to set the tone in the Sockers’ 8-2 victory over the Kansas City Comets in the San Diego Sports Arena.
“Forwards on the other team tend to relax a little more when they’re on the power play,” Clavijo said. “Sometimes they relax a little too much.”
At 5:34 of the first quarter, Clavijo was ahead of the field when he took a long pass from Brian Quinn and hit a one-touch, right-footer past goalkeeper Alan Mayer.
“I saw an opening,” Clavijo said. “It was beautiful.”
With four seconds remaining in the opening quarter, Jacques Ladouceur hit a free kick off the sideboard to Clavijo, who knocked a right-footer into the net.
Clavijo has three short-handed goals this season and 12 since joining the Sockers at the start of the 1984-85 season.
By scoring two short-handed goals Friday, Clavijo tied a Major Indoor Soccer League regular-season record held by nine players.
Another example of Clavijo turning less into more became evident earlier this week.
In a sport dominated by goal scorers, Clavijo--known more for blocks than blasts--received more all-star votes from his Western Division colleagues than any other player.
“To tell you the truth, it was a great feeling,” Clavijo said. “It’s a feeling I’ve hardly ever had in soccer. It was a real good feeling that will be inside a long, long time.”
Clavijo had considerable help from his teammates in Friday night’s game against a Comet team that is 9-14 and has lost eight straight. The Comets are 0-3 under interim Coach Niki Nikolic.
In front of 8,636 fans, the Sockers led, 3-0, at halftime and 4-1 after three quarters. In the final three minutes, Brian Quinn and Waad Hirmez scored when the Comets were playing with an extra attacker. And Branko Segota scored with 23 seconds left to make the final score appear even more lopsided than the game was.
There were several standouts in the Sockers’ third straight victory. Ladouceur had a career-high three assists. Segota had a goal and four assists. A very spirited Juli Veee had two goals. Kevin Crow played a strong game defensively.
Goalkeeper Zoltan Toth (11-5) made seven saves on nine shots. The nine shots by the Comets tied an MISL record for fewest shots in a game. Wichita had nine shots in a game against the New York Arrows in 1982-83 season.
Socker Coach Ron Newman was obviously pleased.
“Juli Veee is playing as well as he did five years ago,” Newman said. “Fernando was absolutely brilliant. No wonder he got the most votes for the all-star game. If I had a vote, I’d vote for him too.”
Socker Notes
While heading to the locker room at halftime, Juli Veee and his former Socker and Las Vegas American teammate, Alan Mayer, got into a heated discussion. “He (Mayer) thought I was making fun of him when I scored, but I wasn’t,” Veee said. Veee pointed in the direction of the goal after heading a ball past Mayer. “Four of them (Comets) came after me,” Veee said. “They were upset, but I don’t think I was mocking him.” . . . Two days after being fired as coach of the Los Angeles Lazers, Peter Wall watched the Socker game from the press table Friday. Wall said he plans to talk with the Comets this weekend. “They’d like to talk to me,” Wall said. “I’ll talk to them and listen. Right now, I’ve got open ears.” The Comets are being coached in the interim by Niki Nikolic, who took over when Rick Benben was fired Jan. 19.
