WILL SOCKERS START OVER? : Team Talks of Changes After Loss to Tacoma

Juli Veee thinks 60% of the Sockers had better get a summer job.

Kevin Crow says the Sockers need new, “quality blood” who will push the starters for their jobs.

Coach Ron Newman believes the team needs “fresh, new blood and new vitality” and maybe the Sockers should consider making some trades.

“It was difficult to change the lineup when you’ve won championships,” Newman said.

However, when the Sockers flew home from Tacoma, Wash., on Friday afternoon, they had been eliminated from the playoffs.

After winning five straight indoor soccer titles, the Sockers were beaten in seven games by the Tacoma Stars in the Western Division finals. In the decisive game, Tacoma beat the Sockers, 8-5, Thursday night at the Tacoma Dome.

“It (losing) was a sense of relief,” said Veee, who has played on four championship teams with San Diego.

The past season for the Sockers has been filled with numerous injuries and many more losses than usual. There were also continual squabbles among players, divided by cliques, and between players and Newman.

The personality conflicts have been there before, but the team was able to overcome them. And win. This year, the Sockers did not win it all.

“A lot of soul-searching needs to be done on management’s part and the players’ part,” Crow said. “If people don’t want to come back and give everything for the San Diego Sockers, they should let that be known. . . . In my opinion, we need to convince four to five players to play for the team 100% of the time or make trades.”

The highly visible Socker veterans, such as Veee, Crow, captain Jean Willrich and Branko Segota, believe that many of the players have to have their roles defined by the coach.

Segota, who at 25 has been playing professionally for nine years, says that “five guys cannot be the head guy. I cannot play when I tell someone to do something and he goes to tell the coach, and the coach tells me off. The coach has to give power to the key players. When Steve (Zungul) tells a player to run, they run.”

The San Diego veterans do not feel that the younger players give them the respect they deserve. Thus they cannot benefit from the veterans’ wealth of experience.

“Players are paranoid about making sure everyone has their fair share of whippings,” Newman said.

Some Sockers believe that Newman does not have control over the team. Once again, that’s not a new sentiment.

“Before (Thursday night’s) game,” said a player who asked to remain anonymous, “he asked us where we wanted to play. He talks to 60 people. I’m thinking, after all these years, ‘You don’t know where to use the players.’ ”

Newman’s place with the Sockers is virtually assured, which gives the players two options, more or less: change their style of play or move on.

Newman and the Sockers have agreed upon a five-year contract worth approximately $500,000 to $600,000. An official announcement is expected shortly.

“Probably my biggest concern is that the senior players have let the team down,” Newman said. “They have not performed to their capabilities.

“The older players want to digress from the system we’ve used because of their own egos and selfishness. Sometimes they feel they have to do everything instead of working as a unit.”

At times this season, it got so bad that certain players did not want to pass to some of their teammates. Or play on the same team.

“If the problem becomes so great that I actually see players, through spitefulness, not playing the ball to each other, changes will have to be made,” Newman said. “And the older players would have to go.”

Newman said that 25-year-old Waad Hirmez was “a shining light” this season and that 20-year-old rookie Paul Dougherty “shows a lot of maturity for a young player. I believe he’ll score goals.”

Newman hopes to build the franchise around midfielders Hugo Perez and Segota.

“For me, Hugo is a marvelous player,” Newman said. “I hope Hugo will remain a San Diego Socker for a long time.”

A number of Perez’s teammates believe he holds the ball too long, slowing down the offense, that he doesn’t run back on defense enough and that he is not a “money” player who comes through in the playoffs, when he seems consistently to get injured.

Newman doesn’t agree.

“Hugo will be a star in this league,” Newman said. “Hugo’s strength is his ability to hold on to the ball. Hugo will be given leeway to hold on to the ball. His weakness is his reluctance to move without the ball.

“He’s a different player when he’s fit and not fit. He was not fit (because of injuries) this year. He lost a tiny bit of quickness. That was the difference between his being devastating and dangerous.”

As for Segota, Newman hopes that his leading scorer for the last two seasons and the leading scorer in the playoffs (19 goals and 12 assists for 31 points in 10 games) signs a long-term contract with San Diego. And soon.

“Branko is a great player,” Newman said. “Even if he’s not playing well, he scores goals. You need him to make a decision and become a real member of the club so that the franchise and his future go hand in hand.”

Segota said that he will take a month off before talking to the Sockers about the four-year, $1-million contract he recently was offered. Earlier this season, Segota turned down a six-year, $1.25-million contract that would have been the most lucrative in the history of the MISL.

“I’m confused again,” said Segota, who said that he is still considering playing with an outdoor team in Italy this summer. “We’ll see. In a couple of weeks, everything will unfold.”

Veee is among a number of Sockers who wonders whether the Sockers can successfully build a team around Perez and Segota.

“Branko is a great individual,” Veee said. “Hugo is an individual. But Ron (Newman) has to get the right players to complement these players. I’d like to see those players. . . . Taking something away from our games for them (Perez and Segota) is difficult for us.”

Said Newman: “I think there’s a bit of jealousy from the veteran players. They’ve been here longer and Branko is more of a superstar.”

What about the future of Veee, who, at 37, has one year remaining on his contract?

“Juli has lost a little sharpness with his shooting,” Newman said. “We need somebody who can turn players, who can receive the ball and shoot it. We’ll try to find someone who can play that role. We need a Gary Heale or Steve Zungul.”

Guess what? Heale and Zungul of the Stars once played for the Sockers.

Veee is not the player he once was, but he also hasn’t gotten the ball in the pivot the way he used to. And he has had to run more than usual because of the team’s injuries and lack of a consistent lineup.

“There were too many changes this year,” Veee said. “The team never felt comfortable for a minute.”

Veee said the team definitely needs a center-forward who can score. And he doesn’t really care what position he plays next season.

On defense, Newman said he was very pleased with the efforts of Crow and Fernando Clavijo and he thought Brian Schmetzer had made tremendous strides before he was injured late in the regular season. Newman felt that George Katakalidis played well in the playoffs before being sidelined with a sprained toe.

But, overall, Newman said the Sockers “probably need some help in the defense.” Defender Carlos Melian’s status as a Socker is uncertain.

Newman thought the goalkeeping tandem of Zoltan Toth and Jim Gorsek--who was injured for part of the season and for in the final series against Tacoma--”was quite good most of the time. We should still look for a good goalkeeper who could push one of these guys out if they play well.”

Competition for jobs is something Newman will strive for.

Newman hopes the Socker reserve team--started this season--continues to progress so that the team can tap that source for young players. He is also going to spend the next couple of weeks preparing for the MISL draft on June 24. In the past, the Sockers have not concentrated on building from the draft. But this year will be different.

“There will be more room for players this year,” Newman said.