Sockers Make Quick Work of Force for MISL Title : Perez Leads a 7-4 Victory for Sweep of Cleveland as Championship Returns to San Diego
The Sockers, who always have played indoor soccer better than anybody, stuck another feather in their already billowy cap Tuesday night and now can float in that rarefied air reserved for the best of the best.
Cleveland normally is no place for victory celebrations--no professional sports team from this city has won a title in 24 years--but there, smack dab in the middle of Richfield Coliseum, were the Sockers, winners of six indoor soccer championships in the last seven years.
The Force, which tried and tried in this championship round but just couldn’t win, had the Sockers on pins and needles in Game 4. But, as is usually the case, the Sockers rose to the challenge, winning, 7-4, and sweeping the series in front of 7,110 fans.
Hugo Perez, voted the series’ most valuable player, snapped a 4-4 tie with 3:07 left in the fourth quarter by scoring on a pass from Juli Veee. Waad Hirmez then completed a hat trick with two goals against Cleveland’s sixth attacker as the Sockers became the first Major Indoor Soccer League team to sweep a best-of-seven final.
“I guess now you can call us a dynasty,” defender Kevin Crow said. “And I’m not just talking about soccer. We might be right there with all sports teams.”
The 1927 Yankees and the Celtics of the 1960s might not be ready for such company, but certainly when future MISL champions are crowned, they will be compared to the Sockers of the 1980s.
As Ali Kazemaini, a Cleveland forward, said: “They have such a complete team that they capitalize on every mistake you make. Hopefully, some day, other teams will be saying that about us.”
For now, though, all comparisons will have to be made to a group of players, who are, at times, short with their tempers and each other, but never, it seems, are short in talent or desire to win.
“You have to hand it to them,” Cleveland midfielder Kai Haaskivi said. “Every time we raised our level of play, they raised theirs a little more.”
This year’s Socker team always seemed capable of meeting new challenges.
After the Sockers had their five-year run on indoor titles snapped last year in Tacoma, many thought that this dynasty had been put to rest.
“But that’s when we made our minds up to come back this time,” Sockers Coach Ron Newman said.
After a 42-14 regular-season performance, best in the league, the Sockers were almost sent packing in the league semifinals by Kansas City. Trailing, 3-1 in games, however, the Sockers rallied.
The Game 7 victory over the Comets was tarnished, however, because of a season-ending injury to star forward Branko Segota.
“What made this year’s team so great was that we didn’t rely on just a few players anymore,” Hirmez said. “This was a team that could overcome anything because of its overall desire.”
What Cleveland desired Tuesday night was at least one victory, one that could make its first trip to the finals somewhat memorable.
And though the Sockers built a 3-0 lead midway through the third quarter, the Force was up for one last challenge.
It came in the form of a three-goal outburst, the final two of which were scored by Kazemaini and Craig Allen 35 seconds apart and tied the score, 3-3, with three minutes remaing in the third quarter.
The Sockers, determined not to let Cleveland off the hook, went ahead, 4-3, on a Paul Dougherty goal, but the Force again tied it on a goal by Allen with 8:16 left.
Allen had the hat trick and Cleveland had momentum.
“But the thought of Game 5 never entered into the minds of any of these lads,” Newman said.
With just over three minutes left, Perez took a shot from the top of the box that was wide right. Veee rebounded, however, and shook free from a defender for a return pass to Perez.
It will be a few weeks before Perez decides whether he will return to play next season, but if this was his final game, he went out with one terrific memory.
It was a left-foot shot that tipped off Force goalkeeper P.J. Johns’ right hand and hit the top left corner of the net to give the Sockers a 5-4 lead.
“Our record speaks for itself,” Perez said afterward. “This was the best Socker team I’ve ever been involved with. We’re the best.”
Across the Socker locker room, that sentiment was echoed time and time again.
Socker Notes
The celebration in San Diego can begin at 8 tonight, when the Sockers’ flight arrives at Lindbergh Field. The Sockers will be aboard Braniff Airlines’ flight No. 569. . . . For the third consecutive game, Socker defender Brian Schmetzer didn’t start as Coach Ron Newman went with rookie Hormoz Tabrizi. Schmetzer, who played in 49 of the Sockers’ 56 regular-season games, was kept out of Game 2 because he had a sore left shoulder and never returned to the lineup. . . . Forward Ali Kazemaini, who suffered a pulled groin in Game 1 and missed Games 2 and 3, returned for Cleveland Tuesday night, but defender Benny Dargle was unable to play. Dargle, who received 10 stitches over his left eye after he collided with Kevin Crow in Game 3, had played in 251 consecutive games.
