Heat Hopes for Possible Playoff Spot
The Los Angeles Heat managed to finish off the first winning season in the franchise’s 3-year history with a 3-0 victory over the Caifornia Kickers.
And they did it in a fashion that has been their trademark this year--with a lot of punch.
And Sunday the Heat will be hoping another team, the San Jose Earthquakes, will lack scoring power in their Western Soccer Alliance finale against F. C. Seattle Storm. If Seattle can shut out San Jose on Sunday, the Heat (7-5 in league, 10-5 overall), could make the WSA playoffs.
“There’s every incentive for Seattle to want to win that last game,” said Heat General Manager Michael Hogue. “They’ll be playing for first place, so they’ll want to get the home field advantage.”
Even if the Torrance-based Heat can’t squirm into the playoffs by virtue of San Jose’s misfortune, their home romp over California last Sunday would be a fitting end to a landmark season.
Striker Justin Fashanu, a veteran of England’s professional First Division, drilled home a pair of goals. Twenty-year-old midfielder Billy Thompson added another in front of an ecstatic crowd at West Torrance High School’s Warrior Stadium.
Even Heat Coach John Britton got into the act. Britton, who plays sparingly, made a pair of brilliant saves in the goal in the late minutes.
The Heat went at California with an array of flashy one-touch passing. Both of Fashanu’s goals came on spin moves inside the box against Kicker goalkeeper Mike Page.
“We played offensive, attacking soccer like that at home all year,” Hogue said. “And the home crowds loved it.”
The Heat’s statistics back up that statement. Of the 20 goals the team scored in WSA action, 15 came at Warrior Stadium, where they ran up seven victories against only one loss.
Sunday’s Warrior Stadium crowd was happy when Fashanu, the darling of the Heat’s supporters, announced after the game that he would return next summer to resume his position as co-coach and forward. The fans had raised a chant of “ Jus-tin, Jus-tin “ after the two goals by the charismatic striker.
“Right now, everybody, including Justin, is gung-ho on his coming back,” Hogue said. “Of course, the English clubs are interested. He showed pure professionalism this year. His vision of the field and his passing were uncanny. And he showed that he’s able to play 90 minutes again.”
Fashanu, 27, who wrapped up a 2-year rehabilitation from a knee injury in 15 games with the Heat, has been expected to resume his career in the English Football League, where he was a leading figure for five clubs over nine years.
Fashanu has joined the Edmonton Brickmen for the end of the Canadian Soccer League season. It will be a final tuneup before making the leap back to England, where at least three clubs have expressed interest in signing him.
But Fashanu’s desire to help the growth of American soccer, especially after the announcement by the Federation Internationale de Football that the United States will host the 1994 World Cup will apparently bring him back next spring.
A professional league must be in place in the United States by 1990 under the stipulations of bringing the World Cup to this country, and Fashanu has indicated that he would like to oversee the Heat moving into that realm.
But even if Fashanu signs with an English club, the schedules of the WSA and the English Football League--which plays in the winter and spring--are unlikely to overlap. So unless Fashanu’s English team advances far into next year’s playoffs, it’s probable that the elegant and powerful forward will be back in a Heat uniform by April.
That will be good news to fans of the Heat, who saw Fashanu punch in five goals and log four assists this season. The lightning-quick Thompson, only 5-foot-5, was second on the club with five goals and three assists. Midfielder Ray Fernandez of Torrance, a teammate of Thompson at UCLA, bagged a trio of goals and one assist.
The Heat’s defense was led by goalkeeper Bobby Ammann, a Cal State Fullerton product, who tallied three shutouts; captain Danny Pena of Culver City and right fullback Luigi Schiappa. Schiappa was the only returning player from the Heat team that went 5-5 in 1987.
With a virtually new roster, the Heat were an unknown commodity in early April when they subbed at the last minute for a team from Peru in an exhibition at the L.A. Coliseum against El Salvador’s championship club team, Alianza.
But despite only a day’s preparation, the Heat outshot Alianza, 21-2, and came away with a 2-0 upset. The Heat followed with a 2-0 exhibition victory at home against the U.S. Olympic team in front of a Prime Ticket television audience.
They were bolstered at midseason by the additions of forward Steve Sharp of Rolling Hills, who joined from the now-defunct Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and John Gerrard, who led the Greater Los Angeles Soccer League in scoring as a forward for the San Pedro Yugoslavs.
Even those acquisitions might not be enough, however. The Heat’s only loss at home came in overtime against the Earthquakes, who now need to be blanked Sunday by Seattle (8-2) for Los Angeles to reach the playoffs.
A shutout of San Jose (7-4) isn’t impossible. Seattle’s stingy defense, anchored by goalkeeper Jeff Koch and sweeper Jeff Stock, has allowed only eight goals all season (two were tallied by Fashanu and Sharp). And San Jose’s star striker, Abuelo Cruz, was red-carded last week in San Diego and is ineligible for the game against Seattle.
