Kirk Lands New Home in the MISL

Please excuse Joey Kirk for sounding less than overwhelmed about the prospect of playing in the struggling Major Indoor Soccer League.

Last Thursday, Kirk was selected by the Wichita Wings in a special supplemental draft after the Minnesota Strikers, the team that picked Kirk last month, went the way of three other MISL franchises since the end of last season and dropped out of the league.

“I’m pretty happy to be with Wichita,” Kirk said Tuesday. “I mean, I’m happy they haven’t folded.”

Kirk, 22, is a bit more enthused about departing from Burbank Airport this morning en route to Miami, where he will compete Saturday with the U. S. National team in an exhibition match against Deportivo Cali of Colombia.

The match, the ninth of the 10-match Clasico Internacional , will be played in the Orange Bowl before an expected crowd of more than 20,000 pro-Colombian fans.

For Kirk, it will also be his final chance to impress Olympic Coach Lothar Osiander, who next week is expected to name the roster that will represent the U. S. from Sept. 17-Oct. 2 in Seoul.

Kirk, a Division II All-American forward who scored 30 goals last season for Cal State Northridge, has played well in previous matches with the national team but he has yet to score a goal.

He is one of only four amateur players competing for a berth on the Olympic team and one of six forwards competing for four available spots.

“The forward position is open and they want guys who can score,” Kirk said. “I’ve proven myself on the college level. I just have to get one goal to get rolling.

“It’s like riding a bike for the first time. I’m not stressed out about it. I’m sure it will come.”

Kirk is not quite as certain about his professional career, which has been a series of ups-and-downs since draft day.

Kirk was competing with the national team in South Korea when the MISL tryout camp and draft were held June 17 in Cleveland. He called his parents in Granada Hills and learned that Minnesota took him in the first round, the ninth player selected overall.

“The guys on the national team were joking that I should hold out for a fur coat and snow shoes because of the weather in Minnesota,” Kirk said. “They said, ‘Don’t sign until you get earmuffs.’ ”

Kirk and the Strikers, however, never had a chance to warm to each other. The day after Kirk returned from South Korea, he picked up a newspaper and read that the team had folded.

Last Thursday, he was the first player selected in the supplemental draft. On Friday, he received a phone call from Wichita assistant Coach Kevin Kewley, who relayed some good news and some bad news.

“Kevin told me they were really happy to have me which made me feel good,” Kirk said. “Then he told me that the Cleveland franchise had folded that day and there were only seven teams left in the league.”

Last season, Wichita finished ninth in the MISL, but averaged about 9,000 fans a game.

Kewley is confident that Kirk will help the Wings, who will play a 48-game schedule in the newly aligned league.

“Joey looks like he has good touch and knows what the game is about,” Kewley said. “It will just be a matter of him learning how to read the boards, realizing the skills he has and adjusting them to the indoor game.”

Only time will tell if the league will be around long enough for Kirk to find out.