Sockers Sign Zungul to a 1-Year Contract

Steve Zungul, “The Lord of All Indoors,” agreed to a 1-year contract with the Sockers Tuesday and will be in his familiar No. 7 uniform when the Sockers play host to the Tacoma Stars Sunday night.

Zungul, who will make the Major Indoor Soccer League minimum of $25,000, flew home to Tacoma Tuesday to gather his belongings. He will rejoin the Sockers when they play in Tacoma Saturday night and will play Sunday. To make room for Zungul, the Sockers released forward Keder, a 28-goal scorer last season.

Now that it’s official that Zungul will play here this season, the question is how much can a 34-year-old veteran who has arthritic hips contribute to an offense which has scored only 9 goals in 4 games so far this season?

Zungul, who has been practicing with the Sockers for the past 3 weeks, is the MISL’s all-time leading scorer with 631 goals, 438 assists and 1,069 points. His goal total is higher than Branko Segota’s point total and Segota is the MISL’s second-leading all-time scorer. Zungul also was named the 11-year-old league’s best player for its first decade.

However, Zungul’s hips are hurting and he admits he can’t give it 100% in every game. Even when his hips were 100% and he was leading the league in scoring four times, his character was questioned. Tacoma gave up on him after last season, even though he scored 47 goals.

“We just didn’t want to have anything to do with him,” Tacoma Coach Alan Hinton said.

Zungul played in San Diego for 1 1/2 years and helped lead the Sockers to two championships. Even if his attitude is questionable, he figures to create some interest.

“The story is that I want to come to California, play 1 more season with players I know and in front of fans who know me, and then say goodby (to the game),” Zungul said. “My hips hurt and it’s not going to be like it was a couple of years ago. The fans and the management have to understand that. But it will still be Steve with some good moves and me being able to help the younger players.”

Zungul will return on a night when he’s not only facing his former team, but also on a night when Segota is expected back. Segota pulled a hamstring in the season opener and only began practicing with the team again over the weekend. He said he’ll be ready to go Sunday, though.

“Hey, I’ll be giving the best I can give,” Zungul said. “The question now is my physical endurance. But as the season wears on, I’m sure I’ll catch up. I know some people may not think everything is the same, but you can’t make everybody happy.”

One such player is Keder, who showed promise in his rookie season a year ago, but now is no longer a part of the Sockers’ future. Keder hadn’t scored in 4 games this season.

“It was very unfortunate that we had to release a player of Keder’s caliber,” Sockers’ President Ron Cady said. “We couldn’t carry three forwards on the club, so we made the move at this time to give Keder every opportunity to sign on with another club.”