Sockers Take One Final Run at Title No. 7

Someone wanted a prediction from Waad Hirmez. The Sockers had just been smashed, 7-0, by the Baltimore Blast in Game 6 of the Major Indoor Soccer League championship series Thursday at the Baltimore Arena.

Who would win the seventh and deciding game on Saturday?

“Sunday Silence,” the Socker midfielder said.

No, no, no. Soccer, not the Belmont Stakes.

“Sunday Silence,” he said. “A West Coast colt is going to win the Belmont. That’s all I can say.”

The way Hirmez said it implied something more. A winning West Coast horse--would that lead to a winning West Coast team?

Hirmez wouldn’t bite. “I’m not saying that. No comment. I’m not going to make any predictions.”

Smart guy. Hirmez is among the most optimistic of Sockers, but this isn’t a series you want to bet rent money on.

Baltimore sent the Sockers into Game 7 tonight at 4:35 with a lot to remember from Game 6. Or, perhaps, a lot to forget. The Blast smothered the San Diego offense, shutting it out for only the second time in its indoor history. The Sockers looked as if they were on vacation.

“I don’t think we had our minds in it,” defender George Fernandez said.

Suddenly, the series is tied.

Only a few days ago, the Sockers led, 3-1, and were talking about which San Diego night spots they were planning to attend to celebrate their seventh indoor championship. The victory bus departed without them that night. The next morning, they hopped a plane for Baltimore.

Now, after 61 regular season and playoff games, things are simple. There’s no more time for “what if this?” and “what if that?” It will be decided by the most productive kicking done in 60 minutes.

Maybe people should have listened to Steve Zungul, the 34-year-old forward who has been playing professional soccer since he was 17. All along, he warned his teammates to be cautious: The bunch from Baltimore was a good, strong team.

“I guess I was right,” he said.

There’s talk about how this series will serve as an effective advertisement for the MISL. What could be finer than the excitement of seven games? Something to build on in the future?

The joke circulating in the press box Thursday was that the league’s financial problems at the beginning of the season were the result of the suspenseless 1988 championships, which the Sockers swept from the Cleveland Force in perfunctory fashion.

Baltimore and San Diego were kind enough to give the MISL a boost.

“It’s been a great series,” said Blast midfielder Billy Ronson, who leads Baltimore with 17 playoff goals. “Just what the league wanted. What more can you say?”

For starters, you can say how it felt to beat up on the six-time champions in Game 6. A little special?

“It will feel special Saturday night if we win,” Ronson said. “(Thursday’s) game will mean nothing if we don’t win on Saturday.”

For the Sockers to spoil the Blast’s celebration, Brian Quinn, Branko Segota and Zungul will need to re-establish themselves as scoring threats. After success early in this series, the they have combined for just two points in two games.

Things got so bad Thursday that Socker Coach Ron Newman pulled several starters to rest them for the final game.

Among the Sockers’ problems is something, or rather someone, they can’t control--Scott Manning. Manning, Baltimore’s limber goalie, is often called “brilliant” by his teammates, and with good reason. His play the past two games, in which he has made 26 saves, is a big part of why the Socker offense has disappeared. His shutout Thursday was only the third in a MISL championship series.

Despite home-field advantage and momentum, Blast Coach Kenny Cooper isn’t forgetting the Sockers’ history of winning championships.

“They’re a proud team,” he said. “It ain’t over.”