Nomads Who Want to Travel : Several Players Hope Soccer Experience Leads to U.S. Team
They call themselves Nomads but are mostly anything but.
Many of the players on San Diego’s Western Soccer League team are locals. Few nomadic travelers here.
That isn’t to say they wouldn’t mind doing some globetrotting. In fact, defender Arturo Velazco, a La Jolla High graduate, and midfielder Thien Nguyen, from Madison, hope to have their itineraries set by the U.S. national team, which is fighting for a spot in the 1990 World Cup tournament in Italy and which is guaranteed a berth as the host team in 1994.
A third Nomad, Robert Paterson (Mira Mesa High), still has another year to go at the University of Evansville before he decides if he wants to play internationally, perhaps in Scotland or England.
The decision won’t all be up to Paterson. He, Velazco and Nguyen (pronounced new-yen) are at the mercy of foreign and U.S. team coaches. What each wants is an opportunity, which explains why they toil without pay for the Nomads.
Velazco appears to have the best chance at vaulting into the national scene--and soon. He already has had a one-game tryout with the U.S. team at sweeper and is hoping for another at fullback.
Nguyen, despite setting a WSL record with at least one assist in each of the Nomads’ past six games, is still somewhat invisible to U.S. coaches. This is his first experience above the NCAA Division III level.
Paterson scored 15 goals in 16 games last season at Evansville. Many, including Nomad Coach Derek Armstrong, thought Paterson could have eclipsed the production of Indiana’s Ken Snow (who led the nation with 22 goals) if he hadn’t missed six games with a broken rib and ripped kidney.
Paterson already appears to have made the transition from Division I to the WSL. He has scored two goals in each of the Nomads’ past two games after being switched from the midfield to forward position at halftime of each.
“Maybe he’s trying to tell me something,” Armstrong said. “I’ll have to start listening to him.”
What Paterson is saying is that he’s a potent scorer. He hopes to lead the nation when the college season starts again in September. “I’m hoping for around 30 goals,” Paterson said. “We’ll play a little over 30 games if we go all the way (to the NCAA championship game), and one goal per game is what I shoot for.”
He’s been doing twice that with the Nomads since switching to forward.
“He just has good instincts,” said Nguyen, the playmaker. “He knows when and where to go to an open space.”
But Armstrong is not yet convinced Paterson is a complete soccer player.
“A couple of goals does not make a national player,” Armstrong said. “He still has to prove himself at that level, and that can only be done by playing where we’re at now.”
Added Nguyen: “Robert is in a sense a good player in that he knows how to score goals. He can pick up loose balls and put them in the net. But experience-wise, he still has a way to go.”
Paterson may never become an international player. In this country, the only way to make money is to go indoors and latch on with the Major Indoor Soccer League, which may be a realistic goal for Paterson.
“His skills are more suited to the indoor game,” Armstrong said. “He’s built like the Yugoslavian players (who dominate the MISL in scoring). He has those heavy thighs like the Yugoslavians.”
The MISL, which is expanding to Cleveland and possibly to St. Louis for the 1989-90 season, may also employ Velazco, though he has failed several tryouts with the veteran-rich Sockers.
“I’ve tried out for the Sockers so many times, I’m tired of it,” Velazco said of his four auditions.
Still, he has hope.
“I have a feeling there is going to be a host of clubs chasing after him after the (WSL) season,” Armstrong said. “We’ve already got a nibble.”
That nibble, Velazco said, came from Kenny Cooper, head coach of the Baltimore Blast, which finished first during the regular season before losing to the Sockers in the championship series.
But indoor soccer simply represents a safety valve of sorts for Velazco. What the 24-year-old defender really wants is a spot on the national team’s back line. What’s holding him back is his current position--sweeper rather than fullback.
A sweeper takes on much the same role as does a safety in football. He roves the back of the field behind the fullbacks and picks up any forward who shakes his defender. A sweeper is usually the biggest player on the field, and Velazco, at 5-feet-10, 170 pounds, is rarely that.
“Usually I just sweep and not pick up defenders,” Velazco said. “I like it, but I’ve been a sweeper for so many years that I just can’t get recognized. If you’re taking care of a forward and no one gets by you, people say, ‘Hey, that defender’s good.’ But at sweeper there’s no one to keep from getting behind you.”
Said Armstrong, “I’d love dearly to sign someone to play (sweeper) so I could move Arturo up to fullback. I’m sure there isn’t anybody better in the country. He’s so tough the entire 90 minutes. He consistently comes up strong; he’s fast, and he isn’t afraid to tackle. Other players are capable of playing at his level, but they can’t keep it up for 90 minutes.”
Velazco, too, may be unable to keep playing for much longer. He has been with the Nomads for each of their three previous seasons, earning money by working part time for his father’s engineering firm.
“It works out well,” Velazco said. “He gives me days off on days before games.”
Other Nomads haven’t had to worry about supporting themselves--at least not yet. They simply use the team to stay in shape for the college season. But that will quickly change for Nguyen, who earlier this week graduated from UCSD. For the moment, the Nomads will serve Nguyen just fine.
“Right now, I’m just telling myself I have one foot through the door,” Nguyen said. “I want to see how far soccer will carry me. I’ve talked to some of the other players about how to get on the U.S. team, but they just say it’s impossible to get a tryout unless you have a name for yourself, and this is what I’m trying to do with the Nomads.”
Although Armstrong also was Nguyen’s coach at UCSD, he remained skeptical of the midfielder’s ability to contribute in the WSL.
“I just didn’t know whether Tinney could do it in this league,” Armstrong said. “And he’s still proving himself.”
Whether players such as Velazco and Nguyen perform well against WSL competition, they still wonder if it will be enough to attract a look from the national team coaches. It just might be, judging from recent history.
Fullback Marcelo Balboa and goalie Jeff Duback jumped from the Nomads to the national team, though both are currently in South Korea with the U.S. under-21 team for the Presidents’ Cup. Also on that team are Nomads Eric Wynalda and Anton Nistl, who was called up earlier this week.
For those, dreams have become reality. Others still wait.
“It’s just one of those things,” Nguyen said. “Inside I know I can do it . . . if I just have the chance.”
The Nomads (7-1) will be out to maintain their WSL-leading pace at 7:30 tonight in Balboa Stadium, where they play host to the defending champion Seattle Storm (5-2) and bring back several familiar faces.
Sockers Paul Wright and Rene Ortiz, fresh from the MISL championship series victory over Baltimore, will join the Nomads for tonight’s game along with backup goalkeeper Otto Orf and former Socker George Katakalidas.
Orf was the key addition after the U.S. Soccer Federation took Nistl this week.
