Sockers, Sitting at 10-13, Wonder What’s Wrong

Hey, get this.

We’re starting to hear the old Los Angeles Lazers mentioned in the same breath with the Sockers.

Hard to believe there could be any comparison, but Socker defender George Fernandez did indeed bring up his time with the Lazers the other day while analyzing the troubled Sockers, who are 10-13 entering tonight’s 5:35 game at Wichita.

In case you forgot, which is easy to do, the now-defunct Lazers were the epitome of a disorganized organization. Their seven-year existence in the Major Indoor Soccer League was pocked with countless losses and a whole lot of empty seats. In the 1982-83 season, one in which they finished 24 games behind the Sockers, the Lazers were 8-40. Nice record, eh? Playing for the Lazers was like having gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe.

“We’d win one and then lose six or seven,” Fernandez said. “I just don’t want to go back to those days.”

Things haven’t exactly plunged to that level for the Sockers, but they haven’t been this bad this late in the season since 1981. All the talk of what tremendous talent there is on this team is beginning to take a back seat to the fact that victories aren’t arriving on schedule. Sure, the Sockers have a history of slow starts. But this is different.

“Right now, I think we’re finding out we’re not as good as we thought we were,” Fernandez said. “I think everybody’s looking at each other saying ‘Well, I’m doing my best, what are you doing?’

“Sometimes I wonder about the character on this team. Do they really care?”

Don’t think the rest of the league isn’t aware the Sockers are wrestling with self-doubt. This is the opportunity everybody has been waiting for. Teams filled with players who have been victimized by the Sockers are stepping up and giving the seven-time champions a good, swift kick when they’re down. Dallas defeated them, 4-2, this past Sunday, and St. Louis defeated them by the same score Jan. 17. Both times, the Sockers played without leading scorer Branko Segota, who has been out with a calf muscle strain.

But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of sympathy out there.

“(Other teams) are tired of us winning it all the time,” Fernandez said. “They want to beat us badly.”

So is this a dynasty on the decline?

“The Sockers only have one way to go,” defender Kevin Crow said. “You can’t win every year. You hate to lose. You can never accept it. But you just go out and just keep busting your butt.”

There are a number of problems to be solved.

Crow said the fitness level on this team isn’t what it should be, which means opponents are able to scoot past the Sockers while they’re huffing and puffing in the fourth quarter.

Also, some of the new additions, forwards Damir Haramina and Jim Gabarra and midfielder Ben Collins, have yet to do anything resembling spectacular.

This team has talent. It does not have chemistry.

Solutions?

“All you can do is go out there, put your shirt on and go to war,” Fernandez said. “In my heart, I still think we’re the best team.”

But it may be more complicated than that. There have been indications from Socker President Ron Cady and Newman that the team as we know it may not exist past the Feb. 21 All-Star game. A trade is being considered.

“I think we’re open to that,” Cady said. “We’re looking around to see what possibilities are available.”

At this point, it appears anybody is fair game, with the exception of midfielders Brian Quinn and Segota and goalie Zoltan Toth, who all have no-trade clauses in their current contracts.

At last year’s All-Star break, the Sockers traded forward Poli Garcia to Los Angeles for midfielder Waad Hirmez. Hirmez contributed significantly to the Sockers’ championship drive. Garcia is now out of the MISL. That was a safe trade that worked out nicely for the Sockers. Newman said the next deal might involve a more established player.

“Sometimes you’ve got to give something up you don’t want to give up,” he said. “Now that we’ve seen the overall picture, obviously I’m a little disappointed that it’s not working out. We’re concerned. It’s been a strange season so far.”