Heat’s on Coach to Pick Goalie : Soccer: Bobby Sibbald must decide between veteran Marine Cano and former El Camino All-American Mike Littman.

Coach Bobby Sibbald has a big decision to make: Who to start in goal Saturday night when the Los Angeles Heat plays host to first-place Real Santa Barbara in an American Professional Soccer League West showdown at West Torrance High.

Will the first-year Heat coach start the self-proclaimed “Dr. Parallel,” 35-year-old veteran Marine Cano? Cano, who is also the soccer coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills, started in his first game and played a major role in helping the Heat snap a three-game losing streak at Portland last week.

Or will Sibbald decide to start the man teammates call “Psycho,” former El Camino College All-American Mike Littman.

“I haven’t made my mind up yet,” Sibbald said.

The fact that Sibbald is considering a lineup change for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff is nothing new. He has yet to start the same 11 players in consecutive games.

“Change is like every other thing,” Sibbald said. “Whatever works.”

Littman has started nine of 10 Heat games. He has three shutouts and was named most valuable player in two of those. He has allowed only 13 goals, second in the league.

A week ago, host Seattle defeated the Heat, 3-2.

The next night in Portland, Cano was in goal. The Heat trailed, 2-0, but rallied for a 4-3 penalty-kick victory.

Littman admitted that the switch did the team good, but added: “(Sibbald) is the coach. I want to start. I have to live with his decision, but he has a tough one to make against Santa Barbara.”

The hint of a goal change has added another wrinkle to the APSL’s first big game of the season. Both teams have reached the midway point in the season and Santa Barbara (6-2) leads the Southern Division of the APSL by only four points over the Heat (5-5).

“This is an important game,” Sibbald said. “On paper we have the best team in the league, We just haven’t put it all together yet.”

A goalie’s style of play can bring a team together. Cano is more at home in the box, preferring to protect the goal with diving, twisting blocks. He admits his age limits some of his mobility, but said his experience as a player helps his positioning against attackers.

Littman, 21, takes more chances, although he has been criticized by Heat management for straying too far from the net when the ball is in front of the goal.

Said El Camino College Coach Norm Jackson, who coached Littman for two seasons: “The game is changing. Goalies are playing more like sweepers. Mike has to be careful with that. He has to have quick feet.”

Sibbald called Littman “the team’s No. 1 goalie,” and refused to blame the young stopper for the Heat’s disappointing start. Sibbald became concerned with Littman’s concentration during a losing streak when opponents scored eight times.

“The goals that were going in weren’t necessarily his fault,” Sibbald said. “They were the team’s fault. Soccer isn’t like hockey, where the goalie takes the blame for everything that goes in. Soccer is a team game. I just thought a change (in Portland) would do him good.”

Littman said a breakdown in communication betweem himself and teammates helped fuel the losing streak.

“We seem to have a mental lapse for that split second,” he said. “The guys are playing so hard and then it comes.”

Sibbald thought Cano controlled the Portland game by directing players with constant chatter.

“We turned the season around . . . The players got confident,” he said.

This is not the first time that Cano and Littman have faced off. Littman played goalie for Cal State Northridge in 1988 when Cano’s undermanned Dominguez Hills team upset the host Matadors, 2-0. The victory helped the Toros tie for the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title. They have also played against each other in club games and rumors developed that a feud existed between the two players.

The goalies deny the rumors. Earlier this week, when Cano scheduled an informal workout for himself and a few Heat teammates at Dominguez Hills, Littman asked if he could join them. Cano was delighted.

Said Littman: “We have a special type of relationship. He pulls for me and I pull for him. You don’t find that with goalkeepers on other teams.

“Cano is a wise man. I can learn from him. He knows what he is talking about and I plan to listen.”

Cano, a spirited competitor, sees Littman starting in the future, but not without a fight.

“It’s a healthy rivalry,” he said. “If he’s playing, I will support him. When I’m playing, I want him to support me.”

The players met at Cano’s youth goaltending camp at Dominguez Hills when Littman was 15. Littman got the nickname “Psycho” because, “I was always looking for a way to get hurt,” he said.

Slowed by injuries to his right ankle and knee, Littman gave up his senior year at Northridge and signed with the Heat. He has made some spectacular stops, including a game-saving block of a penalty kick in a 2-1 victory over Portland June 2. He has been criticized, however, for being too tough on himself.

“I’ve always thought that if you feel you are perfect, you are finished,” he said.

Littman is “the best kid around,” according to Cano. “He is mature, he is organized and he trains well.”

The Heat signed Cano, who has played professionally in England and the United States, in late April after the season began. Club management originally sought David Vanole of Hermosa Beach, but Vanole signed as the backup goalie for the U.S. World Cup team. Cano’s only previous action this season has been playing a half of an exhibition game against an English traveling team in May.

Cano, who has changed little in the past seven years, according to Littman, isn’t afraid to speak his mind.

“He is a lot of fun. The guy has a lot of talent, a great heart and he’s still a madman,” Littman said. “It’s funny, he’s 35 years old and still young in his heart.”

It has taken Cano longer than he thought it would to get back into playing condition.

“I have three goals,” he said. “Get better each day, be durable and be in shape. I’m also here to help the Heat and whatever I can do for Mike, I will do.”

Ironically, it was a tip from Cano that helped Littman make the game-winning save against Portland.

“I had seen Portland play and I noticed that this one player went for a certain corner of the net,” Cano said. “I didn’t want to get in Mike’s face, but I told him what I had seen.”