Toth Loses Chance for Payback : Soccer: St. Louis goalie, let go by Sockers before season, is out with broken ribs. He sustained injury in first quarter of Game 1.

This was to be Zoltan Toth’s opportunity for revenge--a chance to tend goal and keep his old teammates at bay in the MSL Western Division finals.

It was to be a chance to show Socker Coach Ron Newman that he made a mistake when he chose Victor Nogueira instead of Toth--a decision the team was forced to make to stay under the league’s salary cap.

But there will be none of that. Toth, who signed with St. Louis after becoming the odd man out in San Diego, will see no more action this series. He suffered three broken ribs in a collision Thursday with Socker forward Rod Castro in Game 1, won by the Sockers, 9-6.

“I’ve had better days,” Toth said dejectedly Friday. “I am broken physically and a little bit broken inside, too. I look back on the season, all my plans and dreams, all the work I put in--it all went down the drain . . . If this were a muscle, I could recover. But broken bones will take time.”

The incident took place nine minutes into the game.

“I will tell you exactly what happened,” Toth said. “Castro hit the ball and went around (Storm defender) Greg Muhr. There was no one else back, so I went out and chased the ball. I had a choice of going in with a shoulder charge, but maybe I get a two-minute penalty if I do that, so I chose to slide and I thought (Castro) would jump over me. But he slid, too, and hit me with his knee after he was going full speed. I felt sharp pain in my spine, I lost my wind. I thought I was dead.”

Toth said he didn’t think there was any malice on Castro’s part, that it was merely an aggressive play.

“I know Rod Castro is not a dirty player,” Toth said. “I don’t think he did it on purpose, but I wish he would have jumped over me. Branko (Segota) would have jumped over, Waady (Hirmez) would have jumped over, Brian Quinn never would have slid into me.”

Despite feeling the pain of three broken ribs and having difficulty breathing, Toth remained in the game until the end of the first quarter, though he now regrets doing so.

“It cost us a goal,” he said. “I could not raise my arm over my head and (Paul Wright) took a shot that went off one of our players and over my head. I could not get my arm up for it.”

Before this year, Toth spent six seasons with the Sockers and was part of five championship teams.

“We won so many championships,” he said of his years with the Sockers. “But for me, this year, it was more of a challenge to go to St. Louis and try to do it there. You know when they talk of Nine is Fine, that sounds so ugly . . .

“But I tell you what. I still have trust in this team. I hope they shut this out and play their best soccer because someone has to stop this big steam roller they have down here and I hope it is my teammates.”

The Storm’s backup is 42-year-old Slobo Ilijevski, and Coach Don Popovic said the team has the utmost confidence in him.

“Whenever we call on Slobo, he does the job,” Popovic said. “Last year, we didn’t even think he would make the team, but he ends up being an All-Star goalie. And Thursday night, when we needed him, he came in and played very well the second half. It’s devastating for the team to lose Zolie, but it’s not the end of the world.”