Sockers Win 9th Straight : Soccer: Sockers beat Dallas, 6-3.
It’s not what the rest of the Major Soccer League longed to hear, but after the Sockers won their ninth consecutive game Sunday night, they talked about what a long way they have to go before they reach their full potential.
With apparently only a smidgen of that potential, the Sockers still had enough to best the Dallas Sidekicks, 6-3, in front of 7,989 at the Sports Arena.
The victory enabled the club to equal its second longest winning streak of all time. The Sockers also won nine straight in 1987-88. Only three players remain from that team: defender Kevin Crow and midfielders Paul Dougherty and Jacques Ladouceur.
The Sockers’ longest winning streak, which came in 1985-86, is 13.
When the current streak started, the Sockers were in third place, two games behind front-running Dallas. Now with a record of 17-6, the Sockers have a 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Wichita (13-11) and Dallas (15-13).
Afterward, the question in the Dallas locker room was, “Can the Sockers stay on top?”
Sidekicks Coach Gordon Jago had a reply:
“On the surface, I would say no,” Jago said, referring to a tough schedule. “But if they are able to keep free of injuries, then yes.”
The Sockers are at the beginning stage of a run of 21 games in 63 days--that’s an average of one every three days, and it’s that kind of schedule that causes injuries, Jago insists.
Up to this point, the Sockers have played only eight games in the past 42 days and have had no significant injuries.
But the heavy schedule wasn’t on anyone’s mind in the Sockers’ locker room. Instead, they talked about how mediocre they are. No kidding.
“I don’t believe we’re really that good,” Coach Ron Newman said.
The Sockers claim to be missing too many passes and squandering too many of their scoring chances.
But they might be too hard on themselves: All soccer teams miss more chances than they capitalize.
But don’t tell that to the perfectionists.
“See, tonight if we scored on all the chances we had, it would have been a cakewalk,” said defender Ben Collins, who gave the Sockers a 5-2 lead early in the fourth quarter.
It sure would have been. Sunday’s six goals were the product of 34 shots.
“We’re not as sharp as we can be,” said midfielder Ladouceur, who opened the scoring by sneaking a shot past goalie Joe Papaleo 54 seconds in. “And as the season goes on, we’ll start connecting on a lot more passes. Every game we take a small step forward.”
One player, second-year defender Alex Golovnia, appeared to take a very big step. He scored twice, once from behind the red line, and again after fighting off two defenders for the ball at midfield, charging into the attacking zone and letting go of a bullet-like shot that careened in off the right post.
“I’m so pleased with Alex,” Newman said. “I kind of kid the Russian players (Golovnia and teammate Alex Khapsalis, actually from the former Soviet republic of Belorus) that they can’t put the ball in the net. But it’s just to make a point, to get them to shoot when they have the opportunity. But now Alex looks confident--he looks dangerous when he gets the ball. Before, he used to pass up all his opportunities to go forward, but now he knows he can score.”
Answered Golovnia, “I always try to do my best, but I’m a defender.”
And in the Soviet Union, defenders weren’t allowed to defect to the attacking half of the field.
It seems the rest of the team is still looking for that kind of improvement, though there doesn’t seem to be much room for it.
“I think we can improve a lot,” argued midfielder Dougherty. “This was the best game we’ve had since Quinny (midfielder Brian Quinn, considered the top playmaker in the league) left. But still, we’re not as good as we can be. We’re just starting to adjust to the gap that (Quinn) left.”
It was the third time the Sockers have played without Quinn, who now plays for the U.S. national team.
Sockers Notes
The Sockers have defeated the Sidekicks in 17 consecutive regular-season games at the Sports Arena and are 22-1 against the Sidekicks here in the regular season. . . . The game officials weren’t amused, nor upset, with the Sockers’ promotion Sunday night: referee eye chart night. The charts read THE REFEREES ARE BLIND. “They have all kinds of promotions,” said senior referee Esse Baharmast. “And they never bother us.” Baharmast said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment further.
