CUP RUNNING OVER: The quadrennial World Cup...
CUP RUNNING OVER: The quadrennial World Cup soccer tournament, to many the ultimate spectacle in sports with a worldwide television audience of more than 1 billion, is only six months from its first U.S. run, which will include eight games at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. . . . But in Orange County, playing soccer usually has taken precedence over watching. Participation in county youth leagues has grown 21% since 1988, and an adult league run by the city of Anaheim has more than 1,400 players.
FIGHTING FOR TIME: Al Alonzo, a field supervisor at Peralta Canyon Park in Anaheim Hills, says the soccer boom has put it in direct competition for field space with youth football and baseball. But the biggest conflicts are between soccer and the traditional outlet for aging jocks--softball leagues. . . . “Softball has always been our main priority,” he said, “but we’ve had such a surge of soccer teams in this area that we are having problems scheduling on the lighted fields.”
HOT LEGS: Bobby Bruch (above) coaches the Marina High girls--top-ranked in the county--and also plays semiprofessionally for the Los Angeles Exiles. . . . The Exiles compete at an advanced level--they have won four consecutive league championships--but the team often gets less attention for its skill than for one of its fullbacks: Rod Stewart, the British-born rocker. “Lots of people come to watch when there’s any rumor of Rod being on the field,” Bruch said. “Yeah, I would call some of them groupies.”
TONY AND ME: Riki-Ann Serrins, a freshman goalkeeper on the Santa Margarita High School girls’ soccer team, has a notable mentor: Tony Meola, the goalie for the U.S. national team, which has its training headquarters in Mission Viejo. Serrins’ family was assigned to introduce Meola to the area. . . . Riki-Ann participated in Meola’s goalkeeping camp in New York last summer, and her whole family attended Meola’s wedding in New Jersey. Said Serrins: “It was just a dream to have them come down here and train in Mission Viejo, and then to have Tony as a friend is just a bonus.”
