Dash of Salsa Spices Lee’s Soccer Career
On a large practice field next to Titan Stadium at Cal State Fullerton, the L.A. Salsa soccer players are panting through conditioning drills at the end of a two-hour morning workout, their bodies drenched with perspiration and their faces imploring reprieve.
Some look like condemned men, wondering if the governor will call. Or at least fax. And when Coach Rick Davis signals that the seemingly endless sprints are over, most players stroll slowly to the showers, knowing they have more of the same agony in store the next day.
But Thor Lee, the team’s defensive midfielder, is not ready to leave.
With the help of two or three teammates, Lee works overtime. He redirects their corner kicks into the open goal with his head or feet and later tests his shooting skills against one of the club’s goalies. The session continues for 30 or 40 minutes, until the field has to be turned over to the school for its children’s summer camp.
The newfound energy, Lee says, is part of his rededication to soccer, a game he dearly loves but came close to stop playing recently.
“If you would have asked me whether my career was headed in the right direction two years ago, I would have said no,” said Lee, 29, a former NCAA Division II All-American at Cal State Northridge. “I was convinced I was done as a professional. I didn’t want to travel around the country playing indoors, being a gypsy.”
After playing with several teams in American outdoor and indoor pro leagues since 1989, including the Salt Lake City Sting of the American Professional Soccer League, Lee considered quitting when the Sting folded after the 1991 season. The uncertainties of pro soccer in the United States had taken their toll, and Lee, who played in a semi-pro league in Southern California in 1992, was ready to shift priorities before the Salsa joined the league as an expansion team last season.
Lee (6-foot, 165 pounds) signed with the Fullerton-based team and started 24 of 26 games as a defender. He ranked third on the squad in minutes played with 2,261 and helped the Salsa reach the championship game, where it lost in overtime to Colorado, 3-1. But despite the disappointing finish, Lee was thrilled with the club.
“On a professional level, soccer hasn’t been predictable in this country,” said Lee, who is single and lives in Chatsworth. “But what I’ve seen is that the Salsa is the only (U.S.) team that is working for a future. What I’ve seen with the Salsa is that there is a commitment to soccer and it has turned my career around. All the other teams I’ve played for (professionally) have folded.”
The Salsa, off to a 0-2 start this season, indeed has ambitious plans. With its confidence boosted by victories over first-rate Mexican clubs Atlante, UNAM and Guadalajara at Fullerton last year, the club plans to join the Mexican first division in the fall after the APSL season is over, and play in both leagues every year. Lee hopes that the move, combined with the awareness created by the World Cup, will prove positive for pro soccer in America.
“I hope there’s enough interest generated by the World Cup to give the game a chance here,” Lee said. “The U.S. national team made a statement that we can play with anybody. I’m excited about (playing in Mexican league). Our attitude going into the league is not to do just well, but to win it. I’m excited to play in an atmosphere where soccer is No. 1. Hopefully, if we are successful, we can promote soccer here. This will be a great forum and opportunity to prove what we can do.”
Lee doesn’t have to convince Davis, the club’s general manager and first-year coach. Davis replaced Rildo Menezes, who resigned after the title game last season under pressure from team owner William De La Pena, and switched Lee to his new spot. Davis says Lee has few holes in his game.
“The biggest single thing that strikes you about him is his consistency,” said Davis, a former captain of the U.S. national squad and pro player with the New York Cosmos of the old North American Soccer League. “You know what you are going to get from him, which at a minimum is a very complete game.”
That’s something the Salsa, which plays next Thursday at Houston, desperately needs from Lee and other key players. The club, Lee noted, got away from its ball-control offense and lost twice to Colorado in Denver, 2-1 and 1-0. He said his new position, sort of a sweeper who attacks occasionally, primarily calls for him to help keep the ball away from the Salsa’s end of the field and launch the transition game.
“My role now is to make sure our team is balanced on offense and defense,” Lee said. “We want to control the tempo and we want to control the middle of the field to do that. It’s my responsibility to make sure that the middle of the field is ours.
“It hasn’t been a difficult adjustment for me. I’ve worked hard on my offensive skills as a pro because I wanted to be more involved.”
Lee wanted the same thing when he first walked on at Northridge after a distinguished career at Newbury Park High. He sometimes would initiate attacks instead of concentrating on defense but eventually learned to curtail the desire to move forward too much and became a feared defender. In 1987, his senior season, Lee was instrumental in getting the Matadors to the Division II title game, where they lost to Southern Connecticut, 2-0.
In those days, Lee sported a flattop and he is celebrating his rejuvenation as a player by cropping the blond hair that reveals his Norwegian and German heritage in the same style. It makes him feel younger, Lee says, and keeps him connected to the players he coaches on the Valley United Blast, an under-17 club.
“All the young kids have (flattops) and it helps me to have a young attitude,” he said. “I’m inspired by the kids I coach and the new hair style is to remind me to be free and do what I enjoy.”
