Interview with Paul Garofolo

by John Gary
October 12, 2002 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)

OurSports Central contributor John Gary recently interviewed Paul Garofolo, President of the Major Indoor Soccer League's Cleveland Force. He heads a team that has not only added several new players, but has also changed its name (from Crunch). He began his indoor soccer career in 1978 and hopes to return the Force to the heights the franchise achieved in the 1980s when it averaged nearly 15,000 fans per game.

John Gary: How do you believe the Force will do this season?

Paul Garofolo: I believe we have dramatically improved our club. However, I believe the level of play in the MISL this year will be at the highest in many years due to the merger of the two leagues and the contraction scenarios that have unfolded before us in soccer over the past few years. MLS lost 2 teams, the A-League has gone from 32 teams to 18 and the MISL/WISL which in recent years had a combined 18 teams is down to 8. This allows each team in the League to upgrade on their team talent so we expect a very competitive year in the MISL.

With that said we believe, on paper, we have a strong team. However you must play the games to determine if your paper is a reality or not. There are many factors that determine your success or failure in a season and certainly a key factor is your overall team health. Last season we lost several key players to injuries and we had a lot of players that didn't join the team until February. This year for the first time since we acquired the team, we have every player under contract and in camp. We started last year 4-15, and our second half of the season when we got healthy and all players were in town, was much better. I believe our record was 8-8 in our last 16 games, 7-5 in our last 12 games and 3-0 in our final 3 games. So we were displaying a strong finish and fell only one game short of the final playoff spot.

If we can improve on that finish we should be considered a contender. Although Philadelphia is very strong, Baltimore has improved with DiFlorio being added to a veteran squad, Harrisburg is an unknown to me, but Erich Geyer is a "winner" and I believe he always fields strong teams. Milwaukee remains the team to beat in the West until someone unseats them. Kansas City is vastly improved, Dallas is a defending League champion and Brian Quinn knows the game as well as anyone and is tenacious about winning. It should be a great season and the fans will be the beneficiaries of some fantastic soccer!

JG: What steps did you take to improve the club from last year's finish?

PG: We have added several players to our mix that we are excited about. Chris Stathopoulos is a proven scorer with a great track record in the game. Myles Stoddard has been everything we thought he could be and more. He can put the ball in the net and plays hard at both ends of the field. Anthony Maher, our first round draft choice has been very impressive after his rookie season in D3 where he led the Wilmington Hammerheads to the League Finals. Joe Mattichione, D.J. Newsom, Eric Kvello and Zach Scott have come in and have stabilized our defense. Also acquiring the rights to Bernie Lilavois and Steve Klein has made our roster depth strong in the event of injury. We are excited about all these young players.

JG: What cities is the league looking at for expansion?

PG: I am not at liberty to discuss this information. This should be released only by the Commissioner's office. But I can say that we are meeting with many cities across the US and Canada. There is a lot of interest out there, but (MISL Commissioner) Steve Ryan is being very selective and cautious about who we awarded expansion teams to because the sport cannot afford to make mistakes like in the past with expansion.

JG: What are the league's television plans?

PG: I believe we have a great product for television and so do the TV networks, but with only eight markets it is difficult to attract their full attention and commitment. I believe we need 12-16 markets before we will get their attention completely.

JG: Who is the Force's biggest rival?

PG: I believe any game that involves Baltimore is an attractive game to our fans. There is a long and strong rivalry between the two teams and the two cities. Of course, there is the whole Browns to Baltimore NFL (Ravens) scenario that created a division between the two cities. The Force and Blast rivalry was born in the mid-80's and continues again this season. Ed Hale, the owner in Baltimore and I have talked about what an exciting match-up our games always present for our fans when we play. There have been many historic battles between the two teams both on and off the field of play. I don't expect this season to be any different.

Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from October 12, 2002

• Interview with Paul Garofolo - OSC Original by John Gary
• Heat Falls in Dallas - Harrisburg Heat
• Force Makes Official Return to Cleveland by Knocking off Blast - Cleveland Force

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.