MISL championship down to one game

by Steve De Rose
April 30, 2002 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)

Two games are not enough. The 2002 Major Indoor Soccer League Finals are going to the last match. Both games number one and two resulted in 11-4 victories for the host side. The ultimate game is this Friday, 3rd May, at 7:05 pm CT at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

Game number one in Milwaukee went in a predictable manner. The Wave scored the only goal of the first half after Philadelphia Kixx GK Peter Pappas had expressed in a published article that he needed to be on the top of his game. Unfortunately for the Kixx, the second Wave goal ranks as one of the worst ones he has ever allowed. On the left wing, the Wave's Martin Dugas let loose a ball which wrapped around the end glass. A player for each team battled for the ball at the edge of the penalty box. They both failed to control it; but they did put a spin on the carom. Pappas then got both hands on the ball, but somehow did not corral it. The ball spun by him and was about to go into the net when the Wave's Glenn Carbonara knocked it in for sure. The Kixx pressured back, and received a man advantage when Troy Dusosky was penalized for tripping. They managed to get a two-point goal from player-coach Omid Namazi. However, they immediately suffered a letdown, allowing the Greg Howes to score the second of his three goals eleven seconds afterward.

The Wave ran off and hid after this. The score was 11-2 before the Kixx tallied a consolation sixth-attacker goal from Goran Vasic. In his post-game remarks, Namazi felt his team failed to make the crucial last pass which would have given them more good opportunities to score. The one aspect that drew a mildly negative reaction from the Wave head coach was the release of confetti onto the Bradley Center turf at the final horn. Besides being a maintenance headache, it was premature.

The second game in Philadelphia the next night saw many changes. An alarming view to this reporter was the dismal attendance at the First Union Center. The Wave drew 9402 the night before, but the Kixx, with just as much time to market their home match and coming off a round when they could not host a game could interest only 3216 people to buy a ticket. Kansas City Comets' General Manager/Head Coach Zoran Savic, in attendance, told me the Comets would have had 10,000+ for the same date, had they managed to win their semi-final match, of course.

The Kixx were more intense on Saturday. It seemed slightly askew that for one of the few times this season, when I have been in attendance, the Wave did not seem to have anything in their tank. Philadelphia got a restart goal from team captain Kevin Sloan, but it was cancelled out by the Wave's Sipho Sibiya. He scored goals at the 4:23 spot of the second quarter, and 4:27 of the third quarter, to give the Wave a 4-2 advantage. Chris Handsor leveled the score line at 4-4 midway through the third quarter. The score stood the rest of the period.

The game-winning-goal for the Kixx came in an innocuous fashion. Sloan was in possession of the ball inside the three-point arc on the left wing. He had enough time and space to observe a pair of players, one for each side, about to move through the Wave penalty box. He took his shot at the precise moment when both of them were going by Wave GK Victor Nogueira. Victor did not react, and the ball went low and to his left into his net.

The Kixx got another two-point goal from Joe Scigliano six minutes later. They were appealing for it to be ruled a three-pointer; but from my vantage point in the building (right on that three-point arc at that end of the field hundreds of feet up), our referees: Ted Grigoriou and Tim Tyma; were accurate. This effected the sixth attacker for the Wave, Lovelace Ackah. They had a few good scoring opportunities, but did not sink them. After a loose ball in the box was scarfed by Pappas, he found Gary De Palma in midfield. Ackah came over to mark him, and De Palma lofted the ball from beyond the yellow line into the empty net for the game's final score.

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After this match, Namazi expressed relief and satisfaction that this was the way the Kixx had played all season. He felt everybody tended to write them off, but they never let that get to them. "Nobody expected us to win in Kansas City," he said. "People were feeling we didn't have a good chance tonight." He was asked about the Wave's unblemished home record and whether the Kixx could use the example of the Wave winning the Championship last season in Philadelphia as a springboard. "It's one game," he replied. "We believe we can win the next game. For those guys who were here last season: Yeah, they won the Championship here. They were celebrating on our field. It is something we can hope to return."

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So what do I believe will happen on Friday night? I still believe this Wave team has too many weapons for the Kixx. If I was given a ballot for Playoff Most Valuable Player, currently I would vote for Sipho Sibiya. For a team which includes Michael King, Todd and Troy Dusosky, Brian Loftin, and Joe Reiniger (who did not dress on Saturday night), all of whom have mostly been unheard from in the post-season, this bodes ill for the Kixx. These Wave players are positively going to turn it up two notches on Friday night, and the Bradley Center will be raucous. But on the other hand, if the Wave do manage to lose on Friday night, they will probably look back on this season as something less than fulfilling.

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Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from April 30, 2002

• MISL championship down to one game - OSC Original by Steve De Rose
• Kixx, Wave prepare for game three - OSC Original by MISL Press Release

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