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Restart Opportunity

by Steve De Rose
December 21, 2004 - Major Indoor Soccer League 2 (MISL 2)


With most of its franchises having reached the 25 percent mark on their season schedule, let me go through the divisions of the Major Indoor Soccer League to see who has surprised, who has not, and who is on track for post-season superiority.

We must begin with raised eyebrows for the franchise which has not played nearly a quarter of its schedule - because it cannot come to a working arrangement with its preferred home arena. The Monterrey Tigres still has not played a home game. They are 1-5, and the MISL is not going to condone a revival of the 1992-93 Denver Thunder fiasco. The Tigres' home games are going to have to be played somewhere and sometime soon. I give whomever is operating the Tigres until 5 January 2005 before the League reclaims the franchise and either terminates them, or turns them into "the neutral site program" redux. And none of those neutral site cities would be in Mexico.

The largest surprise in the League has been the Central Division. When this division was birthed, many observers and fans noted that it was wide open for the Milwaukee Wave to blitz it, to go 12-4 in their sixteen matches versus the Chicago Storm (a hastily assembled expansion team) and the Saint Louis Steamers (a franchise saved from termination by a last-second, out-of-town investment consortium). The Wave would pile up the victories, cinch the best record in the League, and likely be the only team to advance to the postseason from this division.

The Wave still might finish with the best record in the League, but it will not be due to substandard opposition in the division.

The Saint Louis Steamers are the surprise in the League so far. Daryl Doran's on-field performances have been jaw-dropping. John F. Kennedy was still the President of the U. S. A. when Daryl was born. The Steamers have latched on to castoffs from other League teams, including Nino DaSilva, Mike Apple, Nate Houser, and Sterling Westcott, and cohered into a team which wins the close games. They are 8-5.

The Chicago Storm approached the season from a different angle. They aimed for players who were good soccer athletes who might not have much (or any) indoor soccer experience. This was most glaringly visible in their goalkeepers. Danny Waltman, on-loan from the Seattle Sounders of the United Soccer League's Division One, and Jeff Richey had zero minutes of indoor playing time. But Waltman has so swiftly attuned to the indoor game, he won the goalkeeper of the week for the second week of November and later was acclaimed the goalkeeper of the month for November. Only six of the players on the roster have prior League indoor experience. Two of those six, Novica "Novi" Marojevic and Costea Decu, had not played in the League since 2001, and Leo Pernia's rights are reserved to the Dallas Sidekicks should they return to the League next season.

Storm head coach and general manager Frank Klopas identified other players from outdoor Division II teams and brought them aboard. Some of them had played in Major League Soccer, but not this season. Klopas allowed that he was surprised they were not playing in MLS, but he intended to take advantage of this.

The team on the field has been erratic. Back-to-back away victories at Baltimore and Philadelphia have been the high point so far. The low ebb began with a four-goal erosion of what had been a superb dismantling of the Milwaukee Wave, following an unpenalized infraction committed by the Wave's Michael King upon Pernia, whose vociferous discontent between the third and fourth quarters led to a three-game suspension. The Storm absolutely lost their composure. The team was lucky to escape with an 8-7 victory. They have gone 1-6 since then, and the sole victory was versus a seriously undermanned Baltimore Blast team. Even head coach Tim Wittman was missing that game. The Storm tend to have precipitous fourth quarters. If they can start playing an entire sixty minutes, they could finish the season with an over .500 record.

Klopas has expressed that the team needs an impact player at forward and on defense. The only place he could find them now would be if the Tigres were terminated, and he was able to scrounge Marco Lopez and/or Genoni Martinez. I think he needs to concentrate on his coaching skills. Threatening to put on a uniform and go onto the turf is going to wear thin if he is still uttering this in late January.

The Milwaukee Wave have been the Milwaukee Wave. They have lost twice to the Storm, including their home opener, and away at Baltimore, and at Philadelphia. In the Baltimore game, they outplayed the Blast at both ends of the field, but Baltimore scored on counterattack goals against the run of play, and got out with a 5-4 victory. They are 9-4.

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The Eastern Division has been the most perplexing. Most felt this would be the most competitive, with the back-to-back defending champion Baltimore Blast possessing an edge over the others. But the Blast have been crippled by the injury bug. Denison Cabral and Adilson De Lima may be gone for the entire season. Head coach Tim Wittman suited up for one game, but has since gone into the hospital suffering from kidney stones. It also seems that the franchise's oft-whispered salary-cap-avoidance manuever has been stifled by the League. The players signed to temporarily(?) fill the roster are not up to the calibré of the players they are replacing. The Blast are at 5-8, last in the East, which puts them a game behind the Storm in the race for a playoff slot.

The Philadelphia KiXX are the team making the most out of this mess. The KiXX have had injuries as well, including one to Shawn Boney, which has kept him out of five games. Philadelphia's balanced scoring efforts, along with the best one-two goalkeeping combination in the League in Peter Pappas and Stuart Dobson give them a solid foundation for winning each time they go onto the field. They are 8-5, and they have beaten the Wave. They really seem to have no weak spots. This isn't to say that they won't lose another game later on, but when it occurs, people are going to look at the box score and say, "What happened?"

The Cleveland Force have probably the most challenging task ahead of them in the League this season. In a division expected to be controlled by the Blast and the KiXX; the Force have to be competitive in their sixteen games versus them, and they must win the games they play outside the division. Factor in the overhaul of the Force roster by new head coach Omid Namazi, and you have a team with a lot of positive upside. But a significant downside is the number of games they must play this season. The Force would very likely vote for a shorter League schedule, especially if it was more balanced (i.e.: did not have so many games for them versus the Blast and the KiXX). Cleveland is going to be a good team, perhaps as soon as next season. But in 2004-05, they could likely be one of the teams which does not qualify for the postseason.

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I have left the Western Division for last because it is the most volatile. I mentioned above the Tigres' situation. If they do not come to terms with a facility in Monterrey, I believe the franchise will be terminated in mid-season, and their players will be subjected to a dispersal draft. I doubt their opponents will be awarded forfeit victories in whatever games were unplayed.

That will scramble the entire League schedule. For the other teams in this division, the Kansas City Comets and the San Diego Sockers, their home dates versus Monterrey will likely be fulfilled by other League teams. Guess what? Those games will not be as easy as games versus the Tigres. Monterrey has only five players with prior League indoor experience (two of whom I mentioned above), but unlike the Storm, the balance of the roster is comprised of "amateur" players from outdoor soccer teams in Mexico. Despite the astute tutelage of head coach Erich Geyer, most of them are clueless insofar as indoor soccer skill and technique. If somehow the team is resuscitated, they will be the squad with the worst record at the end of the season. If the franchise is terminated, there will never again be a League franchise in Mexico.

The San Diego Sockers are the enigma team (again) this season. Starting in the rear with an "All-Universe" Goalkeeper, Victor Nogueira, a core of young defenders including Matt Johnson and Ryan Mack, and containing solid indoor veterans Steve Butcher and Sean Bowers, one would expect them to be contending for the best record in the League. They are 4-6 and are not playing up to their potential. Yes, one of those victories was at Philadelphia. I think I will answer that query I proferred above about the KiXX. When they lose, particularly at home, they underestimated their opponents. If the Tigres are terminated, and their remaining games do not become forfeit victories, and thus, the Sockers have to face the other League teams instead, they might be the ones who crash out of the playoff scenario. They could be the team that the Force overtake in order to qualify.

What happened on last Saturday night? "Management Issues"?

I will take a wild guess at what that meant. There was a monster truck exhibition, with mountains of dirt hauled in, at the San Diego Sports Arena on Friday night, and the promoter could not clean up the place in time for Saturday's indoor soccer game.

So by process of elimination, we arrive at the Kansas City Comets. It looks as though the Comets are again operating in their comfort zone. They are 5-3. They have had the majority of the Monterrey home game postponements. Dino Delevski continues to pile up the goals, but this season, he has been joined by Anthony Maher. Their goalkeeping seems to be the most stable it has been in quite a few seasons, with Sanaldo in tandem with Chris D'Amico.

If you partition the League into three tiers, with the KiXX and the Wave in the uppermost tier, the Comets are the team in the second tier who you suspect might be able to topple one of them out of the playoffs.

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That is how I currently view it. I have not yet seen all of these teams. In a riddling predicament, I receive the Blast's telecasts here in Chicago via Dish Network® dbs, but I will not get any of the Storm's telecasts until 1 April 2005.



Major Indoor Soccer League 2 Stories from December 21, 2004


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.


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