Sockers Can’t Solve Woes With Storm

SAN DIEGO —  As the Sockers prepare for the upcoming playoffs--only a week away--there appears to be a hurdle being erected in the middle of their path to a ninth championship in 10 years.

It seems to be taking shape in St. Louis, and it has been built with the St. Louis Storm’s 30 victories, the latest of which came Sunday night in front of 6,246 at the Sports Arena, 5-3, over the Sockers.

The Storm (30-19) own the Major Soccer League’s second best record, just behind the Sockers (32-18), and although the Sockers seemed to have assured themselves of maintaining their standing, the Storm are keeping things tight.

Had the Sockers won, they would have clinched the MSL’s top record and, along with it, the home edge in the playoffs.

Instead, their magic number to do just that is now one, one victory, or one Storm loss.

And yes, even Storm players seem to think the Sockers will prevail--in the regular season--and that the two teams will meet again in the Western Division finals.

“That will probably happen,” Storm defender Mark Frederickson said. “So we have to keep pressure on them.”

Sunday, Frederickson and crew found a good way to do just that. How?

“Everybody just got back on defense and that was the difference,” Frederickson said.

Actually, that was only half of it. Besides getting back, Storm players were marking tightly on defense and frustrating the Sockers, who midway through the second quarter suddenly were not connecting on their passes.

“The Sockers are so well-coached you can’t allow them to play,” said Don Popovic, Storm coach, in explaining his side’s physical tactics. “They are just too good technically. You can’t leave Branko Segota by himself. You can’t leave Kevin Crow by himself. This David Banks kid has been doing very well for them this year. And there’s always Brian Quinn. You can go on and on and on, but the fact is they have guys on their bench who can come on the field and destroy you.”

Unless you destroy them first, and the Storm did just that to the Sockers’ confidence by hounding them on defense and dictating a physical rather than a technical game.

The result of such strategy could be seen after the first quarter. The game remained scoreless at that point, but there had been plenty of action as both teams combined for 18 fouls.

It was early in the second quarter when things started coming together for the Storm.

In the opening minutes of that quarter, seconds after Branko Segota received a two-minute penalty for bulldozing Greg Muhr, St. Louis’ Godfrey Ingram took a cross-carpet pass from Preki and wrapped a right-footed shot just inside the near-right post for a 1-0 lead.

It was the first time this season in 10 power-play opportunities against the Sockers that the Storm actually converted.

Later, with three minutes remaining in the half, Thompson Usiyan made it 2-0 when he pounced on a loose ball just inside the penalty area and to the right of the goal and poked it by defender Glenn Carbonara and goalie Victor Nogueira.

The half ended, 2-0, but early in the third quarter, Jacques Ladouceur pulled the Sockers to within one by redirecting a centering pass from Rod Castro.

Usiyan, however, nullified that when he came back to score what may be the season’s most controversial goal midway through the quarter.

It came on a rebound of a Mark Frederickson shot. Nogueira grabbed it and held it in both hands for a split-second before Usiyan reached up with his right foot, kicked the ball out of Nogueira’s hands and into the net.

“He kicked it out of my hands,” Nogueira fumed. “You cannot kick the ball out of a goalkeeper’s hands. That’s the rule and the referee was standing right in front of me. He saw the whole thing and didn’t call it.”

Usiyan said he was unsure wether Nogueira actually had it in his possession.

“It looked like he was going to catch it, but I just kicked it. Actually I was surprised it went in.”

There may have been another foul on that goal and even Thompson admitted as much.

When he kicked the ball, it was shoulder high, which is usually whistled as high kicking.

“Yes, it was very, very high,” Usiyan said. “Maybe it was a high kick.”

That wasn’t all the controversy.

After goals by Waad Hirmez and Wes Wade tied the game, 3-3, and after Preki put the Sockers back down, 4-3, Wade thought he tied it up again when he took a pass from Segota and pushed it behind St. Louis goalie Zoltan Toth. As the ball rolled over or on the goal line--no one’s sure what it did as different people saw it different ways depending the color jersey they wore--Frederickson came by and cleared the ball.

“Yeh, it was over the line,” Wade said. “As soon as I kicked it I stopped. And you know me, I usually keep going, but this one was in.”

Said Frederickson, “It was on the line. If it was all the way over, I couldn’t have cleared it because I came from the side. The goal judge was standing right there and had the perfect view.”

The rule is that the entire ball has to go over the line.