Sidekicks Never Say Die - MISL 1987 - Part 4/9

The Sidekicks come face-to-face with The Lord of All Indoors

To read Parts 1, 2, and 3, click HERE

The Tacoma Stars had destiny on their side: the Lord of All Indoors Steve Žungul, young sensation Preki, crack defender Neil Megson, prolific scorer Gary Heale, and two All-MISL goalkeepers in Joe Papaleo and Mike Dowler. The pair had shared duties throughout the playoffs, splitting time evenly. Tacoma coach Alan Hinton had put together an All-Star team.

“The squad he put together was pretty good,” Mike Dowler said.

That was for sure. The Stars finished the regular season with a league-best 35-17 record and as the #1 seed in the Western Division. The winning percentage on their 18-8 ROAD record was an eye-popping 69%. In fact, that percentage was higher than any MISL team’s OVERALL winning percentage.

“[They had] the best team money could buy in the MISL: four 70-point scorers, goals and assists, on that team. That’s an MISL record,” Alan Balthrop said.

After a successful start to his MISL career in Wichita, Mike Dowler had been ready for a change of scenery. He had arrived in Tacoma prior to Žungul  and Preki, drawn by the presence of British players and a climate that reminded him of home. His timing turned out to be fortuitous.

“All players want a championship. After a certain amount of time, you need to move on to challenge yourself. You become part of the furniture a little bit,” Dowler said.

Though Alan Hinton had not been coach when he arrived, Dowler had confidence in the ability of the former Derby County player to take the Stars to the next level. Hinton had played under the legendary Brian Clough there, and Dowler believed his controversial methods had something of an impact on Hinton’s managerial style.

“We were playing in Los Angeles and lost. And [Hinton] wasn’t very happy. We weren’t very happy either, but he was particularly disappointed in our effort I think. When we got to the bus to get back to the hotel, he said, ‘No, you get your own bus. This bus is for me.’ That was a typical Brian Clough type of thing. So we had to phone up and get our own bus back to the hotel,” Dowler remembers.

Though Dowler wasn’t the type of player that needed a coach on his butt, pushing him to be better, he understood that not everyone on the team had his self-motivation.

“Ball players can be funny. Sometimes you have to cajole the very best out of them in whatever ways you think fit. There are a lot of egos and you have to learn how to manage them,” Dowler said.

And by early June in 1987, Hinton proved his management skills on the pitch. Though the San Diego Sockers took the Stars to the full seven games in the Western Division finals, they couldn’t stop them from reaching what they believed to be their destiny: an MISL championship.

“They loaded up their team…they traded for Žungul , they bought as many superstars that they could. Nobody was paying attention to that lovely little Cinderella in Texas that had somehow beaten the Blast in five games. That shouldn’t have happened,” Balthrop said.

MISL commissioner Bill Kentling was the first to admit that Tacoma vs. Dallas wasn’t exactly the dream matchup for a league looking to expand its presence in the national media.

“I think that, whether people admit it or not, every commissioner hopes it’s New York vs. LA or New York vs. Chicago, as opposed to Tacoma vs. Wichita. Subliminally, is that on your mind? Yes. Does it actually play out? No, it doesn’t. But did I want Tatu vs. Žungul ? Hell yes,” Kentling said.

Dallas had already advanced, while Tacoma still battled San Diego. A dog show at the Tacoma Dome extended their break, giving Dallas a full nine days of rest. It should have benefited them.

It did not.

On June 9, in Game 1 of the Championship Series, the Stars took advantage of their home field and used a relentless fast break to dismantle the Sidekicks 10-4. Preki scored four goals and made four assists in the effort. Tatu vs. Preki now stood at 0-1. For his part, Tatu felt that no team had dominated them like that all season.

 “[Preki] just had an unbelievable night. They’ve got a lot of weapons to stop. But think Preki, next to Tatu, is the most unstoppable player in the league,” Doc Lawson said.

Despite the utter triumph of the blowout, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Richie Whitt noted that Preki’s performance took the spotlight off of the league’s all-time leader in almost every offensive category: Steve Žungul. The relationship between the two players was suspect.

“The two frequently show their dislike for one another on the field,” Whitt added.

At the November 14 regular season game in Dallas, Alan Hinton had to separate Preki and Žungul  during an argument on the bench. Considering the importance of a team playing as one unit, the relationship between Žungul  and his teammates offered a glimmer of hope for a Dallas team that seemed underqualified when it came to the stat sheet. If they couldn’t match the individual talent of the Stars, maybe their team play could compensate?

The Lord of All Indoors himself…Steve Zungul

Žungul had a penchant for ripping into his teammates, especially young American players. But because his talent was undeniable, players sometimes felt he must have the right to do so, Dowler said.

And sometimes not.

“We had a team meeting one time. [Žungul] had a go at Gerry Gray, a Canadian. We were around a boardroom table. I don’t remember what Žungul said, but Gerry just stood up and punched him. Gerry was 5’7 and Žungul  was 6’1. We had to break them up,” Dowler said.

But for many professional athletes, the lure of a championship trumps everything. And Žungul had trophies galore.

“He wasn’t the nicest character, but at the same time, do you need nice characters on the sports pitch or do you want winners?” Dowler said.

Žungul didn’t make much of a case for being the MISL’s Mr. Congeniality after his post-Game 1 comments to a Tacoma TV station:

“Dallas is supposed to be the untalented underdogs. Tonight, they played like underdogs,” Žungul said.

And in Game 2 the Sidekicks played like underdogs again. Žungul scored his 100^th playoff goal in a 7-4 victory, sending the Sidekicks back to Dallas facing an 0-2 deficit.

“That’s when Cinderella’s carriage might have turned into a pumpkin,” said Alan Balthrop.

Balthrop remembers Tatu saying that he wanted Tacoma to be overconfident. Considering no MISL team had ever come back from a 2-0 Finals deficit, confidence would be understandable.

“The atmosphere after the first two games was, ‘They were on their way.’ This could be a 4-0 series for them because they played very well and gained two reasonably easy victories. I think they felt, ‘We’re good and they aren’t so good. They’ve been overachieving all season. The bubble has burst. We are gonna win 4-0,’” Dallas coach Gordon Jago said.

Next Week: Part 5 of “Sidekicks Never Say Die”