Sidekicks Never Say Die - MISL 1987 - Part 6/9

The first half of Game 6 lives up to the hype

The game begins.

Another goal is quickly attached to Dowler’s GA. The muscular Doc Lawson, described by the announcers as “chiseled out of granite,” sends a shot past the Welshman into the net. Right foot to upper-right corner.

“He was a big boy, Doc, wasn’t he?” Dowler remembers.

Dallas 1 – Tacoma 0.

Most teams play two defenders and one midfielder. But Dallas plays three defenders, forsaking a midfielder. Victor Moreland, one of those defenders, and team captain, chats through the glass with some Sidekicks fans after clearing the ball.

Dallas has another opportunity. There’s nothing more frantic than a ball a couple feet from the opponent’s goal. Players fall all over each other, desperate to reach it. Dowler goes down, but the Sidekicks can’t quite get it in.

Preki’s dribbling allows him to beat almost anybody if he’s in a one-on-one situation. So Dallas does their best to deny that opportunity. But it isn’t Preki that capitalizes on a one-on-one to draw first blood for the Stars. Gary Heale evens the score in the 2^nd quarter when he catches the Dallas defense flat-footed. Right foot to left corner, past Sobieski.

Dallas 1 – Tacoma 1.

Dowler robs Colombian forward Willie Molano of a goal with 7:00 left in the 2^nd quarter.

Then it’s Preki’s turn to get robbed. He avoids a slide tackle from Dallas keeper Sobieski and briefly faces an open net. But Doc Lawson steps in to block it.

This is Steve Žungul’s sixth championship series. He’s 5-0 at this point. He has played in 60 consecutive MISL playoff games. He won with the New York Arrows in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982. He failed to win in 1983 and 1984, but that’s because his team wasn’t there.

But he’s here tonight. He hangs around the goal and does his best Jeff Bourne impersonation, knocking it in with the side of his foot. It is his first goal ever in Reunion Arena. The fans had even hung a banner to commemorate the “Reunion Jinx.” I guess they’ll have to take it down.

Dallas 1 – Tacoma 2.

Gerry Gray beats Sobieski, but Victor Moreland, Dallas’ captain, kicks it off the line to save the day. Then, Dallas incurs a two-minute penalty. Wes McLeod realizes Tacoma forward Godfrey Ingram has him beat and grabs on, knowing a blue card is coming. Tacoma now has a man advantage. They have 30 goals on 45 power play attempts in the playoffs.

But the Sidekicks get the ball and go on a fast break. Forward Kevin “Smudger” Smith and Yugoslav-turned-Canadian Mike Uremovich dance down the field, tapping it back and forth between them. Smith to Uremovich to Smith to net. He punches it in with his right foot to score a short-handed goal for Dallas. Dowler throws the ball out into the field in frustration.

Dallas 2 – Tacoma 2.

The Stars, still on a power play, fail to take advantage. Shot after shot fails to find its way into the goal. The buzzer sounds.

Halftime.

The series has been hard on the players. The whole season, really.

“On June 18, of 1987, that was day 218 of the season. I’m talking about from opening day, not even training camp or the exhibitions. These guys had been running since October of the previous year,” Balthrop says.

Travel during the regular season exhausts the players, not to mention the actual physical brutality of an indoor soccer game.

“I don’t think people realize. I try to explain it to people [in Wales], but they have no concept of the size of America. We had back-to-back games and were over on the East Coast on a Wednesday night and on a Thursday night we had a home game against somebody else,” Dowler explains.

Dowler has to break out a globe to drive home the point to his Welsh buddies.

“We got a bit of string and put it across from Tacoma to Baltimore and I said, ‘Let’s imagine we are a London-based English team now. We put that onto London and the end of string was in Iraq. ‘We are playing in Baghdad tonight and tomorrow we are back home.’ The British guys were like, ‘Oh, that’s crazy!’” Dowler says.

The Championship Series schedule adds to the exhaustion. The 2-2-1-1-1 format drains the energy of even the most well-conditioned players. For the Sidekicks, that means a 2,000-mile flight to Tacoma, a 2,000-mile flight back to Dallas, a 2,000-mile flight to Tacoma, a 2,000-mile flight back to Dallas, a 2,000-mile flight to Tacoma, and, finally, a (you guessed it) 2,000-mile flight back to Dallas. Now imagine playing your heart out seven times amidst all that travel. Jago and Hinton agree that it is simply too much over just 12 days.

“Gary Heale was what I consider a model pro. He said if somebody had a shot, he’d follow the shot in, in case the keeper dropped it, and he could knock it in. Sobieski was in goal for Dallas. He was sound. Good keeper, nice technique,” Dowler remembers.

But exhaustion can sabotage even the most seasoned pro.

“Gary told me, ‘Somebody had a shot and I was going to chase it, but I was too knackered. I couldn’t move. I won’t bother chasing this one.’ And Sobieski dropped it. And Gary said, ‘Oh god, I might not have scored, but I would have had a chance of knocking it in. I just didn’t have the legs to chase it in,’” Dowler says.

In the league office, Bill Kentling had to make hard decisions about the structure of the finals.

“I can argue either side of it. I don’t know what the correct answer is to it. I personally favor a 2-3-2. It does cut down on travel. Those who like the 1-1-1 finish talk about fairness and equity,” Kentling says.

At the half, as Norm Hitzges interviews Alan Hinton, the Tacoma coach quickly turns his back to something off-camera. The superstitious coach doesn’t want to see the championship trophy as it is taken out of the room. But it’s too late.

Dallas coach Gordon Jago

In the other locker room, Mike Renshaw asks Gordon Jago, “Is it going to be a glass slipper or a poison apple?”

“It is a fairy tale and all fairy tales have a happy ending,” Jago replies.

Next week: The rest of Game 6!