The San Diego Sockers kicked off their second year in the Major Arena Soccer League with a 7-5 victory against Soles de Sonora Oct. 24 at the Valley View Casino Center. Among the 4,033 fans in attendance was longtime Chula Vista resident Norbert Stein, otherwise affectionately known in local soccer circles simply as “The Captain.”
At 102 years young, Stein is not only the team’s official No. 1 fan but also its oldest fan, to boot.
“I’m still signing my own checks and attending soccer games,” explained Stein, who has supported the Sockers throughout their various incarnations in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, Continental Indoor Soccer League, World Indoor Soccer League, MISL II, Professional Arena Soccer League and now the MASL.
“I’m more than excited.”
As per team custom with every Sockers home game, Stein was invited into the team’s locker room to give a pre-game pep talk at the season opener.
“I get applause from all the players, everybody,” Stein said with pride in his voice. “I’m the only guy in the world who can go into the locker room before the game and talk to the players.”
The players enjoy Stein’s support.
“We love having him here,” explained Sockers midfielder Brian Farber, the PASL’s 2008-09 Most Valuable Player. “He gets us fired up before every game. It’s a game ritual having him in the locker room. We look forward to it.”
Also as per custom, Stein presented a $100 bill to the first Sockers player to score a goal. That honor went to Evan McNeley when he scored with 4:31 remaining in the first quarter to tie the match against Sonora.
The first-year Mexican club had shocked many in the arena by scoring just eight seconds into the game. That honor went to David Parente.
The teams traded goals until the Sockers managed to pull away late in the third quarter. Kraig Chiles and Jeff Hughes each scored two goals to lead the Sockers to the opening night victory.
“That team gave us a lot of trouble, they’re not bad,” Stein surmised after the game.
The Sockers, owners of 14 indoor soccer league championships during their legendary history, are believed to be fielding an upgraded product this season. Traditionally, the team has been regarded as the standard to which other clubs in the league are measured.
The Sockers won the PASL’s inaugural four titles and finished as Pacific Division champions with a 16-4 record in last season’s MASL standings. They finished 13-3 the previous season, 15-1 in 2012-13 and 16-0 in 2011-12.
It looks to be a highly competitive season in the MASL’s second year of operation after Sonora defeated the Sockers, 15-8, in a return match Nov. 7 in Hermosillo. The game was tied, 6-6, at halftime.
The Sockers (1-1) hope to get back on the winning track when they host the Ontario Fury (1-1) Saturday, Nov. 21. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
The Sockers then depart on a three-game road swing, with stops in Ontario, Harrisburg (Pa.) and Baltimore, before returning to host Athletico Baja, an expansion team based in Tijuana that is coached by Southwest High School alumnus Rene Ortiz, on Dec. 10. The Sockers host the Fury again on Dec. 19.
Ortiz coached Team Mexico in the 2015 Arena Soccer World Cup. Team Mexico finished runner-up to Team USA in the championship final.
Teams from 12 countries participated in the inaugural event that took place in nine cities across the United States from March 21-29.
Team USA defeated Germany, 9-2, in the quarterfinals and then Romania, 7-3, in the semifinals before edging Mexico, 5-3, in the championship game.
Chiles had two goals in the final and finished as the top scorer in the tournament.
Farber was a member of the victorious American squad.
“It was fun,” he said. “Any time you can represent your country, it’s a proud moment.”
The great indoors
Valhalla High School alumnus Anthony Medina was in the Sockers’ opening night line-up for the seventh consecutive season. He has played with the current edition of the Sockers in each of their seasons dating from 2009, and has not missed a game during that span.
The Sockers’ iron man was the only player on the team to play in all 48 games when the Sockers set a new U.S. professional sports team record for consecutive wins,
The Sockers defeated the SD Fusion, 7-5, on Dec. 29, 2010, and piled up 48 straight wins – along with two PASL championships, two U.S. Arena Soccer Open Cup championships and a FIFRA club championship title – over parts of three seasons and four calendar years before finally dropping a 6-5 overtime match in Dallas on Jan. 27, 2013.
The previous record was 40 games set by the Sioux Falls Storm, an arena football team from 2005 to 2008.
The 48-game winning streak is a remarkable feat, and Medina remains a remarkable player.
An original member of the Sockers’ third edition team, Medina has won four league championships with the team and eight championship trophies overall.
At 36, he still pulls regular shifts on the floor. Last season, he played in all 20 games, netting nine goals and five assists.
Entering this season, the six-foot-one, 185-pound attacking midfielder had appeared in 97 career games with 74 goals and 48 assists for 122 points.
Medina had a goal in the Sockers’ opening night win and made his 99th career regular season start in the game in Sonora.
He is still motivated to win another league title.
And so are his teammates.
The Sockers are among 21 MASL teams this season. The San Diegans fell to the Las Vegas Legends, 7-6, in last season’s Pacific Division championship playoff game. It was the Sockers’ first home playoff loss in six seasons.
Thus, there is a bit of unfinished business on the part of the returning division champions.
The Sockers franchise has won 14 indoor league championships during its three incarnations, including four with the current group and 10 with the original founding franchise. The PASL merged with the Major Indoor Soccer League last season to form the MASL.
Besides capturing four PASL titles from 2010 to 2013, the current Sockers squad also won the U.S. Arena Soccer Open Cup during the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons and the FIFRA club championship in 2012.
Team management feels the team is ripe to win another title in 2015-16.
“Losing in the playoffs two years in a row has prompted us to make a lot of changes,” Sockers head coach Phil Salvagio explained. “We brought in seven new players to compete and almost everyone is returning. So it’s better competition. The players will need to fight every day to get on the game day roster.”
Medina isn’t the only celebrated Sockers player. Teammate Kraig Chiles, a Poway High School and SDSU alum, scored two goals in the opening win over Sonora to boost his career mark to 248 goals. The three-time PASL MVP needes two goals to reach the 250-goal plateau and needs six goals to tie the all-time Sockers record set by the legendary Juli Veee (254 goals from 1980 to 1988).
Veee was in attendance at the Sockers home opener.
Corner kicks
The Sockers, Sonora and Ontario are rivals this season in the realigned Pacific Division along with the Tacoma Stars and Dallas Sidekicks. The Stars are off to a 3-0 start.
In the return match in Sonora, Matt Clare, Angel Ruiz and Victor Quiroz each scored their first goals with the Sockers. Clare scored just four seconds into the game to tie a franchise record for fastest goal scored in a match.
However, the game was played at a very fast pace and that seemed to wear down on the visitors as the second half progressed, with Sonora pulling away from an 8-7 lead in the third quarter.
“We were short a couple of guys,” SD’s Salvagio said. “We were running on tired legs and that was the biggest factor. Fitness was our main downfall.”
