Two Sockers Are Elected to Start for All-Stars
CHICAGO — Folks in the Major Indoor Soccer League were joking that the Sockers should play a team of All-Stars instead of having the Western and Eastern Divisions square off Feb. 18 in Chicago Stadium.
After all, you’d expect the starting lineup of the Western Division team to consist primarily of players from the Sockers, right?
Surprise. Actually, just two members of the league’s best team were voted starting positions by their peers.
As expected, Steve Zungul and Branko Segota will be the starting forwards. But it wasn’t expected that they would be the only Sockers on the starting team.
Zungul and Segota are 1-2 in the league in scoring and they finished 1-2 in the number of All-Star votes received. Zungul (86 votes) has 27 goals and 32 assists for 59 points. Segota (85 votes) has 30 goals and 24 assists for 54 points.
This marks the sixth consecutive All-Star appearance for Zungul and the second straight for Segota.
San Diego midfielder Jean Willrich and defender Kevin Crow also qualified for the team by being among the six runners-up in the voting.
The other qualifiers for the Western Division team are Batata and Gus Mokalis of the Los Angeles Lazers, Erik Rasmussen of Wichita and goalkeeper Alan Mayer of Kansas City.
Those players will not officially be named until Feb. 5, which also is when Coach Ron Newman of the Sockers and his assistant, Roy Turner of Wichita, will make their four final selections. They will have to pick one player from Tacoma, which did not have anyone selected, and three other players.
As always, the balloting created some controversy.
“The voting doesn’t make sense,” said Zungul. “It’s not fair. The Sockers should have six or seven guys on the team.”
Crow started the All-Star game last year, but was not selected to start this year. Crow and Fernando Clavijo--San Diego’s starting defenders--have anchored a Socker defense that has allowed the fewest goals in the league this season.
“It’s surprising,” Newman said. “Kevin certainly has played as well as he did last year.”
ALL-STAR SELECTIONS: Western Division:
Forwards: Steve Zungul and Branko Segota, Sockers; Midfielders: Chico Borja, Wichita; Defenders: Kim Roentved, Wichita and Gino Schiraldi, Kansas City; Goalkeeper: Slobo Ilijevski, St. Louis; Coaches: Ron Newman, San Diego; Roy Turner, Wichita.
Eastern Division: Forwards: Tatu, Dallas and Stan Stamenkovic, Baltimore; Midfielder: Gerry Gray, Chicago; Defenders: Mike Stankovic and Bruce Savage, Baltimore; Goalkeeper: David Brcic, Pittsburgh; Coaches: Kenny Cooper, Baltimore and Willy Roy, Chicago.
