Blues, Steamers Had Desire to Win
By Bob Broeg
Now that the Steamers have let
off their last puff of steam, the Blues
will skate onto the same south end of
the Checkerdome on Wednesday and
Thursday nights in the opening
round of the National Hockey
League playoffs. If they should wln
the Stanley Cup, it would he most
pleasant, but not really a surprise.
Not, that is, when anyone
considers the magic of the moment,
a wonderful winter in which both the
indoor soccer team and the hockey,
club proved once again that, as
Jimmy Roberts put it, "The name of
the game is desire."
The virtual bottom-to-top climb
both the Steamers and the Blues
was truly a tribute to their improved
talent and, of course, to obvious
organizational direction and
coaching leadership. Above all,
however, it came about because of
the inspired play - the desire, as
expressed by Roberts, former Blues
handyman who now is assistant
coach of the Buffalo Sabres - that
reflected mainly the fairytale flight
of both squads.
Practically, it showed, too, the
figurative and literal lift in the spirit
and standings that an outstanding
goalkeeper can give a soccer or
hockey team, just as top-flight
pitching is paramount in baseball
and professional football.
The trick, of course, is for the
football Cardinals to sign their meal
tiket, quarterback Jim Hart, and
for the baseball club to come up with
good enough starting pitching so
that Bruce Sutter will have a chance
to save the game. And it's to be
hoped that the Blues will have
renewed vigor in the playoffs,
including goalie Mike Liut as a Most
Valuable Player candidate.
As you know, goalie Slobo
Ilijevski came within a picture-book
shot by Emilio Romero of leading
the Steamers to victory over the
New York Arrows in the
championship game of the Major
Indoor Soccer League. If Romero's
breakaway blast after an Arrows
back had slipped in the final seven
minutes had been a fraction of an
inch to the right, his upper-corner
shot would have beaten back New
York's bid for a third straight MISL
title.
If St. Louis had gone ahead at
that point, I don't believe that even
Steve Zungul could have done it for
the Cosmos. And Zungul, as in
jungle, is indeed a predator in
sneakers, ready to pounce on the
slightest opportunity.
The goal-scoring ability of the
exasperating Yugoslav points out
some of the mountains American
soccer players must climb to
compete at the top internationally,
particularly in outdoor soccer.
Despite the Steamers' smashing
success with virtually a complete
American and even local team, the
North American Soccer League
continues to treat U.S. players as if
they had contagious diseases.
Until American players beyond
the intermediate stage get more
meaningful competition
internationally, U.S. soccer will
continue to grow globally as if carried by a turtle with the gout.
So Walter Chyzowych, the former Ukrainian now coaching our
national team, had a capital idea when he suggested that the best way
to develop American soccer would be to place the top U.S. players on
one team in the outdoor pro league.
The minor manner on which NASL teams rely on Yankees might
make it practical for them to consider turning their bench warmers or token substitutes over to
one team that, in effect, would be the national team playing together constantly.
If you could keep the Americans together on a MISL team in the winters, too, the country's soccer
best would be able to achieve the cohesion and understanding equal to
the opportunity to play regularly against so-called better teams.
Certainly, tearing foreign pros could be obtained for additional high-level
competition and the U.S. players could take a trip or two abroad on
their own, too. If by cooperation from all, including the Federation of
International Football Associations and the U.S. Soccer Football
Federation, a meeting of minds would bring the cream of American
soccer together as a regular rather than occasional team, I believe U.S.
soccer would take seven-league strides.
Certainly not, of course, for the 1982 World Cup in Spain, for which
the United States failed to survive competition in the North American
zone. Uncle Sam's shinkickers might not even be competitive
enough to go far in the 1986 Cup in Colombia, but I'd bet they'd have
the thrill of getting the chance.
The guess is that if the United States could win competitive bidding
to hold the 1990 World Cup, a 16-team tournament that brings
money, prestige and the attention of all nations, the U.S. team would be
able to play well enough to win some
games if not the championship.
The impact of home-grown talent topping, say, Russia or East
Germany in soccer might not match the histrionics and hysteria of
America's hockey victory over the Soviet Union last year in the Winter
Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y., but it would provide the biggest
springboard to a game played more extensively now by both girls' and
boys' teams because it is inexpensive and the cardiovascular
result most favorable.
If the national team members ever are assembled for play
together in a league, outdoors and indoors, I hope it's here. St. Louis
would deserve first crack at being the home of the national squad
because the area is the fountainhead for most American talent. The
thought is that local folks would find the experiment interesting and
challenging.
As interesting and as challenging as the indoor soccer season was here
and as hockey was, too, as the Blues performed extremely well in Act 1.
The curtain rises now on the second act, so...
Encore, men, encore!
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