Also some connection with my Alma Mater, as Dir and Eck are from my college. And for that matter, Tommy Soehn's. Go Leathernecks!
I was going through a box of old tapes of games and found one with the '93 APSL championship game. It was the Colorado Foxes and the LA Salsa. It was playd at Fullerton and seems like there was a good turn out. There are some connects to MLS in the game. Colorado is coached by Dave Dir and Dodd and Eck playing on the team. There was another midfielder from the that team that also playd for the Burn, but I can't remember the name. On LA, they had Ian Feur who also playd in MLS and the legendary Thor Lee (he scored the first goal for DC if you count own goals) that had a cup of coffee with DC United. There were a couple of players for LA that I think just missed out on MLS. They were midfielder Dale Ervine and Mike (I think this is his first name) Fox. They were part of that generation between NASL and MLS, that didn't really have any where to paly. Overall it was a fun game to watch and a reminder of how far we've come in the last 11 years.
Ahhh memories... I was also at that game, working on the TV broadcast on SportsChannel America. The commentators where Geoff Witcher and Tony Meola! It was indeed a packed house, which was pretty cool as the Salsa didn't usually draw more than 3K/game. Colorado tied the match late in the second half, then scored twice in the non-Sudden Death OT to win 3-1. There were a lot of future MLSers in that match. Not only did Colorado have Dir, Eck, and Dodd, but also Robin Fraser, plus guys who had a cup of coffee and slunk back to indoor or obscurity like Iain Fraser, Tom Soehn, Brian Haynes, Chad Ashton, and Scott Benedetti. The Salsa also had their share of MLSers as well, with not only Feuer and Lee, but also Paul Wright, Danny Pena, and Lawrence Lozzano. The assistant coach for the LA was Octavio Zambrano.
Yes it is. And this past season in fact marked their return to post season soccer after a decade and a half of hovering between sucking and mediocrity. But back to the original thread idea: interesting find by Butler Bob. I would point out that regarding Eric B's point that, while Soehn was basically an indoor player who only had a couple of journey-man level seasons in MLS, he helped the Fire quite a bit in their inaugeral season. He wasn't a great player, but he got the job done when we needed him. And I'd say this even if he didn't go to my alma mater.
Also, it is not sufficient to say that Brian Haynes languishes in mediocrity as he is still as assistant coach with the Burn and was a starter on defense for a number of years until he got old (and hurt?). He was more of a...regional sensation. He is also one of the nicer people I ever met.
Hey, I built a whole high school and college career on thriving on mediocrity. But other then us, who really knows who most of these players are.
Interesting where are they nows as a lot of these guys are now coaches, some at fairly high levels. Geoff Witcher - never heard of him Tony Meola - still active, KC Wizards (for now) Dave Dir - assistant coach, US U20 team Ted Eck - coach, (Dallas) Texas Spurs youth soccer Mark Dodd - Not sure what he's doing now Robin Fraser - still active - Clb. Crew (and some say de facto coach) Ian Frasier - coach, Capital Valley (Sacramento) United youth soccer Tom Soehn - asst. coach, DC United Brian Haynes - asst. coach, Dallas Burn Chad Ashton - head coach, Univ. of Denver Scott Benedetti - coach, Lake Oswego (Ore.) Youth Soccer club Ian Feuer - coach, Southern California United youth soccer Paul Wright - still active, San Diego Sockers (MISL) Thor Lee - coach, West Valley (LA) Samba youth soccer Danny Pena - Not sure what he's doing now Lawrence Lozzano - Not sure what he's doing now Octavio Zambrano - Not sure what he's doing now
Geoff was the play-by-play guy. He currently does local TV sports work here in LA. [Troy McClure]You might remember him from such movies as Like Mike and For the Love of the Game[/Troy McClure]
And the Salsa also had Brazilian star/APSL sensation Paulinho Criciuma, who apparently just missed out on Brazil's '90 WC team. IIRC, the game turned when LA Head Coach Rildo Menezes took out Paulinho at the 80 minute mark with a 1-0 lead, replacing him with future MLS cannon-leg Harut Karapetyan. I saw Geoff Witcher in a NetZero ad a few months back. During the '93 season, he did a show called "This Week in Pro Soccer", which may have produced by the Salsa. Sometimes, he was replaced by David Bolton, whose voice could be charitably described as annoying. Yes, I do think I have tapes of TWiPS and the '93 championship somewhere. Great memories.
Hey someone remembers my shows! I worked on those in my TV salad days. Bolton was also the producer of those shows. In 1993, TWIPS was funded by Soccer USA Partners, who had a deal with the league, but were also a marketig partner of the USSF, so our show had a lot of USMNT content. The Salsa did have a "Game of the Week" show of their own in 1993, produced by Bolton, who was also the team's media relations guy. He was also involved in with the US(IS)L in their TV productions from 1994 on, and still produces some of those games now.
As a Salsa fan I remember the game vividly. A full house 12,000 plus and Danny Pena missing a sitter in front of the goal that would of given the Salsa the game. Everytime I see Danny at a Galaxy game he runs from me because he knows I'm gonna razz him about that sitter!!!
I thought the Crew's first goal was that McBride one-timer off his own header after Oshonyi's massive punt that went almost the length of the pitch... That, IMO, is still the greatest goal I've ever seen.