Minus Segota, Sockers Open Against Blast
SAN DIEGO — If there is a bright side, it is only that Branko Segota probably got a little extra sleep while his Socker teammates boarded their early-bird flight to Baltimore Sunday morning at 6:45.
Segota, the heart of the offense with a team-leading 13 playoff points, will be in San Diego tonight when the Sockers open the best-of-seven Major Indoor Soccer League championship series against Baltimore in the Baltimore Arena at 4:35.
Segota aggravated his hamstring injury Saturday while running start-and-stop sprint drills. He will undergo rehabilitation this week and hopes to be ready for Game 3 in San Diego Friday.
“I just didn’t feel I could contribute to the team right now,” Segota said. “I didn’t want to go there and just mope around and get the other guys down.”
Past games against Baltimore indicate expectations shouldn’t plunge in Segota’s absence. The Sockers had their best outing against the Blast in a game Segota missed, winning, 7-1, at Baltimore in the second-to-last meeting of the regular season. Interestingly, starters Brian Quinn and Zoran Karic also were out that game. All three were injured.
Though Segota’s presence usually causes some worry to opponents, who mark him with two defenders when he is within scoring range, the Sockers have never worried much about what to do without him. In simpler terms, they won’t make excuses.
Before the playoffs started, Quinn said: “In the end, they’re not going to say it was won by Baltimore but San Diego didn’t have Branko Segota. After all the dust is settled, they don’t write that in the record books.”
Anyway, six-time indoor champions can’t expect sympathy. Particularly from a Baltimore team with eight players who, at one time or another, have faced the Sockers and lost in a championship series. So the Sockers are planning to adapt.
“We just have to pick up the slack,” midfielder Waad Hirmez said. “Having (Segota) on the field frightens the other team. We’ll have to depend more on teamwork.”
And consistency. Intensity was up and down during the Dallas series and, as a result, the Sockers barely escaped, clinching in Game 7 with a 1-0 victory.
Quinn’s observation during the semifinal series was that not enough of the Sockers were entering the locker room tired after games.
“That’s true,” defender Kevin Crow said. “Everybody should be walking in that locker room drained. That’s the sort of attitude you need.”
The Blast, which defeated the Sockers in six of eight regular-season games, might not let them survive intensity lapses. Baltimore was well prepared from the start this season, taking players from several defunct MISL franchises last summer and building a team strong enough to jump to an 8-1 start, best in franchise history.
Never deposed from first place, the Blast went on to defeat Wichita in six games in its semifinal series to earn its shot at the defending-champion Sockers. Home-field advantage should help Baltimore, which is 11-2 against the Sockers in regular-season games at home.
Known for its balanced attack, the Blast blends offensive strength from forward David Byrne and midfielder Carl Valentine with defense led by goalie Scott Manning. Manning, in particular, has been tough on the Sockers this season, holding them to 11 goals in the first five games.
