By most measures, the Landon Donovan Experiment was a success last season for the San Diego Sockers.
With the addition of the former U.S. national team star in mid-February, they got more people to come to games at Pechanga Arena, including a one-night record for this latest version of the long-standing franchise.
They sold more jerseys than ever, and the Major Arena Soccer League enjoyed publicity and internet headlines it couldn’t have purchased.
“There are things you can’t put a price tag on,” Sockers General Manager Sean Bowers said.
What Donovan didn’t deliver was the prize the Sockers most coveted — a 15th indoor title that would have ended what seems an interminable drought for the team that has now gone six seasons without a championship.
Not that the final result falls on Donovan’s shoulders. In eight regular-season games, he scored a respectable five goals and added 11 assists. But Donovan also didn’t notch a point in two playoff games while playing with nagging injuries.
With a chance to host the finals if they won at home in the semis, the Sockers were eliminated in overtime by Monterrey.
After going up by a goal with less than five minutes remaining, the Sockers surrendered the tying tally with 2:29 left and surrendered the Flash’s winner 54 seconds into overtime.
Brutal.
“We were devastated by not achieving that goal,” Bowers said.
Ending the season with the league’s best record of 23-2 just wasn’t good enough.
In the new season, which begins Sunday when the Sockers host the Cal (formerly Turlock) Express at 5 p.m., there likely won’t be any shocking midseason gs.
Though Bowers said he would have been happy to have him back, Donovan is now manager of the city’s new United Soccer League second-division outdoor team, San Diego Loyal. In some fashion, the teams will seemingly compete for soccer market share when the Loyal begin play in March. (The Sockers’ last regular-season game is March 22.)
Bowers said he’s spoken extensively with Loyal founder Warren Smith about how to create a mutually beneficial relationship between the clubs. And Donovan said in his introductory news conference that there were Sockers he might look at for his team.
“We want to do what we can to provide help for their foundation,” Bowers said. “We’re only going to win from that. We have our ers and they’ll have theirs, and we’ll encourage them to interact and come to our games. We’ll be there to each other.”
On the field, the Loyal would do well to create a team that competes as successfully as the Sockers.
San Diego returns virtually all of its key pieces from last year, including potent scorers Brandon Escoto (32 goals, 55 points), Kraig Chiles (35-49) and Leonardo De Oliveira (15-40), along with the MASL’s top goalkeeper from last season, Boris Pardo (3.90 goals-against average).
At 35 and entering his 11th season, Chiles had some nagging injuries last season that kept him from some starts, but the San Diego State alum still managed to be No. 2 in the league in goals. As the franchise’s all-time leading goal scorer, Chiles remains the player the team revolves around.
“We need to keep him healthy,” Bowers said. “When he’s healthy, he’s good for a couple of goals a game. And when he’s not on the field, we miss him. He’s become a better leader every year.”
Looking for places to improve, Bowers, head coach Phil Salvagio and assistant Chiky Luna identified the need for some left-footed power in defense and attack.
They seemingly produced a significant trade by sending Christian Segura to Utica City FC for playmaking midfielder Slavisa Ubiparipovic. The 30-year-old with a strong left-footed shot set a career high with 40 points (19 goals) last season.
They also beefed up the defense by g 25-year-old Mexican Emmanuel Aguirre, another left-footer who made his MASL debut last season with Rio Grande Valley, and Brazilian Luis Piffer, who played for the Sockers in 2014-15 before returning to his native country to play futsal.
One more potentially key move was made this week with the g of 30-year-old Chula Vista resident Cesar Romero, who as recently as 2018 played in the Armenian Premier League.
Changes around MASL
At the league level, it seems the MASL is always in flux with its franchises.
From last season, Rio Grande Valley and El Paso are gone. There’s a new franchise in Mesquite, Nev., and Sonora and Rochester have returned to the league to give it 18 teams total.
Four previous divisions have been combined into two conferences, with the Sockers aligned in the Western with California, Tacoma, Dallas, Ontario, Sonora and Monterrey.
The 24-game schedule features six clashes with Eastern Conference foes, including a Feb. 12 meeting with an old, bitter rival from the MISL days, the Baltimore Blast.
“The old-school rivalries from the ‘80s are something the league needs to embrace, and they’ve done a great job of that this season,” Bowers said.
