Perennial soccer powers warming up for season - Winnipeg Free Press

Lucania, Sons of Italy head for exhibition series

Sat May 21 2005

By Allan Besson

THE Manitoba Major Soccer League season is barely a week old, but things are already beginning to heat up between perennial Premier Division powerhouses Lucania and the Sons of Italy Lions.
Lucania, under new coach Patrick Di Stefani, is 1-0 after a 3-0 victory over AFF, while the Lions' first game was rained out, as was a planned May 7 exhibition game between Lucania and coach Larry Ladobruk's Lions.
The Sons of Italy are off to Minnesota to play a trio of exhibition games against university squads this weekend, while Lucania is heading to Thunder Bay, Ont., for a tournament Di Stefani says will be an excellent test for the new system he has introduced from his coaching time in Europe.
"All the teams here try to play 'Don't hold onto the ball,' " said Di Stefani, who replaced Kevin McKay, who resigned. "So what we are trying to do is play that system, but on top of that we are trying to create movement. This is something that is not taught here because it is not a culture.
"It will be a challenge, but I believe that as an athlete you should be able to adjust in order to learn new things."
Returning players such as midfielder Rob Gale, who played English soccer for Fulham, and Damian Rocke, another midfielder in his seventh year with Lucania, are likely to help make the transition to the new system easier. "It may be something that Patrick is comfortable with," Rocke said. "We have definitely played a variation of what he is teaching us. The reality is that you try to maximize all your players' abilities, and that is what Patrick is trying to do. This weekend will really test the system.
"What we need is to push ourselves and see what mistakes we make and what we can do to correct them."
Gale said there's no reason Lucania can't adapt.
"These guys are big enough, ugly enough and old enough to deal with anything thrown at them," he said.
One of Lucania's brightest prospects is Ted Simeonides, a midfielder who has signed a pro contract in Greece for next year. However, he'll be with the team for only a few months before leaving for the pros.
The Lucania hype doesn't scare Ladobruk, whose Lions have won the MMSL Premier Division title the last two years and the national championship in 2002. "We are probably as strong, if not stronger than last year," he said. "We probably have the two best goaltenders on our team in Steve Sawatzky and Kevin Krause. Steve is coming off a knee injury from last year, but both are healthy now."
Moreno Alberti, a member of the Northwest team that represented Manitoba at the nationals last year, will help strengthen them at the striker spot, Ladobruk said. "He'll play behind Nolly Sanchez, who was the top striker last year, breaking the record for scoring with 32 goals. Nolly is the best finisher in the league."
The Premier Division is the cream of the MMSL crop of 93 teams that are broken up into six divisions of 12 teams each (except for the fifth division, which has 13). Each year, the top two teams in each division move up to the next division, while the bottom two squads in each division are relegated to the next division down.
The MMSL also has two recreational leagues -- the Winnipeg Soccer League (13 teams) and the seven-team Masters league, which is for players over 35.
"We have just under 2,000 registered players," said MMSA spokesman Rick Moreira, adding the league is in its fourth year since the Central Soccer League and the Super Soccer Alliance merged. Each team plays at least 22 games and as many as 30 if they make the MSA Cup and playoffs.
A complete MMSL schedule can be found at the league's website, www.manitobamajorsoccer.com.