Sockers’ Willrich Is Still Scoreless

SAN DIEGO —  Less playing time and no goals have made Jean Willrich’s first five games quite frustrating.

The Socker midfielder, the seventh-leading scorer in the Major Indoor Soccer League last season with 43 goals and 43 assists, has just one assist entering tonight’s 7:35 game against the St. Louis Steamers in the Sports Arena.

“It’s tough,” Willrich said. “Sometimes the shots go in and sometimes they don’t.”

More often than not this season, Willrich’s right-footers have found the seats rather than the nets.

“I don’t want to use it as an excuse,” Willrich said, “but I don’t like this new ball. I think that is a little bit of the problem.”

The ball is lighter, and many of the shooters with hard shots have complained it is more difficult to control.

But Willrich is more perturbed about his playing time--or, rather, the lack of it.

“I don’t get the playing time I got last year,” he said. “I am off the field for six to seven minutes at a stretch, and I get cold on the bench. I talked about it with Ron (Newman), and he says you have to give everybody a chance.”

One of the reasons Willrich has played less is because the team has been in short-handed situations 23 times. Willrich does not play on the “No Goal Patrol” that has stopped the opposition in 20 of 23 attempts.

“When you have a lot of power-play situations, it creates a problem for offensive players like him,” Newman said. “And when you are a bit frustrated, you want to get on the field even more. But Jean has been getting as much playing time as Hugo (Perez) or Branko (Segota).”

Willrich has taken 16 shots, but the red light has yet to go on. Perez has a team-high 8 goals on 17 shots, and Segota has 5 on a team-high 34 shots. Three of Segota’s goals came against Wichita last Saturday night.

“Maybe Jean will break out and get the hat trick this game,” Newman said.

“Actually, he is playing quite well and has made some great passes. He has been unlucky in terms of finishing. I don’t want him to worry about losing his job and don’t want it (lack of scoring) to be on his mind.”

Said Willrich: “When I think a lot about scoring, I force and try too hard. I like to just go out and let whatever happens happen.

“But in Wichita Saturday night, I was thinking, ‘Why don’t I shoot more?’ Something in my feet was telling me to pass the ball. Next time, I should just kick it.”

Socker Notes

The possibility of Steve Zungul being reunited with Coach Don Popovic in Pittsburgh is still alive. “It will definitely be decided by Monday,” Zungul said Friday afternoon. “I have been talking to everybody, but I don’t want to mention names.” Said Socker Coach Ron Newman: “Everybody is available for the right amount of money, and we told them it would cost a lot of money to get Steve. They also have to satisfy Zungul at the same time. There are a lot of hurdles to cross, and I still have the right to block it. Who knows what will happen? It depends how desperate they are.”