Category: Sidewinder Insider

By 1976, I was deeply invested in association football.

I had a subscription to Soccer America magazine, owned Zander Hollander’s annual Complete Handbook of Soccer paperback, and spent a good deal of time kicking a ball around in my backyard.

Instead of a goal, I tried to shoot between the clothesline poles situated near the back of the fence.

It was a good confidence booster because while a soccer goal is 24-feet wide, the polls were roughly 36-feet apart.

As long as I sent the ball forward, it was hard to miss.

But the ball itself was one of those rubber “official size and weight” deals, and sported an American Soccer League logo. I have no memory of where I bought it – or why a store in Alabama even carried an ASL-branded ball – but it put the minor league on my radar and made me curious about the circuit.

This version of the ASL (the second) had been around since 1933, and even though it had a long history, it never managed to reach what you’d call “First Division” status. By the 1970s, it had been completely eclipsed by the North American Soccer League, which was still somewhat shiny and newish and stocked with big names.

But in 1976, the ASL pulled off a coup when it signed Hermann Trophy winner Steve Ralbovsky out of Brown University.

The 23-year-old Ralbovsky – who immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia in 1970 – had been drafted by both the NASL’s Los Angeles Aztecs and the ASL’s L.A. Skyhawks, a first-year expansion team.

Going with the Aztecs seemed like a safe bet; Elton John had recently purchased a stake in the club to give it a huge publicity boost, and they were on the verge of signing George Best, considered one of the sport’s greatest players. Ralbovsky wasn’t completely sold, though.

“I think both leagues are of the same caliber,” he told United Press International. “The only difference is who gives me a better contract. It is in the hands of my attorney.”

Ralbovsky and Aztecs managing general partner John Chaffetz apparently didn’t hit it off. Chaffetz said he thought Ralbovsky would be a good addition to the club, but didn’t want to get into a “bidding war.” The ex-Brown Bear hinted that Chaffetz was too “matter-of-fact” in negotiations.

So, while Best reported to the NASL club on February 20, 1976, Ralbovsky – a midfielder/defender – cast his lot with the ASL that same day.

The Skyhawks offered him a heftier compensation package, and that sealed the deal.

“I believe that Steve, signing with our organization, has received the largest bonus ever paid a collegiate soccer player,” Skyhawks managing partner Jack Young said in a UPI story. “He not only is a tremendous soccer player, but a fine gentleman and will be a credit to our organization on and off the field.”

Ralbovsky, who speaks six languages, was an honor student at Brown and expected to be the face of the franchise. L.A. played at 10,000-seat Birmingham High School Stadium in the San Fernando Valley, which was arguably the top facility in the league.

For whatever reason, this storyline fascinated me. I was an NASL fan first – and supported the New York Cosmos – but I always liked underdog stories, and the ASL was most certainly that.

And hey … since I already owned an ASL ball, I felt it was my duty to show some love to the organization. Therefore, I decided the Skyhawks would be my ASL team and Ralbovsky my favorite player in the senior league.

Even before his rookie season began, he was already getting high marks from Skyhawks manager Ron Newman.

“This team has the potential to be my best team ever,” Newman told the News-Pilot newspaper for an April 15, 1976, story. “I’ve never recruited better players from Europe and we think we have the best college player in history on our side. You know, we might not only have the best team in our league, but the best team in the United States.”

Newman had spent the seven previous seasons with the NASL Dallas Tornado, and guided the team to a championship in 1971.

With former Scottish star Jimmy Rolland, Ron Yeats of Liverpool, a bevy of British transfers and another rookie hotshot, Brooks Cryder of Philadelphia Textile, on the roster, the gaffer’s optimism was well-founded.

Thanks to Soccer America, I was able to follow the team throughout its 1976 campaign – at least in print.

They finished the regular season with an ASL-best 13-6-2 record, scoring 41 goals while allowing just 15.

L.A. beat the Tacoma Tides, 2-1, in the semifinals of the ASL playoffs and defeated the New York Apollo, 2-1, in the championship match.

Ralbovsky made 22 appearances that year, scoring two goals and playing outstanding defense. His performance was good enough to earn co-Rookie of the Year honors in the ASL, and make me glad I hitched my fanwagon to him and the Skyhawks.

I wish I could tell you I remained a huge fan of both the player and team for years to come, but I didn’t.

Ralbovsky jumped to the NASL Chicago Sting in 1977, and since I was all about Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Georgio Chinaglia, Shep Messing and the Cosmos, he kinda got lost in the shuffle.

And L.A.’s ASL entry folded after the 1979 season; by then I had completely lost interest in the league.

Still, for one season it was fun to channel my inner-Ralbovsky and kick that rubber ASL ball around in the yard.

It’s a piece of memorabilia I wish I still had – as well as all the youthful enthusiasm that came with it.

Preston Goldfarb’s final soccer team didn’t return from the 2023 Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires with any medals to display.

But the mettle they displayed?

Well, that made Goldfarb as proud as he’s ever been during a storied career.

In his finale as a soccer coach on January 3, Goldfarb’s United State Men’s Open team defeated Argentina – the eventual gold medalists – 3-2.

A glance at the box score shows the Americans jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes thanks to goals from Yaniv Bazini, Yoni Sorokine and Jake Rozhansky.

But that hardly tells the whole story.

Due to a rash of injuries, Goldfarb’s club had only nine field players available for the match. Argentina was down a man due to a red card, but the USA team was still outnumbered.

Not only that, many of the players who were able to participate were injured.

“You had to be there to witness my proudest moment in coaching,” Goldfarb said. “We wound up with nine players on the field against Argentina – not because of a red card – but because we had injuries and I didn’t have any subs. One player had a hamstring injury and all he could really do was stand there at midfield. We had a body out there that could at least get in the path of a pass or something.

“Fortunately, they got a player ejected for a handball, but we were still playing nine versus 10 against a very good team.”

Having played four games in a short time window, the Americans were dealing with exhaustion as well as pain. And the whistle didn’t blow after 90 minutes.

“It was mind-boggling,” Goldfarb said. “For them to play the way they did was just remarkable. After 90 minutes were done, the referee added 12 minutes of stoppage time. And it turned into 20 minutes, and then more minutes were added. So, our guys, despite all the injuries, and having to play all those additional minutes, still managed to win.”

The celebration was short-lived, as the USA found out quickly they had failed to qualify for the Final Four after losing a convoluted tiebreaker to Brazil.

“Even if we had qualified for the Final Four, we only had six healthy players after the Argentina match,” Goldfarb explained. “We basically had seven field players and two keepers. Physicians ruled nine players out for the fifth-place game and we refused to play it because we simply didn’t have enough players. The organizers didn’t like that, but I wasn’t going to endanger the health of my guys.”

The trip was a trying one for Goldfarb, with personnel issues starting to pile up before the plane ever left for Buenos Aires.

And things didn’t get much better after he and his team arrived.

“Sometimes the best laid plans fall flat,” Goldfarb said. “We had three players that dropped out before we left, and we had three more players who were nursing injuries that I didn’t know about. One was my best player, Evin Nadaner, and he only played 20 minutes in the first game and got a concussion in the second game.

“He was the link between our defense and our midfield and losing him threw everything off.”

Goldfarb said his team had roughly 20 minutes of practice time before opening the round robin tourney against Mexico – a 3-1 loss.

“When I tell you the field was a postage stamp, it was smaller than that,” Goldfarb joked. “The goals – I measured them – were 7×20, and they’re supposed to be 8×24. And the posts were these little sticks. Of course, both teams played on it and it’s not an excuse, but other teams had gotten there earlier and practiced on it.

“Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina go year-round, and we had guys on our team who were still trying to learn each other’s names.”

And despite occasions where the Americans got off the bus and had to walk a mile to the stadium (and a mile back to the bus after the match), they still managed to log round robin victories against both Uruguay and Argentina.

There were plenty of frustrations along the way, but Goldfarb was able to end his time on the sidelines with one of his most memorable results.

“I didn’t go out with a medal, I went out with beating Argentina,” he said. “So, we didn’t win gold, we won platinum on effort and what those kids did. The parents who were there couldn’t believe what we did and what we accomplished in that game. To see that moment, with those players knowing they did everything with heart against the team that went on to win it, was my proudest moment as a coach. They were ecstatic until the bubble was burst and we found out we didn’t qualify for the Final Four.

“To be on the bench, watching those kids literally crying through pain to play, was something I’ll never forget as long as I live. That moment in time is indelibly painted in my mind forever.”

Aside from Bazini, Sorokine, Rozhansky and Nadaner, the USA roster featured Benjamin Ziegler, Richard Shapira, Nadav Zarmi, Aaron Olson, David Abidor, Stephen Elias, Ryan Hepp, Jack Beer, Sam Friedman, Eric Hepp, Joshua Ziarno, Gabriel Einhorn, Alec Weiss and Gaston Becherano.

Ryan Jones was Goldfarb’s assistant.

“On paper I had a great team – no question – but we were missing so many key players and had so many injuries it just changed the complexion of everything,” Goldfarb said. “But those things happen, and it just made it a crazy tournament. But regardless, we came home with platinum.

”For a complete recap, go to prestongoldfarb.blogspot.com.

Like a band with too many songs to fit into one performance, soccer coach Preston Goldfarb has come back for many encores in a long and storied career.

His last one, however, is set for the Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Games, which are open to Jewish athletes from North, Central and South America and Israel, begins on December 28 and will crown a champion on January 4, 2024. Goldfarb’s team will compete in the Men’s Open Division.

After transforming Birmingham-Southern College club soccer into a nationally respected intercollegiate program, Goldfarb – who has been inducted into the Jewish Sports Heritage, NAIA and Birmingham-Southern halls of fame – gained international prominence as head coach of the United States Maccabi USA men’s soccer team.

He led two different sides to gold medals in the World Maccabiah Games (sometimes called the Jewish Olympics), the last coming in 2017. That group is the first team to win back-to-back men’s soccer championships in the event’s 91-year annals, and Goldfarb is the winningest soccer coach in Maccabiah history at 19-5-1.

Including his stint as founder/coach of the Birmingham Grasshoppers of the United States Interregional Soccer League – which is now the United Soccer League – his teams have won 435 matches.

So, what prompted him to take on one more challenge?

“I’ve never done a Pan Am game and wasn’t planning on doing one,” he explained to me on Friday. “As a matter of fact, when I was in Philadelphia – the headquarters of Maccabi USA – for the annual coaches convention, I went by the office to see some of the people I know there.

“One person that I really like, he’s the program director, Steve Graber, asked if I was interested, and I really wasn’t.”

Graber, however, was persistent.

“About two weeks later, I get a phone call from him,” Goldfarb said. “He said, ‘I know you told me you wouldn’t do it, but we really want you to coach. We’ve been embarrassed the last couple of times we’ve been there, and don’t want that to happen again.’”

Goldfarb considered the matter further, and decided he’d take it on – as long as certain conditions were met.

“We got on a Zoom call and I told him I have four requirements, so, this call can either end in 35 seconds or we’ll have a deal,” he said. “First, I have to fly business class because of some of my health issues. Second, I have to choose my own players … there are no tryouts, which is kind of strange, but that’s how they run it, so I have to pick who I want. And third, I told them they had to scholarship the players, so the ones who need money can get it. And finally, they have to pay my fee. I said if you can meet those four requirements, I’ll do it.”

They did, and Goldfarb has been working toward the opening match ever since.

Of the 19 players on the roster, seven have played for Goldfarb previously in other competitions in the Israeli World Maccabiah Games, which he says “gives us continuity in our team working with new players.” Two more athletes have suited up for him at FC Birmingham of the United Premier Soccer League.

“I really like our team,” he said.

And as for the draw, well, Team USA’s is hardly an easy one.

“Frankly,” Goldfarb said, “we got the worst draw of all the teams competing. Mexico has two teams in the Games, and we’ll play their number one team on the first day. The next day we get Uruguay, the defending World Maccabiah Champions from 2022, and the day after that, we have the Argentina 23s and then our old nemesis, Argentina’s full team. The games are on consecutive days, and if you make the final, you’ll have just one day of rest.

“It’s just crazy. And the Argentina team has been together and playing several games already, so that will make that match even more difficult for us.”

Goldfarb admits he has no idea what to expect from the tourney, other than he’ll do everything he can to put his team in the best position to be successful.

“I’m going there to try and win it,” he said. “I’m not guaranteeing anything, but we’re not going just to participate. That’s what I told them at the start, and that’s why I insisted on picking all the players myself. And as I said, I like the roster we’ve put together, but the fact that I’ll only get one good look at the team before we start playing makes it a challenge.

“I won’t really know what style we’ll play until we get out there. I like to go with a 3-5-2 lineup, and then maybe a 3-6-1, and fall back to a 4-5-1, so we might play a hybrid. But we’ll just have to see. I love playing with three backs offensively and four backs defensively.”

Regardless of whether or not Team USA returns from Argentina with a medal, Goldfarb said it’ll mark his final bow as a soccer coach.

“I’m 76 years old and not in the best of health, so I’m done after this,” Goldfarb said. “But my grandson is playing basketball and soccer – and I love basketball and obviously soccer – so I might help out his group.

“I guess you could say my soccer coaching career is ending, but I might still have some coaching left in me on a much smaller scale.”