From Baltimore to St. Louis to Kansas City to California to New Jersey –Craig Scheer’s played indoor soccer from coast-to-coast.
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But when the Major Indoor Soccer League dissolved last spring, the free agent who spent last year in Newark, N.J., playing for the Ironmen knew it was time for his career to come full circle.
“Baltimore has always been a great club and a great city,” Scheer said. “I like all the guys and it’s a place [where I knew] I’d like to play again.”
Eight years after beginning his career as a rookie defender with the Blast, the defender returns to the franchise he left after helping lead the Blast to the MISL title in 2003.
Scheer, 32, played for St. Louis and Kansas City from 2003-2005 before signing with the expansion California Cougars in 2005. He stayed in Stockton, Calif., until the end of last season, when he traded to the New Jersey Ironmen late last season.
“We know that he can play,” Blast forward Denison Cabral said. “He’s just going to add to this team. He’s not that old and he’s got a good attitude, so it’s good to have him.”
Scheer enters tonight’s game against second-place Monterrey (6-3) having played 179 career games. He’s been a solid defender for the Blast (6-1), who have allowed just 42 points –at least 41 fewer than any team and 70 fewer than Monterrey, which lost to the Blast in last year’s MISL championship game.
“The one thing I’ve always liked about Craig is he’s versatile,” said Blast coach Danny Kelly, who played with Scheer in with the Blast and the Hershey Wildcats of the outdoor A-League. “He can play a number of positions. He’s good with the ball at his feet, and he can get forward and attack, strike the ball with both feet.”
None of Scheer’s former teams are a member of the National Indoor Soccer League — New Jersey is in the Xtreme Soccer League and California became “Stockton” in the Premier Arena Soccer League. The franchises in Kansas City and St. Louis folded.
It’s made Scheer realize he’s seen the best and worst of an unstable sport.
“In Baltimore, you’ve got to get people in the stands,” Scheer said. “You’ve got to get out in the community to get people there. It was the same thing in St. Louis, maybe because they’re competing against football teams, hockey teams, basketball teams and baseball teams. For some reason, they couldn’t get people in the stands. But this organization is unbelievable.”
