If, by chance, the outcome of D.C. United?s bid to play an exhibition game in Baltimore later this year is successful, what?s next for soccer in Charm City?
The result ? far-fetched, yes, but nonetheless intriguing to this area ? could be a game between the four-time Major League Soccer champion United and the four-time Major Indoor Soccer League champion Baltimore Blast. But one local soccer product doesn?t think it?s the greatest idea.
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“D.C. smashes that team. That would not even be a good game to play outdoors,” former United midfielder Santino Quaranta, a Baltimore native, said shortly after being dealt from the team that drafted him out of Archbishop Curley. “Maybe if [they] play indoor, it?s a little different. I?d be surprised if they let the MLS play indoor.”
Current United officials and players would not comment on a potential game, which would seemingly have more value to the Blast. No discussions have occurred between the teams, according to Blast president/general manager Kevin Healey, who is unsure if a conversation would ever occur. But that doesn?tmean the Blast wouldn?t be interested in a game.
“It would probably be an indoor-outdoor challenge,” Healey said, hypothetically. “That would be something we would look at, sure. An entirely friendly situation for the good of soccer.”
The indoor-outdoor contest could be held at the end of the United season, while the Blast is in training camp at the beginning of the fall. The Blast is not a stranger to playing such friendlies. In Ed Hale?s first term as owner in the 1980s, he took the club to England, where it defeated Sheffield Wednesday in an indoor contest. The Blast took to the outdoors in that same era, suffering a two-goal loss to the Maryland Bays, a local entry in the American Professional Soccer League.
Blast defender Mike Lookingland (Loyola High), a Fallston native and an MISL all-rookie selection this season, said a transition from outdoor to indoor is difficult.
“I can?t guarantee we?d beat them,” Lookingland said of a Blast-United indoor game. “But I definitely think we?d have the advantage over any MLS team.”
Lookingland spent a year in MLS with the expansion Real Salt Lake club in 2005. Blast star midfielder Guiliano Celenza (Archbishop Curley/UMBC) went to the MLS combine, but wasn?t drafted. Despite outdoor offers, he opted to stay close to home and play indoor.
“Outdoor and indoor are two different games,” Celenza said. “Indoor game is a lot faster, and they would have to get used to playing. Obviously, we would have an advantage in that game. It would be easier to go outdoor than to come and play indoor.”
The Blast is ahead of the curve in that department, as the rich history of indoor soccer in Baltimore has led a number of the team?s local products to play indoor soccer while growing up.
“Being from Baltimore, I did, but not at this level,” Lookingland said. “I played at Du Burns [Arena], Freestate Sports Arena, but nothing compares to this game.”
