The Blast had the chance to host the Major Indoor Soccer League championship game on April 26, but the team?s management decided it wasn?t a risk worth taking.
The sport?s biggest game of the year could have taken place at 1st Mariner Arena, but Blast officials were worried they would be unable to market the game if the Blast wasn?t playing. So the game said goodbye to Baltimore and hello to Milwaukee?s U.S. Cellular Arena, home to one of the league?s best teams, the Wave (22-8).
“If we were in it, we?d love that. If we?re not in it, it becomes a tough sell,” Kevin Healey, the Blast?s president, said. “It?s something we?ll revisit each year. [Investor/Operator Ed Hale has] been a team player within the league. He?s been a proponent of ?let?s not put it in a neutral site ? let?s put it in the site of the team with the highest record in the league.? If we?re in the championship, maybe we?ll regret it.”
So if the Blast is to win its fifth league title later this month, it will have to play at least three of its five games away from 1st Mariner Arena, where it went 12-3 this season playing in front of the league?s largest crowds.
The third-seeded Blast (19-11) hosts the sixth-seeded New Jersey Ironmen (14-16) tonight at 7:05 in the first game of the two-game series. If the Blast wins, it can clinch the series by winning at New Jersey on Saturday night. If each team wins once, the series will be decided with an overtime session immediately following Saturday night?s game. The first team to score wins the series.
The Blast?s players are focused solely on defeating theexpansion Ironmen, but they don?t mind playing at Milwaukee ? the team they?d face in the semifinals next week.
“We went to Milwaukee [in 2004], and they had the best record in the regular season, and we won [the championship],” Blast midfielder Denison Cabral said. “It comes down to how much you want to win. Yes, it helps to be playing in front of your family, your friends, your crowd. But whatever it takes, man. We?re not going to play the finals at home, so we have to be ready for the pressure, and we have players with the experience to do that.”
