‘We’re starting to finish games’

Chicago forward Frank Klopas had more than a few flashbacks Aug. 28, when the Fire hosted a reunion of the 1984 Chicago Sting NASL championship team. Klopas broke into pro soccer that year as an 18-year-old right out of high school.

SOCCER AMERICA: You must have been the youngest and fittest ex-Sting member by far. FRANK KLOPAS: Oh, you wouldn’t believe it. Everybody was saying, ‘You look so fit, you look so thin.’ I had to tease them, asking them, ‘What happened to you?’ A few of them still look pretty good, but, of course, most of them have gained weight. Hey, it was still great to see everybody. SA: Who were your favorite Sting players while you were growing up in Chicago? FK: When the Sting won their first championship in 1981, I was going crazy. They had Arno Steffenhagen, who was a German international, Pato Margetic and Karl-Heinz Granitza. In 1982, the next year, Granitza was named the most recognized athlete in Chicago, ahead of Walter Payton. That team was a big part of this city. SA: So how would the 1984 Sting team match up with the Chicago Fire? FK: Oooh, tough question. I don’t think I can compare them directly, but there’s no question the young American players are much better than they were then. So many of the young players can do so many things compared to what we could do when we came into the league. Our coach, Willy Roy, had a good eye for American players, so the Sting did more for them than most teams. But the foreign players in the NASL were better, those that weren’t here at the end of their careers. SA: The Fire finally seems to be regaining the form that took it to the championship last year. FK: We’re starting to finish games like we did last year, to play a full 90 minutes. This season, we’ve played a good 45 minutes or a good 70 minutes, but then we make a mistake. You do that in the playoffs, and it’s over, you go home. We’re playing like we did last year: Play solid defensively, and be patient, wait for an opportunity, and counterattack. We scored a lot of goals that way last year. SA: You’re 33. How many more seasons? FK: My contract runs out this season. We have to talk, about what the team wants and what I want. If I do retire, I want to stay with this team. I want to support this sport in this community. by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney