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From The Morning Call -- November 15, 2004

Soccer seniors get kick out of Valley
Old-Timers League players scored big in home countries.

By Josh Drobnyk
Of The Morning Call

Midway through the first half, there's a breakaway that leaves goalie Ed
Pineda as the last man to beat.

The striker fires a shot and the 45-year-old Pineda dives to his left,
blocking the ball with his outstretched arms before falling on the hard,
cold earth.

Twenty-seven years ago, such a save would have elicited a roar from throngs
of fans filling the stadium in Pineda's native Chile. But this is the Lehigh
Valley's Old-Timers Soccer League, and Pineda must be content with shouts of
''Loco Lalo'' - Pineda's nickname - from a handful of supporters on the
sidelines as he shakes off the dirt and warms his bruised fingers.

Pineda, a former professional in Chile's first division, is one of several
players on the team, the Latinos, who used to play in front of hundreds of
screaming fans in their home countries. So, it came as no surprise last week
when the Latinos won their fifth straight over-40 league championship with a
9-0 drubbing of rival Blue Force.

There's Alino Nieri, the 57-year-old Peruvian midfielder who spent 11 years
in the country's first division before retiring in 1981.

There's Victtorio Campanini, 44, the skillful striker who played for
professional clubs in Chile, including a stint with Pineda on a youth team,
before immigrating to the United States in 1990. And then there's a handful
of others who narrowly missed the big-time, playing in their countries'
second divisions, or semiprofessional leagues, as many of them are known.

In all, this hodgepodge of graying veterans comes from six countries in
Latin America, and one is from Morocco.

But the sparse crowd, freezing weather and aging bones don't stop these
players from suiting up and giving their all on this fall evening. They are
about to take home another trophy, albeit one with not quite the prestige
that comes with a Peruvian, Chilean or Honduran league title.

''There's just a love for soccer. It is in our blood,'' said Pineda, who
settled permanently in the Valley a year after coming to play as a backup
goalkeeper for the Philadelphia Atoms of the now-defunct North American
Soccer League in 1980. '' is in our heritage. It's part of our culture. To
us, it is the greatest sport in the world.''

Pineda, who lives in Whitehall Township with his wife and three children,
grew up in southern Chile before joining the first-division team Deportes
Concepcion as a teenager. And while his reputation as a goalie never reached
star-power stature, he got a glimpse of professional sports life before
becoming a car salesman in Emmaus.

''You had a comfortable living,'' Pineda recalled of his playing days in
Chile during the late 1970s, when his team gave him a small salary, put him
up in a shared apartment and lent him a car. ''It was decent, but you
weren't getting rich.''

Nieri's 11-year career took him to the top of Peru's first division with
Union Huaral and Defensor Lima. After retiring, he worked odd jobs for 20
years before coming to Allentown in 2001 to help his brother with his store,
Nieri's Grocery. Today he works at Wegmans in Allentown.

''Soccer gave me much in Peru,'' Nieri said, adding it didn't make him
wealthy.

Minutes into last week's game, Nieri nervously paced the sidelines in his
pristine white and red Latinos jersey. He was waiting to contribute in the
team's last game of the six-month season, which would end with the Latinos
winning 15 of 18 games.

But the result of the match was never in doubt.

Five minutes after kickoff, the Latinos' towering Honduran midfielder Oscar
Durante unleashed a 35-yard shot that left the Blue Forces' goalie without a
chance. The ball screamed into the top corner of the net.

''Vamos senores, vamos,'' Pineda yelled in support from the opposite side of
the field as the players celebrated the first of many goals that evening.

When Nieri finally entered the match minutes later, his accurate passing and
ball control showed his professional touch. He may not have had the speed,
but his sheer presence showed why the players, many of whom also play in the
Lehigh Valley Latin Soccer League, recruited him.

''I watched him on television,'' said fellow Peruvian Luis Arevalo from the
sidelines, pointing to Nieri as he calmly received the ball and passed it to
a teammate.

Arevalo, 45, was only a child when Nieri played in Peru.

Nieri and Arevalo are older now, and when Nieri finally jogged off the field
at the end of the match, he had built up a sweat and was breathing hard.

Perhaps more important, he was smiling.

josh.drobnyk@mcall.com

610-861-3619

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