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Fuego to take on all-stars By Chris Miller Ashland Daily Tidings Sports fans looking to kick off their Memorial Day weekend with a bit of low-priced family fun in a sports-related environment will soon get their chance. Fuego, seen here after capturing the 2002 Liga Del Valle championship, will take on the La Liga all-star team, 7 p.m. Friday night under the lights at Phillips Field. File photo Fuego, Ashland's semi-professional soccer club, will host the La Liga all-star team at 7 p.m. Friday in the first of three exhibition games scheduled for this year. The games raise money for the Ashland Booster Club, Ashland High School, other Rogue Valley soccer clubs, as well as for Fuego itself. "We have full-time non-profit status now," said Fuego's acting general manager and goaltender Mike Walsh. "We are trying to improve soccer in the Rogue Valley." Walsh got Pepsi and Diadora of America as two of the main sponsors. Pepsi donated all of the beverages, while Diadora put the uniforms on the backs of the Fuego players. "We got a super deal from Pepsi," Walsh said. "So we can donate all of the beverage sales." And donate they will. Walsh said that 80 percent of the revenue generated from the game goes to the Ashland Booster Club. The balance of the cash will be distributed between Fuego and the other soccer clubs. Fuego vs. La Liga kicks off a huge soccer weekend. All over the valley hundreds of soccer games will be played, as teams vie for the Rogue Valley cup. One-hundred and fifty-six teams from Portland to Nevada are scheduled to play and Walsh sent out invitations and complimentary tickets to every team. "I gave three complimentary tickets to each team and told them if their players show up in uniform, they won't have to pay full price," Walsh said. Even though the match is considered a "friendly," the game will be competitive. Fuego is the reigning two-time La Liga champion. La Liga has 16 teams from the Rogue Valley and Crescent City, Calif. The All-Star team is comprised of the best two or three players from the other 15 teams. "We have won all six La Liga games already this year," said first year Fuego coach Thierry Chouard. "These guys want to beat us badly." The last two years, Fuego hosted the Firecracker Game on July 5 against the Cascade Surge, a professional team from Salem. Although Fuego came up on the short end of the scoreboard both times, it won in the fundraising bracket - raising over $6,000 - and expects to compete better on the field this time around. "That's going to be a great game," Fuego vice president, founder and player Iman Siadat said. "We're the best we've ever been." Both Walsh and Siadat credit the team's improvement to Chouard. In past seasons, Siadat wore more hats than Michael Jordan. Siadat was a player, head coach and worked in the front office. "Having Thierry is making a huge difference in team morale and play," Walsh said. "I came in for guidance," Chouard added. "They have lacked dicipline in the past, so my main job is to instill disipline in the team. I insist on some guidelines so we can all move in the same direction." But even with the team's improvement, Chouard defers most of the praise. "I am not saying that it's because of me," he said. "I think any coach could have done that." Fuego hopes to see around 2,000 fans converge on Phillips Field to take in Friday's clash, and Chouard wants each of those fans to leave with a new appreciation for soccer. "The main idea is to show some nice soccer," he said. "We want everybody to be happy with what they saw." Fuego will host the Westside Rangers, the under-19-year-old state champions, on June 11. The game with the Rangers will be a soccer homecoming for Matt Sharp, who played his last game in a Grizzly uniform in 2002. The gates open at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $2 for kids under 18. Children four and under will be admitted free. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -