A Scoring Machine, Sometimes : When Coker Gets Hot, and He Is Now, the Goals Come In Streaks

ST. LOUIS — Socker forward Ade Coker has been proving his West Ham United coaches right for the past 16 years.

That’s as long as Coker has been darting past, spinning around and leaping over opponents to score on a variety of right-footers and angled headers.

Coaches of West Ham United, a first-division team in England, believed Coker would be better off blasting shots than blocking shots.

And defenses have been paying ever since Coker became a forward instead of a defender.

When Coker gets hot--as he has been the past two months--he scores goals in bunches.

He has 14 goals in his last 10 games, including one in each of San Diego’s two playoff victories against St. Louis. Coker has 20 goals in 24 games since returning to the lineup after missing 14 games with a fractured instep on his right foot.

Coker returned to the lineup against Minnesota Feb. 5. That was the night Steve Zungul played his final game with the Sockers before going to Tacoma.

At the time Zungul was sold, Socker Coach Ron Newman said he was counting on Coker to pick up some of the scoring punch.

Newman hasn’t been disappointed with the 31-year-old veteran, who has starred in both indoor and outdoor competition while playing for six professional teams in the United States.

Just when it appears that Coker’s career might be cut short by an injury or that he may have lost his edge or quick step, he goes on a scoring rampage.

“You toughen yourself through injuries,” said Coker, who missed 28 of the last 32 regular-season games last season when he was forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy. “But every year, often toward the end of the season, I tend to perform my best.”

That certainly has been true the past 24 games.

“I just told him the other day how pleased I was with his play,” Newman said. “He’s like a little firefly zipping around the goalmouth and he always seems to turn a bad bounce into a goal. In addition, he’s winning the ball and his work rate on pressuring the other team is superb.”

Coker finished the regular season as the team’s fourth-leading scorer with 24 goals and 7 assists in 34 games. He had three hat tricks in March and was second on the team in power-play goals with nine. Branko Segota had 10.

“Ade never stops running,” said midfielder Brian Quinn, who probably leads the team in mileage. “He makes a run and another run, and is good for midfield players like myself. And he has a great scoring touch inside the box.”

Wouldn’t the coaches at West Ham United be pleased to hear Quinn’s comments? When Coker is in the midst of one of his annual scoring streaks, he often wonders what might have been if he hadn’t originally hooked on with West Ham United.

In 1970, the 5-foot, 8-inch Nigerian soccer player made his debut on a team stacked with tall muscular forwards.

Despite displaying excellent ball skills and great leaping ability as a high school player, the 16-year-old Coker feared his scoring days might be over.

“You would have thought they would have tried to change me,” Coker said. “The prototype forward was much bigger and stronger than me.

“Fortunately, West Ham United was a finesse team. That helped me. And when the coaches realized I could outjump most forwards, I became a forward.”

Now, Coker can’t imagine being anything but a forward. He even analyzes what being a forward is all about.

“Forwards are like artists,” Coker said. “They are a bit temperamental. When things aren’t going well, they’re a bit subdued because they are trying to find their niche.”

When they find their niche, some forwards go on scoring sprees.

“You know,” said Coker, “if I had started out at another team instead of West Ham United, I probably would have had my position changed. And I wouldn’t be a forward today.”

Socker Notes

If the Sockers advance to the next round of the playoffs, Games 3 and 4--which will be on the road--will be televised by Prime Ticket, which in San Diego is Cox Cable Channel 16. The fifth and deciding game, played in San Diego, will be televised on Prime Ticket, but will only in San Diego if it is sold out 48 hours in advance. If the Sockers make it to the championship series, Games 3 and 6 will be on the road and be televised by Prime Ticket and KTTY Channel 69. Game 4 will be televised by ESPN. Game 7--a home game--will be televised by Prime Ticket in San Diego, only if the game is sold out 48 hours in advance.