Georgia 1-1 Nashville

August 15, 1982 — DeKalb Memorial Stadium (Clarkston, Ga.)

Scoring Summary
GA — Mike Balson (Sonny Askew) 2′
NASH — Dario Ochoa 67′

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Generals sleepwalk to a tie

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 08.15.82)

By John McGrath

CLARKSTON, Ga. — The Georgia Generals ran into a major surprise Sunday night. Expecting, as Coach David Chadwick put it, “to put on the old uniform and put the other guys away,” the Generals instead went through the very sluggish motions of a team that didn’t look particularly interested in winning.

The result was a disappointing 1-1 tie with the Nashville Diamonds, who came into DeKalb Memorial Stadium with the American Soccer League’s worst record (2-19-3) but out-played the third-place Generals (11-6-4) for both the second half and the two 10-minute overtime sessions.

It was all downhill after only 1:37 had expired in the first half, when Sonny Askew kicked a shot from the corner that Mike Balson deflected for a goal. It was Balson’s third goal, second in two games. Nashville, however, tied it at 66:14 on an unassisted goal by Dario Ochoa.

“I could tell something like this might happen when I came into the locker room before the game tonight,” Chadwick said. “Something about our guys didn’t look right. They didn’t have that zip. Basically they didn’t really want to play. All in all, it was a very unprofessional performance.”

The Generals, who have seven games left, will travel to Detroit Friday night for what Chadwick calls “a very important game.”

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