Sickly Edmonton soccer team finds the energy to topple Florida

Written by Joanne Ireland

Friday, 12 February 1999

About the time the Edmonton Drillers ironman Martin Dugas was checking out of a Plantation, Fla., hospital, coach Ross Ongaro was dragging himself over to the arena. There was a game to play and come hell or high fever, they were going to be there. The flu-bitten, food-poisoned, road-weary crew left the National Car Rental Centre in Sunrise Thursday night with an 18-9 victory over the Florida Thundercats. Nikola Vignjevic, the red-hot midfielder stricken with the flu Wednesday, hammered home three goals. Ongaro, down with the bug all day on game day, patrolled the bench. Dugas, who had spent two days at the Westside Regional Medical Centre with a severe bout of food poisoning, took a sideline seat with Alfredo Valente, yet another flu victim. "Everybody else was feeling good, I couldn't stay home," said Ongaro in a phone interview. "It was a big win for us." With orders from the doctors to remain on the sidelines for the next two games, Dugas slipped out of his hospital duds and into his street clothes. He had not missed a game in the three years the Drillers have been kicking around the National Professional Soccer League -- a run that began Nov. 1, 1996. But that's the benefit of perspective. Tuesday night, by the time Ongaro and a hotel staffer got Dugas to the hospital, the midfielder couldn't even talk or feel his arms and legs. He was dehydrated and hyperventilating and overcome by muscle spasms. "The emergency entrance was under construction; so they ran inside to get a wheelchair," Dugas said. "I was lying on the ground in a rain puddle because I couldn't sit any more. I felt like I was going to lose consciousness." Once he was wheeled in, the medical staff couldn't find a vein to insert the first intravenous needle, nor could they figure out why Dugas was creating such an incoherent clamour. "I was just trying to communicate to him that I had a bag of needles under my back," recalled Dugas. "He thought I was yelling at him," the Driller said. The IV eventually worked its magic, but then the doctors grew concerned about his liver and extended his stay. The next day his platelet and white- cell counts were low. The improvements were noticeable on game day. Dugas was released with instructions to undergo a follow-up blood test in 24 hours. The Drillers, now 16-9, fly to Baltimore this morning. Their five-game road swing wraps up tonight against the Blast.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 October 2006 )