Dallas Sidekicks Players: #9 Tatu

CISL and PSA/WISL Highlights

Sidekicks Highlights (continued)

Continental Indoor Soccer League

1993

• Scored more than one point in 26 of 28 games
• Recorded 2 goals or more in 20 games
• Earned 100 or more points for the 3rd time in his career.
• Scored 4 goals in a single game on 6 occasions.
• Scored a Hat Trick in 9 different games.
• Scored 5 goals in a single game on August 14 at Los Angeles
• Scored 5 goals in the Game 2 of the CISL Championship Series vs San Diego on October 3

1994

• Achieved 10 Hat Tricks during the Regular Season
• Earned 9 points (2 goals and 7 assists) at Carolina on July 30
• Dished up 8 points (5 goals and 3 assists) vs Carolina on July 10
• Recorded the first Double Hat Trick (6 goals) of his career during an 8-5 victory at San Jose on August 10. In this game he scored 5 goals in a row.
• Scored 2 goals and 5 assists on June 14 at Houston.

1995

• Earned the 1,000th point of his career after scoring 4 goals and assisting on 4 others vs San Jose on September 3.
• Had 16 multi-goal games
• Earned multiple points in 25 games.
• Scored 14 goals and 19 assists over the final 7 Regular Season games.
• Scored the Game Winning Goal with :03 seconds to go in regulation time vs Detroit on July 29, completing a Hat Trick (one of 6 he had this year).

1996

• Passed Steve Zungul's all-time goal scoring mark by scoring his 716th career goal on August 9 at Sacramento.

• Earned 5 points vs Indianapolis to pass Zungul's all-time points mark (1,243) on August 17.
• Passed Zungul's all-time assist mark (539) at Indianapolis on August 28.
• Scored a Hat Trick in 6 games
• Scored more than one point in 20 games
• Recorded more than one goal 13 times
• Ended a 20 game goal scoring streak (over the 1995 and 1996 seasons) by failing to score at Washington on July 20.
• Scored 1 goal for the Eastern Division in the CISL All-Star Game on August 17.

1997

• Finished as the only Scoring Champion the CISL ever had, and the only 5 time member of the all-CISL First team.

Premiere Soccer Alliance/World Indoor Soccer League

1998

• Scored 2 goals in the first 4 minutes of the PSA Championship Game. Finished the match with by assisting on another goal and being named Offensive MVP of the match.
• Recorded 3 Hat Tricks during the season.

1999

• Earned 9 points vs "Mexico" (4 goals and 5 assists) on August 14
• Recorded 3 Hat Tricks
  1. August 14 vs "Mexico"
  2. September 12 vs Sacramento
  3. November 17 at Arizona

2000

• Recorded a Hat Trick and 2 assists vs Sacramento on August 26.
• Scored 2 goals, one of which was the Game Winner (both were powerplay goals) at Arizona on September 20.

• Recorded a Hat Trick vs Houston on September 24 that included two powerplay goals. Tatu also assisted on one other goal during this match.

• Recorded a Hat Trick in goals and assists (3 each, one of the goals was the Game Winner) vs St. Louis on November 5.

2001

• Played all 24 games
• Earned the Game Winning Assist vs. San Diego on August 19
• Scored the Game Winning Goal vs St. Louis on August 25
• Scored the Game Winning Goal vs Utah on September 29
• Scored the Game tieing goal in the mini-game of the Championship series at San Diego on December 22.

new-Major Indoor Soccer League

2002-03

• Scored a hat trick (including the Game Winning Goal with .9 seconds left in the game) on Opening Night 2002 vs Philadelphia.
• Scored a hat trick on the day he retired, March 23, 2003 vs. Baltimore.
  • He ended his career with 857 goals.

Before He Was a Sidekick

Tatu came to the United States to play for the North American Soccer League's Tampa Bay Rowdies, coached by future Sidekick's Head Coach Gordon Jago. He scored a Hat Trick in his first indoor game, and earned NASL Indoor All-Star status.

M*A*S*H*ed

• Suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the 1987-88 season in Tacoma.
• Fractured cheekbone in final seconds of match at Anaheim on June 14. Underwent surgery on June 25, and returned to action on July 12 wearing a protective mask.

The Ring's The Thing

Tatu is the only member of the Sidekicks organization to have been a member of all four Championships the club has earned: 1987, 1993, 1998, and 2001.

A Wall Named San Diego

Tatu found his road to a Championship Ring blocked by the San Diego Sockers 4 times. He finally beat the Sockers 2 games to 1 in the Continental Indoor Soccer League Championship Series.

• 1982 NASL Indoor Championship (2 games to 0)
• 1989 MISL Semifinals (4 games to 3)
• 1990 MISL Western Division Finals (4 games to 2)
• 1992 MISL Championship (4 games to 2)

Double Duty

Before the abbriviated 1998 season, Tatu was named player/Head Coach, replacing the retired Gordon Jago. His achievements and records as a Coach will be recorded in that section of the Dallas Sidekicks Historical Archive.

Regular Season Statistics

Major Indoor Soccer League

Continental Indoor Soccer League

Premeire Soccer Alliance/World Indoor Soccer League

new-Major Indoor Soccer League

All Leagues with Dallas

6th Attacker Statistics

Major Indoor Soccer League

Playoff Statistics

Major Indoor Soccer League

Continental Indoor Soccer League

Premeire Soccer Alliance/World Indoor Soccer League

Grand Total-All Leagues with Dallas

Where Did He Go?

Tatu retired as a player on March 23, 2003. He remains the Head Coach of the Sidekicks.