10-man Fire dominates 11-man Metro
April 5, 2009
In theory, a team up a man for 75 minutes of a match should create more than a couple of quality chances. In theory.
But this is Metro soccer; general theories do not apply. We're now three games into the regular season, with one measly point, with the lone goal coming of a foot of an opposing defender... But at least we made MLS Cup last year... That's good, right? Right?
Juan Carlos Osorio resisted his usual urge to tinker by making only one substitution from last week, inserting Jorge Rojas for Sinisa Ubiparipovic. Sadly, Rojas, who was supposed to run the midfield, ran it into the ground. But don't worry, Metro fans! Remember, we won the Western Conference last year!
14 minutes into the match, Mac Kandji blew by Wilman Conde, and was taken down outside the box. The referee gave John Thorrington his marching orders, but Kandji had to be taken out with a right knee sprain, Dominic Oduro stepping it. Still, Metro was up a man for a huge chunk of the match... That could produce something, right? A goal? One measly goal?
Wrong. The one goal was scored not by Metro, but by the Fire, coming off the foot of Marco Pappa. Danny Cepero misjudged the ball in the wind and missed it. The ball went to Pappa at the edge of the box, off the left goalpost, across the goalline, and in.
And that's all she wrote. Metro's best, if not only, chance came when Oduro failed to knock home an Angel header off the ground, inches away from the goalmouth. Cepero made a great save in injury time, but it was not necessary... and not enough to make up for his blunder.
So... yeah. Three games, one point, dead last in the East... It's not hopeless, right? The whole team will finally be here for next week's match! That's good... Right? Right?
Lineup: Cepero, Borman, Goldthwaite, Mendes, Hall, Sassano, Rojas, Smith, Richards, Kandji, Angel. Subs: Oduro, Johnson, Ubiparipovic.
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