Marsch's men collapse in Houston, 4:2
June 5, 2015
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Garcia
Clark
Bruin 2
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Grella
Abang
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One can blame the awful refereeing or the patchwork defense. One can say that this is just a temporary slump. One can say that there is still a lot of season left. None of that matters. What matters is that for the second straight week, Metro blew a second-half lead. What matters is that they have lost three straight. What matters is that after a good start, they have come crashing down, and the only thing their supposedly smart coach and their supposedly erudite sporting director can do is... nothing. But let's talk about the game, a 4:2 loss to Houston. And what a game is was!
Damien Perrinelle's yellow card accumulation meant that Jesse Marsch had to insert Roy Miller in central defense. We all remember how that worked out last time, right? Well, this wasn't much better.
After failing to posses the ball for almost the entire first half, Metro actually turned it on late in the period. Mike Grella appeared to have scored off a corner kick, but the referee waived it off for a phantom foul. Then, in the 42nd, Bradley Wright-Phillips found Grella in the box. The blond attacker decided to beat a defender, and did just that, following it up with a goal. For the second straight week, Metro was up 1:0 at the half.
And just like last week, that lead evaporated. The blind referee did deny Metro a penalty kick when Grella was taken down in the box (instead, a yellow for diving was issued), but, by then, the game was tied. It came off a foot of Karl Ouimette, as the ball hit by Oscar Garcia ricocheted off the Metro defender, arched high and down underneath the crossbar.
That was in the 59th. In the 72nd, a comedy of errors saw Kemar Lawrence try to clear the ball and hit if off Ouimette instead. Luis Robles was forced to make a save that resulted in a corner kick. Ex-Metro Ricardo Clark immediately followed up by knocking home for a 2:1 lead.
In the 80th, Will Bruin made it 3:1. Metro did get a spark when late subs Marius Obekop and Anatole Abang combined for the latter's first MLS goal in the 90th, but it was too little too late. Three minutes into injury time, Bruin struck again for the decisive margin.
You know who we are gonna blame? That supposedly smart coach and that supposedly erudite sporting director. Do something. This is not working.
Lineup: Robles, Lawrence, Miller, Ouimette, Duvall, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Grella, Sam, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Richards, Abang, Obekop.
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