Early red card, missed PKs doom 4th straight loss
June 20, 2015
The problem is not the two missed penalty kicks. Well, they are part of the problem. The problem is not the early stupid red card. Well, it's part of the problem. This team is a walking, living problem. It's just not working, and it showed tonight, as it dropped its fourth straight league match, 2:1 to Vancouver.
Two changes were made from the mid-week Open Cup lineup. Chris Duvall stepped in at his usual spot for Connor Lade, and Lloyd Sam's injury meant that Sal Zizzo, back from injury, saw his first action in months.
Four minutes into the game, it looked like Zizzo would make a difference. The winger took the ball into the box and was brought down by a San Jose defender. Unfortunately, Wright-Phillips' poorly taken penalty kick was easily saved.
It got worse from there. Eleven minutes in, Kljestan got an idiotic red card for elbowing Kendall Watson with the ball out of play. Four minutes after that, a perfect cross from the right split the Metro defense and found Kekuta Manneh. Chris Duvall lost his man once again, and Manneh had an easy time converting.
At halftime, Marsch inserted Anatole Abang, and the team came somewhat alive. Vancouver decided to absorb the pressure, and it looked to backfire in the 65th minute, when a hand ball led to a second penalty kick. Wright-Phillips, who has never missed from the spot in MLS prior to today, missed again. It was another poorly taken shot, this one almost straight up the middle.
In the 77th, off a turnover in midfield and the entire Metro team pinned on the other side, Kianze Froese made it 2:0 Vancouver. Five minutes later, Metro responded, when a Duvall cross found Abang in the box, and the youngster did well to place a difficult shot that trickled inside the right post.
That goal fueled a furious rally, with Manolo Sanchez, making his first-team debut, rifling a shot from the edge of the box that was saved. On the ensuing corner kick, Dax McCarty got a header on goal that was parried once again.
The rally died soon after that. Vancouver easily killed off the rest of the game. Problem? We have many, many problems...
Lineup: Robles, Miller, Perrinelle, Zubar, Duvall, McCarty, Martins, Kljestan, Grella, Zizzo, Wright-Phillips. Subs: Abang, Miazga, Sanchez.
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