The Frogs prepare last 2 games with new head coach
Friday July 18th, 2008
Photo: Jay Griffin
The San Francisco Seals were hoping to validate their ticket to the playoffs tonight, but they will need a win on Snday in their final game in San Francisco against their Bay Area rivals, the San Jose Frogs (see Standings and Schedule below).
The Seals seemed to have taken control of the game in the first minutes, but quickly, the Bakersfield Brigade showed that they could be dangerous at any moment with a 4-3-3 display that seemed to put the Seals' defense in trouble on counter attacks (Below, listen to Tom Simpson about that)
On one of them, a Brigade's midfielder sent a long ball in the box toward Quincy Amarikwa. Josh Leon was well positioned to head the ball away, but before the before the impact, Amarkwa put down the Seals' defender with his shoulder. He then had all the time to control the ball and beat Conner, while Leon was still on the ground, thinking that the referee would call the foul (0-1, 14th). It never happened and this controversial call was going to become a heavy handicap for the local team who did not have the same luck fifteen minutes later when Lovell's goal (pushing into the net a shot from Kellan Wilson that the Brigade's goalkeeper keeper had released in his feet) was called offside.
San Francisco dominated the whole match (9 shots on target against 2 for the Brigade), before and after the goal, but they always seemed to miss some freshness to finish. Bakersfield remained threatening, even after one of their forwards, Mario Fernandez was ejected for abuse of language (61st)
Amirakwa, with his remarkable mix of speed and agility, always kept the Seals under pressure, which was probably the reason why, even with one more man on the field, they never seemed to take all the necessary risks to come back in the game.
The Frogs prepare last 2 games with new coach
They will need to recover their offensive strength for Sunday. They absolutely need a win against the San Jose Frogs who are unbeaten against them. The Frogs have had unexpected bad results lately. They are playing tomorrow night (Saturday) against Barkersfield in San Jose, before doing their shortest trip of the season to San Francisco on Sunday night. For those last two games, they have announced they have a new head coach. Jorge Espinoza is replaced by Peter Weiss.
For now, we have no other information than the official message on the front page of the Frogs' website: "In order to finish the season on a high note, the SAN JOSE FROGS reorganized their coaching staff: Peter Weiss took over as head coach with continued support by assistant coach Sherman Trigg and manager Aaron Castro. Owner Hartmut Esslinger points out that the team is capable of playing better than the standings show."
It sounds like the lack of results is the reason why the owner took this decision. However, it may seem surprising two games before the end. We will give you more details as soon as we have an information.
There is some good news too: All tickets for tomorrow's game in San Jose will be free, so bring all your friends with you to James Lick High School (see schedule below)!
Seals' head coach Tom Simpson about the Brigade's 4-3-3:
As usual at Seals' home games, a local band entertain the crowd at half time. Tonight, it was Jokes For Feelings. Here is their performance:
Part1:
Jokes For Feelings - Part 2:
Jokes For Feelings - Part3:
For more information about Jokes For Feelings:
Line-ups:
Eric Conner
Yousef Samy
Tyler Barry
Rich Halvorsen
(C.)
Josh Leon
Doug Carr
Mike Balogun
(Demitrius Omphroy, 66th)
Eric Lafon
(Corey Woolfolk, 66th)
Junior Burgos
(Justin Kim, 86th)
Kellan Wilson
(Anthony Grillo, 80th)
Peter Lovell
Asst: Aaron Apperson
Ref.: Saïd Ravanfar
Asst: Nestor Chavez
4th: Derek François
Mario Fernandez
Quincy Amarikwa
Erasmo Solorzano
Jose Garcia (Jay Gore, 90th +3)
Carlos Fernandez
Jordan Thorn
(Daniel Chilton, 52nd)
Wes Feighner
Esteban Arias
Jason Ashurst
Cameron Walters
Franco Eric
Goal: Quincy Amarikwa (14th)
Yellow Cards:
SF Seals: Rich Halvorsen (Abusive Language, 90th)
B. Brigade: Jordan Thorn (Reckless foul, 38th), Cameron Walters (Pulling, 56th), Mario Fernandez (Abusive Language, 61st), Jacob Hustedt (Abusive Language, 76th), Emanuel Guzman (Reckless Foul, 90th)
Red Cards:Mario Fernandez (Abusive Language, 61st)
Standings:
July 18, 2008
PDL 2008 - Southwest Division
Pts
GP
W
L
T
GF
GA
1
Fresno Fuego
29
15
9
4
2
37
25
2
San Francisco Seals
27
15
8
4
3
21
14
3
San Fernando Valley Quakes
27
15
7
2
6
30
24
4
Ventura County Fusion
24
15
7
5
3
22
13
5
Los Angeles Legends
22
15
6
5
4
31
23
6
Bakersfield Brigade
19
15
4
4
7
14
17
7
San Jose Frogs
18
14
5
6
3
19
18
8
Orange County Blue Star
18
16
5
8
3
24
31
9
Southern California Seahorses
13
15
3
8
4
14
26
10
Lancaster Rattlers
9
15
2
10
3
17
38
Pts: Points - GP: Games Played - W: Wins - L: Losses - T: Ties - GF: Goals for - GA: Goals against
3 points for a win - 1 point for a draw - Each team plays 16 games - First 2 teams qualify for Playoffs - Last Update: July 18th, 2008
Bay Area Teams' remaining games:
Saturday July 19th, 2008 at 7:30 PM - Free Admission San Jose Frogs - Bakersfield Brigade
James Lick High School, San Jose, CA (Map)
Sunday July 20th, 2008 at 7 PM - Admission: $9 San Francisco Seals - San Jose Frogs Half time show: 77 Straight Negoesco Stadium (USF), San Francisco, CA(Map)
For a complete schedule of the PDL remaining games, please visit
USL's official website: www.uslsoccer.com/schedules
