The San Jose Frogs, as indicated on their website and repeated by Aaron Castro after their Saturday's match against Bakersfield Brigade (Read Match Report) wanted to "finish the season on a high note" In this typical cold San Francisco summer evening, Cibelle Gouvernor and Krassen Karagiozov from Opera San Jose warmed up the crowd (around 200 fans) with a beautiful interpretation of the national anthem. The Seals seemed to be nervous when the game started and the Frogs, not only took control of the game, but scored an early goal with a night shot from outside the box by Dan Oka. (5th) The Seals commited some unuasual error and fouls, collecting their first yellow card after only 9 minutes when Josh Leon arrived too late to clear a ball at the edge of his own 18. He violently kicked Dan Oka's leg instead. Oka stayed on the ground a few minutes, but not as long as Leon who broke his nose in the shock. while he was recovering, Shea Whelan was geting ready to replace him and the referee was taking his yellow card out of his pocket. The Seals never recovered from this nightmare start. San Jose perfectly took advantage of the situation and quickly killed the game with a second on a counter attack. Richardo Dorego managed to dribble inside the box and, while the Seals' defender were expecting him to shot, passed the ball back to David Frank who had all the time to shot on target, out of reach of Eric Conner. (0-2, 22nd). San Francisco then had a better period, dominating the second part of the first half and creating a couple of really good chances, especially when Junior Burgos took a beautiful free kick 30 yards from the goal. His powerful curved ball crashed on the angle of the bar and the post. However, San Jose never seemed to really be out of position, and, right before half time, the third goal came almost naturally on a counter attack. Dan Oka found Nelson Diaz who finished the job. (3-0, 45th) The night was becoming colder for the San Francisco fans and the local punk band, 77 Straight, was there to bring a little warmth during the break. The Seals played the second half in a more offensive formation (4-3-3), but, in the exception of Kellan Wilson, they seemed to lack the necessary additional ambition and energy that was required to at least come back into the game and damage the confidence of their opponents. The Frogs being tired because of their Saturday's game, they only tried to control the weak Seals' offensive tentatives, making the second half boring. 3-0 for the Frogs was the final score, and to add to the Seals' nightmare, Rich Halvorsen, the Seals central defender and captain, was ejected in the 88th minute for a second yellow card. After the game, Aaron Castro and Hartmut Esslinger were smiling and declared themselves "happy with the result". They were both on the same page when we asked them if this good performance was giving them regrets for the season they refused to see things this way: "A little bit" Castro said, "but we finished on a good note, that's what is important". Esslinger said "No. That's sport, you have good and bad periods. We played our best game tonight and we're happy with that." For the Seals, while Tom Simpson was pointing out that "it was a good season anyway", his players were quickly leaving the stadium before we had time to talk to them. They needed 3 points out their last two home games...They took 0. They probably lost their playoffs ticket on Friday night against Bakersfield (read match report), a less impressive opponent, than tonight against the Frogs who clearly was the better team on Sunday. (See PDL's Southwest Division final standings)
Line-ups:
Goals: Dan Oka (5th), David Frank (22nd, Assist: Richardo Dorrego), Nelson Diaz (44th, Assist: Dan Oka) Yellow Cards: SF Seals: Josh Leon (Reckless Foul, 13th), Rich Halvorsen (Reckless Foul, 28th), Kellan Wilson (Reckless Foul, 55th), Peter Lovell (Reckless Foul, 76th), Rich Halvorsen (Reckless Foul, 88th), Stephen Cordova (Reckless Foul, 90th) Red Card: Rich Halvorsen (Second Yellow Card, 88th)
Standings:
Pts: Points - GP: Games Played - W: Wins - L: Losses - T: Ties - GF: Goals for - GA: Goals against |
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