June 8, 2008

We were going to report good news from yesterday's Frogs' game. A win against one of the best teams of the league, a game easily controlled by the locals, and 3 more points making the Frogs the virtual leaders of the Southwest Division. At half time, we were far from thinking San Jose could loose this game.

Unfortunately, the opportunity was missed and the Frogs now lay in the 5th position of the league. The still have a chance to make the playoffs, but 3 points yesterday would have put them in a comfortable position. They have two home games next week-end and will need to win both to catch up with the leaders.

How did that happen? Under the hard sun of San Jose, the Frogs immediately took the control of the game. Los Angeles seemed tired after playing the day before at Ventura County Fusion (0-1 loss) and couldn't hold the ball. The domination was obvious and the first goal came naturally after 11 minutes. Savio Carrijo, the Frogs' playmaker who created many good situations for his team in the first half, sent an excellent through ball in the run of his forward, Jose Munoz. Munoz received the ball at the penalty spot, with just Brent Douglas (LA Legends' goalkeeper) between him and the net. Munoz didn't miss the opportunity (1-0, 11th)

Savio Carrijo, San Jose Frogs' brazilian playmaker

 

How did that happen? Under the hard sun of San Jose, the Frogs immediately took the control of the game. Los Angeles seemed tired after playing the day before at Ventura County Fusion (0-1 loss) and couldn't hold the ball. The domination was obvious and the first goal came naturally after 11 minutes. Savio Carrijo, the Frogs' playmaker who created many good situations for his team in the first half, sent an excellent through ball in the run of his forward, Jose Munoz. Munoz received the ball at the penalty spot, with just Brent Douglas (LA Legends' goalkeeper) between him and the net. Munoz didn't miss the opportunity (1-0, 11th)

Dan Oka and the Frogs, offensive in the first half.

The Frogs continued to control the game until the last minutes of the first half and the Legends didn't seem able to put them in trouble. However, in the last minutes of the first half, the Frogs started to backup a little bit, allowing LA to play in their half. The result of that was a series of good long shots for LA, the most dangerous in the first minute of stoppage time by Joey Pacheco hit the bar...A first warning for the Frogs.

However, the last chance of the first half was for San Jose: Gavin Wenyon crossed the ball from the right wing to the far post where Jose Munoz' spectacular volley was saved by Brent Douglas in an even more spectacular way. A fantastic save which kept the Legends into the game (45th+2).

The other important event in the end of the first half was the Frogs' goalkeeper's substitution. After a shock with his defender Omar Parra in the 24th minute in which he twisted his neck, Sergio Valle tried to continue. But 20 minutes later, he had to get off, replaced by Bradley Williams (44th).

David Frank, Frogs' captain

After the break, the tendency to back up the Frogs showed in the final minutes of the first half was confirmed and they seemed to have decided to let their opponent hold the ball. The Legends didn't create much danger, but they were approaching the box, ready to take advantage of any opportunity. The opportunity actually came twice, in the form of gifts from the Frogs' defense and goalkeeper.

After the break, the tendency to back up the Frogs showed in the final minutes of the first half was confirmed and they seemed to have decided to let their opponent hold the ball. The Legends didn't create much danger, but they were approaching the box, ready to take advantage of any opportunity.

The opportunity actually came twice, in the form of gifts from the Frogs' defense and goalkeeper.

After the usual series of substitutions between the 55th and 70th minute, Bradley Williams, probably handicapped by a foul by a LA forward that the referee decided not to call, released a ball that his defenders couldn't clear. After a few hesitations, they managed to push it outside of the box...in the feet of Bryan Fakkema. The midfielder, who came in 3 minutes earlier and was touching one of his first balls, shot in the empty goal while Williams was still trying to stand up after being pulled on the ground (1-1, 70th)

After the equalizer, the Frogs tried to start attacking again and created the best situations in the last 20 minutes.

Bryan Fakkema, (again) had a good shot for LA, but nothing to threaten Bradley Williams who perfectly caught the ball. Or at least, that's what everybody believed. After catching the ball, for no apparent reason, he released it, seemed to be able to catch it again but couldn't control it before it arrived in the feet of Cito Soriano who pushed it into the net (1-2, 83rd)

The Frogs' wall cracked in the second half

For the Legends, after such an average performance, taking the lead with a few minutes to go looked like a miracle and they were decided to hold on this lead until the end. They even almost scored a third goal when Beau Hayden crossed from the right for the head of Mario Guerrero. Williams made a beautiful save but this was too late to save his team.

After the game, Jorge Espinoza (San Jose Frogs' head coach) was very disappointed: "I don't want to point my finger on anyone, but you can't give away goals like that. Besides these two silly goals, there was no threaten from them", he said.

We asked him a few other questions:

Don't you think you backed up alittle too much in the second half?

"Yeah, we did. Right now, we are still looking for more forwards. Right now, when our forwards get tired, we don't have many offensive substitutions possible"

Do you see anything positive after this game?

"Yeah, I like the effort. We tried not to loose composure and defensively, we didn't.We had good sequences. We are disappointed because we gave them one goal, then tried hard to take the lead again, we almost got it and...well, you know, it's tough to loose like this. But it's part of the game"

Thierry Heumann (email)

Lineups:

San Jose Frogs: Sergio Valle (Bradley Williams, 44th) - Omar Parra, Hugo Sousa, Gavin Wenyon - Marriano Arrua, Stefan Clemens, Dan Oka (Eric Espinoza, 42nd), Richardo Dorrego (Juan Gonzales, 46th)- Savio Carrijo - David Frank (C.), Jose Munoz (Ignacio Finlay, 69th)

Los Angeles Legends: Brent Douglas - Peter A. Rodriguez, Julian Robles, Damon Brooks, Beau Hayden - Joey Pacheco (Cito Soriano, 58th), Matthew Hodges (Bryan Fakkema, 67th), David Barnett, Reid Baker - Skyler Thuresson (Matthew Germain, 58th), Mario Guerrero.