23 JUNE 2007 - For the third time in four games, the San Fernando Valley Quakes emerged from their game with a single point. For the third time in four games, the San Fernando Valley Quakes could not find a breakthrough to beat their opponents. Six points from four games is not that bad a haul – but when you consider that, with a little more clinical finishing, and with a little more luck, that six could have been twelve, the picture changes slightly. And, with their rivals picking up points in their games-in-hand, it’s not difficult to see why head coach Florez is glancing over his shoulder at the advancing pack.
In 100-degree heat, the Quakes took to the field against the visiting Fresno Fuego, hoping to turn around the 3-2 defeat they suffered up at Chukchansi Park in May. Five of the regular lineup – Kevin Guppy, Mike Zaher, Sean Alvarado, Daniel Paladini and Mat Davis – were all missing for one reason or another, forcing coach Florez to shuffle his deck. He gave a debut to 24 year-old Kansas Wesleyan University goalkeeper Wayne Johnson, brought midfielder Josh Leon into the starting eleven for just the third time this season, and featured three new faces on the bench – Oregon State duo Alex Christensen and Ryan Callahan, and Santa Clara goalkeeper Kevin Klasila, who was on the bench several times for the Quakes in ‘06, but never took the field.
For the first fifteen minutes, the Quakes looked bright: Dylan Leslie, marshalling the midfield in the absence of both Davis and Paladini, was especially strong and positive on the ball, and was confidently pinging passes between himself, Josh Leon and Oscar Sims, continually threatening, looking for that final through-ball to send Franklin, Shaw and Kim on their rampaging forward runs. It was quickly apparent, however, that the heat was quickly beginning to take its toll, and as the pace slowed and the breakthroughs became more infrequent, it was clear that goals would come not because of attacking brilliance but because of defensive errors.
Unfortunately for the Quakes, it was Fresno who capitalized first: after some neat midfield passing, Fuego’s Brazilian playmaker Fabricio Codeceira threaded a needle-perfect ball through the Quakes defense to his countryman Pablo Campos; despite Johnson’s valiant charge to try to narrow the angle, Campos slotted the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net; 28 minutes gone, and it was 1-0 Fresno.
The goal took the wind out of the Quakes’ sails, and for the remainder of the first half, the team looked tired, hot, and seemed to not be particularly enjoying their football. Thankfully the Quakes defense stepped up manfully to keep the score down, with Robert Pate contributing several important plays, including one where he took a strongly-hit Fuego shot directly in the face. The first half ended with Fuego ahead 1-0, and pretty much controlling the game.
Florez changed things around in the second half, bringing Klasila into the net in place of Johnson, and introducing both Callahan and Christensen into the game ten minutes later. Almost immediately, the Quakes scored their equalizer; Leslie slid a ball through to Sean Franklin down the right wing, who immediately injected a burst of speed into his run. Riding a tackle from Raul Rivera, Franklin made it to the bye line, and sent a dangerous cross into the heart of the Fuego defense. Ryan Shaw pounced first, and neatly tucked the ball home for his seventh goal of the season.
With things evenly balanced, and with half an hour to go, both defenses closed ranks, almost daring the other team to attack. The Quakes had their moments – another couple of corners which were cleared away, and half chances for Shaw, Sims and Franklin – and Fresno came closest of all, when substitute Milton Blanco unleashed a long-range shot which beat a full-stretch Klasila, but cannoned back off the post. Ultimately, neither side to find a breakthrough and with the heat finally beginning to subside to a more tolerable 95 degrees, the final whistle blew and the game ended 1-1.
The result really does neither side much good. With Ventura beating Lancaster 3-1 on Friday night, and San Jose beating San Francisco 2-0 today, the gap between the Quakes and the teams behind them has now closed to just three points, and with just three games to go for SFV, the reality is that we absolutely HAVE to win all of them, and hope that our nearest rivals all beat up on each other, or suffer a shock defeat to a team at the bottom.
The Quakes travel to Glendora next Friday, June 29th, to take on Los Angeles Storm; we return back to Granada Hills the following weekend, Saturday 7th July, to take on the San Francisco Seals. Kickoff it at 7:00pm.
Match report by Jon Broxton
