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Back L2R: Chuy, Tony, Jaime, Jeremy, Rob, Dario, Brendan, Tom, Paul, Tony Front L2R: Ruben, Richie, David, Miguel, Alejandro, Carlos, O'Briant, Salvador |
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ACCA 3 - 2 Aurore
(05/10/98, Fresno, Ca.)
*** 1998 California Soccer Association Northern Champions! ***
We made it to Fresno in about 2.5 hours, 160 miles south .
The opposing team had rented the futbol field at Fresno
Pacific University for $200 and it was worth every cent. A
smooth, true, green field; probably the best we've played on all
year. The mid 70 degree weather, mostly sunny but partly cloudy
sky made for a nice compliment to the field.
The Aurore side is made up of mostly strapping lads from CSU
Fresno Bulldogs. We were nearly at full strength and healthy for
the start of the match which would prove to be an important factor
early in the game. Our star half Alejandro Cano showed up to the
game 1 minute before the whistle and the coach disciplined him by
not starting him and keeping him out for about fifteen minutes.
(I thought that five minutes would make a big enough discipline
for a game at this level.)
At the whistle to start the game the Aurore guys were literally
flying into our players and body checking them at full speed
sending our players to the turf repeatedly. The ref whistled the
infractions but never threatened to take out his yellow card. The
game proceeded with a lot of long ball from both sides which
really played into Aurore's hands.
Cano finally got in and Aurore took one of our miscues to center
a ball that they headed back to a team mate who nailed a side
kick for a well deserved goal and we found ourselves down 0-1.
But soon things began to change and our halves began to control
the game and ball, deftly trapping and one touching the ball
around the field leaving the Fresnoans to run and arrive too late
repeatedly. About five minutes into this control we worked the
ball into their goal area and after a few misses we caught some luck
and Tony Sutton found a loose ball off the goalie and popped it
into the net for the equalizer.
The opponents were stunned and we were elevated to new levels of
confidence. While we did not score for the remainder of the
first half we had clearly controlled the game, moving the ball
and shutting down their offensive attempts for 30 minutes. Cruz
Azul walked off the field stoked and Aurore walked off
frustrated.
The second half followed the same script, we controlled the ball
with short on touch passes, with appropriate cross field changes
when needed.
Our opponent was now beginning to show signs of fatigued
demoralization. We now began to work the ball down field at will
and blasting shots at their goal.
The halves worked the ball down field one touching and leaving
the defenders scrambling when Jaime Garcia took a pass at about
the 18 yard line, knocked it down turned right and then cut the
ball left and nailed left foot shot into the right rear corner of
the net while the goalie was still going left. Cruz Azul erupted
in a thunderous cheer and several of the players went to the
sideline and dove onto their bellies and into a little slide.
These players were soon mobbed by the bench players. With our 2-1
lead I could see the Aurore players begin to sag a bit more.
We continued to assault their goal area with repeated near
misses. Our team, bench and fans were roaring with approval with
every great play even if didn't result in a score. Not soon
after the second goal the ACCA caught their team on a counter
attack and the charging goalie could not breakup Jaime and he
popped the ball over the goalie and we had a 3-1 lead. Our side
of the field went crazy with joy and we began celebrating what
appeared to be a sealed victory with about fifteen minutes to go.
We kept up the attacks, shooting at will but could not connect.
After one of our repeated marches down field the Aurore side
caught us on a counter attack with our defense outnumbered when
their forward sliced a low shot along the ground toward the
opposite pole placing it just inside the pole for their second
goal at the 86th minute.
Needless to say the Fresnoans came alive and caught their second
wind and I became concerned. Justifiably so as they went on a
rampage for the next two minutes with Kamikaze like fury. But
our guys again found the control in the middle and kept the ball
away from them for the final two minutes and a 3-2 sweet if not
narrow victory.
I can't remember when I've seen our Cruz Azul team so thoroughly
dominate a game at this level for nearly 75 minutes. At first it
looked like we in for a long, physical game with a team that
liked to run. But our guys did not lose their composure, stuck
to our style of play and eventually had them exhausting
themselves running to spots where the ball no longer was. I was
pleased to see "good" futbol triumph over "evil" futbol.
After the game the referee told our coach, Chuy, that he
consciously resisted using his cards for a game of at this
level. He stated he wanted the game to be decided by the players
and not the referee. He was a good and fair ref but I feared our
guys could not withstand the barrage of body checks for a full
game. I must suspect that Aurore has experienced success with
this game style and couldn't adjust to not being able to
intimidate our guys. Once we controlled the game and eliminated
the 50/50 balls they no longer had their opportunities to play
smash mouth soccer. You could see they were out of their
element, embarrassed and frustrated.
Interestingly enough, we had more fans in Fresno than did
Aurore. We had about 25 fans to about only 10 for them. You
would have thought they were the team that traveled. I'd like to
think our continued cheering and support even when we were down
0-1 kept our guys on track and focused.
Mike Gutierrez
The ACCA traveled to Santa Barbara and faced the San Nicolas
soccer club on 10/11/98 in a battle for the overall Open State
Cup Championship. While the ACCA played well it succumbed to
their southern California foe 0-3. As one observer stated,
"they were beaten by an older and more experienced team - nothing
to be ashamed of".
