Los Angeles Blues News Release -- www.bluessoccerclub.com
Friday, April 22, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – There is an atmosphere of calm and confidence surrounding the Los Angeles Blues players and coaching staff these days. The USL PRO side earned their third win in as many games during a lengthy trip to the Caribbean on Wednesday night by beating Puerto Rico United 4-2. Despite having come close to surrendering a three-goal lead against their International Division rivals, the Blues players and staff focused on the bigger picture after the game and looked ahead to Saturday’s clash with River Plate Puerto Rico (5 p.m. PST) with confidence.
“We’re very happy with the result, especially considering we’ve played three games in six days,” said midfielder Josh Tudela. “It’s pretty incredible to me that we were still able to pull off the win despite all the travel and tired legs. I thought we played very well as a team against Puerto Rico United. There were a couple of instances where we lost our composure, but that’s part of the game and we did a good job recovering from it.”
The instances to which the Blues captain was referring came in the second half and temporarily allowed Puerto Rico United to get from a three-goal deficit to within one goal. Forward Hector Ramos scored twice on long balls over the top of the Los Angeles backline, finding the net in the 66th and 78th minutes.
“We were disappointed about letting in those goals because we felt like we didn’t do enough to make Puerto Rico earn them,” defender Mike Randolph said. “They came more or less from our defense not being focused and aggressive enough and could have been prevented if we had just kicked the ball out, double-teamed their player or simply not let the ball bounce.”
Blues Head Coach Charlie Naimo saw a deeper-rooted reason for the near-comeback by the home side.
“We may have played our best soccer of the season early in the game,” he said. “We established great possession and made them chase the ball. But after our third goal, we didn’t really keep our foot on the gas mentally. The guys kept working hard, but we didn’t stick to our game plan. We kind of deserted our possession game and had too many players going forward. It seemed like everybody wanted to score.
“We need to keep working on our discipline and our mental focus. It’s a ninety-minute game, not a seventy-minute game. Overall I’m not disappointed at all tonight, but if I had to point out something negative, then I would say that there was no reason for us to make it a game. There was no reason to be sitting at three-nothing and let ourselves slip mentally.”
The sentiment was echoed by defender Cameron Dunn. The 27-year-old from Alta Loma, Calif., put in a solid 90-minute shift for the Blues in Wednesday’s game.
“We let in two sloppy goals that came from simple lapses in concentration,” Dunn said. “We were up in the game and then we took our foot off the pedal and got punished for it. We responded well by coming back and scoring the next goal, but we just can't afford to do that against such quality opposition. We know we’re better than that and that we need to put together a full ninety minutes of consistent focus.”
Dunn’s point is an important one, given that there are plenty more matches ahead for the Blues to continue working on their collective discipline, starting with Saturday’s fixture at Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The significance of continued improvement was also stressed by Tudela.
“United’s goals resulted from mental lapses by the entire team,” the former Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder agreed. “We got a little unorganized on the field and they made us pay. The good news is that we’re only three games into the season, so we’re still learning as a group.”
Of course, collective shape is not everything in soccer. Sometimes it takes a standout performance from a few players to gain the edge in a fiercely contested battle. Mike Randolph gave a textbook example of such a special performance Wednesday night, as he was praised by Naimo after the 4-2 win over United. The 25-year-old even managed to top off his night with a fantastic goal.
The play started in the 41st minute with the left back pushing up the field from his usual position to pass the ball to Tomislav Colic, who shielded it and gave it back to his teammate.
“From there, I passed it down the line to Akeem (Priestley),” Randolph said. “He crossed it in and one of their defenders tried to clear, but the ball ended up coming to me because I was following the play. I was at the top of the box on the left and took two touches to settle. Then I hit it as hard as I could far post. The keeper got a hand on it, but it hit the post and went in. It was my first goal in about five years, so I was pretty excited.”
Meanwhile, Naimo’s praise was not limited to his star defender. In addition to congratulating two-goal man Colic, the Blues Head Coach also saw positives in the entire team’s reaction to United pulling within one in the second half.
“We quickly scored our fourth and they never really created another chance,” Naimo said. “They had a lot of shots on the stats sheet, but most of them were from far away and they didn’t really get in behind our backline. (Blues goalkeeper) Oscar Dautt rarely had to come up big today while their keeper was a lot busier. So I’m not going to complain about our performance too much. Instead, we should also acknowledge that Puerto Rico had some good players – especially (double goal scorer) Ramos, who was very tough for us to handle, very athletic and strong."
Saturday’s task is not expected to be any easier for the Blues, as they take on the champion of the 2010 edition of the Puerto Rico Soccer League, the SúperCopa DirecTV.
“We know River Plate Puerto Rico is a quality side, so we expect a good game,” said Blues defender Dunn. “I feel that if we stick to our game plan and execute in the final third, we’ll put ourselves in a great position to be rewarded. It’s still early in the season, so getting quality scouting reports is not easy. We just have to come ready to battle, it’s as simple as that.”
The sentiment was echoed by Tudela, who also identified the playing surface as a major factor in the clash with River Plate Puerto Rico.
“Everybody has been saying that River Plate could be our toughest opponent so far,” he remarked. “What makes it more difficult is that we’re playing them on the same field we played United on, meaning old artificial turf. You can’t even slide on it because you would almost certainly injure your leg.
“Having said that, we shouldn’t focus on the field too much. We have plenty of talent and a great bunch of guys on this team, so we just have to make sure we match their intensity and play our game. If we do that, I think we’ll be successful.”
Randolph finished on a similarly optimistic note, as he assessed the state of the team following the win over Puerto Rico United.
“It was our errors that led to their two goals and made the game more interesting than it should have been,” he conceded. “But overall, I’m happy with the team and how we’ve all been responding to such a crazy road trip. Hopefully we can get three more points and go home even happier.”
“We came out, played good soccer and jumped out to a three-nothing lead," Naimo added. "You can’t be upset about that, just as you can’t be upset about having scored nine goals in the last three games. We have things to work on, but the guys are getting more confident and they’re also getting closer off the field, which is crucial for us to be successful.”