I sat in bed this morning wondering who to blame for last night's loss against New England Revolution. Not for very long, mind, and I do realize it's pointless. But that 2-1 (I'd written 2-0 initially. Oh, bother.) loss, while not haunting, wasn't particularly pleasant. A slightly (only slightly!) gloomier outlook is perhaps understandable. But really, why blame anyone?
We conceded two goals with a back line that has a grand total of zero competitive matches together. Kyle Reynish is the only one who's been with our side for more than the pre-season. Of the five at the back (goalkeeper included), this was as much a trial by fire as anything. Some might point fingers at Kyle Reynish for allowing two goals from gaffes, but that would be a bit harsh on him.
For the first goal, he's in the right position but perhaps goes down a bit early. Goalkeepers are so often accused of not coming out soon enough, so for him to rush out when his defenders have left him hung out to dry is a proactive decision. He got a hand on the ball but he'll be kicking himself — he certainly could have done better, but total defensive collapse is more to blame.
For the second goal, he's again moving toward the right position — to close down a shot after his defense left him out to dry — but he's caught out by a shot that rattled against the crossbar. If they'd scored directly from that shot, perhaps Kyle would be more to blame (though it would've been quite a shot), but as it stands, that nobody was rushing back — you know, just in case the ball hit the bar or fell to an attacker — is perhaps more to blame.
But it's useless slating anybody for those two goals, isn't it? Only one of Leone Cruz and Carlos Salcedo will make it with the club, and between the two, there's nary a professional match between them; Terukazu Tanaka and Lance Laing are full backs and not organizers of the defense — which isn't to ignore that Tanaka was tracking back more quickly than anyone around him; and Kyle Reynish is our second-choice goalkeeper. We've seen plenty from him to show that he's worth more than that, and any mistakes he made yesterday are small in the scheme of the preseason. He's still shown well for himself.
Nico Muñiz, homegrown midfielder, scored the lone goal for our side after a miscleared corner kick saw him gain possession on the edge of the box. A neat long-distance finish — as pretty as they come — saw the score tied at the time, and it illustrated the boy's potential.
Our young midfielders showed well for themselves, though. Muñiz, Martinez, and Velasquez — Sebastian playing on the right side of the diamond — showed well for themselves and certainly made a claim for some minutes as the season starts.
It's also interesting to note that Sebastian Velasquez has seen a wealth of minutes in pre-season — 210 minutes across three matches — and has continually been given chances with the first team. What's more? He's shown well for himself during those minutes. When we saw a tricky player on YouTube, we'd be forgiven for thinking he'd lose the ball a bit too much at first. We haven't seen that yet. Indeed, it's been much the opposite.
Right, 'til tomorrow. Don't stress yourself out too much. One more pre-season match and we'll start the season against the Galaxy. We can do this.
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