RGVFC Lose To Sacramento in Second Game at Papa Murphy’s Park

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” -Murphy’s Law.

By: Edson J. Ochoa | @EOchoa_8 & @CargaNaranjaRGV

Disclaimer: Any opinions written on this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of RGVFC, their staff, The Stampede Supporter’s Group, or any other persons related to the team.

Humiliation. If there was one word to describe Wednesday’s game against Sacramento, this would be it. Sacramento made RGVFC’s defense look like a Sunday League team. The ease at which the front three attackers for Sacramento created and finished opportunities in front of Angoitia’s goal was troubling to say the least.

The starting eleven for RGVFC was as follows:

 

During the first minutes of the game, the Toros missed a great opportunity to score as a free kick by Emilio Garcia looking for Robbie Sagel was shot wide of Newton’s goal. The rest of the minutes were dominated by the Republic with two clear saves by Angoitia in the 11th and 14th minutes. The Republic finally scored in the 19th minute when Augustin Cazarez sends a through ball in between two RGVFC defenders to Wilson Kneeshaw who takes advantage of a desperate charge by Angoitia to lob him outside the box and convert for Sacramento. Like they say in Mexico, Angoitia fue a cazar gallinas.

Seven minutes later, Sacramento scored again thanks to a Tyler Blackwood goal. Blackwood left behind two RGVFC defenders and received a rabona through ball from Trevin Caesar. Blackwood then managed to shoot the ball as he was falling down and left Angoitia helpless as the ball went in for the second goal of the night.

After these two goals, the morale for RGVFC fell to the floor, especially for the defenders. The hunger to win the ball back was gone and this became apparent in the third goal.

In the 42nd minute, Wilson Kneeshaw sent a really long throughball, almost from their own box, to Trevin Caesar who received the ball close to the right side of the field. Running full speed towards the goal and with pressure coming up from Robbie Sagel, Caesar cuts back, and left him behind, avoided Magalhaes’ tackle and shot inside the small box(!) and scored the Republic’s third goal of the night.

The second half proved to be more of the same for Sacramento. The Republic found a fourth goal in the 57th minute, once again scored by Trevin Caesar. Kneeshaw sends another throughball to Caesar through the right side of the field once again and takes a first touch shot that goes in through the far post, impossible for Angoitia to save.

In the 64th minute, TJ Casner placed the Toros on the scoreboard with his well executed low free kick that goes in near the far post.

Sacramento scored their fifth in the 71st minute in which Trevin Caesar finished off a well rounded night for him with his hat trick. I want to analyze this goal a little further. First of all, this goal was almost an exact copy of the third goal. Second, Magalhaes had a large advantage distance wise on Caesar to intercept the ball, but the forward surprised the Brazilian defender and cleanly won possession of the ball, leaving Magalhaes stumbling behind him. He then ran inside the box and shot at the NEAR post where Angoitia was covering.

In the 87th minute, Sacramento found their 6th and final goal for the night. It was apparent that the Toros defense had given up the fight, especially Robbie Sagel.

After ANOTHER long through ball towards Christian Chaney on the left flank, he received the ball without any pressure from the defenders since Robbie Sagel decided to just jog back into the box. The only pressure was from Angoitia, but with the first goal still on his mind, he regretted his decision to intercept the ball and only looked to delay Chaney so that the Sagel could come up and steal the ball. Meanwhile, Sagel was still jogging towards the middle of the box where Magalhaes was located, manages to block Chaney’s shot after he cut back inside to shoot, but the rebound landed back at Chaney’s feet. Angoitia just stands there allowing Chaney to find an open Dan Trickett-Smith who shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Kyle Murphy scored the Toros’ second goal in the 90th minute, but it was too little and too late. After a free kick near the corner taken by Emilio Garcia, Kai Greene managed to make contact with his head and the ball landed near Kyle Murphy who took an unorthodox shot that managed to go by Newton and gave the game the final 6-2 score.

The only thing left to say about this game is the following quote from Christian Martinoli during the 7-0 Mexico defeat to Chile in the Copa America Centenario.

“Actitud. Dignidad. Amor Propio. Respeto a la camiseta. Si vas perdiendo 8 a 0, sigo jugando a buscar matarme por la camiseta…”

-Christian Martinoli

Which translates to “Attitude. Dignity. Love for one’s self. Respect to the uniform you’re wearing. If you are losing 8 to 0, I want to keep fighting for the shirt I am wearing!”

RGVFC visit Colorado Springs on July 1st in USL action at 8:00pm local time (9:00pm CST).