Toyota Field – The rivalry truly began tonight between San Antonio FC and the Rio Grande Valley Toros. In their first match against each other, it had drama, intensity and for the home club, heartbreak.
San Antonio FC suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Rio Grande Valley at Toyota Field on Saturday night, rallying from two-goals down to tie the game late.
The first half saw the officials blowing their whistles early and often. Neither team had solid chances as both clubs went into the locker room scoreless after 45 minutes.
While the opening 45 minutes saw no goals, there were five combined goals in the final 45 minutes. RGV FC took advantage of a San Antonio turnover when Roy Lovejoy beat goalkeeper Matt Cardone in the 70th minute. The Toros added another goal just over two minutes later when forward Mauro Manotas made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.
SAFC rallied back to tie the game with a pair of goals. Manolo Sanchez put home the first goal from point blank range in the 79th minute and five minutes later, Shawn Chin headed the equalizer past the keeper to make it 2-2.
“We have to do a better job of closing out games,” Chin said after the match. “I think there are some positives to take away from this game, and obviously we have a lot to work on.”
The Toros intercepted a Greg Cochrane pass and Lovejoy beat Cardone towards the corner of the net to make it 3-2 in stoppage time.
“I think there’s a lot to learn from, and now we’ll go back to training next week and move on,” SAFC Head Coach Darren Powell. “We have to get ready for the next match and show some signs of improvement.”
Despite knotting the game late, turnovers doomed SAFC once again. Officials were calling nearly everything all match, leaving players on both sides frustrated. But SAFC refused to use that as an excuse.
“The referee has to call the game as he sees it,” Powell said after the game. “I thought he did a decent job of calling it the way he saw it.”
San Antonio FC is now 2-3-2 (8 points) on the season and will return to the pitch next Sunday when they travel to Oklahoma City to face the Energy at 6 p.m.
Too much sloppy passing in our own end last night doomed the club.
There was also a distinct lack of focus and effort until we were down 0-2, and once we scored the equalizer we reverted to the lackadaisical play which led to RGVFC once again dominating the ball as they had most of the second half. You simply cannot allow another team to come into your house and own the pitch.