SOCCER : After Salsa Substitution, Colorado Wins APSL Title
The Colorado Foxes rallied in the final minutes Saturday night to defeat the Salsa in overtime, 3-1, and win the American Professional Soccer League championship at Cal State Fullerton.
William De La Pena, the Salsa owner, blasted Coach Rildo Menezes after the game and said that there will be a shake-up in the coaching staff before next season.
Menezes yanked Paulinho, the APSL’s most valuable player, with four minutes left in regulation as the Salsa led, 1-0, before 10,743 in Titan Stadium.
Then, with the Salsa less than three minutes away from a championship, Colorado’s Ted Eck scored, sending the game into a 30-minute overtime session and De La Pena into a tizzy.
What was wrong with Paulinho?
“Nothing,” De La Pena said. “It was a mistake in the coaching in my opinion. He took him out at the wrong time.
“Just say the owner says it was a mistake in taking out Paulinho. Period.”
But he didn’t stop there.
“I’m not going to say that Rildo won’t be back,” De La Pena said. “But there will be changes in the coaching staff next year. Period.”
Menezes defended inserting Arut Karapetyan for Paulinho, saying that with a one-goal lead, he wanted to beef up the Salsa defense.
“I don’t think it was a mistake,” Menezes said. “Paulinho was tired.”
Paulinho left quickly afterward and was unavailable for comment.
“I have no comment,” goalkeeper Ian Feuer said. “I’m not going to say nothing, but he’s the MVP in the league. That’s all I can say.”
Said defender Thor Lee: “I can’t make a comment on that decision. Those are decisions that the coaches make. Arut Karapetyan, he’s not Paulinho. You can second-guess, but it’s a coach’s decision.”
The Salsa kicked away the game in large part because of a defensive error. Phillip Gyau had scored from 35 yards out on the left wing at 66:27 to give the Salsa a 1-0 lead.
However, at 87:27, Lawrence Lozzano had the ball stolen from him and Eck tied the score on a pass from Robert Lipp.
In overtime, Taifour Diane scored at 104:20 and then Lipp chipped in another goal at 109:58.
It was all over but the finger-pointing.
