Ft. Lauderdale Frustrates Salsa in Shootout Victory

Paulinho lay at the corner of the goal mouth, exasperated.

Thor Lee stood, looking skyward, hands on his head, opposite Paulinho. He, too, was exasperated.

And everyone in the announced crowd of 2,564 looked on. They, too, were exasperated.

Paulinho, last year’s American Professional Soccer League most valuable player, had just missed running down a gimme--from about three feet--with about nine minutes remaining.

His team down two goals, the moment embodied the night’s frustration and near-misses in a 3-2 loss in a shootout to the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.

The final score overshadowed a comeback in the final three minutes. Paulinho scored in the 87th minute and Paul Wright scored on a penalty kick in the 89th after Juan Castillo’s hand ball.

Goalkeeper Mario Jimenez was the source of frustration for the Salsa all night. Twice he robbed the Salsa of what appeared to be sure goals, knocking away shots by Waldir Guerra in the first half and Yari Allnutt in the second.

“He was the key for us, not only in the shootout, but throughout the game,” Striker Coach Thomas Rongen said. “He’s the reason we won. He was the guy in the critical stages of the game that kept us in the game.”

And when Jimenez wasn’t in the right place at the right time, the Salsa were inches high or wide, which made Paulinho’s run at Lee’s crossing pass all the more frustrating.

Had Paulinho scored and the Salsa (3-3) won in regulation, it would be in first place; instead, it got four points instead of nine and is tied with Vancouver with 26 points, one behind Seattle--which the Salsa defeated Sunday. Fourth-place Ft. Lauderdale is 3-1.

“L.A. was clearly the better team today,” Rongen said.

Paulinho said all the missed chances showed the Salsa was creating opportunities to score.

“You can’t just think about the game tonight,” Paulinho said, “you have to think about creating things.”

After 15 minutes of overtime, the Salsa was unable to create any opportunities in the shootout. Alex Sanchez scored on the first attempt, and it stood up as the only shootout goal.

John Clare gave Ft. Lauderdale a lead in the 48th minute and Alex Sanchez made it 2-0 three minutes later.

Notes

The league this week took away the Salsa’s victory over Houston after the franchise was revoked. The Salsa lost nine points in the standings.