SPLASH NOTEBOOK / MARTIN HENDERSON : Recent Losing Pattern Forces Fernandez to Draw Line in Sand
After the Splash’s embarrassing 8-6 loss to Seattle on Saturday night, Coach George Fernandez had the team on the sand in Huntington Beach at 8:30 Sunday morning for a training run.
Fines for anyone who was late.
Fernandez is:
Tired of losing.
Tired of watching the Southern Division’s most talented team wilt against an expansion club that had the Continental Indoor Soccer League’s worst-scoring offense and defense.
Tired of watching a team that lost only two home games all of last year lose two of its first three this year.
Tired of watching an extraordinarily talented group of players play as individuals.
The Splash may be 3-2 this season, and there may be 23 games to go, but this is not the kind of start Fernandez--last year’s coach of the year--had in mind. Realistically, the team wasn’t expected to match last year’s 6-0 start, but it wasn’t expected to look so bad even in victory.
The Splash could just as easily be 1-4 instead of 3-2.
So the question is, what has gone wrong?
Basically, two things:
* The Splash has been besieged by injuries, illness, suspensions and personal commitments. Paul McDonnell, Doug Neely, Shane Hickson, Rod Castro and Sean Bowers have missed a combined 12 games. Adel Afkarian has missed all five games. Practices have been more aesthetic than empowering because of the injuries--and Castro and John O’Brien have hardly practiced with the team because of other daytime commitments.
In short, the Splash has yet to play with a full team; there’s no continuity.
* The Splash hasn’t played as a team.
“There’s not enough balls to go around,” Fernandez said. “It’s killing our role players who are doing their jobs.”
This has been especially evident at home, where the team could be 0-3 instead of 1-2. It beat Portland only after the Pride missed a couple of open net shots in overtime.
In blowing a three-goal lead against Seattle, the Splash was outshot 41-23 though it had been averaging 34.5 shots--and managed only 10 shots in the final 37 minutes after taking a 4-1 lead.
This home-field disadvantage is a curious dilemma.
“[At home] you’re playing in front of friends, family, fans, and you want to show that you are as good as they say you are, or you want to prove something, or you want to be a hero--the go-to guy,” Fernandez said. “There are so many things that go through a player’s mind.”
Fernandez is fed up. He said he isn’t about to panic, but he isn’t about to let this continue.
“I’m going to tell them like it is,” he said. “No more holding their hands. No more being a nice guy. I think I’ve been fairly good with the guys, and I like them to have a good time as long as they give 100% when they step on the field, [but] they haven’t done that. The franchise management has done everything possible to make these guys happy, to want to play for them. Right now [the players] are just taking and they’re not giving back. It’s time to give back.
“They’re living in the past.”
*
Although the Splash isn’t playing as well as it could, the team is leading the league in attendance. Through three home games, the Splash is averaging 7,919 fans--340 more than Dallas and more than double what the Splash averaged through three home dates last year (3,816).
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Goalkeeper Ruben Fernandez will start against Arizona (Friday), his third consecutive game. His goals-against average is 7.04, but he has faced 28 more shots than teammate Jorge Valenzuela (5.89) in one fewer game.
“He’ll get his fair shot,” George Fernandez said.
Fernandez didn’t play last year until the 18th game; he was 3-2 with a 5.66 GAA. Valenzuela (17-6, 6.06 last year) is expected to start against Mexico (Sunday).
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After Doug Neely grabbed the collar of San Diego’s Diego Terry and threw him into the dasher boards--drawing a red-card ejection and one game suspension--Neely said in the locker room that he couldn’t recall what Terry had said that caused Neely’s rage.
Later, when informed that Terry didn’t speak English, Neely said, “Maybe that was it.”
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Up next: After the Splash play consecutive road games against Arizona, Mexico and Las Vegas (July 20), the team returns to The Pond July 22 against Houston.
Both weekend games will be delayed on KORG 1190-AM; the Arizona game begins at 10 p.m., the Mexico game at 6:05 p.m.
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Standings: Southern Division: San Diego 4-1, Splash 3-2, Mexico 4-3 , Houston 2-4, Arizona 1-4. Western Division: Sacramento 6-0, Portland 3-3, Seattle 2-3, Las Vegas 2-4, San Jose 2-4 . Eastern Division: Monterrey 6-1, Washington 4-3, Dallas 2-3, Pittsburgh 1-3, Detroit 1-5.
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Around the league: The league’s oldest player, Sacramento goalkeeper Mike Dowler, was named the most recent CISL player of the week. Dowler, 37, had 27 saves in a 4-3 victory over Dallas--the Sidekicks’ lowest scoring total in three years--and helped the Knights become the only unbeaten team in the league (6-0). He lowered his goals-against average to 4.77. . . . The player of the week ending July 3 was San Diego’s David Banks. . . . Arizona is first in the CISL in power-play efficiency (80%) and last in penalty killing (36.4%). . . . Detroit’s Andy Chapman leads the CISL in scoring but the Neon is averaging a league-low 5.0 goals per game. Chapman has scored 13 of Detroit’s 30 goals. . . . Mark Chung’s five goals in San Diego’s 12-11 overtime victory over Portland tied a Sockers’ rookie record. . . . After a 4-0 start, Washington has lost three games by a combined three goals.