Thunder Gives Zodiac a Bitter Setback, 2-1
Zodiac Coach Tony Cerna didn’t expect his soccer team to cruise through the A-League in its inaugural season.
But nearly two-thirds of the way through the season, Cerna seems to be running out of patience. After Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Thunder at Santa Ana Stadium--the Zodiac’s eighth defeat in nine games and fourth in a row at home--Cerna clearly was not happy.
“We’re just losing concentration,” Cerna said. “We are making too many mistakes all over the field. I told the players, ‘You have to work hard and keep your focus on the game.’ That’s something we’re missing here.”
The team has been hurt by injuries and has sent three players to the Galaxy--its Major League Soccer parent club--but Cerna said players are performing below their capabilities.
The evidence was everywhere Sunday, witnessed by an announced crowd of 950 and a national cable television audience.
Play was lackadaisical with only a strongly struck free kick off the crossbar by Thunder midfielder Daniel Larumbe breaking the monotony of the first 35 minutes.
With the Zodiac still stuporous, the Thunder took advantage in the 36th minute. Midfielder Sergei Gotzmanov took a throw in from defender Chris Foster and dribbled past a couple of Zodiac players to the 18-yard line in the center of the field and beat goalkeeper Marco Cerna with a long low shot to the right.
Four minutes after intermission, Adan Villalvazo scored the equalizer.
Villalvazo, a 20-year-old rookie from Compton, was set up by a pass from Jose Vasquez, who sent the ball into the penalty box.
Then the teams each missed penalty kicks. Minnesota was first, awarded the penalty when Zodiac sweeper Kevin Grimes was called for a hand ball while stopping a certain goal. Grimes maintained that he shouldn’t have been penalized because his arms never left his sides and Gotzmanov’s shot from close range hit him where his left arm meets the shoulder.
Grimes, however, was so vehement that referee Brian Elliot sent him off with a red-card ejection and the Zodiac played the final 28 minutes a man down.
But Minnesota’s Don Grametz badly missed the penalty kick, sending it wide left by about five feet. Then in the 70th minute Zodiac forward John Jones was fouled in the penalty box, but Vasquez didn’t hit his penalty kick solidly. Guessing correctly, Swallen dived right and made the save.
Minnesota (8-10) scored its 14th of the season--still the league low--in the 82nd minute on a free kick by Mark Abboud from dead center about 22 yards out.
The Zodiac dropped to 6-12 with 10 games remaining.
