G0al 1: Fabian Castillo Opens up the Scoring from Inside the Box (0-1 FCD, 71″)

It starts off with FCD’s bread and butter: a set piece in a dangerous area. Mauro Diaz takes a dummy kick, throwing defenders out of position and immediately retakes the kick. Marky Delgado, who’s marking Hendry Thomas, allows him to rush his way towards goal without any struggle. Eric Avila, who had been marking Castillo, dismisses his responsibility on Castillo and he’s left open for the clean up goal.

Who’s at fault? Well the play could’ve been averted had Bocanegra avoided an unnecessary foul in the first place. Delgado could’ve done a better job at keeping Thomas within reach to be in better position to win that aerial duel. Avila’s complete abandonment of Castillo leaves him unmarked in the box for the goal. There’s a lot of issues to clean up here.

—

Goal 2: Mauro Diaz Finds Je-Vaughn Watson in Space (0-2 FCD, 78″)

Possession is given up in attacking end, but shouldnt be a problem considering CUSA doesnt have too many players up there to begin with. Once Mauro Diaz gets the ball, he is literally allowed to dribble his way all the way to the half-line (7 total touches).Eric Avila tries to pressure him and misses. Delgado tries and also misses. LM Kris Tyrpak had been playing so high, he’s completely out of the picture.

At this moment, Lochhead knows the counter is in full effect and is trying to keep the action in front of him. When Diaz send over a beautiful through ball, it all comes down to a footrace between the backpedaling Lochead and the front-facing Je-Vaughn Watson, a race Lochhead has no business winning. He’s left to try a last ditch effort by redirecting the ball via slide tackle, but unfortunately taps the ball towards goal. Watson gets a touch in, throwing DK off his balance, and gets his goal.

Who’s at fault? Genetics. Lochhead had decent defensive spacing just wasnt fast enough. The other issue here is someone needed to put pressure on stopping Mauro Diaz from making that run to the half line. That’s too much space for a guy with his vision and talent to work with.

—

Goal 3: Cubo Torres Puts the Goats on the Board (1-2 FCD, 81″)

Rosales brings the ball up with McMullet, Cubo and Bofo up top (that’s a nice trio of nicknames). Once he feeds the ball to Delgado, Rosales runs to his right which creates space for Delgado to bring the ball towards goal. Marky then passes to Cubo, who instantaneously flicks the ball to Bofo. At this point, Hedges rushes to attempt a tackle on Cubo at the expense of his advantageous defensive positioning. If Cubo now decides to run towards goal, and he will, its an even battle to regain that positional advantage.

In any case, when Bofo gets possession, Kellyn Acosta decides to double him up, leaving Tyrpak open. Bofo feeds Tyrpak and Tyrpak sends in a first touch low cross to Cubo, who manages to beat Hedges  for the goal. It’s very reminiscent of McNamara’s goal in week 1.

By the way, anyone know what was up with Cubo’s celebration flop? What was that?

—

Goal 4: Michel Puts the Game Away with a Free Kick Dagger (1-3 FCD, 86″)

The free kick is set up when Marky Delgado commits an unnecessary foul on Mauro Diaz on the counter. Michel, who was looking at shooting from this distance the whole time,  takes a low shot and the wall jumps. The ball ends up hitting a jumping Cubo’s left leg and takes an unfortunate deflection into goal.

Who’s at fault? The wall looked a little bit messy and could’ve been a little bit tighter, but there’s obviously no fault on Cubo for getting a touch on it. Again, it all falls back on avoiding those unnecessary fouls so close to goal.