(DUDLEY FIELD, El Paso, TX) - It's a brave new world, and the El Paso Patriots seem to want a piece.
In just the second game under new management, the Patriots still act sometimes like they're renting, not buying into a new philosophy. But a hard-work goal from Edu Silva stood up, as did backup goalkeeper and El Paso native Alfredo Estrada, and the Patriots beat the Indiana Blast, 1-0.
Speaking of Blast, it appeared El Paso actually had one, playing with an intensity not seen in a few weeks. The victory was just the Patriots second of the season since a 4-0 shellacking of Calgary in the season's first match, but offered sufficient points to keep El Paso (2-4-4, 13 points) a three-goal win away from tying Vancouver for second place in the Pacific Division.
The Patriots host the Whitecaps this Saturday at historic Dudley Field.
A solid crowd of 1,573 seemed to feed off the home team's newfound confidence, too, chanting and shouting and drumming themselves into the game's conscience. Whether it was the Patriots who fed off the crowd or vice-versa, the harmony was noticeable from the beginning.
The coaching duo of new man Miguel Angel Murillo and elevated longtime assistant coach Jesus "Chuy" Enriquez seemed to have a new offensive philosophy in mind for their usually slow-to-build side.
Immediately apparent was that defenders Fabio Terra and Sidnei dos Santos were set free to come forward. That shift in El Paso thinking caught the Blast off guard with hard, penetrating runs into the heart of the Indiana defense.
Good for Murillo and Enriquez. The straight-up Latin style might work well with ladies, but against large A-League defenses it usually petered out at the date's doorstep. In every match the Patriots have tried to force the issue with their dance partners only to be met with a goodnight kiss - on the cheek, no less - or, more commonly, an open slap to the face.
However, nothing would stick if Indiana had the wheels to counter with effect. They did not.
A bad season has gotten progressively worse for the Blast, whose ownership dismantled its W-League side and has cut back a lot around the Indiana team. The Blast came into the match after a 5:30 a.m. flight out of Indy, bringing with them a 3-6-0 record. What wheels they may have had didn't stay on for the match.
As for size, a normal A-League team attribute, the Blast had that in spades. That included gargantuan forward Tommy Keenan, who, at a solid 6-5 to 6-6, resembled Ivan Drago among all the normal-to-under-sized El Pasoans.
But watching Keenan turn upfield after receiving balls was like watching a tractor-trailer turn a corner on a two-lane road - wide, laborious and momentum slowing. The Patriots' defense had all sorts of time to catch up to the Blast's counterattack. Estrada, the lower valley native filling in for a slightly injured Jesse Llamas, had to make only three saves all night.
It was just El Paso's game as finally the Patriots offense gave their loud fans something to shout about in the 60th minute after coming close a number of times.
This was no finesse goal, though, as El Paso seemingly spent a good minute in the Indiana box holding possession between playmaker Renato DaGama, returning attacking midfielder Dominic Schell, El Pasoan Omar Mora and finally dos Santos, who out-dueled three Indiana defenders before chipping a short pass to Silva who staggered clear of the scrum and slipped the low, almost unnoticed shot past keeper Josh Lynk.
I didn't take long for the crowd to figure it out, though, as the ebullient Brazilian winger sprinted all the way along the right angle of Dudley Field's old baseball stands, celebrating wildly with the Patriots' faithful in full voice.
And finally the Patriots were able to put four points on the standings board and a "2" in the wins column, next to the two "4's".
Now if they can just get that mortgage approved…
