(DUDLEY FIELD, El Paso, TX) -- There is no one reason why things happen
-- good or bad -- in team sports. Even the alignment of planets requires
more than one.
But, fresh off a 3-1 defeat of Central Division leading Milwaukee, there
is one factor that stands out in the 4-0-2 run of the El Paso Patriots over
their last six matches, and it's an easy one to spot.
Since booting Milton Queiroz a month ago, elevating long-time assistant
coach Jesus "Chuy" Enriquez to co-head coach with local youth coach and
former Mexican-leaguer Miguel Angel Murillo, the Patriots are...drum roll,
please...four-oh-and-two.
With Enriquez and Murillo at the helm there has been a steady rise in
confidence and ability. And though El Paso's three-goal second period
comeback in Calgary was certainly more dramatic, the win over the Rampage
was the Patriots' most impressive of the season.
Milwaukee (9-3-1, 40 points) came in with a 4-1-0 road record, the
second-best point total in the Western Conference and perhaps the best
top-to-bottom organization in American soccer. The Patriots (now 5-4-5, 28
points) came in at just .500, fresh off their first road win in a year and
with Mars firmly aligned with Venus.
Further reasoning for this turnaround would be the exclusive territory
of Agents Moulder and Scully.
A raucous Dudley Field crowd of 2,670 cheered the home team, too, which
certainly didn't hurt El Paso's mood.
Nonetheless, it was Milwaukee that looked infinitely more balanced from
back to front early on. Numerous lapses allowed Patriots goalkeeper and El
Pasoan Alfredo Estrada to be tested early and often, including a
nerve-wracking 8th-minute blast from Yugoslav midfielder Igor Soso from a
good 25 yards out that barely missed wide of the left post.
But Estrada, the prodigal son who left for a disastrous season in
Cincinnati, has done an exceptionally good job stepping in for the injured
Jesse Llamas, winning playing time with his solid positioning and timely
saves. This match was no exception, and though we haven't seen the last of
Llamas, it'll be harder to put him back in with an El Pasoan playing so
well. What Estrada didn't have to stop was due to the Patriots back three of
Sidnei dos Santos, Fabio Terra and Guillermo MacFarlane.
The Rampage thundered away but there was no lightning to be seen, and
after their early positional miscues the Patriots began to exploit
Milwaukee's 3-6-1. Though the single forward was former MLS standout Digital
Takawira, who's obviously found a home in Milwaukee, El Paso was able to
absorb much of the Rampage's pressure.
Takawira was marked tightly, mainly by dos Santos, who, at 5-9,
physically intimidates no one, but plays like a shadow until you try to step
around the corner and find he's maneuvered you into a dead end.
Much like Italy and Argentina, who also used single-forward formations
in the World Cup, Milwaukee head coach Boro Sucevic was playing this match
close to the vest.
Much like Italy and Argentina, the philosophy would prove costly.
In the 28th minute El Paso seized control of match for good, as recent
acquisition Daniel Frias was sprung up the left wing. Midfielder Dominic
Schell went tearing into the six-yard box, sliding into Frias' sudden cross.
Rampage keeper Dan Popik and Schell arrived in the same spot, but Schell
punched it through near the mouth of the goal and it was 1-0 Patriots.
It was El Paso's match and the team rose to the challenge. Milwaukee put
a little more into its attack, working hard down the wings. But centering
passes became turns into a cul de sac and the Rampage showed their
frustration with a few hard fouls at the start of the second half.
Then in the 77th minute, it was Frias who again got the ball rolling.
Acquired a month ago from Astros de Ciudad Juarez of the Mexican Third
Division, Frias has proven his worth finding himself open for his teammates'
passes time and again, while utilizing speed and possession to create
offense that did not exist before his arrival.
This time, it was a pass to fellow forward and El Pasoan Omar Mora that
opened up gobs of room. Mora took the ball near the left of the box, turned
it back in and blasted a low shot from just inside the 18 that Popik could
not stop. It was 2-0 Patriots and Milwaukee's wheels were falling off.
In the very next minute, Mora found himself open up the left side again,
this time with no one but Popik to beat. But after nudging the ball ahead he
was cut down from behind by defender Jeremy Aldrich with a studs-up
challenge aimed at nothing but Mora's heel, leaving referee Misail Tsapos
little choice but to show Aldrich the red card.
The Rampage pleaded Aldrich's case, comparing the tackle to one that the
Patriots' Edu Silva had on Takawira in the 10th minute. But while Tsapos was
perhaps kind to Silva in showing him the yellow, there were still other
Patriots players in the vicinity to deal with Digital. Aldrich's challenge
came with absolutely no one else within 20 yards of Mora, erasing a clear
goal-scoring opportunity.
But now Milwaukee, with nothing to lose, decided to open the flood gates
on offense, finally breaking through just five minutes after Mora's score as
Jason Russell fired a hopeful cross into the box that was pushed into the El
Paso net by defender Matt Bobo in much the same way and close to the same
place the Patriots scored their first goal.
However in added time, finally catching the Rampage short on the
counterattack, El Paso's leading scorer Renato daGama found himself with the
kind of room that any Brazilian footballer worth his salt dreams of.
Virtually alone against Popik, this was the breakaway slam-dunk there was no
way daGama was going to miss, and he didn't, driving a low shot past Popik
for the extra point to go with the four El Paso got for the win.
It was the second straight match in which the Patriots scored three
goals for the full five points and the second straight goal in added time
for daGama.
As for the Rampage, the self-destruction became complete with a
post-game tirade by Sucevic that included a few epithets directed at Tsapos
and, according to a security guard, shoving a 13-year-old boy on the way to
the locker room. The unfortunate youngster was on his way to the men's room,
which is right in the path of the walk to the visitor's locker room.
The area should have been sealed off better than it was, but Sucevic
maintained the youngster shoved him and that he required medical attention
from EMT's on standby at the match. However, when the EMT's showed up
Sucevic had a change of heart, ordering the EMT's and attending Patriots'
staff from the room and locking the door behind him. Some 40 minutes later
Sucevic and his team emerged to head to their vans, the coach leaving
unsigned league paperwork in his wake.
These are happier days in El Paso, which holds on to the all-important
second place spot in the Pacific Division with the win. This transformation
from a team that could have been mistaken for a Men's Warehouse ad --
because they loved their ties -- to a consistent competitor has been
wonderful to watch, and it's ironic that the more El Paso has used the
talent in the area, including Southern New Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico,
the more the stars seem to be lining up for this team.
Enriquez and Murillo have instilled confidence. Where Queiroz seemed to
lack confidence in his players' abilities against taller, stronger teams
(which is virtually everybody else in the A-League), embodied by launches
that would have done El Paso's namesake, the Patriot missile, proud, the
Patriot's new Dynamic Duo has urged ball movement through the midfield and
from the wings.
It is notable that this success comes despite losing El Paso forwards
Matt Stewart, the diminutive speed merchant, and Michael Griego, the lanky
up-front target, to injury.
Whatever the case, Enriquez and Murillo are proving this is not some
quick-fix, Miss Cleo kind of scheme.
But four wins and two ties in six games? An as-yet unblemished road
record? Two consecutive three-goal efforts?
Any more of this and El Paso's coaches might need to brush up on their
Jamaican accents.
Will it last?
"Call me now, chil'!"
