Early missed opportunities leave Greenville looking for goals
The opening match to the Greenville Triumph’s quest for a fourth consecutive USL League One Final got off to a disappointing start, as the club dropped their season-opening match to expansion side Central Valley Fuego FC 2-0 at Triumph Stadium in Greenville. The Triumph started out strong with chances on goal early in the match, but opportunities from returning striker Jake Keegan and winger Allen Gavilanes fell short. The half continued with heavy possession from Greenville, as Gavilanes and Venton Evans sparked the attack from the outside lanes. Although Greenville was able to utilize the width of the field, they were unable to capitalize on that movement and went into the locker room scoreless.
In the second half, newcomers Fuego FC came back with a renewed energy. After several changes of possession, Fuego’s Christen Chaney found the back of the net in the 56th minute to draw first blood for Fuego. A after a quick pass split Triumph centerbacks Brandon Fricke and Evan Lee, Chaney was left one on one against Greenville’s Paul Christensen and buried the ball in the back of the net.
In the 65th minute, one of Greenville’s best opportunities came for right back Jamie Smith, as he blasted a shot from outside the eighteen-yard box, hitting the bottom of the crossbar. Unfortunately for the Triumph, they conceded their second goal minutes later after a misstep from Christensen in the 69th minute. Despite subbing on a wealth of attacking talent throughout the second half, Greenville failed to find the net as Fuego completed a 2-0 shutout.
“The start we had was brilliant,” said head coach John Harkes. “We had chances early, but you’ve got to put them away and bury the game. You look back (after the loss) and say, ‘what can we do, what can we learn from this’?”
The Greenville Triumph will look to get in the win column in just five days, as host the USL Championship’s Oakland Roots SC in the second round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Thursday night at 7:00 PM.
Quotes:
“I’m proud of the guys. The effort they put in was very good. I mean the the start we had brilliant chances – Keegan and the 5th minute then Gavi probably about the 9th or 10th minute. You’ve just got to put those away and bury those, because once you do then you take command and you’re able to dictate the pace from there. You just say, ‘look what what can we do, what can we learn from this’, it’s a hard lesson to learn in the first game of the season but it’s better to do it now than it is to when you’re chasing a playoff spot. Hopefully we learn from this and we grow these are opportunities to get better.” – John Harkes, head coach & sporting director
“I think it’s early on in that shows with some of the connectivity in the team in the in the final the final third, which is always the final thing to come and development and I think that showed tonight. We were just a little off and that last moment where we we created, I think, enough chances to score goals and we just didn’t quite take it. Then we were a little loose defensively for one or two moments and it cost us the game.” – Brandon Fricke, defender
“Yeah they made it difficult for us. You never want to open up a season with a loss, especially at home to a team that’s come across the countr,y but we know we’re gonna get a tough game from them. They’re new to the league, and anytime you have your first game you’re always really up for it and I think we have a bit of a target on our back with the success we’ve had over the first three seasons so we know we’re gonna get every team’s first and best game. We’ve just got to learn from it and move on. We have a big game on Thursday, quick turnaround so we have to set our sights there and figure out what we did wrong and fix it moving forward.” – Aaron Walker, midfielder and co-captain
