For the second straight match, San Antonio FC started off on the back foot against Phoenix Rising FC in the desert on Saturday night. The Rising poured on a relentless attack for most of the first half, maintaining possession, creating chances and dictating the run of play.
In the 44th minute, Phoenix midfielder Charlie Dennis kicked SAFC midfielder Dmitrii Erofeev in the head. Dennis was issued a red card, ejected from the match and San Antonio found itself with a plus-one advantage.
Erofeev had entered the match in the 19th minute for an injured Cristian Parano. After sustaining the high boot, a dazed Erofeev soldiered on and got his karmic revenge when – four minutes later – he jumped on a misplayed clearance by Phoenix defender Pape Mar Boye, took a touch, fired a quick shot off his left foot and found the back of the net in the 48th minute, giving SAFC a 1-nil lead.
“Yeah, I got kicked, but I got kicked for the team, and right after I scored. Good substitution, you know?” Erofeev said.
Right before halftime, the match had its own version of Deflategate, when the inner rubber bladder of the game ball emerged through the outer casing. During the subsequent stoppage in play, SAFC Captain Mitch Taintor held the ball up in disbelief, shouting at the referee to call attention to the matter – and it exploded. The protruding inner rubber bladder burst, emitting a sharp, loud crack that could be heard throughout the stadium. Taintor went down in obvious pain and needed a few minutes to regain his composure.
“It sounded like a gunshot, my head was ringing for about 10 minutes after that and I’m really lucky that I didn’t lose an eye or any hearing,” Taintor said.
Despite the turbulent ending of the first half, SAFC was playing a man up in the second half. The momentum had clearly shifted from the host side – arguably playing its best half of the season up until the boot-to-the-dome incident – to the visitors. Phoenix was forced to play the soccer version of prevent defense, which defanged its previously formidable attack. SAFC found itself in a prime position to control the remainder of the match.
San Antonio, however, failed to take advantage of its advantage. Substitutions would abound. SAFC got complacent, and 10-man Phoenix got opportunistic. In the 80th minute, PRFC found itself on the attacking third for a set-piece opportunity. A long throw-in from Rising defender Collin Smith, placed squarely in the front of the goal, glanced off the head of a leaping Boye to Phoenix defender Adrian Pelayo, who delivered a volley off his right foot to the far corner for the equalizer. The match, now tied 1-1, was somehow getting weirder, and the momentum shifted back to the hosts.
Six minutes of stoppage time were added to the regulation. The Rising, on another throw-in set piece from the corner, threatened to get the go-ahead goal. With pinpoint service into the box once again from Smith, Phoenix forward Gunnar Studenhofft flicked a header to the corner that was saved by a diving SAFC goalkeeper, Joey Batrouni, preventing a potential road loss and preserving the 1-1 draw.
“We played with a man up for more than 45 minutes. We should do better managing the ball,” SAFC head coach Carlos Llamosa said. “It’s the second game in a row we gave up a late goal on a set piece, so we have to continue working.”
In a bizarre battle between two Western Conference rivals, each side came away with a point and held firm in the standings. SAFC remains atop the table in the west with a one-point lead over Orange County.
San Antonio FC will now prepare for its round two, group three match of the Prinx Tires USL Cup this Saturday when it takes on reigning USL One champions, One Knoxville SC, at Covenant Health Park in Knoxville, TN.