San Francisco played the first road game in team history in Jacksonville over the weekend. Here are three things we learned about the Deltas after they battled, almost literally, the Armada to a 0-0 draw:
1) Pablo and Jackson create an exciting duo on the wings
Three games in, it has become apparent that the Deltas will be playing a lot of quick, counter-attacking football. With Pablo Dyego on the left and Jackson on the right, there is a lot of speed and talent to attack quickly down the flanks.
Dyego was a revelation against NCFC a week earlier when he was the most dangerous offensive player for the Deltas. He also scored a world-class goal that ended up giving the Deltas their first win ever.
Jackson also delivers the same skill set and speed on the right side. The duo will be a handful for other NASL teams to defend against all season. That will hopefully open up the middle of the pitch, giving Kyle Bekker, Tommy Heinemann, and Michael Stephens chances on goal.
2) The Deltas will not be intimidated
Saturday’s game between the Armada and the Deltas ended up being a battle, almost literally. There were hard fouls and challenges almost from the start between the two teams. It appeared as if the Armada wanted to stamp their physical presence on the game, mainly to slow down the Deltas attack and the flow of the match.
The physical play started just a few minutes in when Pablo Dyego was involved in a shoving match with the Armada’s Drew Beckie and midfielder Jack Blake.
After several other hard challenges, the game finally boiled over in the 65th minute when Blake, apparently upset about a perceived non-call minutes earlier, put a reckless tackle on the Delta’s Karl Ouimette. That caused a major fracas on the sidelines with a lot of pushing and shoving between the two teams. It left the officiating crew in a dilemma to figure out who to card (they decided to be conservative, only booking Blake with a yellow card for his tackle).
It was a good showing of toughness and team spirit from a new squad that has only played three competitive games together. It also shows that the Deltas will not back down from playing physical, if needed, against any other teams this season.
3) Thank goodness for Romuald Peiser
The Deltas goalkeeper was immense in snuffing out the most potent attacks from Jacksonville all game. In the first half, Romuald Peiser was quickly off his line to clear a long ball out of bounds. In the second half, he once again came up with two big saves late in the game.
After falling behind early against North Carolina in the previous week’s game, Peiser’s made several saves in the first half to keep the Deltas within reach. San Francisco ended up regrouping to score three unanswered to win the game.
The 2014 NASL goalkeeper of the year has to be in the early lead this season to reclaim the crown.
