San Francisco came into Saturday night’s game at Miami with dreams of snatching the Spring Season title from Miami FC. Instead, the Deltas were completely dominated from the opening whistle. They allowed three goals within the first fifteen minutes and the final score was a bloodbath.
Miami 7, San Francisco 0.
“There are days where absolutely everything goes wrong, and we never get in the match,” said SF Deltas head coach Marc Dos Santos.
The Deltas defense was continually exposed throughout the match. Miami’s Dylan Mares scored within the first five minutes. Stefano Pinho added two more in the next ten minutes.
San Francisco’s offense was equally impotent. They only managed 3 shots all game and none on target. Miami had 70 percent of the possession during the match and completed 717 passes compared to 294 for San Francisco.
To make matters worse defender Renier Ferreira received a red card in the 35th minute which sniffed out any thought of a Deltas comeback.
Mares added another goal just before the half, and Ariel Martinez scored in the 50th minute.
Deltas defender Kenny Teijsse went down with an injury later in the second half, and Pinho added two more as SF played with nine men.
“The fact we were playing with ten and then nine against eleven, things got more and more difficult,” added Dos Santos.
Even after the disappointing loss, Dos Santos praised his team: “In every moment, I will stand with this group of players. This game needs to make us better and grow as a team. Now we need to think about [next] Saturday.”
“I would like to congratulate Miami for their Spring Season Championship,” Dos Santos concluded. “They deserve it.”
Despite the result, the Deltas are still second place in the standings and in good shape almost halfway through the NASL regular season. They stand eight points above fifth place North Carolina FC and need to finish among the top four teams to qualify for the postseason.
San Francisco will quickly have a chance to exact some revenge at home playing Miami next Saturday. The teams will also match up three more times in the Fall Season as well.
