The San Francisco Deltas and Jacksonville Armada battled to a 1-1 draw on Sunday. Here are three things we learned from the game:



1) Let’s hope Cristian Portilla’s injury isn’t serious

The San Francisco Deltas are a team that doesn’t have any clear stars. Coach Marc Dos Santos has put together a roster with interchangeable players who all have contributed this year. However, the most essential player so far this season has been the defensive midfielder Cristian Portilla. The Spaniard has been the glue for the team in the Spring Season often converting defense into offense and is seemingly often in the right place at the right time. He also has a deadly accuracy on free kicks, which has been one of the strong points offensively for the Deltas.

In the 18th minute against Jacksonville, Portilla was injured when he went into a tackle. It looked as if it appeared to be an injury to his right knee. He was unable to continue and after being subbed off he was examined on the sidelines before being brought to the locker room by golf cart.

Portilla is traveling back with the team from Florida and will be evaluated when he returns to San Francisco. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery.

2) The Deltas “bench” comes through

With red cards to Pablo Dyego and Kyle Bekker, the San Francisco Deltas came into Jacksonville with only six players on the bench. Nana Attakora was also not on the sidelines nursing a knee injury. The situation became even more difficult when Portilla had to be subbed out early in the game.

“It’s important for us to keep everybody fresh, everybody ready, and everybody involved, so the roster is always ready to go when we need them,” Deltas coach Marc Dos Santos said in a recent interview.

The Deltas relied on their bench players and they responded well. Greg Jordan came in and played a solid, physical role as a replacement for Portilla. He even had a nice looping shot that forced an excellent save from the Armada goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell.

Patrick Hopkins, Karl Ouimette, and Renier Ferriera played well in defense against the speedy Jacksonville forwards, except for the penalty in the box. Maxim Tissot was inserted into the starting lineup as a left wing and had some dangerous crosses and tracked back well. Michael Stephens and Tyler Gibson played well in the midfield and Danny Cruz filled in as the second forward, a spot normally reserved for the suspended Pablo Dyego, and got the game-tying goal.

Add to that the typical strong effort of regular starters Jackson and Tommy Heinemann and you get a positive result on the road for San Francisco.

3) Dagoberto appears to be a nice addition to the team

Although he played just over fifteen minutes, Brazilian soccer star Dagoberto made a memorable first appearance. Within his first five minutes on the field, Dagoberto felt he was fouled twice and dramatically appealed to the ref both times for a call, which was not given.

He was also quick to the ball and appeared to have an instinctual decision-making ability, clearly honed over his long career in Brazil.

Dagoberto also showed a keen tactical awareness.

Late in the match, a lazy pass from the Jacksonville defense forced their keeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell to run far from goal in an attempt to keep it from going over the goal line. The Brazilian read the situation and quickly took a corner kick while Patterson-Sewell, far from goal, attempted to pretend he was injured to have the ref call the play dead. The ensuing corner did not score a goal but it was a canny split second decision by the veteran.

It portends more exciting moments from Dagoberto, and the Deltas, as he continues to be incorporated into the team.