View from the Blues, Volume 19: Mixed Results Against Dayton

Charlie Naimo's Los Angeles Blues decided to shake up the formation after a subpar performance on the road against the Charleston Battery and Wilmington Hammerheads, which saw them secure only one out of a possible six points.

So long 4-4-2, hello 4-3-3.

“In the game against the Battery, we were solid defensively for almost the entire 90 minutes, but we struggled to create chances,” Naimo told labluesprosoccer.com's Gunnar Berndt. “Having said that, Charleston is a very good team at home and we had just traveled there from the West Coast, so it’s not a terrible thing to shut them out in their own stadium.
The second game (against Wilmington, a 4-2 loss) was just extremely tough because it came only a day later. After all, there have been very few teams all year that have won their second game in a back-to-back road swing.”

Iranian international Mehrshad Momeni was surprised by the situation the Blues were forced to face in their last two games.

“The bottom line is, it’s not an even competitive playing field,” Momeni said. “An away game itself is difficult, but the travel and physical exhaustion of two road games in two days definitely influences the outcome of the second game. It’s like a horse race with one horse that’s fresh and another horse that’s been run into the ground. Not only are you playing in a different temperature and humidity after traveling for hours, but then you even have to do it on two consecutive days.
I firmly believe that we can beat both Charleston and Wilmington in a more even situation. If they came here and were under the same circumstances, most of the time they wouldn’t be able to beat us. But all these thoughts really don’t matter if we just get points against Dayton. Everything else gets pushed back in your mind when you win. It makes you forget about previous losses.”

Forward Chukwudi Chijindu offered his take on how the Blues could turn the tide around.

“First and foremost, we have to look at our individual performances. We need to be more dangerous with the possession we have and execute better in front of the goal.  Of course, part of it is also the circumstances.
It’s tough to play two road games back-to-back against two good teams. But with the players we have, I think we still could have gotten six points from the trip. We have to look at ourselves without making excuses and just get better in all aspects of our game. It starts with each individual player wanting to improve himself.
We need to not give up soft goals and start capitalizing on our chances earlier, because we leave a lot of opportunities on the table and keep opponents in games. Most teams play counter-attacking soccer against us since we have most of the possession. If we don’t finish, the next thing you know they get a breakaway and convert, and all of a sudden we’re chasing the game."

The first of two matches against the Dayton Dutch Lions took place on Friday, July 15, at a home venue that had been unfriendly to the Blues as of late: Titan Stadium, on the campus of California State University, Fullerton in Fullerton, California.

These were the lineups, since a live blog of the match was not recorded on Bleacher Report:

DAYTON DUTCH LIONS
Manager: Ivar van Dinteren
Formation: 4-3-3
Colors: Orange tops with white vertical bars, white shorts, orange socks

19 Jesper Leerdam

16 Bret Jones—4 Joe Tait—3 Kyle Segebart—2 Shane Smith

8 Joel Delass—24 Mikael McNamara—22 George Davis IV

7 Lucien Seymour—6 Kolby Lacrone—21 Marvin van der Pluijm

Substitutes:

1 Brian Visser GK
5 Happy Hall DEF
12 Eric Kissinger MID/FWD
17 Luke Magill MID

LOS ANGELES BLUES
Manager: Charlie Naimo
Formation: 4-3-3
Colors: Light blue tops, white shorts, light blue socks

1 Oscar Dautt

14 Mehrshad Momeni—2 Erlys Garcia—5 Nelson Akwari—27 Carlos Borja

8 Shahryar Dastan—25 Israel Sesay—7 Josh Tudela

24 Cesar Rivera—9 Chukwudi Chijindu—19 Peter Byers

Substitutes:

22 Amir Abedzadeh GK
21 Mike Randolph DEF
26 Edwin Miranda MID
17 Gerardo Bravo MID
77 Tomislav Colic MID
15 Adriano DeLima FWD
11 Akeem Priestley FWD


In the seventh minute, Dayton pounced on the Blues early through the heroics of their ace, George Davis. All year, the Blues defense has proven to be vulnerable time and time again and Davis proved that even the worst team in the league has a chance against the likes of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Blues offense continued to be stagnant, wasting chance after chance on goal while failing to string together a sequence of long passes. At halftime, the match was 1-0 Dayton.

Cesar Rivera had to convert a penalty late in stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw with the Lions, who played down to 10 men after Joe Tait was sent off for dissent.

The second match was a bit more fruitful for the Blues, who coasted to a 4-1 victory at Norco College in Norco, California.

After Eric Kissinger scored in the 13th minute for Dayton, LA responded with four unanswered goals: an equalizer from Israel Sesay in the 31st minute, a penalty conversion by Cesar Rivera in the 37th minute, Mehrshad Momeni in the 50th minute and Gerardo Bravo in the 73rd minute of play.

Dayton was forced to play with nine men after the 69th minute, the epitome of what has been a clearly underwhelming season for Ivar van Dinteren's club.

A huge road trip is in the works for the Los Angeles Blues, a suicide mission, if you will.

On Friday, July 22, the Blues take on the red-hot Richmond Kickers, led by Matthew Delicate, at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET.

On Saturday, July 23, the Blues travel to Harrisburg for one last crack at the Harrisburg City Islanders at the Skyline Sports Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. ET.

Blues 23 Update

It can be safe to say that Federico Bianchi's Los Angeles Blues 23 are making plans for next year after what is certain to be an underachieving maiden campaign. Through 14 games, the Blues 23 have a 3-9-2 record (11 points), good enough for sixthth place in the Premier Development League Western Conference's Southwest Division.

In the month of June, the Blues 23 drew with Ventura County 1-1, lost to the Fresno Fuego 5-0 and Orange County Blue Star 5-2 and defeated the Los Angeles Legends 2-0 and BYU Cougars 3-2 before going on a four-game losing streak, with losses to the Southern California Seahorses (3-1), Fusion (2-0), Outlaws (2-1) and Fuego (2-1).

The Blues 23 wrap up their season on the road with two matches. On July 21, they take on the BYU Cougars at BYU South Field in Provo, Utah. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET.

LA's season finale is on July 23 when they take on the Ogden Outlaws at Bonneville High School in Ogden, Utah. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. PT/8:00 p.m. ET.