This is the second half of Larry Butterfas’ How Did it Come to This? Check it out if you missed it.
When you’re sitting at the bottom you can only go one of two ways; straight up or sideways. With the sun shining brightly down on the Championship Stadium pitch at the Great Park, Orange County Soccer Club moved…
Sideways.
Gaining a 3-1 victory on your home turf against a team who’s 1-6-1 on the road, for the Black and Orange is a sideways move.
So where do we go from here and will the next five days make or break this season? On Wednesday, OCSC travels down the 5 freeway to play rival San Diego Loyal, followed immediately by a trip to the Valley of the Sun to take on Phoenix Rising.
Orange and Black Soccercast Co-host Brad Palonsky and I spoke this morning and we agree, points must be had this week.
“Three points in these two games is big. Two points is satisfactory. One is the bare minimum. Zero and we’re done,” he said. He further added, “If OC earns four points, I’ll retire the Malort for a month.”
Whereas we agree points must be had, I see it differently. Four points is big. 3 point are satisfactory. Two we are on life support and one or zero, the party is over.
So again, I ask, where do we go from here?
The hope for all of us, of course, is we go up. However, moving up is going to take change. Strides were taken by the front office last week with the additions of Ivan Gutierrez (signed for the rest of the season after first inking a 25 day deal) and 20-year-old Ian Hoffman (on loan for the rest of the season from Houston Dynamo). Both players were key in the victory against Loudon FC. Gutierrez gained an assist, setting up Erick ‘El Cubo’ Torres’ for the go ahead goal while Hoffman harried the big Norwegian, Simonsen, from the first whistle to the last. These changes seem to be a good start.
More are needed.
I suspect more are coming. Whether they come this season, in the form of loans or acquisitions, is still to be seen.
Saturday was a good, albeit sideways, win. But there is good news on the horizon.
There are rumors floating about that a certain crafty, swift footed mid-fielder will be returning the pitch this weekend. Could we finally see the official debut, in Orange and Black, for the dream team of Iloski and Iloski? I can’t confirm the rumor, but I/we can hope it is true.
For now, let’s sit back, enjoy the next five days and hope at final whistle Saturday night in Wild Horse Pass, where we have gone is, up.
“Up the table we will rise, let our voices be lifted high”