Condor 1, Fuerza Amarilla 1

In the first minutes of last night's game against Machala's Fuerza Amarilla, Condor had a golden opportunity for a goal when a striker broke free and was all alone against the goalie.

He missed, badly. The radio announcer said that Condor's forwards continued their erratic play.

He was wrong.

They haven't been erratic in any way. Condor's forwards have been consistent through two games this season.

In the club's opening two matches, the forwards have had at least ten breakaway, one-on-the-goalie chances and have not converted one of those.

Their inability to find the net continued in last night's 1-1 tie in Puerto Bolivar - a game that Condor should have won by a comfortable margin. Instead, a 95th-minute, game-tying goal set the tone for a glum bus ride back to Arenillas.

Condor had a few great opportunities in the first half but couldn't convert. In the 20th minute of the second half, it should have gotten easier for them when Fuerza Amarilla's goalie drew a red card (and automatic ejection) for tripping a Condor player in the 18-yard box.

Fuerza Amarilla only had one goalie in uniform and were forced to move a midfielder between the pipes. He allowed a goal on the ensuing penalty kick (nearly saved it, though) but was lights out for the rest of the game. He stoned a Condor striker on back-to-back chances from point-blank range.

Condor created more good chances on net but couldn't finish. At one point they caught the opposing goalie so far out of position and had such a wide open net and so much time to score that every one in the stadium assumed he was going to score.

He didn't. The Arenillas radio announcer said "It was more difficult to miss the net than to score a goal, but he managed to do just that."

Condor has scored two goals through two games now and didn't earn either of them, while blowing several great chances.

In soccer, the general logic is that in a game between two evenly matched teams, the road team would be content to salvage a tie. The idea being that if they can get a tie on the road, they should be able to win at home.

But you can't apply it to last night's game, especially with a game at division-leading Santa Rosa next weekend (Santa Rosa won at Santos FC yesterday afternoon).

---

Nuggets

• Last night's game was played in Puerto Bolivar, which is part of Machala. It is the the principle banana-exporting port. Other than that, Puerto Bolivar has a reputation for good seafood and not being a place to walk around after dark.

• I went with the sports writer for AREvista. He had a great time and was the official timekeeper on the radio broadcast. The radio guy liked working with him so much that he wants to include our writer in regular coverage for the team.

• We got to the stadium, and the team management realized that it didn't bring the medical kit (A perfect no pasa nada situation). But in soccer, the spray on stuff that the trainer puts on an uninjured player while he is rolling around the field, whining about an injury he didn't sustain is the most important piece of equipment. They also bought some athletic tape.

• The Condor-Fuerza Amarilla match was part of a doubleheader at the stadium. The second match featured the hometown Bolivar against Machala-based Audaz Octubrino. The fans for these two teams slowly filtered into the stadium throughout the second half.

Putting it lightly, these teams had much better fans than Fuerza Amarilla. The Puerto Bolivar fans had foam hats made, giant signs tied the fence, and a big base drum. It looked like Audaz Octubrino brought a full percussion section and a few trumpets. This made it seem quite rowdy toward the end of the game, even though these fans had no rooting interest in the earlier game. (Obviously I would have taken a picture of the bands and hats and signs, but I already told you about Puerto's reputation. Camera stayed at home.)

If one were to measure the quality of a team by the quality of its fans, which I think is a pretty good measurement, I wouldn't want to face Audaz Octubrino or Bolivar.

• I think the majority of percussion instruments in Latin America are almost exclusively used at soccer stadiums.

• I think I heard the Fuerza Amarilla fans once. And to be honest, they were quite lame. Their only cheer was a rah-rah-rah Fuerza Amarilla. Lame.

• Condor's defense has played relatively well in the first two games. Aside from a last-second goal on a missed assignment in the 95th minute last night, they hadn't allowed a goal. The goalie has played very well, and I can't remember the opposition having any one-on-the-goalie chances that have been so readily wasted by Condor.

• Last week, Condor had to play in hand-me-down uniforms. This week, they finally had new kits to wear. On the bus on the way to the stadium, the players opened the bag of uniforms and had a bit of a fashion show on the way to the stadium.

Then when we got to the stadium, the team's management wanted to take a picture of the team in their new gear. But he realized that he forgot the camera and asked me if I brought mine.

I said I didn't, and he asked why.

"We're in Puerto."

"Cierto."