Huaquillas F.C. 1, Condor 0

I showed up at Condor's practice last Tuesday with the AREvista sports writer, ready to interview the head coach about his team's performance through the first part of the season and what he was looking forward to in the second stage.

But when I got to the field, the team's coach from last season, Gary Luna, was in charge. Luna had left Condor during the offseason because another team in Condor's league had offered him more money. He guided that team to a spot in the second round of the provincial tournament. And in the week before the first game of said tournament he is directing Condor's practice.

What's the deal?

Well, Condor really needed a coach because its head coach and assistant coach are both suspended for three months, essentially the duration of the tournament. That explains the need for someone else to come help out.

But didn't Luna ditch Condor for another team?

It's obvious that Bo Schembechler isn't pulling the strings for Condor. There's no "We want a Michigan Man coaching Michigan."

The Condor leadership went after Luna because of his familiarity with the players. My doubt about his presence on the team has to do with how the team played last year in the second round of the provincial tournament - uninspired and unable to score any goals.

Which is kind of how the team played Saturday.

In the first game of the Liguilla, Condor was out-played in every facet, losing 1-0.

Huaquillas controlled everything - from the pace of the game to the crowd. It almost looked as if Condor didn't belong on the same field as them. The opposition looked bigger, stronger, and faster (and had more facial hair). They played with more rhythm and dominated possession. Every time Condor looked like it might have a chance at creating some offense, Huaquillas's defense easily dispatched the risk.

Condor looked unorganized. The defense was shaky. The goalie was off his game. And the offense, as we already know, has no game.

At the end of soccer games, when a team is trailing by one goal, they normally put more pressure on the offensive end and create some game-tying chances. This week saw nothing of the sort. The fans actually started to leave before the whistle blew, even though the home crowd was one point from the tie.

After watching this match, my hopes for the rest of Condor's season aren't diminished, though. There was a large crowd at this week's game, which means that the club made a lot of money on entrance fees. They will now be able to use this money to hire better players (ringers, essentially) to continue improving throughout the season.

Even if a good portion of the crowd was Huaqillas fans traveling 20 minutes down the road, the gate proceeds still go to Condor. It will be interesting to see what kinds of changes Condor makes in the coming weeks because maintaining the status quo would be painful to watch.