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CHULA VISTA -- The San Diego Flash invited a samba band to the game last night, adding a distinctive Brazilian flavor to Devore Stadium. Southwestern College became northwestern Sao Paolo.
The Flash may not have played like Brazilians all the time, but it certainly won like them. After a scoreless season opener and a bumpy opening 30 minutes last night, the Flash recorded the first win in franchise history, 3-0 over the Long Island Rough Riders before 3,804 fans.
Beat them like a, er, drum.
Long Island coach Paul Riley talked about how his team was disorganized in the back, how his team couldn't contain the Flash forwards, how the Flash owned the midfield, how the Flash . .
Riley stopped himself. "They just beat us in every category imaginable in soccer," he said.
Carlos "Chile" Farias inflicted a large part of the damage, scoring two goals and weaving through defenders like a Porsche through pylons, which begs the question: Where was he last week during the 2-0 loss to Seattle?
The 5-foot-6 midfielder was here, at Devore Stadium. "I saw the game," he said, "and I felt I could have helped the team."
But you can't help the team from the stands. His indoor season concluded, Farias had flown into San Diego but did not yet have formal clearance from U.S. Soccer to join the Flash. He finally got it yesterday morning, after Flash officials received special permission from A-League commissioner Francisco Marcos.
So Farias misses the entire inaugural game and scores the first A-League goal in Flash history. It came in the 41st minute on a cross from midfielder Nate Hetherington that Antonio Robles flicked in front of the goal. The ball bounced to Farias at the far post and he banged it home.
Midfielder Noah Gins made it 2-0 in the 55th minute on a highlight-film goal -- a 22-yard drive from the top of the penalty area that tracked into upper left corner of the net. Farias got his second goal in the 85th minute on another fine cross from Hetherington, a San Dieguito High and UCSD alum.
"The moment we scored the goal," San Diego coach Ralf Wilhelms said, "I thought all the nervousness, all the pressure the players put on themselves went away. And they just started playing soccer."
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