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CHULA VISTA -- The San Diego Flash lost a soccer game 2-0 last night before 3,267 at Southwestern College. All was not lost, however.
The opponent was Necaxa, and when you are a second-division team in the United States it is no sin to lose to a first-division Mexican power after holding it scoreless for 80-plus minutes. And after going to overtime in an A-League match just 22 hours earlier.
"This match meant nothing in the league standings," Flash assistant coach Eliseo "Papo" Santos said. "Credibility-wise, it meant a lot. There was a big crowd and the fans are going to leave here happy. They saw some good soccer tonight."
Which was something they didn't see the night before. The Flash looked positively uninspired in a 2-1 shootout loss to U.S. Pro-40 Select, which has a different roster every week and never plays a home game and never practices and which was in last place in the Pacific Division.
"They were hungrier tonight," Santos said. "I think yesterday they took the night off preparing for this match. That's bad, but psychologically I think that's what happened."
Santos is an assistant coach, but he is not far removed from an illustrious pro career as a sweeper -- a career that may resume as soon as this weekend. Starting sweeper Carlos Cruz limped off Saturday night with a knee injury; his replacement, Michael N'Doumbe, left last night with a sprained ankle.
The Flash also could lose goalkeeper Joe Cannon, who begins a weeklong call-up with San Jose of Major League Soccer. But backup Tom Tate started last night and played admirably.
So did his teammates. This was no friendly, with five yellow cards and four shoving skirmishes that nearly escalated into more. But the Flash kept its cool and created some dangerous chances, forcing Necaxa goalkeeper Adolfo Rios -- a regular on the Mexican national team -- to make several spectacular saves.
Necaxa, which scored four goals on the A-League's San Francisco Bay Seals last week, finally scored on the makeshift (and exhausted) Flash defense in the 83rd minute on a goal by Sergio Vasquez. Two minutes later, substitute Markus Lopez drilled a free kick around a defensive wall and it was 2-0.
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