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SAFC’s Injury-Riddled Defense Stands Tall

By CHARLIE CORR - charlie.corr@uslsoccer.com, 08/21/16, 9:45AM EDT

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San Antonio shuts out S2 as club makes push for postseason


Goalkeeper Matt Cardone / Photo courtesy of San Antonio FC

All teams are forced to deal with injuries at some point or another, but San Antonio FC sustained a pair of blows in quick succession, hit with the reality that two of its prominent figures in defense would be out for the rest of the season.

Captain and goalkeeper Josh Ford, a man with MLS experience under his belt and a centerpiece of this San Antonio club, sustained a broken scapula. Defender Stephen McCarthy, who has had a strong presence both in the defense and in moments in the attack with a pair of goals and an assist, suffered a broken elbow during SAFC’s Aug. 17 win against Arizona United SC. 

San Antonio showed Saturday that it is more than capable of overcoming such obstacles.

With Rafa Castillo supplying just enough on the offensive end with a second-half tally, the defense held its own in keeping Seattle Sounders FC 2 off the score sheet for a 1-0 win in front of 6,417 at Toyota Field in San Antonio.

“We got the clean sheet, which is something we pride ourselves on,” San Antonio Head Coach Darren Powell said. “We were able to hold on to that tonight and preserve it, and it put us in a position to win the game. Fortunately, tonight we were able to hold on to the lead and win the match.”

In goal, the spotlight is on Matt Cardone for the rest of the way. Cardone made three saves – all against one of S2’s strongest goal-scoring threats in Victor Mansaray – to lead SAFC to the clean sheet.

“We watch Matt every day in training, so training has prepared him for these moments,” Powell said. “Yes, he got a run of games [earlier this season], which was for his good fortune, but tonight I thought he played probably his best game in a San Antonio FC shirt.”

The win was a crucial one for San Antonio, which improved to 8-8-7 (31 points) to sit in the eighth and final postseason position at the end of the night. Only seven regular-season matches remain, with a big two-game road trip coming up against Saint Louis FC next Saturday and the Swope Park Rangers on Aug. 31.

Saint Louis (28 points) and Swope (29 points) face each other Sunday night, with the potential to perhaps bump SAFC back under the playoff red line.

Points are a premium every time out, and SAFC will need to sustain the type of defensive performance it had against Seattle for this final seven-game stretch.

“That was a tough 90 minutes,” defender Greg Cochrane said. “Seattle is a good team, and we knew they were going to test us, but we had faith in everybody that stepped on the field. It didn’t matter that unfortunately we had some injuries this past week, but I was fully confident that the next men up were going to come up and get the job done, and we did.”

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