San Francisco — There are days in soccer when everything clicks… and then there are days when you run into El Farolito.

Real San Jose made the trip north to face the reigning National Amateur Club of the Year and, for one long evening in Boxer Stadium, found themselves on the wrong end of a 12–0 scoreline. Yes, twelve. As in, by the time you finish reading this sentence, they might have scored again.

But here’s the thing — this wasn’t a team that packed it in.

From the opening whistle, RSJ showed up ready to fight. For stretches, they battled, defended, and tried to impose themselves against a side that has made a habit of turning good teams into cautionary tales. And while the scoreboard kept ticking in a direction nobody in red, white, and black wanted to see, the effort never dipped.

No heads dropped. No walking. No “let’s just get out of here.” Just a group that kept lining up, taking the next kickoff, and going again.

Because that’s the part you don’t always see in a scoreline like this.

You see “12–0” and think collapse. But inside it, there’s something else — guys who kept running, kept competing, and kept showing up for each other even when the result was long gone.

Against a powerhouse like El Farolito, that matters.

Real San Jose will take the lesson, take the hit, and keep moving. That’s how this club has lasted 20 seasons. Not by avoiding results like this — but by surviving them.

And if you’ve been around RSJ long enough, you already know how this story goes next.

They’ll be back. Starting this friday when the Oakland Stompers come to PAL Stadium for a 7:45PM kickoff.

Real San Jose overcame a horrendous start to earn home draw versus JASA. JASA scored a tap in from about 2 yards out following an attack down the RSJ left flank. Somehow and quite inexplicably the entire RSJ defense left the goal unattended as the ball slipped through them. The frustrating start could be traced to the fact that Daniel Corral was out of the lineup and his replacement was caught for out of position on the goal. RSJ recovered from that defensive blunder to get even in the 24th minute by also scoring into an unprotected net. Eddie Guerrero ran onto a ball that skipped through the JASA penalty area and coolly brought the score even. RSJ, for the first time this season kept the majority of the play in the opponents half for a long stretch going into halftime. Somehow all that change in the second half when the game evened out and eventually ended in a draw.

Real San Jose traveled to San Leandro and returned home with a second loss in two UPSL fall season matches. This time the score was San Leandro United 2 and RSJ 0. RSJ simply did not travel well to this game. Unexpectedly missing from the game were Jonathan Garcia and Eddie Guerrero and that forced unexpected lineup changes. Sergio Piñon made his Real San Jose debut in goal. Unfortunately, the changes caused confusion in the midfield and RSJ found itself under pressure most of the first half. Still, the score was 0 – 0 going into halftime. Once again, just as in the season opener, RSJ came up short in the second half despite creating some scoring chances. The game remained close up until the final five minutes when San Leandro took advantage of the defensive miscue to put the game out of reach.

Real San Jose got off to fast start in the season opener versus Pajaro Valley United by creating numerous chances and going into halftime 1 – 0 lead. RSJ could have easily been on top by more except missing wide-open chances after beating the PVU goalkeeper on two occasions. Rafa and Martinez scored the RSJ goal off a corner. The second half was a completely different story as PVU took control and came away with a 3 – 1 victory.