A Bridge Too Far

Real San Jose Soccer Club

Winning the UPSL National Championship proved to be a bridge too far for Real San Jose. The failure was not the fault of anyone in the club. All the players were there. All preparations were made. If RSJ did not win then, it would because there was a better team. Unfortunately, there was a better team.

After defeating Indios FC from Denver Colorado by a 5-2 count in the morning quarterfinal, RSJ entered the late afternoon semifinal with bags of confidence. RSJ was beaten 5-1 by a great team and organization.

"What can we say? Invicta FC was brilliant. They are so well coached and managed. I have never competed against a team that approaches a competition at the level they did. Amazing. They literally ran us off the pitch," said RSJ manager Nick Arellano.

RSJ was in the match, only down 2-1 with just a minute or two left in the first half. Unfortunately, a disappointing penalty was called against goalkeeper Jonathan Arellano who came out to stop a one v one scoring opportunity. The keeper's hands and shooter's foot got to the ball at the same time, and as the ball rolled out of bounds, the referee blew for a rather odd penalty. The following pk was scored, it canceled Alberto Escamilla's goal and an opportunity to RSJ to regroup only being down by a single goal.

Game over. RSJ were just not fit enough to battle back.

"I am so proud of the effort and quality of play the team put on display. They won the quarterfinal match in fine style and lost to the eventual winner in the semifinal. One of the best aspects of the UPSL is that get another chance starting in March," said Arellano.

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