Club de Lyon 0-2 Savannah Clovers: Young CDL team pay for naivety against veteran Savannah side
A cagey match results in a Savannah win
Photo courtesy of Club de Lyon
Club de Lyon’s project has always been about moving young players from academy or amateur levels to the professional ranks. And when you do that you’re going to have hiccups.
Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to Savannah in Winter Park was frustrating because for all the good play from CDL, we saw some bad decision on-the-ball coupled with a really uneven officiating effort.
Savannah’s veteran core was able to take advantage of some naive mistakes by Club de Lyon- though Victor Rolph one of CDL’s older players was consistently out of position or giving the ball away in the first half.
Ivan Arenas stood out for me on the left side as a dangerous player and one working his way into being a very effective two-way player. This was particularly important since he was often marked by Savannah’s Cameron Schneider a savvy veteran at this level.
Savannah struck right before the half with a well-worked move that culminated with a strong curling finish in open play from Jedidiah McCloud.
In the second half, Club de Lyon suffered a sending off when Yustin Serna was dismissed for a second yellow card and then Savannah doubled it lead through Lester Hayes in minute 80 after a restart off a free kick. This goal was well-worked and showed some of the naivety I referred to above.
One thing I have noticed with Club de Lyon and Miami FC this year, both exceptionally young squads relative to the leagues they are in are these momentary concentration lapses particularly on set pieces. Anticipating second balls on free kicks in particular seems to be a problem for both sides.
A word on the officiating. While Club de Lyon were certainly second best much of the night, many of their attacking moves were curtailed by tactical fouls and in some cases an advantage could have been played. In other cases CDL players were given early yellows rather than warnings, which contributed to the poor performance in the first half.
Some of these booking can also be attributed to naivety, but one thing we ask from officials is to be consistent. Last night, it feels like they were not.
Club de Lyon remains a work in the progress as the project revolves around giving young players a place to grow and eventually thrive. Meanwhile Savannah despite the offseason tumult have looked a good side early, especially in both their trips to Florida - a US Open Cup win at the Villages over Brave SC and the win last night.
Is Burrito Martinez gone from CdL?
Nisa is such a joke that the team that is being run by the league has better players than most of the teams that are actually in the league.