The Chattanooga Red Wolves were both dominating and disappointing during the first 80 minutes of their 2-1 loss against Tormenta FC. Despite creating chance after chance, especially after dazzling sequences on the wing by Marky Hernandez, Chattanooga could only procure one goal. Tormenta’s Marco Micaletto finally got Tormenta on the board in the 80th minute, equalizing what looked to be a 1-0 win.
“I’ve been trying to tweak things and figure things out, but nobody is stepping up,” coach Jimmy Obleda said.
“Every game we’ve played, we’ve dominated 95 minutes, and then we take our foot off the accelerator for five minutes. We allow teams to have life. Instead of crushing them when they’re done, we give them hope. The team has to be ruthless, because we’re too nice.”
Chattanooga’s one goal came after Marky Hernandez did a Ronaldo-esque stepover to shake his defender on the left side. He gracefully crossed the ball into the area right in front of the goal, where pacey forward Greg Hurst finished off his USL-leading fifth goal of the season. However, that one strike was the exception, as Chattanooga seemed to squander a half-dozen other clear-cut opportunities to break the game open.
“It’s just frustrating. All of the chances seem to be falling to the same person, whether that be me or Ricardo or Marky, and we need to find a way,” Hurst said. “People have bad days, and I’ll hold my hand up and say I should’ve scored two or three today. But that’s when you’re looking at someone else to help you out.”
“The positive is that we’re creating chances, and I think it would be more of a worry if we were going through games with no chances created. So I think the ability and talent is there to create chances, but we as forwards need to be a bit more ruthless. We need to be the ones to take responsibility to finish off the chances and finish off the game.”
Coach Obleda agreed with is forward, who said he needed other players to step up and finish their scoring chances. Rather than partaking in nailbiters, Obleda said his Red Wolves have the talent to create blowouts with the amount of attacking chances they recieive each game.
“This team is in every game, and we fight,” coach Obleda said. “But it should be 3-0 going in at the half, and we should be closing the game out making it 4-0 within five minutes of the second half. Then you can almost enjoy the game a little more. But the game is always like this because we’re not finishing our opportunities.”
Two minutes after Micaletto’s penalty, the visiting team put themselves on top for good after Luca Mayr-Fälten tucked away a shot in the top-left corner. On the field at the time was star forward Steven Beattie, who is coming back from an injury and was replacing Hurst. Two minutes after coming on in the 69th, Beattie just barely missed making it 2-0 when his volley was warded away at the last moment. He said that while the veterans on the team have a responsibility to mentor and guide the younger talent on the squad, the youngsters also need to take it upon themselves to make shots when presented with them.
“At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do,” Beattie said. “These guys have to step up, because this is professional soccer. This isn’t college where you can have a bad day and still be the best player on the team. This is a job and livelihood. I tell them this could be your first and last contract, because that’s just how ruthless it is.”
The Red Wolves have a chance to be more ruthless in front of the goal next Saturday, when they play New England Revolution II at 1:00 at CHI Memorial stadium.