A warning to the rest of the Major Indoor Soccer League: In the midst of a seven-game winning streak, the Baltimore Blast is still looking to improve.
Despite Saturday’s 14-9 win over California, coach Danny Kelly found some areas of improvement for his surging soccer club. With the playoffs about a month away, the Blast is 14-9 and only a half-game behind league front-runner Detroit (15-9).
“At times, we didn’t play very smart,” Kelly said, even admitting that the last-place Cougars outplayed the Blast.
Early-season struggles could be attributed to those things which Kelly addressed Saturday ? untimely turnovers, defensive lapses and inability to finish opportunities. In fixing those issues, the team has found an ability to finish close games.
“This is a game that we were very fortunate to pull out,” Kelly said.
Even perpetually upbeat goalkeeper Sagu found some faults in his game. He allowed a touch pass from a teammate to roll into the net for a late Cougars three-point goal.
“We had a lot of big mistakes, especially myself,” Sagu said. “Giving up that three-pointer kept California in the game.”
But Sagu redeemed himself with a rally of huge saves from point-blank range.
“I needed it bad because of that mistake,” Sagu said with a laugh.
Sagu made 16 stops, a number of them by diving and lunging off his line to protect the net.
“If Sagu didn’t come up huge for us, we probably would have lost that game,” Kelly said.
If anything, the team’s recent streak has bred much confidence. And it has also instilled inthe players the idea of playing as a team.
“That’s the only way to win,” forward Denison Cabral said. “We don’t have anybody that can make the difference and make us win games. If we don’t have everybody on the same page, we’re going to be an average team, and average teams don’t win championships. We have to play as a team, work for each other, and if there’s any secret, that’s what it is.”
