May 18, 2024 – United Soccer League One (USL1)
Central Valley Fuego FC News Release
FRESNO, CA – In a disappointing evening for the home side, Central Valley Fuego FC suffered a 2-0 defeat to One Knoxville SC at the Fresno State Soccer Stadium. This result extends Fuego FC’s losing streak to six matches in the USL League One, marking their longest run of consecutive losses since at least the 2019/2020 season.
Central Valley Fuego FC’s struggles were evident from the start, conceding yet another first-half goal, bringing their total to nine first-half goals conceded in just seven matches-more than any other team in the league this season. The team has also failed to score in two of their seven games, a worrying trend only surpassed by Lexington SC, who have failed to score in three matches.
Coach Jones did not hold back in his post-match comments: “I’ll be honest and I think the fans can see it too, I am sick of losing and it frustrates me. Now the players have to take accountability and responsibility to change for the next game so we can show a different face.”
Raul Mendiola, team captain for tonight’s match, echoed his coach’s sentiments. “I think we started slow, again, we let one goal in. A mistake and that kind of cost us to get back into the game, we had a couple of chances to score but we didn’t. I think the team played well in possession, we just have to finish and work a little bit more on the defense. By this time we are making too many excuses. We just have to keep moving forward. I don’t really have much more to say on that, hopefully, we get another three points in the coming game. It is the slow start that is killing us every single game so we gotta clean that up on our end.”
Shavon John-Brown added his perspective on the team’s current plight: “To be honest, we just have to keep grinding. Anybody watching the game can see that we had some chances but every time we seem to fall asleep for one or two seconds and we get punished for it. We have to keep grinding, keep training, keep working hard in practice. Keep learning, this is a learning process, we have a young group and it is going to take a lot of people, we need everybody to dig deep until we cross over the hurdle. We just gotta keep going.”
Looking ahead, Central Valley Fuego FC will travel to face Union Omaha on May 29th. The team will need to regroup and refocus if they hope to break their losing streak and turn their season around. With the players and coaching staff keenly…