For Real Maryland, the darkness before the dawn?

Change at the top

Vieira was at the helm on July 23 as the Monarchs fell, 2-1, to the Bermuda Hogges, in a game that couldn’t have climaxed the team’s 10-game home schedule any more appropriately. It was twice delayed for long stretches by lightning, an occurrence that’s seemed to transpire on a weekly basis since the season began on April 20 against the Western Massachusetts Pioneers. That game was also stopped for over 30 minutes due to lightning, which sent many of the nearly 1,000 spectators to the exits. Four other times, a Real Maryland home game has been delayed or postponed due to inclement weather this season.

The loss to Bermuda also played out like a first-year time capsule on the field. There were impressive moments early on — similar to the Monarchs winning three of their first four at the SoccerPlex — capped by striker Nilson Perez’s equalizing goal in the 40th minute. But it ultimately ended in heartbreak, as Hogges striker Kevin Richards scored with just five minutes remaining, a controversial game-winner in which he appeared to be offsides.

When it’s rained, it’s poured, literally and figuratively.

‘‘It’s been a rough start, when you’re a new team especially you’re not going to go out and win every single game with new team — a lot of guys in this league been playing together for long time,” said Monarchs midfielder Stephen Basso. ‘‘Then to top it off, it’s like we’re rained out every match. It’s difficult to adjust when you play 20 minutes then stop for 25, play for 45, rest for 45.”

But hopefully for the Monarchs, Vieria will usher in a second, more successful, beginning. He succeeds former helmsman Silvino Gonzalo, who was released after the Monarchs’ 8-0 defeat to the league-leading Charlotte Eagles.

With nearly 20 years of coaching experience, the Manassas, Va. resident brings a fiery attitude to the sidelines that might be just the tonic Real Maryland needs. Though he’d only been with the team for little over 24 hours, he wasn’t bashful in introducing himself last Wednesday, shouting directions relentlessly.

Since 1990, Vieria has coached in Venezuela, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. Currently, he is also the Belize National Team head coach. A longtime friend of Real Maryland President Victor Moran, the two had long spoken about potentially joining forces somewhere down the road. Neither figured it would be this soon.

‘‘I was coaching the Belize National Team and he talked to me about the possibility to come and coach this team at some point,” he said. ‘‘So at this time I said I’m free, I can coach the Maryland team, no problem. I came for three weeks before I started with the team. But I didn’t know I’d be with the team yet. Victor told me ‘If there is a possibility, I will call you.’”

Vieria says that with less than two weeks remaining in the season, he doesn’t expect to change too much before the offseason. But his long-term plans with the Monarchs include ‘‘very big change.”

Fan support still there

Despite the Monarchs’ struggles, notably in the second half of the season, which includes a 12-game winless streak since June 13, they have remained a strong attraction in Montgomery County. Though weather conditions have occasionally caused lower-than-expected audiences, no one can claim Real Maryland doesn’t have loyal fans. Several times, attendance figures have reached four digits — in an early-season victory over the Wilmington Hammerheads, 2,236 fans packed the SoccerPlex, and in a friendly match against El Salvador’s L.A. Firpo, 4,000-plus sold out the stadium.

As was anticipated when Moran decided to move the new franchise to the county, the Latin American community has been behind the team from the beginning. They are the ones who can be seen in the stands, chanting ‘‘Let’s go, Maryland!” for 90 minutes.

Tony Miranda, 42 of Olney, is one of the Monarchs’ most loyal fans. He and several of his friends have been to every game, banging on drums and hollering the names of their players to give the matches an international flavor. Miranda, of El Salvadoran descent, drapes his body with a Maryland flag and adorns a ‘‘Monarch” crown to accentuate the image he wants to put out — this is his team.

He also says that within the local Latin American community, there is more support for Real Maryland than the more-publicized D.C. United of Major League Soccer. In the future, he expects it to intensify.

‘‘We like to call ourself ‘tireless,’ they never tired of beating the drums and if they lose the game, they don’t care,” said Miranda. ‘‘Being from the Salvadoran community, it’s good because D.C. United has never given any respect to the Latin American community. We have Salvadorans, Colombians, Mexicans — that’s why we are coming.”