September 16, 2001
Memphis Shock at Kodiak Futbol Club
***It turns out that Kodiak F.C. was playing with an illegal player this game. So the official outcome was 2-0 win for the Memphis Shock.***
For our second game of the season we were playing Kodiak Futbol Club, the team that beat us by a whole 1 point to be promoted last Fall. This is the team that could be our main rival, as 5 of their players used to play on our team and both of our teams have ties to the old Bellevue Blast glory days. We had a dynasty with that team, back to back D3 Championships. Anyway, back to our game. After Thursday night we knew we still had something to prove. Game day conditions were low 80’s and very sunny. With the cool temperatures that can only mean 1 thing, the fair is coming to town!!
We started the game off short 3 players, 1 to being out of town, another to injury, and the other who came later. Just like Thursday night, the first half of this game was non stop back and forth action. Both teams had a few good scoring chances but nice saves from quick shots were making it hard for anyone to score. Chris managed to get a yellow card after stealing the ball away from Ross from his side. The ref said that he came from the back. From the ref’s vantage point he was coming from behind. Of course, the ref failed to notice that the ball was stolen from Chris seconds ago from behind him.
Our best scoring chance happened when Barrett was trying to get out of the game with an ankle injury. He fell down after a kick and was secretly trying to hide Micah’s run. The ball was sent up to Micah from Nathan. Micah took a few dribbles and shot the ball over the goal with only the goalie to beat. A couple other chances we had this half was when Matt was coming on the right side and shot the ball right at the keeper. A few minutes before half time Ryan did about the same thing as Matt with the same result.
Once again we ended the half tied at 0-0. Although we were happy we hadn’t given up a goal, we were disappointed that we hadn’t scored yet with the chances we had. We knew what we had to do, score.
As the second half started out we were pressing their goal hard. A few chances on goal still didn’t yield us anything. Roughly 15 minutes into the half Kodiak took a throw in at the midfield stripe. The ball was dribbled to the center to where it was sent up to a forward. He turned and shot low to Baxters left that made it to the net. Kodiak 1-0.
This made up press even more. Even more pressing on goal still left us empty. One such flurry gave us 3 shots that unfortunately hit Kodiak defenders from point blank range. If we could have gotten free there we for sure would’ve had a goal. Kodiak got a second goal later, when their big man shot the ball from the left up and over Baxter. Kodiak 2-0.
Now is when the fun began. The ref, who hadn’t really made any questionable calls made an absolutely horrible call at this juncture. Kodiak was trying to mount a run. Their midfielder sent the ball up to Sam, who was easily off sides. He later admitted he was at LEAST 5 feet offsides!! Anyway, the ref for some unknown reason, decided to call the offsides off even though he saw the assistant referee with the flag up. He said play on while running with the play looking at the line ref. So while we were in disbelief from the horrendous call, Sam centered the ball to the other guy running with him and he tapped it in the goal. Kodiak 3-0.
After this the game was just about over. Kodiak did get another late goal on a breakaway that didn’t mean anything cause the damage had been done. Our defenders, except for 2 moved up for whatever reason giving this guy a free ride. Game over with Kodiak winning 4-0.
A few things have come to the forefront these past 2 games. a) we will give up a goal 60 minutes into the game, and b) we shoot right at the keeper. The goals at roughly the same time is just coincidence, but the goal scoring part we need to work on. We could do that by having practices of more than 5 people per practice showing up. If we could do that, then we could shoot on goal, practice on passing, and get to know each others games a little more to make us play better. We did do a better job passing the ball today, but many passes were not given enough “Umph” to slide it past the opposition. There were easily 10 chances that had we passed it just a little harder, we would’ve had breakaways. That is just an example. We did do a better job switching fields, but that needs to be worked on also. We need to start scoring and start winning. I know we can do, we know we can do, we’ve got the players, and we know its just a matter of time before we start to gel. Of course, that starts with practices.
A much better game played all around by everyone. Just a couple of things need to be tweaked before we get even better. Lets start the new attitude our next game in 11 days against the Rowdies.
Dennis Thompson
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