26th Annual Cinco De Mayo Tournament 2011, San Antonio, TX

Team Tournament Roster: Brent Becker, Scott Brashear, Cole Buss, Okan Caglayan, Javier Collazos, Jesse DeWald, Patrick Gayer, Andrew Glasspoole, Marty Goodrich, Nick Hawkins, David Hintz, Karol Hricisak, Jason Huczek, Stan McHardy, Todd Pfister, Kyle Robinson, David Schluneker, Ben Stern, Weston Taubenfeld, Cary Wong, and Carl Weiss.

Saturday (4/30)

Game #1: Cucuy FC vs. SASA Purple Haze - 1:0 (1:0)

- We started the first game of the tournament with somewhat lazy feet. That could had proven to be detrimental, but eventually we started to wake up with the game progressing. Purple Haze (PH) had few players snoozing as well on the back line, when Cole exposed Andrew with a through pass into the center of the penalty box. Andrew's clinical finish made it 1:0. The remaining of the game the play took place mostly in the midfield. Carl, Ben, and Cole also had better than good chances to put the game behind us, but somehow managed to miss an open net or just hit the cross-bar. It was a good game for us to mold into a tournament team and establish our rotations.

Goals: Andrew

Game #2: Cucuy FC vs. SASA Jolly Rogers - 2:0 (2:0)
- Jolly Rogers (JR) came of the high scoring game (5:4 vs. The Crew SC). So with a such attack minded team it was important to keep the game in their half, which we managed to do well. Ben opened the scoring after he received a great pass from Cary from the right flank. Ben collected the ball and placed his shot into an opposite left bottom corner. Keeper had no chance. The second goal came after a buildup through the center. Todd and Ben exchanged few passes in the JR's penalty box before Todd sent a laser-beam shot under the cross bar from 16 yards. The keeper did not even react to it.
The second half was all about game management. JR put a good effort to press us early on, but our back line managed to switch the play from side-to-side effectively and only leaving the opponent to chase.

Goals: Ben, Todd

Game #3: Cucuy FC vs. HFA The Crew SC - 6:2 (3:1)
- By now we already knew that we had qualified for the semifinals. So we focused on four things: 1) play as much as possible the players that would not make it on Sunday (Schluni, Nick); 2) short rotations (10 minutes); 3) test tomorrow's lineup (using Scottie on the right flank); and 4) avoid injuries.

The Crew scored the first goal of the game only to be shortly cancelled out by Ben, Patrick, and Karol. The second half was almost identical of the first. The Crew made it 3:2, but poaching play from Cary and individual plays by Karol and Andrew made it 6:2 for us.

Goals: Karol (2), Andrew, Patrick, Ben, Cary

Sunday (5/1)
Game #4 (Semifinal): Cucuy FC vs. XLR8 - 2:0 (1:0)

- This marked the first time Cucuy FC qualified to play in the semifinal game in the Cinco De Mayo Tournament. By 10 am it was getting pretty hot and humid, so 10-15 minute rotations were crucial to survive the day. XLR8 are a well balanced team that were trying to take a full advantage of the strong wind in the first half. The key was not to let them take shots, as they definitely had the skill to do that. Brent, Jason, Stan, Jesse, and Marty did very well by winning the 50-50 tackles and taking the possession. The midfield worked well with the buildup using the flanks (Hintz, Okan, Cary, Scott). The first goal came after Brent won the ball and found supporting Jesse on the outside left. Jesse pushed the ball to Hintz, who played good give-and-go with Cole. Hintz took the ball down the left flank and dropped it for Ben. Ben send a nice through ball for Cole who clinically finished ,a.k.a five-holed the keeper, 1:0.

The second half, with the wind in our backs, XLR8 exhibited a serious fatigue. Whatever energy they had left was put into fending off our consistent pressure. Patrick had the best chance to give us a two goal cushion, but managed to send the ball over the bar after a long throw in. We knew that one goal lead was too little for comfort, so we insisted on attacking. Finally, Andrew made it 2:0 with a fine individual effort. He beat his mark and slipped the ball under the charging keeper into the bottom corner. With a two-goal lead we shortened our rotations and waited out the rest of the game.

Goals: Cole, Andrew

Game #5 (Final): Cucuy FC vs. Int'l Old Boys - 0:1 (0:0)
- Definitely the toughest opponent we faced throughout the tournament. The game had everything that final should have. We started somewhat on our back foot as Int'l Old Boys (IOB) took it to us fast right of the kick-off. We had a lot of work to do defensively, due to opponent's hard press, fast transition, and our inability to establish a controlled possession of the ball in the midfield. Even though IOB enjoyed majority of the ball, they did not create clean chances. Our back line withstood attack after attack thanks to the disciplined defending. After 25 minutes the game evened out and we were able to pose some threat. That's when one (out of three) of the most critical moments (that could've decided the rest of the game) happened. We got fouled on our own half. Karol played the ball in quickly which allowed Ben to slip behind the IOB line. Ben controlled the ball well and as he was ready to take a shot he was brought down by two defenders in the penalty box. The defenders had no chance to play the ball. To my surprise, no foul, no card, no pk were awarded even though we got denied a goal scoring opportunity by the last defender. Absolutely terrible call (no-call) by the referee.
The second half, was pretty much even as both teams started to show tired legs from the two days of soccer. Kyle made some key saves to keep us in the game. Two worth mentioning are point blank blast that Kyle blocked thanks to his ninja-like instincts and a header that brought cat-like reflexes out of Kyle. The second moment that could have decided the game (to our advantage) was when Ben was flagged offside only because IOB back line was beat and after a 5 second delay (filled with pleas toward the linesman) the linesman raised his flag with the look on his face "WTF just happened?".
The third Cucuy FC moment happened when IOB center-backs collided during the clearance and the ball slipped into path of expecting Cole. As the ball was still bouncing, Cole initial instincts were to chip the keeper who somewhat hesitated at first. Eventually, Cole brought the ball under control but by then there was not much to shoot at as he ran out of the angle.
It seems like the game was heading into an extra time, which we preferred to avoid. Until, IOB corner kick that we initially cleared, but nevertheless, was sent back into our penalty box as a low hard cross. The ball was slightly flicked, then deflected, and landed right at the IOB player's feet about one yard from the goal line. 1:0 for the IOB and about 5 minutes to go.
What followed next was a desperation soccer from Cucuy FC, as IOB defended with 9 men. It was too little too late and the result stayed unchanged.

Overall, it was a great tournament. Cucuy FC finished the best ever as we took the 2nd place. As a plus, no one got seriously injured, people had fun, and I can only look forward to next year's Cinco De Mayo Tourney.

The MVP of the tournament goes to Kyle and Brent for their solid and consistent performance.
Tournament Recognition: defensive line - Jason Huczek, Stan McHardy, Marty Goodrich, Jesse DeWald, Nick Hawkins.

The most improved player (last year): Jesse DeWald. We are going to miss you immensely.

Cucuy FC top scorers:
3 - Andrew Glasspoole
2 - Ben Stern, Karol Hricisak
1 - Cary Wong, Patrick Gayer, Cole Buss, Todd Pfister

A honorable mentioning goes to Cory as the team Chef, timekeeper, masseur, and team-mom. Thanks for keeping our bellies full and coolers empty.

Thank you to all our fans (January, Brandi, Kami, Huczek's, Wong's, Alex, Dylon) for your support and all the goodies.