Cucuy Beats Atletico

Cucuy FC - Atletico Peru 3:1 (1:0)

Seems like we just played these guys. As it turned out, they seemed to bring a different team. Some of their better players apparently sat this game out. Which was helpful, as we were missing all of our usual guys in the center and then some. Karol and Brent were gone from the back, Eddy was out, Hintz is dead for a while, we’re already not off to a good start. On top of that, Stan had been out riding horses on the soccer field making one of the most divot filled fields we’ve played on in a steady cross wind.

We started in good control of the game. Maintaining possession and moving the ball around. We made good use of the back line and keeper passes, swinging the ball and forth and running down the wings. With Scotty back in the midfield and Jason and Stan rotating as our stopper few attacks made it very deep into our end.

The scoring opened after a Cucuy defensive stop and Nate moving the ball up. Several passes wove through the defenders and was on Javi’s foot near the 18. Javi tried to pass across the box but it was intercepted by a greedy Schlunie who was able to chase the ball down and neatly lift it over the keeper. Cucuy’s attacks continued the rest of the half. Several good outside chances, with 3 or 4 good crosses that just didn’t connect. Despite spending a lot of time in their half, Cucuy couldn’t convert the second goal. Atletico had trouble mounting much offense and had little more than outside shots.

The second half started similar to the first, attack after attack not resulting in a goal. Eventually Atletico broke forward. After a challenge from Nate and Stan, outside the box, the ref whistled for obstruction, tripping, and pushing; the call changed each time we asked him. He then gave a penalty. Atletico converted and Schlunie had to fill in for Karol by yelling at the ref until given a card.

With a new breath of life, Atletico pressed hard. In short order they had two shots off the crossbar, a few corner kicks, and a free kick from about 30 yards. After the free kick, Nick and Cary had been doing such a good job shutting down the left side, Atletico stopped passing to their guys out there. Frustrated, the player walked off the field and went home.

From here, Cucuy took over. Pressure on their goal increased and our defense pushed higher and marked tighter. After holding the ball in their end, it finally made its way out wide. An off-angle shot put the keeper out of position and let Todd hammer home the rebound to reclaim the lead. Only a few minutes later, Cary had the ball near the 18, beat 2 or 3 defenders and hammered the ball home. The keeper got a hand on it but it wasn’t enough. After that, chances continued but no more would fall.

- Dave

 Goals:  Schlunie, Todd, Cary