Tigers Far from Endangered: An Exciting, Close Game

 Daryl’s Game Report   Sept. 20   11:30 A.M.

International United   1 …  Town Tigers   0

 Although Elijah had played with them last year, the Town Tigers were a bit of an unknown, with some new players this year, and having drawn with an improving Oak St. 3-3 last week.  “Don’t take them lightly,” warned Danielle, Elijah’s mom.  And rightly so.  The Tigers earned a couple of early corner kicks, which were blocked.  The game sputtered along with a lot of incomplete plays on both sides.  Finally we started forcing the play as the first half wore on, keeping the play more in their end.  It remained pretty scrappy play, however. Perhaps because the Tigers were faster than the Oak St. Boys, and more aggressive, our players appeared a little hesitant to challenge them.  Our advances seldom led to good shots.  It seemed that our players were not looking up and around enough, and were keeping the ball too long, then losing it or sending a pass too late. We did get some shots off, and their goalkeeper was up to the task, stopping all 16 shots before half-time.  Tyler put his body on a nice corner kick from Kai, controlling it to Jonathan, who rammed it into the net.   The referee ruled that Tyler had handled the ball, and disallowed the goal, though Tyler’s reddened midsection proved that it had been a legitimate touch, not handling.  (The AR agreed it was an incorrect ruling.)  At the other end, our defence remained quite stifling.  Andreas in our goal had to handle just 3 weak ones, which he did without any problem.

 One wondered how we were going to break through if play continued like this, with no real finishing.  The second half started out with more spirit on our side.  Barely four minutes later, Graham dug out the ball and dribbled it into their zone, drawing defenders.  He passed to Erik in the middle near the penalty area.  Erik drew two more defenders, but he was looking up, and before they could get to him, he sent a beautiful pass to Ian on the weak side. Ian had maneuvered into open space on the left side and had gotten all alone, unguarded.  Ian only had to run two steps to catch Erik’s perfect leading pass, and he immediately drilled a scorching shot to the left top of the net.  This was a no-doubt–about-it goal!  Their keeper was out of position, still reacting to Erik’s move, and he had no chance on the shot.  This was a very pretty play all round, one to savor.  (Did anyone catch it on camera or video?)

 As it turned out, that was the most we had to celebrate, for that was the only scoring.  The Tiger defence closed down many opportunities when our players did not make moves fast enough.  There were lots of good passes, but few were converted to good shots.  We had another 6 corner kicks, with good opportunities on each.  The team mustered another 17 shots in the second half, against only one for the Tigers.  Whenever they threatened, our defence was equal to the task, stealing the ball, blocking it, or clearing it when necessary, and often starting our own drives with passes to the midfielders.

 

Line Score    Sept. 20, 2008   11:30   South Sunset #1

 

Town Tigers       0       0       -        0

IU                        0       1       -        1

Scoring:

28:00 Ian (1) Assists Graham, Erik

Shots:             IU 33, TTigers 4

Corner Kicks: IU  8,  TTigers 3

Next Game:  Sat. Sept. 27   11:30 A.M.

@ 1^st place Manchester United (2-0-1)