LOSS: 4-2 vs AAC – Badgers Look Good In New Jerseys, But Fail To Deliver The Goods On The Pitch

Cameron Road United kicked off their 2023/2024 campaign early Sunday morning with a duel against Austin Athletic Club. The pitch was soggy with a round of Saturday rain, but the Soccer Gods decreed the fields were playable early Sunday morning.

In typical 8am fashion, the Badgers took their time getting to the fields, but were greeted with several treats upon their arrival. Notably were fresh new jerseys supplied by upper management. Looking good boys! There were also some faces that had been missing in action over the summer, notably Old’Schwarzy. And lo and behold, after the game had started, who did we see taking long strides over the hill… none other than Gianluca, fresh back for his first action since mid-April!

Unfortunately, the Badgers were a man down to start the game as they waited for a full squad. Chappy was there, but dressed in civilian clothing due to a yet-to-be-identified abdominal injury – most likely uterine in nature.

AAC was putting the 10 man Badger squad under some pressure early as Camron Road tried to knock off the defensive cobwebs, and ended up grabbing an early goal to take a 1-0 lead.

Big Dave got his kit sorted and made it 11 on the pitch, and Guillermo and Gianluca arrived to give the team two needed subs for the day.

But AAC was proving to be a tough squad to face on opening day for the Badgers, and they managed two more first half goals.

After the first 15 minutes, Cameron Road started to get more involved at the other end of the pitch to make a show of it. Derek slid in Jesus for a one-on-one with the keeper. Jesus went with the left foot from the left side of the box, and his shot went just wide. But it was the start of CRU becoming more aggressive.

After stretching out his achilles, Guillermo let a shot fly shortly after, but his targeting software required a bit of an upgrade.

Billy was busy being calm on the ball, making all the right passes, and pushing forward whenever possible.

Tentless oranges at the half and Parks’ words of wisdom to get back into the game with a quick John Madden impression.

The second half was definitely better for the Badgers as they spent more time attacking than defending. Gianluca was stretching the D, and there may have been a bicycle kick sighting from 30 yards out.

Off a corner kick, the Badgers could have pulled back a goal when a ball bounced around and wound up at Peterson’s feet from about 2 yards out, but his non-standard new shorts didn’t have enough inseam, or royal blue hue, to get the required power on the ball to push it home. Close though.

Things were going well, but then AAC got a lucky break when they sent a cross across the face of Jawbone’s goal to the back post where Derek gave the slightest of taps to an attacker, who was awarded a penalty. Rough luck, and Jaybone guessed correctly but just couldn’t get to the spot kick. 4-0, but somehow the Honey Badgers were still playing well.

Initiate comeback mode. The Badgers finally got back into the game for real before the water break as Peterson SENT IT from the right hand side to the back post where Derek was lurking, and smashed home the opening goal of the season. 4-1.

CRU wasn’t done, as the next big chance fell to Gianluca, who received a quantum thru ball from Ciro to race towards the keeper without a defender in sight. Let’s just say the Gigi’s legs weren’t quite up to speed with the game yet, as they decided to pretend they were sitting in a cozy dentist’s chair instead of providing forward mobility. The keeper might still have an imprint of Gianluca’s dome as it impaled him square in the stomach as he went down. Low marks for skill, but very very high marks for sideline entertainment. (it is the way)

With all the attacking, the Badgers weren’t done defending as AAC was working a lot of deep balls down the left side. On one such occasion, Parks paid homage to his absent Captain as he first dropped suspect back pass and followed it up with a nice tackle from behind. Chappy nodded in approval from the sidelines.

Cameron Road came close again as Ciro and Adam hooked up, but again, it ended up being more sideline entertainment fodder as Ciro’s shot was aimed directly at Adam’s head as he lay on the turf. You can’t make this stuff up!

Big Dave destroyed some fool as Little Dave watched, and Jeff Z and Guillermo tightened up ranks to keep any more goals from leaking through the lines.

And as the game was winding down, the Badgers clawed back another goal as somehow Derek put the ball in from point blank range. The Soccer Gods were smiling on the Badgers for that play as the ball looked to have crossed the line, but the referee couldn’t see it from his vantage point. A quick conference with the eagle-eyed linesman though saw him give the goal. 4-2 and that was that.

So opening day for the Badgers didn’t end up with a win, but they did “win” the second half and have some good stuff to build on, especially getting some faces back that weren’t involved in the summer season. Consider it a nice “strategic loss” to ease into a good position in the table for the long-term 3rd place finish.

Man-of-the-Match: Unfazed. Silky. Not a Numpty. Billy was class on the ball all day, hardly putting in a wrong foot.

Post-Game: We missed Jefe, a tent and lots of beer. Need to sort that out for next Sunday.