LOSS: 2-0 vs Santos (FC Wolverine) – Badgers Woes Continue With 4th Loss In A Row
A cool, windy 4pm start to the Badger’s Sunday saw a sizable contingent of players and family members descend upon Onion Creek for the match. The tent was replaced by picnic blankets. Danny and Jake showed up for their first action of the season, and Cameron Road had a nice group of 4 subs available for the game.
The Badgers were in need of a win, and started off brightly with Chappy sliding the ball to Gianluca inside the box. Gigi cut the ball across the face of goal where Adam is usually lurking – but he was out of town on an orange-gathering mission in the Florida everglades.
The opening change would prove to be a bit of a mirage since the Badgers were going against a fierce wind in the first half and struggled to keep Santos out of their end of the pitch.
It was good to have Danny back patrolling the back line, and he made an impact at the other end as he charged down a high ball at the Santos keeper, but pulled back just in time to avoid getting Adam’ed. That play sparked his ongoing “communications” with the opponent for the rest of the day.
The wind proved to be Santos’ 12th man as the Badgers battled just to clear the ball to safety, and Santos used it to their advantage to hit the opening goal of the game with a looping shot that appeared to be going wide…. until it nestled itself into the far corner of the Badger’s net.
The Badgers best play of the half came right before the whistle, as Derek, Jesus and Gianluca combined for a nice play down the right hand side that ended in Gigi’s shot dragging just wide of the far post.
No oranges at halftime.
The Badgers got a boost with the wind at their backs for the second half, but they were still struggling to evict Santos from their defensive home.
Within minutes of the restart, Gianluca received a gift as he plucked an errant pass from the Santos backline and went Mano y Mano with the keeper from point blank range but was unable to find the back of the net.
Throughout the second half, the Badgers tried to mount their comeback. Schwarzy was running all over with the ball at this feet. Danny’s long range free kick found Chappy’s head inside the box. Ciro had a nice cross from the left to Jesus. Ciro won a header… CIRO WON A HEADER.
But against the win and run of play, Santos snuck in a second from a counter attack.
Jesus went down again with another knock to his already injured foot, leaving the Badgers without divine intervention for the final 15 minutes. They could have used some, as things just weren’t going their way.
Another week and the losses are piling up for Cameron Road. What will turn the tide and lead them to victory next week? You’ll have to tune in to find out!
Man-of-the-Match: Schwarzy showed his class yet again with a tireless effort of just keeping the ball. Harder than it looks.
Post-Match: Nice post match for rocking a hoody, entertaining kids with the mesh cup holder of a chair, pondering life’s questions, and trying to figure out how to create more scoring chances moving forward. Also, long-lost Miguel showed up after moving back from Dallas as he pledged his 40 year old future to Cameron Road next year. Work to be done for next week’s match vs ATX!
