90 Seconds of Fury: The Ryan Willis Story

With a 90 second burst in the 2nd half by Ryan Willis, Cameron Road came back from an 0-2 deficit and completed a fantastic comeback to tie FC 02 Austin P30 in their 3rd game of the summer season.

Fresh from a week off, Cameron Road took the field with a strong lineup that included (for the first time this summer) defensive linch pins Cuyler and Dave. It was nice to have them back, and they wasted no time instituting CRU’s “take no shit” policy for the back four. With Team Euro out for the week, it was a welcome sign to see star Striker Steve McKenna stride over the Onion Creek vista – even if it was 10 minutes after the game started.

In typical Cameron Road fashion, the Honey Badgers decided to make it interesting by going down two first half goals, even though they had some good spells with Chris Peterson getting lively in front of the goal. Faking a few defensive errors, Cameron Road attempted to rope-a-dope FC 02 in the early part of the game, setting the stage for a dramatic 2nd half comeback.

Within minutes of the start of the 2nd half, Ryan dashed down the left side of the box chasing a thru-ball. His effort got him upended inside the box, much to the dismay of his already elderly ankles. But his mad run gained a much needed penalty kick for Cameron Road, and Steve McKenna stood at the spot, ready to deliver. Having failed to read the scouting report on Steve which read “Always goes to the right on Penalty Kicks!”, the FC 02 keeper was utterly helpless as Steve smashed a Tiempo-laden shot into the right hand corner. Just like that CRU was back in the game.

And seconds after the restart, Ryan and Steve were at it again. Carving through the middle of the pitch, Ryan sent in a slicing pass to Steve who eluded a man, and slotted in his second goal in a matter of minutes to tie it all up at 2 each. That’s 3 goals in 2 games for Cameron Road with Ryan’s DNA on all of them. He’s really letting his inner-Pirlo surface lately.

As the half heated up, both teams were gunning for the winner and not sitting back for the summer draw. FC o2 attacked down the middle of the field with their Team NI hired guns in central midfield, and their forward was busy causing problems down the flanks. But Cuyler and Dave’s physical presence inspired the D to hold strong and keep them at bay.

Cameron Road had several chances to put the game to bed, but just couldn’t connect for the winner. Adam nearly did Gianluca proud with a bulldozing bicycle attempt inside the box that went just wide. Chappy should have had the winner after a Willis assist found him alone inside the left channel. Unfortunately, his Nani-esque effort to curl the ball into the top right corner had about 50% of the required mustard to get it there. Either that, or he was mesmerized by the beauty and comfort of his new Mizuno boots. Ciro had a “swing and a miss” karate chop attempt from the near post as well, but it was Steve who almost completed a hat trick with a break away attempt.

FC 02 was playing a high line at the half, and a pass got through the last defender leaving Steve racing toward the keeper by himself from 40 yards out. Unfortunately, Steve ran out of room as he tried to round the keeper, and found himself on the baseline and running low on gas.

So the game ended at 2 a piece, but it was a much better by Cameron Road – their best of the summer. Hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come in the Fall. If they can go toe-to-toe with an Over 30 Premier Team, they should be able to have success in the lower ranks of the Over 30s.

Man-of-the-Match: Duel honors for Willis and McKenna who provided 90 seconds of brilliance to get CRU back into the game.

Man-of-the-Post-Match: With a $200 Yeti cooler in tow, Jay came prepared to keep the precious post-game beer at its optimum chilled temperature – no matter what natural disaster might come.

Nature-Inspired-Event-of-the-Match: That big-ass, Never Ending Story cloud that hung over the field the entire game providing shade and cooler temps.