Victory Not Written in the Stars as Cameron Road Narrowly Defeated by the Cosmos 2-1

As Carl Sagan would have said it, “the Honey Badgers had billions and billions of chances,” but just couldn’t put the ball into the back of the net to avenge Carlos’ injury. (Google it, it’s a pretty clever reference)

With plenty of subs, a sideline bursting with fandom, a drunken Verity crew handing out #service at every break in the action, and new “tent mullet” to keep everyone in the shade, Cameron Road started the game off in impressive fashion. There was a lot of good play happening early, with the Honey Badgers pushing hard for an opening goal. Carlos and Gigi were making deep runs, there was plenty of good passing happening in the offensive third, and the defense was turning back Cosmos’ attacks.

The Honey Badgers squandered a few chances before hitting paydirt as Ciro’s “pass” found Gigi at the bottom of the box and he wasted no time slotting it past the physically imposing keeper.

Cameron Road was left to rue their missed chances though in the first half. Gigi had another called back for offside, and Jake’s double effort scoop shot from the turf just needed a few extra rotations to cross the line.

Cosmos were not without their moments, but they were held in check for most of the half. Unfortunately, they scored on two long-range efforts to close out the half against the run of the Honey Badger momentum.

Still, down 2-1 at the half, Cameron Road was feeling confident that they were still in the game.

The second half started off brightly as Cameron Road continued their positive play. Scott was bustling in the center of the pitch, but the Honey Badgers just couldn’t find their way past the hulking mass of muscle that guarded the Cosmos’ net like Smaug sitting on his gold beneath the Lonely Mountain.

And then the game took an ugly turn. Giving it his all for the team, Carlos arrived a fraction of a second late going in for a challenge with the Cosmos keeper and the resulting collision smashed up his right knee something fierce. It was immediately obvious that it was serious, so an ambulance was called. As Scott and Andy comforted the fallen striker, everyone was hoping for the best, even though it was a scary sight. Let it be said that both the Honey Badgers and Cosmos expressed concern for Carlos, and the two EMT’s were aces in their caretaking.

After Carlos was whisked away to sort out his knee, it was agreed that the game would continue. And for the next 28 minutes, Cameron Road threw everything at Cosmos to try and avenge their fallen player. Free kicks sailed into the box. Corner kicks were whipped in. Headers and shots were thrown at the keeper with abandon. Hell, there were two bicycle kicks! Jaybone even made a rare appearance inside the opponent’s 6 yard box and nearly got his foot on an assist at the last minute.

But in the end, Cosmos held on for a narrow 2-1 victory, snapping the Honey Badger’s 4 game Over 30A winning streak.

Man-of-the-Match: Today, the news is that they popped Carlos’ knee back in place, but he suffered a torn ACL and MCL. He will have a long recovery ahead of him, but we will welcome him back with badger claws whenever he’s ready to return to the pitch. Tough break.