LOSS: 1-2 vs AAC – If Not For Bad Luck, Badgers Would Have No Luck At All

Another week, another bounce of the ball that just didn’t go the Badgers way as they lost a close match to Austin Athletic Club.

Things were looking positive before the game. The tent was erected. Jefe had royal blue shorts. Danny brought donuts and kolaches. Andy and his extra 9lbs graced the Badgers with his presence again. Ciro came bundled up in enough warm clothes to keep him comfortable in the Arctic Circle. There were six subs on the bench…. or, there were, as Jake ejected after being under the weather for the past few days. What could go wrong!?

The Badgers were looking good early on, but it was a battle midfield superiority as AAC were doing well in that part of the pitch, winning most aerial duals and getting on the ball. While they were doing well in the middle, they were lacking teeth up front as Danny was everywhere early on knocking away balls to safety and bottling up AAC’s gloved attacker.

Peterson managed a rip at goal in the first half, but it was a stalemate after 45 minutes with Cameron Road looking very much like Austin FC as of late…. seemingly out of sorts.

Tiny, yet flavorful oranges.

The second half was much more exciting as there was some action between the pipes as both teams felt a win was on the table.

The Honey Badgers rotten luck continued as they gave up two goals without knowing too much about them. One an own-goal bouncing off various players and ending up in the back of the net. Another a p/k given for a hand ball inside the box. It sure looks like the Soccer Gods really really want CRU to stay in Over 40A next season.

On the positive side, Cameron Road showed some signs of life at the other end of the pitch. Gianluca had a tandem of bicycle kicks only minutes apart, the first of which found Adam at the back post. Unfortunately, Adam tried to harness the power of the one part of his body that finds it hard to score with, his foot. Like the certain eventuality of the sun running out of nuclear fuel, becoming a red giant and enveloping and destroying the earth…. Gianluca will one day score a bicycle kick. But that day was not yesterday.

But Gigi was involved in Cameron Road’s comeback goal. Off some other action near the AAC goal which saw Jesus come close to rounding the keeper, a ball was pushed out of the backline and back into play where Chappy was lurking. The Captain drove forward as the bouncing ball would have set up nicely for a 20 yard volley (hearing the voices from the sideline say “shoot!”), but he quickly calculated, on the run, the odds of that shot ending up at the top of a tree vs the back of the net and decided instead to play a ball into Gigi’s feet at the far post. Gianluca turned and whipped the ball across the face of the goal to Jesus to tap home.

Two of that trio would have also been involved in a potentially game-tying goal late as well. Parks did the dirty work in the middle of the pitch to grab the ball where Chappy was calling for it just past the half line. Parks played a nice ball into Chappy, who immediately saw Gigi far to his left with only one defender between him and the goalie and was prepared to unleash a pass to put him in on goal……but…… apparently he was offside by a bunion and the chance was lost, as was the game.

Not the result Cameron Road was looking for. The Honey Badgers will have their work cut out for them next week as they face The Chopped Livers with another 8am game.

Man-of-the-Match: He brought donuts. He brought kolaches. He coined a new safe word for Jefe (Pomegranate). He headed and battered balls to safety all day long. Nice game for Danimal.