LOSS: 2-1 vs ATX – Badgers Pepper ATX Goal With Shots, But Fail To Get The Win

Another Sunday, another frustrating loss for Cameron Road United. CRU only managed 10 players for the opening minutes, but eventually, the Badgers had 13 players to work with. It was hot though, so more would have been better.

With the limited amount of players to start the game, the Badgers answered the riddle of how to get three central midfielders on the pitch at the same time as Peterson set up shop as a central defender.

This ATX team didn’t look too strong, and they were ripe for a beating. After some back and forth action, Cameron Road established a good rapport with the opponent’s goal as they worked the ball down low to Derek and Gianluca.

Ciro and Schwarzy were doing their thing, controlling the center of the park. With Chappy on the left and Gianluca on the right to start the 10-man game, Adam arrived late to slot into his familiar right wing position and fill out the squad. He seemed to know what day it was, so that was a good sign his recent concussion wasn’t causing him too many problems.

After controlling a lot of the game, the Soccer Gods inflicted more pain on the Honey Badgers as ATX scored on a break with basically their first shot of the game.

But not too soon after, Cameron Road tied up the score with some action from a free kick. Having driven a header just wide earlier in the game from a corner, Chappy hit the back of the net as the ball found its way to the bunion to slot into the far corner. 1-1.

Many more good things happened for the Badgers during the first half. Sandwiched between two defenders, tiny Ciro won a header at midfield! Gianluca had his shooting boots on and almost scored from at least 2 attempts. Jaybone had a nice fingertip save and pushed the ball back out to Jesus to gather and advance upfield.

On the flip side, Cameron Road was attempting to set a record for the most offsides calls in a half as Chappy and Derek combined for about 4 in a row as the Badgers held the ball down low in the ATX end.

The Badgers ended the half as Schwarzy got bulldozed inside the ATX box, but the referee deemed it shoulder-to-shoulder.

Oranges were back! And so was Danny as he showed up at halftime straight from the road back from Dallas to give the Badgers a defensive boost.

More of the same in the second half, although ATX had some physical midfielders who were causing the Badgers some problems.

The snakebitten defense suffered another cruel blow as Danny was called for a handball in the box, awarding ATX a penalty kick. But finally, some luck for the Badgers as the ATX forward smashed it over the bar and to da moon! Would this be a sign that the Soccer Gods were starting to favor the Honey Badgers after four weeks of toil? Not hardly, as CRU gave up a second goal in the second half under more dubious circumstances. The attacker looked clearly offside, and Jaybone heard a whistle but the attack kept coming. Very harsh indeed, especially considering the amount of offside calls that went against Cameron Road on the day.

The Badgers fought back valiantly to get another tying goal. Gianluca had his shooting boots on, but just couldn’t crack the code to get the ball into the back of the net. Jesus went down again with another leg injury, and Jeff spent the second half as “Uncle Jefe” watching the young Badgers as he needed a break from the splitting pain in his breadbox due to late week dental surgery. Dentists!!

In the end, Camron Road fixed one issue from last week as they unleashed about 15 shots on the day, but just couldn’t hold on to earn even a point. Harsh, very very harsh. Frustrations were mounting as this dismal start to the season continued, and hopefully they can right the ship in the last third of the season!

Man-of-the-Match: Chappy found the back of the net, Ciro and Schwarzy were doing their thing, Gianluca was a constant threat, but Peterson really played well in central defense and earns this week’s honors.

Post-Game: Typical post game was developing but… Ciro…. Ciro come back…. where are you going Ciro? No Ciro at the post game, so others had to be iced. Including Roberto from Verity (a.k.a. Messi) delivering a sneak attack sparkling water shower down Chappy’s backside. Well played.