WIN: 1-0 vs AAC – Badgers Kick Off Opening Day With A Win!

Opening Day 2024! After a hot, successful summer sesh with the boys, it was time to get down to business as the 2024/2025 season kicked off for real yesterday on the high plains of NEMP. Yes it was windy, but damn, there was green grass, cool temps, and a nice set of trees to chill under making the tent surplus to requirements.

The Honey Badgers were facing off against Austin Athletic Club, but they were slightly diminished and reformed after also moving up to the Premier League. Still, they had a good squad that the Honey Badgers would have to handle.

Badgertown was bustling with activity, children, dogs, coolers, and some new Cuban spice. Apparently Miguel jumped ship to explore other opportunities with teams that don’t have nearly as much cool SWAG, but no worries, the Badgers found another way to inject more Latin flavors into the team as they signed up another patient for the Dragon Relocation Program, Yuni.

When all the dust was settled, there were 3 subs available, but also only 3 natural defenders on the day. The back line was Billy, Guillermo, Chris G and Chappy filling in for Big Dave.

Nasty Nate was back after a year of hellish foot injuries, which was awesome to see. Joining him in midfield was Peterson, Yuni, Pete, Schwarzy, Adam and a bit of Jake thrown in.

Up top it was the dynamic duo.

Taking advantage of the big NEMP field with plenty of space, the Cameron Road passing game was en Fuego. For real, they were slicing and dicing AAC apart from back to front with nice passing, movement and patience. Yuni fit right in immediately with some nice one touches and tenacious effort. He was all over the place early and often.

With the whole team looking good and playing like a machine, the chances started coming. Derek and Gianluca were getting good looks down low, as other midfielders were able to rattle off shots from distance. The best move and opportunity of the half came at the very end of it, as the Badgers weaved through the AAC defense and Gigi’s final ball to Pete on the left put him in towards goal. Pete’s shot was more a tribute to Ciro as he took a hard hit from a defender just after releasing the shot.

An orange-less halftime under the trees.

The second half got underway with the Badgers feeling good about the way things were going. They now had the wind to their backs, so the short passing game kind of gave way to the usual bum rush for the opening 30 minutes. Things were slightly more chaotic, but the Honey Badgers finally found their breakthrough as Peterson slid in a perfect ball to Gigi to run on and drive home his classic low shot to the far post for the 1-0 lead!

AAC were getting desperate doing slightly better in the second half, but they weren’t troubling Jaybone too much.

The Badgers were intent on finishing out the game with the W. Nasty Nate was doing good work deep in enemy territory, and narrowly missed with a sweet, curling shot to the near post from 25 yards. Gianluca lined up a bicycle kick, but was thwarted by a defender. Jake got set up for a pop at goal before he resumed his customary horizontal earthly position. Guillermo was covering every blade of grass from back to front. Chris G was a heat-seeking defensive missile. Billy was his usual silky self. Peterson got crunched by The Mountain from Game of Thrones in defensive service. Whatever AAC was trying to conjure up in attack was being thrown back out into the water like chum for sharks.

And that’s all she wrote. Unlike last year’s nightmare start, the Badgers were looking to come out strong in the Fall, and that was mission accomplished.

Man-of-the-Match: Let’s give it up for the newest diminutive former Dragon who was all over the pitch, made a few great defensive recovery runs, and was calm and efficient in midfield… Bravo Yuni.

Pos-Match-Report: Just a lovely day to chill under the trees after a victory. Yuni got his ceremonial icings. Good times all around.