Double Header Weekend Decided with a Double Dose of Disastrous Defeat

In what was billed as a two-fer weekend of soccer action, Cameron Road United fell twice on consecutive days and got knocked out of the Aztex Cup competition and fell further down the Division 2 table. The news off the pitch wasn’t any better as several players earned early vacations with injuries.

Saturday’s Game vs. The Punters
First up was Saturday’s Aztex Cup second round game against the Punters. Two teams with pub sponsors squared off on a balmy 80 degree afternoon to do battle for the right to earn a spot in the quarterfinals, and to decide the fate of the Wednesday night post-practice beer purchases.

The first half started off nicely for Cameron Road who were starting to claim a field position advantage, but then the injury bug started to hit. First to fall was Big John, still riding a Kosarian high from last week’s Man-of-the-Match performance, the big fella took a blast of a shot right in the kisser and had to exit the field with a chipped tooth. Next to fall was midfield maestro B-Tizzle Thomas, who pulled up lame with some sort of upper leg, lower nether region muscle strain that even he couldn’t roll out with one of his homemade relaxation devices. Big John was able to return, but BT’s weekend was over.

Having lost one of their Field Generals, Cameron Road looked to Leif and Ciro to command the middle of the field and provide the probing passes for Steve McKenna to run onto. Captain Chappy (in the midst of a goal-scoring drought that would make the formation of the Sahara desert seem like the blink of an eye) should have put the boys in red ahead with a header off a corner kick, but it went just wide. Not to worry though, because Ciro burst through into the box and was brought down from behind and awarded a penalty kick. The Dirty Bird, Cuyler, stepped up and sent a hard shot low and away to put us up by a goal and in the driver’s seat.

The Punters got a bit of luck with their equalizer, sending in a towering shot from distance that took a nasty, high bounce into the back of the net. As half time struck, there was still no clear favorite to advance to the next round.

Unfortunately for Cameron Road, that favorite emerged quickly as the Punters marched down the field and stuck again with a hard shot from low in the box. To make matters worse, soon after that they were awarded their own penalty kick for an infraction inside the box, and just like that they were up 3-1. Actually, I can’t remember how they scored their fourth, but down 4-1 Cameron Road was going to need a miracle to move on.

Not giving up though, Cameron Road pushed for glory and in the process lost Steve McKenna to an ankle injury. Another unlucky soul joined the growing injury list, but we’re lucky that Steve didn’t hurt his knee any further. Our best chance of the second half came courtesy of another Luke “Superman” diving header in the box from a Chappy cross that went agonizingly wide.

Looking defeat square in the eyes, CRU did manage to pull one back as Cuyler completed his double with a really nice left-footed free kick that took a deflection off a Punter’s defender.

So as the final whistle sounded, Cameron Road was left with a shorter squad due to injuries, and a shorter season with no more Aztex Cup games to play. But for those who could still walk, another game was on the books less than 24 hours away.

Sunday’s Game vs. Struggle
With a few bumps and bruises, those brave souls who showed up for the high-noon showdown with Struggle FC were getting ready to play a short-handed game. At kickoff, Cameron Road was two men down but actually locking out Struggle with some nice team defense. Riding the early enthusiasm of Ryan Willis’ fresh legs, Cameron Road was feeling positive and passing the ball around smartly. By the middle of the first half, both Big John and Bob completed the 11 man squad and were feeling good holding the opposition and their full sideline of subs to zeros.

Unfortunately in the second half, the heat, the injuries, the tired legs from Saturday and the lack of subs took their toll and Cameron Road surrendered three goals to Struggle. With so much action, your constant reporter is having a hard time remembering more specifics from yesterday’s game. Maybe it’s better that way, as the losses continue to pile up the details are probably better left alone.

Anyway, thanks to those who were able to show up and play two games in 24 hours, and although it sucked to loose, there’s always next weekend for a fresh start.

Man-of-the-Weekend: Ciro wins this double-duty award for his efforts in the center of the pitch this weekend. He was really showing off his Brazilian hustle covering all areas of the field and trying to make things happen. He was also the unlucky recipient of a Chapoton elbow smash, but was able to shrug it off with a trademark chuckle. Well done Ciro.