CRU 3 – Indios 0
Everything is just a little better with a win, isn’t it? The post-game beer is colder, the hundred degree heat isn’t quite so stifling, the Monday morning aches and pains aren’t quite so bad. That’s how the Cameron Road United crew is feeling today after a dominant victory over INDIOS on Sunday. CRU finally showed their inner Honey Badger and served up a commanding performance on Father’s Day that will (hopefully) jump start their summer season.
Another brilliant turnout saw Cameron Road field a veritable army of yellow and blue on a windy day at Onion Creek field. Again, 16 strong showed up including CRU’s newest midfield recruit Danny, and their old-school defensive beast, Cuyler.
Starting off the game, Cameron Road deployed a 4-5-1 formation in an attempt to gain more ball control against the pass-happy INDIOS. Putting a 3-way combo of Leif, Ciro, Danny, Chris Peterson and Scott in the middle of the park allowed CRU to dictate the play, while Willis and Jeanluca took turns at being the tip of the spear in attack.
Facing INDIOS is always a unique proposition, as they are happy to simply roll the ball out of goal and pass it around the defense with casual arrogance. Cameron Road knew that attacking this back line with constant pressure would eventually pay off as their superior athleticism would allow them to get a few poaching opportunities. And that’s exactly how they got their first goal. As Chappy was pressuring the full back on the right hand side of midfield, he used every inch of his size 13 slipper (as he has superior athleticism to no man) to steal the ball away and get it to forward Jeanluca for one of his half dozen shots on goal. The Italian’s first shot of the game was parried wide by the keeper, but Chappy was there to slam it home from his favorite spot…. 5 feet from goal.
Cameron Road continued to pressure INDIOS, with lots of opportunities coming down the flanks. New midfielder Danny had a great long range strike that was saved by the keeper, and Jeanluca continued to get good looks at goal.
But it was Cameron Road’s hardest worker, Scotty Merritt, that was next up on the score sheet. Using his tenacity, Scott stole the ball in midfield, was able to make a run to the right side of the box, and cooly fired in an impressive shot past the keeper to propel CRU to a 2-0 lead.
As the half grew on, Cameron Road continued to press, although it wasn’t all peaches and cream as Jay was called upon to make a few key saves. Having the big man Cuyler at the back was another added bonus as Cameron Road looked to throw down a shutout at the back.
Finding himself on the left side of midfield, Stripy managed to win a ball away from the high line of the INDIOS defense and his great escape to goal from 30 yards out looked like a sure-fire breakaway goal. Big Z was free and clear, with not a defender around for 20 yards, but as he entered the box on the left side he either: A) slipped on the only wet blade of grass at Onion Creek, B) was hit by a sniper-squirrell in the treeline, C) was thinking too much about his robotic scoring celebration or D) failed to disclose to the CRU medical staff that he is prone to sudden fits of gravitational acceleration. Whatever the reason, Z’s scoring opportunity vanished as he hit the turf.
The half ended with Jeanluca being upended outside the box, but no free kick was given. It was all smiles inside the tent.
The second half started with INDIOS trying to push forward and make a game of it. For the first 10 minutes, Cameron Road had to suck up their attacks, but the defense was up to the job. Jeanluca continued to get shots off from up front, Danny had a nice free kick saved, and Way and Andy had some nice touches from the wings. But it was a great team effort that saw CRU put away the game with a third goal. Billy came charging to the half line from his right back position to make a brilliant win on a 50-50 ball with a daft little touch that saw his free and clear. His pass up the right hand side to Chappy was inch perfect as the Captain was able to turn and run at the INDIOS defenders with Ciro ahead of him. Chappy slotted the ball to Ciro, who made a nice run inside the right of the box where he crossed it to Adam coming in from the left. Adam stuck out a boot and one timed it past the keeper for a classic goal.
With the game all but decided, things got a little testy for the final 20 minutes. Winning the ball from the keeper but failing to put away his short range shot, Chappy decided to make an ill-advised slide tackle from behind inside the INDIOS box that sent their team into a rage. The captain did not show his best judgement as the red mist took over and he squared up against several of the foe, but cooler heads prevailed. Not so in an incident several minutes later as Scotty and an INDIOS attacker squared off inside the CRU box. This time, the referee was forced to show a summer season ending red card as the INDIOS midfielder spit in the face of Scotty Merritt. Not cool. Give Scott a ton of credit for not knocking his hair club for men curly locks off his dome.
Cameron Road also suffered an injury blow as Chris Peterson’s calf exploded after taking a goal kick. The Peterson household is becoming a bit on an infirmary with he and BT now laid up. Hopefully we’ll see them both back on the pitch soon.
The game wrapped up with Scott getting off a nice header inside the box, and Jeanluca again firing at goal. This win was a long time coming for Cameron Road, and hopefully it is the start more good things on the pitch.
Man-of-the-Match: Ciro wins this weeks honors. He started off the game well by securing the tent, and continued to play well all day long with constant effort in the center of the pitch. He also provided an assist to Adam for Cameron Road’s third goal.
Man-of-the-Post-Match: Seeing that the supply of beer just wouldn’t be enough to suffer through the red vs. pink battle ahead of us, Sir Billy Milton rose to the occasion and secured a 12 pack for the remaining crew. That’s a teammate for ya.
Man-who-made-the-biggest-mistake-of-the-Post-Match: #3 in pink for Internacional Austin F.C. found out that pleading for mercy when the CRU tent is in full commentary form is a bad idea.
