Catching Up On Things

Hello everyone. I’m back from a week’s vacation. IMS has been going for 9 months and this is really the first significant break I’ve taken. The time off was nice but a lot happened while I was gone. Let’s try to briefly catch up.

US Club Soccer Nationals
Back in early July the U-17 SHATTUCK-ST. MARY’S  beat FC Pride 92 Elite, 2-0 in the US Club Soccer’s regional final in Indianapolis. The Shattuck-St. Mary’s U-17 boys traveled to Virginia Beach this past week to compete for the national championship at the Super Group level at US Club Soccer’s 2009 National Cup VIII Finals.

While at the finals, US Club Soccer did a feature article on the team which can be found HERE.

The team beat PSC Coppa Pele  3-0; they played Jersey Shore BOCA Alliance, beating this side as well by a score of 4-1, and finally drawing 1-1 with Mundial from the Colorado Fusion. This placed SSM into the finals in a game against Toras from FC Irvine. The team played well and tied the game 2-2 which forced the contest into a shootout. Sadly, SSM lost in penalties so the final goes down as a 3-2 to Toras. Congratulations to Shattuck St. Mary’s U-17 team for taking it all the way to the National Finals.

MYSA State Tournament
While this tournament has just finished up I don’t have results yet but will bring them to you as soon as the full list is posted.

US Loses to Mexico 5-0
Just a few thoughts on this game from over a week ago. I watched this Gold Cup Final on TV tuned to Univision from a bar in a hotel in Lutsen, Minnesota with computer volume up on my laptop where I was online. The website Veetle was carrying the FSC stream.  The internet connection was a bit slow and choppy so it was nice to get some US commentary and watch the game on the bar’s TV. Isn’t technology great!

The game itself was embarrassing and I actually thought the US played fantastic the first half. But our B-team just couldn’t get the job done in the end. If you look at the overall tournament it was a huge success for these mainly MLS players. What worries me about this loss is the total blowout and the confidence this gives the Mexican team after being on the ropes for so long and not winning in the US against the US for many years. Of course the Mexican team knows this isn’t our first team, but confidence in sports is a funny thing. I think this is true even for the fan as I was reminded by a friend this past weekend who has lived in Mexico City for 20 years. He was in town this week and asked me what was going on with the US team and the embarrassing 5-0 loss. He said everyone in Mexico City was ecstatic and ready to take it to the Americans again on August 12th. I don’t think the psychological effect of this win on Mexico, its players or its fans can be overstated. This just makes the job all the harder as we travel to Azteca.

Note: This is an afternoon game but we will be having a watch party at the Sweetwater. Try to get the time off and come on down to the biggest US v Mexico match in a long, long time.

Max Lipset and the Kitsap Pumas
As you know we’ve been following Max Lipset and his first year PDL team the Kitsap Pumas. Max reported to me this weekend that they lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to Ventura County Fusion. Max scored the only goal for Kitsap on what he called one of the better goals he’s ever scored. The game was played in Laredo, Texas in 110°  heat.  Unfortunately, the referee awarded a very controversial late free kick in the 92nd minute of the game which Ventura converted for the game winner.

Congratulations to Max Lipset for a great first season with his Kitsap Pumas.

Minnesota Twin Stars
The Minnesota Twin Stars made it all the way to the NPSL semifinals on Friday evening. Unfortunately they lost to a very good Sonoma County Sol. The Sol won the 2009 NPSL National Championship 2-1 over the Erie Admirals on Saturday evening.

In Friday night’s game against the Twin Stars, things weren’t going too badly for the team at half. Minnesota had equalized. Richard Kamara got the Twin Stars (5-3-1) back into the match with a stellar goal. The defender controlled the ball about 35 yards out on the left side in the 45th minute and let loose with a drive, and his blast beat Sol keeper Juan Sosa to the upper left corner, putting the team back in the match at halftime.

“That kind of shook us a little bit,” Trevor Hurst of Sonoma reported, “and then they came out firing in the second half.”

Indeed, Midwest champion St. Paul made five changes at halftime and switched from a 4-5-1 into a 4-3-3 – though one of the changes was forced as Kamara suffered a hamstring injury on his long-range goal – and last year’s NPSL runners-up made things interesting early in the second half.

The 63rd minute proved to be a turning point.

Twin Stars midfielder Jean Viardin received a yellow card for a tackle and another for dissent and was sent off. St. Paul coach Youssef Darbaki said the card for dissent was a matter of a misunderstanding – he said Viardin pointed to his head and/or eyes in an attempt to ask an official if he saw the play, but the official interpreted the motion as an obscene gesture.

“The red card really killed us,” said Darbaki, who added that he had a substitute ready to go and was moments away from taking Viardin off. “After that, it really wasn’t our day.”

The Sol finished off the victory by scoring twice in a 4-minute span. Shawn Percell’s conversion in the 76th gave all three of Sonoma County’s starting forwards a goal on the night, and substitute Tyler Hurst headed in Lafon’s free kick in the 80th.

Sonoma County Sol
2 -  2 – Final 4
St. Paul Twin Stars
1 – 0 – Final 1
Sonoma County Sol – Trevor Hurst (Andrew Bailey) 12
Sonoma County Sol – Eric Lafon (Trevor Hurst) 29
St. Paul Twin Stars – Richard Kamara 45
Sonoma County Sol – Shawn Percell (Christopher Daly) 76
Sonoma County Sol – Tyler Hurst (Eric Lafon) 80

SONOMA COUNTY SOL: Juan Sosa; Mickey Daly, Adam Shields, Scott Preckwinkle (Norm Crochetiere 59), Lee Sandwina; Eric Larsen (Steven Browne 46), Christopher Daly, Andrew Bailey (Tyler Hurst 59); Trevor Hurst (Mike Nikol 81), Shawn Percell (Tim Maycock 78), Eric Lafon.
ST. PAUL TWIN STARS: Jules Alex Nyom; Richard Kamara (Pedro Amusu 46, John Matacjek 78), Anthony Keller, Juan Fiz, Phong Vang; Adama Diawara, Edi Burs (Karim Darbaki 46), Igor Stosic, Kelly Masango (Greg Rosenthal 46), Isaac Kannah (Jean Viardin 34); Keido Pour (Karmil Solarim 46).

Saves: SCS (Sosa) 3; SPTS (Nyom) 8. Shots: SCS 20, SPTS 11. Corner kicks: SCS 1, SPTS 4. Fouls: SCS 9, SPTS 12. Offsides: SCS 2, SPTS 2. Discipline: SCS – Daly (38, caution); SPTS – Kamara (19, caution), Darbaki (55, caution), Viardin (63, caution), Viardin (63, caution), Viardin (63, ejection, second caution), Diawara (90, caution).

Thanks to NSPL and Eric Anderson of Madison Soccer Central for the story.

Minnesota Thunder
The Thunder played the Portland Timbers in a near repeat of last month’s home game at the NSC. Portland came into the game with a USL record breaking 17-game undefeated streak. They left after 90 minutes with the streak unbroken and extended to 18 games. However, Minnesota being behind 1-0 since the 55th minute when Ryan Pore scored for Portland, continued to play strong  and just like last month’s visit came from behind in the waning moments of the game. In the 90th minute, Chris Clements was pulled down in the box while going for a header and the ref blew his whistle for a spot kick which was coolly converted by Ricardo Sanchez for the draw. The final was MN 1-1 Portland. A good crowd of nearly 4,000 watched the game on a beautiful Saturday evening.

The team now goes on the road for an extended 5-game road trip and doesn’t return to the NSC until August 27th against the Cleveland City Stars. Minnesota currently sit in 9th place of 11 teams, one place above Austin. The Aztex had 2 points deducted from the USL-1 club this past week as the league determined that they had played an ineligible player in a game where he should have been sat out for a suspension.