Twinstars Split Weekend Series with MN Kings
Tim Haselberger of the Kings slides to make the save on a Twinstars shot
The Twinstars won the first game of a home and away series between the Twin Cities two National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) teams. They defeated the Minnesota Kings by a score of 3-2 on Saturday under bad weather conditions for about half the game. Youssef Darbaki, coach of the Twinstars, reported that rain and wind affected the play but conditions settled down in the second half. Evidently so did the Twinstars who were down by 2 goals early but came back to win the contest against their new NPSL rival, the Kings.
On Sunday at Mounds View High School, the Kings hosted the Twinstars. The game was also held as a benefit for the country of Haiti with caned food being collected at the gate and a raffle that was held at half time also benefiting the cause.
About 100 people scattered the stands to watch the Twin Cities NPSL teams play a fairly even match with both teams getting chances. The teams played with a surprising amount of energy considering the sapping early season humidity and heat. One of the more stellar plays in the first half was when Alex Canales for the Kings, received a long diagonal cross just right of goal and 30 yards out. The midfielder chested the ball down and let go a full volley shot before the ball hit the ground. The dipping ball tested the Twinstars keeper who dove right and high to push the shot just over the top of the bar. But not long after, the Twinstars received a red card and the team was down to 10 men. However, the Twinstars’ Keido Pour and Hamad Jaman both gave the Kings trouble at times.
The second half looked surprisingly even for the Twinstars being down a man but eventually the heat, humidity as well as playing short caused the team to crack. The Kings’ Carlos Marks who was a threat on the left wing all game started breaking free down the flank, allowing the winger to slide crosses through the box. It was a similar play that finally put the Kings on the board in the 85th minute. Rodrigo Galvan broke down the left flank and cut back towards goal at the Twinstars endline. He slid a ball across the box that found an unmarked Garret Obrien who slammed the ball home putting the host team up 1-0.
The crowd didn’t have to wait long for the second and final goal of the game. In the 89th minute the Kings’ Dante Vargas broke down the middle of the field after he was released by a through ball. As the ball bounced and the Twinstars keeper came out to cut down the angle, Vargas half-volleyed a chip over the keeper. The Twinstars goal minder never gave up, making a gallant run back to goal and kicking the ball up field. But the lineman signaled the ball had wholly crossed over the line giving the home team a 2-0 lead and their first win over the Twinstars.
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So all of 100 people showed up for this match? That means the players moms, dads and girlfriends attended.
This sounds like any other MASL game that you can see for free in dozens of places across the metro any night of the week.
In fact many of the players on the Kings and Twin Stars play on various D1 teams in the MASL and would be on a par with the top 4-5 teams at the MASL D1 level.
I commend Darbaki for what he’s doing by providing an opportunity for many disadvantaged ethnic players but to attempt to sell this product to soccer fans who know quality soccer when they see it is dubious at best. That they were trying to raise funds for Haiti disaster is commendable but its quite a stretch…
It was a great game on Saturday, end up with 5 yellow cards.
Score 3-2
I wonder what gives MarcoT the authority to decide that all the Twinstars’ “ethnic” players must be “disadvantaged.” Good grief. Not sure what he’s talking about, complaining about Darbaki “attempting to sell this product” when they weren’t selling it at all, it was a benefit game. It’s true that the teams may need to ramp up their advertising to get more fans out to watch but that isn’t necessarily an indicator of the quality of play. Don’t knock it if you didn’t even watch it, dude.
Wish the writer of the article had put in names of Twinstars players in addition to the Kings. I found it particularly interesting to watch these two teams face each other, since several of the Kings used to be Twinstars players. There’s a lot of genuine respect and affection between the teams, but at the same time it seems to ramp up the competition quite a bit. Looking forward to seeing the Twinstars play again at their next home games June 5th and 6th!
rrh, I am the writer of the article as I am with 99% of the content on this site. Here is the issue: Youssef Darbaki is a great guy but he’s never felt the need to market his team. Check out his web site. First there were two, now there is one and that hasn’t worked for about 4 weeks. On the other end of the spectrum is Tim Haselberger who owns and runs the Kings. He is working really hard to promote his team. Guess what…Tim had a roster with numbers available on Sunday night. I couldn’t find one for the Twin Stars. I suppose the refs had one but I can’t go asking them for a roster. I do what I can (all pretty much for free) in writing and running this site. If people provide me with information and make it readily available they will have a much better chance of getting more pub. Its just the way it goes.
I figured since the announcer had no lineup that someone from Twinstars dropped the ball (wow, bad pun that I didn’t even intend to make); so frustrating. Brian I completely agree with you and just sent you an email through the contact link here with the new Twinstars website link. If you click on “club” you’ll find a link to the roster, though it doesn’t look quite complete yet. Thought it might be useful in the future. -R
Seriousely both team didn’t have a roster before Saturday’s match, it’s unfornate that we had to wait for both coaches to write a roster.
Referee of the game
I would love to know where Mr. MarcoT plays and what he has done in his playing career??? Guys like him are the reason pro or semi pro soccer struggles in MN. Marco T please feel free to relocate to another state! Idiot!
Hey Big Papa, while differing views are very welcome here, name calling is not. Take off the last word in your post and everything is cool.
What I find funny is that the Kings were created to be a developmental team yet the GM starts himself in net for the game. In doing a little research online he is in his 30′s. How is this developmental?
If he still wants to play I am sure there are some MASL teams that need keepers….
I do like the idea of the team, and the web site is a fantastic start.