Firecrackers Advance to League Finals

July 10

David Ahlgren

Amidst one World Cup hero falling and another rising, the Firecrackers found themselves at a crossroads.  Against La Soledad they could lose their tempers against the dirty play as did Zidane, and have an off game.  However, on this day, the Firecrackers chose to follow the example of another player.  One who just three years ago was an amateur, playing in the French third division for fun, who went to being a star in the World Cup.  Franck Ribery is now known throughout the world as a great player with a huge heart for soccer.  The Firecrackers chose the second path.

A plane flies by as the Firecrackers take the field and wait for La Soledad

The game started off a little unusually, with only 11 players at kickoff time.  Undaunted, the Firecrackers had players to cover all positions and were eager to start the game.  La Soledad wasn’t eager to begin.  They hid behind the goal for as long as they could, before the referee finally dragged them out.  Once all players had taken the field, forward John Basanese took the kickoff.  Unfortunately, he became disoriented just before the whistle blew, and when the game started, JB lined up and took a football kickoff.  Just like in college, he kicked a magnificent shot out of the endzone.

With the Ribery mindset, the Firecrackers forwards took to really pressuring the Soledad backs, the midfield playing a quick transition, and the defense getting to the ball first.  This pressure really took La Soledad back, because the last time they played us, we were without a goalie, and many players were out of position or on tropical trips.  Having Travis back in goal made a huge difference.

  Gordo kicks John in the face.

The run of play was fierce for the first 15 or so minutes, with both teams battling for possession.  Several times, John was almost kicked in the face, all without penalty.  Then, when he was actually kicked in the chin and the ball went out for a throw-in, “I thought my old scar from the stitches was going to bust open,” he recalled, “I was so mad, but I saw Dave wide open in the box, so I threw it quick.”  When John threw it from about 10 yards away from the penalty box, he threw it over a defender who was frantically trying to get back.  The throw also froze the keeper (who was kind of sick in the head) out in no mans lands—too far out to defend the goal well, and too far away from the ball to put his cleats in Dave’s back.  The ball took one high bounce, and the rest is history.  Dave flipped his feet up in the air and hit the bicycle kick he’d always dreamed of.  “Dude, [Dave] hit the ball so well,” recalls Jeremy Basanese, “that it hit the back of the net and lifted it up.  I couldn’t believe it!”  With a resounding statement, the Firecrackers were up 1-0.

Dave's bicycle kick goes into the net and the history books

The La Soledadians, which unbelievably means “solitude” in Spanish, went ballistic.  They took every opportunity to kick ankles, stomp hands and other things I won’t even mention.  If dirty was a scale of their play, it would rate as raw sewage.  The Firecrackers rose above, kept the Ribery spirit aloft, and just played smart.

Brian Montejano is slightly held up

The Firecrackers really dominated all aspects of the game, except for cheap fouls, and La Soledad had a huge lead in that category.  Jeremy, a little out of his element at outside midfield played extremely well.  The Donny Duo controlled the midfield very well, with Dequine showing many signs of Ribery-esque hustle.  Brian Montejano kept up the intense pressure when he came in and pushed Dequine outside.

 Donny Dequine began the sequence that ended in the Firecrackers second goal.  He hustled through the midfield to win the ball off the Solitudes, and played a great ball into John Basanese.  JB adeptly passed the ball back to him in stride as he went toward goal.  When Donny was about 8 yards from the endline, Dave made a diagonal run across the 6-yard box, screaming for the ball.  Donny smartly played it two yards behind him to a wide-open Paul Touchet.  Ignoring the “Take a touch!!” screams, Paul struck the ball with his first touch and rocketed it into the goal.  The goalie had no chance as it went just past the near post.  P-Touchit touched it to the back of the net and the ‘Crackers went up 2-0!

Paul Touchet watches his shot into the goal

As the first half ended, the Firecrackers found themselves with a good lead and high spirits.  They had played a strong first half, but La Soledad had 4 goals against the ‘Crackers last game—could they make a comeback?

The short answer is no, they couldn’t.

The story of the game was the Firecracker defense.  Travis only had to make a couple saves, one of which was an amazing dive, to keep his 3^rd clean sheet of the season.  La Soledad found themselves under intense pressure every time they had the ball in the attacking third.  Although they could pass well through the midfield, the defense, lead by Antonio “el capitan” Favela, and Brian “aww c’mon!” Sturges denied everything.  Devin Nelson and Garret Ruiz played very well also, denying many crosses and consistently won the ball in the air.  The defense also never gave up any dangerous free kicks around the box.  La Soledad just never had a chance!

Devin Nelson takes some cleats to his knee as he clears the ball

 The final nail was driven into the coffin of La Soledad’s season when Donny Fugate recorded his first goal of the year.  As John Basanese was lining up to take the corner kick, Dave said to Donny, “This kick is coming to you.  Break to the center of the goal, towards the goalie.”  Seconds later, John took the kick, and as the ball was flying in to the box, he saw that Jeremy was going to try and take a shot.  Seeing Donny holding his ground behind Jeremy, he yelled "dummy!" to Jeremy to let the ball go through to Donny.  The kick came in, perhaps deflecting off a Soledad defender, or perhaps the goalie was concentrating on trying to hurt a Firecracker.  In either case, the Soledad goalie missed the ball completely and Donny was in the right place.  He put the ball in the net and the stake in La Soledad’s heart.  3-0 Firecrackers.

MMMM... paybaaaaaaaack.

 La Soledad were very frustrated for the remainder of the game, and amazingly enough, there were no catcalls from their sidelines.  They were pretty much silenced after the bicycle kick.  The win went to the good guys.  CONGRATS! Let’s all play this well next week at the ‘Bowl!

One final game note: Donny Dequine played in new white boots.

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