Firecrackers Back to Winning Ways

22 August 2007

David Ahlgren   

July 30th.  That was the last time a Firecracker had scored a goal.  With that looming over our heads, the Firecrackers had to really dig deep to get out of the funk.

And dig deep they did. The Firecrackers had a number of strings of passes, lots of movement, but most of all they played with a significant amount of heart--something that was lacking for all of the month of August.

The Halcones weren't about do go down without a fight, though.  They, like Cabo Corrientes and La Soledad, had been looking forward to the game the entire week.  From information gathered from an inside informant, email had been flying around saying how the Halcones were going to take down the Firecrackers.  How they were weak and had lost any strength in the league and were an easy target.  Phrases similar to what Matarazzi said to Zindane were said about the Firecrackers.

And the "referee" we know as Tom did not dissapoint.  One of the Firecracker fans noted that the penalty calls were in the neighborhood of 6 to 1 in favor of the Halcones. Jeremy Basanese even managed to foul one of the Halcones cleats with his back.

In spite of all this, the Firecrackers managed to muscle a win.  Towards the end of the first half, the Firecrackers pressured the Halcones goalie, who seemed to be the offspring of Mr. Glass from the movie "Unbreakable" and Wolverine's equivalent lady in X2, "Deathstrike".  He had the unfortunate luck to break every bone in his body any time anyone touched him, yet he could fully recover within only a few minutes.  In any case, I digress.

The Firecrackers pressed him when he wasn't able to pick up the ball.  This forced him to mis-clear the ball, right to an open John Basanese.  Before the goalie could get back in to position, John cooly chipped the ball in the air, over his head and under the crossbar.  The half ended with the Firecrackers 1, Halcones, 0.

Near the beginning of the second half, as the defense was trying to clear the ball out of the box, a handball penalty was called against the Firecrackers, resulting in a PK.  The Halcone stuck a nice ball and tucked it quickly away to his left.  This was the 4th PK against the Firecrackers this season.

With about 15 minutes to go, the Firecrackers put together a string of passes that resulted in an unbelievable goal.  (I'm going from memory here--I have it written down at home and can update this should I need to)  The ball came out of the defense, Tone, I believe, to Jeremy, who one-timed it to Dave.  Dave headed it through to Justin, who first-timed it to Sean Stonehouse, who then lobbed it to John.  John sent a full volley screaming to the back of the net for the win.

The defense continued to play a solid game.  When they had the opportunity, they made smart passes and did not give up dumb fouls.  Also as a credit to the team, if the ball was lost in the transitional zone, extra effort was made to recover the ball and the team shape.

The Firecrackers face a very strong Mundialito side again at Backesto, at 8.  Come prepared to play hard!

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