2-2 draw with West Michigan tonight. More or less an even, back and forth game, neither club dominated at any one point. Edge opened the scoring with a goal from a shot taken literally from the touch line, somehow getting past Mansell. Whitaker evened it up about 8 minutes from the half, with a header that shot down off the crossbar. The officials conferred for a minute or so before calling it a goal. West Michigan took the lead in the 83rd, but Inter came right back and drew even about 4 minutes later. Extra time was just like regulation, even play from both teams, although Mansell kept West Michigan at bay with some nice saves. Crowd was about the same, 60-70
Turns out the Bucks were missing Kevin Taylor, the team's best player, and managed to lose another player due to a red card in the 26th minute. Still they managed to hold the Invaders off the scoreboard until the 50th minute when they evened it up. If we are missing KT tonight it'll be open season on goal.
Well, the Bucks had KT in the back last night, but couldn't overcome Chicago, losing 2-0. Looks like this is not a good year for the Bucks. They've never had a losing record, so is it time to panic, or just an early season lull?
Paid my dues years ago. As for the present, the Brothers Nanchoff have been informed. If they need me, they know where to find me.
It wasn't the typical Bucks vs CFP match. Bucks fans, they just didn't have the magic tonight, I really expected the Bucks to come in and throwing the kitchen sink and CFP. It didn't happen. Nowaf Jaman just blew past the Bucks defense twice on 40+ yard runs down the field for unassisted break away goals. This kid always scores them in bunches adding yet another multi-goal game to his book. Thankfully for the Bucks he only played 26 minutes.
And then the Bucks drop two more points, giving up a goal in the last seconds of overtime, to only get a tie with K'zoo. The Bucks have now dropped 14 points. They have to ace their last eight games, and still hope for miracles, to make the playoffs. Their remaining games are against Fort Wayne, West Michigan, Toledo (3), Cleveland (2), and Indiana. Not many chances to take down a team ahead of them.
But there is a small bright spot finally for Bucks fans: the return of Jo Kabwe to the lineup. I suspect Jo has been rehabbing an injury; last season he was a fairly consistent 90-minute guy, and has seen less than that in each of his first 2 games back in a Bucks' uniform. Jo did assist on the first goal against KZoo. A healthy JoJo will result in better midfield play and more goals.
CFP hold on against 10 man Thunder Bay 2-1. Lots of CFP reserves played & the truer test between these sides will come tonight in the rematch.
There may be light at the end of the tunnel for the beleaguered Bucks after this weekend's results. While the Fire have salted 1st place away, the 2nd playoff spot is up for grabs. Currently occupied by Indiana, the Invaders split a Fri-Sat double header, defeating Des Moines and stifling Sioux Falls. This opens up a scenario that allows the Bucks to catch Indiana. Michigan has 7 games left, including one at home vs Indiana. The Invaders lead the Bucks by 8 pts, and have 6 games remaining. Two of them figure to be tough: the road match against the Bucks, and a game vs the Fire. Should the Bucks run the table and Indy loses to the Bucks & Fire, Michigan should end up in 2nd place, 1 point ahead of Indy. For now I'm discounting Ft Wayne, because of their poor goal differential relative to Indy & Michigan. Now running the table might seem like a tall order for the Bucks. But of those 7 remaining games, they figured to be favored in perhaps all of them. Four of the last 7 matches are against Toledo, and 2 vs Cleveland. The Indy game is at home. So the mountain is tall, but the summit is in sight. There can be no slip-ups. The Bucks need wins; a single tie probably puts the playoffs out of reach. The Invaders only figure to get stronger; Jacob Peterson should be joining the roster in a couple of days. I don't know a whole lot about the Invaders. But I know enough to make an intelligent guess as to the reason for their improved play this season: Stephan David. He played for the Bucks for at least the last 2 seasons, and was a rock in midfield. He is now playing for the Invaders, and leads the team in minutes played(3 assists and 3 goals). He is also in charge of "youth development" with Indiana. As a Bucks fan, I worry whether Stephan will prove capable in the future of luring players from his alma mater, Lindsey Wilson, away from the Duggans.
I think you were confused when placing this response. You mean that Indiana was defeated by Des Moines 2-0 and then beat Sioux Falls 1-0. Not to be too harsh, but I hope that Indiana had an off night on Friday night vs. the Menace. The score doesn't reflect it, but the Menace controlled that entire game. There was never any danger of Indiana really mounting any kind of attack. I also wouldn't be too proud of only beating SF 1-0, thier normal keeper has left the team and he had over a 2.25 GAA. I don't know from under what rock SF was able to find a keeper.
I meant to write "defeated by Des Moines". Sorry. I was concentrating so hard on maintaining the alliteration that I obliterated the desired meaning.
And for all you Mike Matkovich Fan's - I hear he was invited to leave the field (Sent off). Indiana claims the honor of defeating us in the regular season. This hasn't happened in two full years (6/27/03 vs St. Louis). It sounds like Indiana was waiting for us after the close loss that occurred earlier in the season. This is getting to be a great rivalry, it's only about 90 miles down I-80. It may not date back to the Chicago - DesMoines or Chicago - Bucks rivalries that go back even before the Premier, but it's getting to be a great series. This really puts the Bucks in a bad situation.
If anyone was there I'd love to read a recap. Seems like the game was quite the barn burner: tying goal late, a pair of reds, *3* goals in OT, an Indy player that picks up 2 yellows and scores a goal in the span of 8 minutes, followed a minute later with a red for the *opposing* coach.....wow. What, was the CFP coach arguing AGAINST the Indy ejection?! This might well have been the 2005 PDL GOY.
It was a great match. The Invaders played well and the possesion time seemed even. The Invaders played very patiently and built up their attack slowly to generate chances. The Fire attacked more directly and a missed tackle at the edge of the 18 led to a one on one with the keeper and a nice shot placed just inside the right post for the first goal. 1-0 at half time. The second half was much the same with both sides generating chances but both unable to finish. The Fire keeper snuffed out a beautiful left footed chance by Eduardo Ballini that I thought was in for sure. Stephan David had his usual solid game and he assisted on the tying goal with time almost out. Shortly into the first OT Leo Peirano scored from about 15 yards out just wide of the left post. He took the shot with the outside of the right foot and placed it inside the right post. Unfortunately Leo did not learn from his booking in an earlier match for removing his jersey after a goal and he did it again thinking if he didn't remove it all of the way he wouldn't be booked. He was carrying a yellow from earlier and his celebration bought him an ejection. At this time I thought that the Invaders were in trouble as it was going to be hard to keep a quality side like the Fire from scoring while playing a man down. I really am unsure as to why the coach was ejected but his emotions evolved from sitting calmly in his lawn chair at the beginning of the match to screaming, stomping feet, and flailing arms as the match progressed. I assume he must have said something not becoming of a gentleman to receive his ejection. As suspected the Fire scored shortly after. I am not sure who shot it but it was a lazer beam from what looked to be about 20 yards (I had moved to field level after Leo's ejection so I didn't have as good a view). The Fire appeared to have scored the go ahead goal shortly after but the play was ruled offside. Then in the second overtime they appeared to score again but a dangerous play call nullified the goal. The winning goal came off off a set piece as Villareal flicked on a header for the goal. The Invaders then needed to hold off the Fire for about two minutes to seal the victory. It really was an exciting match. Well worth the $5 admission. The Invaders need to keep it rolling to secure their spot in the playoffs.
Question re: K'zoo Kingdom v. CFP 7/8 First - was in K'zoo for July 4 weekend and took my kids and my dad to the Kingdom match against Cleveland. Complete walkover but a good time. An excellent value at only $5. My dad enjoyed it so much, he has expressed interest in returning for more. QUESTION: THe write-up in the gazette said the next match was a week away aginst Indy, IIRC. But the online schedule shows the Kingdom home against CFP - and it's billed as an exhibition. Does anyone have the straight story? And why would this be an exhibition when both teams compete same league, same conference, same division....
Re: Question re: K'zoo Kingdom v. CFP 7/8 FWIW. The game is listed as an official match on the the USL/PDL schedule. There are 17 games listed on the schedules of each team. 16 are required. Could be that they both decided to designate this as an "exhibition".
Indiana's loss to K'zoo sets up a head-to-head with the Michigan Bucks, on Saturday night. If Indy wins, they're in. It would also eliminate the Bucks, as Chicago is 2-0-0 over them, so they would win a tie-break at 31 points. If the Bucks win, they will one other win, or two wins if Indy beats to get the tie-breaker over Indy. A tie at 31 points will go to the Bucks (head-to-head tied at 1-1-0; overall wins tied at 10; Bucks would win the overall-goal-differential tiebreak). A tie at 30 points goes to the Invaders (head-to-head 1-1-0; overall wins 10-9 in favor of Indy). A Indiana-Michigan tie means that Michigan would have to win their final two games, and Indy would have to lose, for the Bucks to win on points 32-31. A tie at 32 would go to Indy (1-0-1 head-to-head). A three-way tie (Chi-Mich-Ind) at 31 points (10-5-1) works out with the head-to-head: Chi-Ind split 1-1-0; Ind-Mich split 1-1-0; Chi over Mich 2-0-0. So Chicago and Indiana go the playoffs. First place in the division would be decided by goal differential.
PDL Central Conference playoffs to be hosted by Des Moines Menace July 29-30 http://pdl.uslsoccer.com/2005playoffs/index_E.html Just looking at the schedules, see that on Saturday, the Fort Wayne-Indiana games kicks off a half-hour later than Michigan-Toledo. (I'm guessing that all times are converted back to Eastern time, and that Indiana's strange rules on daylight savings time are taken into account.) Might they pull the ol' "see what Michigan did so we know what we need" bit? But if the Bucks go to overtime, they might end up at about the same clock time. On another note, congrats to the Orange County Blue Star for clinching the PDL regular season title, with 45 points at 15-1-0. The team that can come closest to them are the Richmond Kickers Future (38 points at 12-0-2) which can get up to 44 points, and are the PDL's only undefeated team so far. (The Chicago Fire Premier [37 ponits at 12-1-1] can finish with 43.)