Bethesda Internationals

27 May '06. The mostly cloudy, dark skies looked threatening and the strong crosswind on the uneven, rolling pitch at the Poolesville Polo Grounds was of concern as Inter was about to face the strong 92 Cobb Chiefs Premier (GA), winner of last year's Potomac Memorial 2005 and this year's Dallas Cup, and their highly regarded national ODP goal keeper. But, from the opening whistle, Inter controlled the match until the finish, playing mostly on the Cobb side of the field against the wind except for several counter attacks mounted by Cobb. Inter as a whole played with much more determination, 'kicking it up a notch' against the much heralded Cobb team. In the first half, Cobb managed just 2 shots on goal and created 3 successive, dangerous corner kick opportunites which all went harmlessly awry from net. Cobb played very physically, committing 9 fouls (including 1 offsides) with most of them stemming from Inter players being pushed/shoved in the back. Inter committed just 4 fouls (including 1 offsides), and took 2 shots on goal and 2 corner kicks. The sensational Cobb GK drop-kicked several balls with the wind that flew almost all of the way down to Inter's goal mouth on the smaller sized pitch. Skylar crossed a nice ball from about 20 yards on the right into the goal mouth around 6 yards out center where Patrick timed his jump in the air and flicked a nice header ball towards goal, but it just missed to the left of net. Inter also set up 2 corner kick opportunities which were also unsuccessful, and the match ended in a scoreless tie at the half. In the second half, the strong wind continued but the dark skies gave way to mostly sunshine for the remainder of the match. Cobb also continued their strong, physcial play, and committed 6 fouls, while Inter's stingy defense limited them to just a single shot towards goal which was easily scooped up by Nat. At 5 minutes into the match, Roque received a nice pass upfield on the left from (?), but was quickly challenged and dispossessed of the ball by Cobb. But, Roque would not quit and raced back to repossess the ball away from Cobb and dribbled unimpeded into the box about 12-15 yards out and fired a hard shot on goal which sailed just wide and right of net. Inter took 4 shots on goal and 1 corner kick while committing 5 fouls (including 1 offsides). At about the 15 minute mark, after a foul on Inter by Cobb, Skylar launched a nice free kick into the Cobb goal mouth around 6 yards center where Mati perfectly timed his leap up in the air to strike in a hard header ball into the net past the surprised Cobb Gk, and the match ended 15 minutes later, 1-nil, Inter. Later in the afternoon, the sunshine was plentiful when Inter once again faced the pesky MSC Badgers for the 3rd time in 1 month, after prevailing, 3-1, in OT in Round 3 of the State Cup, and, 1-0, in league play last week. Ben started in goal and Nat played up top along with Tomiwa and Roque, while Philip, Sam, and Chris were in the center, and Marcus, Nicky, Nicholas and Mati held the back line. Just 1 minute into the match, Tomiwa received a pass up top from (?), turned, fired a hard shot towards the net but it flew just left and high of net. Inter took 6 shots on goal which all were unsuccessful, including a couple of nice shots by Philip from around 15-18 yards out that missed, and a good feed from Nat to Roque that went wide. Inter also created 1 unsuccessful corner kick opportunity and committed just 1 foul. Although the Badgers took only two shots on goal, one would find the back of Inter's net. At about the 18 minute mark, on a Badgers' counter attack, a ball was not cleared away quickly enough, resulting in a flurry of activity in the goal mouth and the ball eventually rolled out behind the end line off an Inter player, setting up a corner kick by the Badgers. The Badger player mis-kicked the ball and instead of a well-placed, high arcing ball into the goal mouth, it sailed low across the turf towards the goal mouth. Rather than stopping/collecting the ball to then clear it away, Inter attempted to kick at the ball on the ground as it zipped by, but the ball was missed and rolled into the center of the goal mouth where another flurry of activity resulted in the ball being placed in the net past Ben, and the match ended at the half in favor of the Bagers, 1-0. In the 2nd half, Nat returned to goal with Ben in the back, Patrick, Jamie and Ebo in the middle, Glenn, Vitalis and Skylar up top, and Mati, Nicholas, Nicky and Ben in the back. Inter's strong defense shut down the Badgers in the 2nd half, holding them to no shots on goal or any corner kicks. The Badgers committed 4 fouls (including 1 handball), while Inter committed 5 fouls. Inter shot 8 times on goal and created 3 corner kick opportunities. Just 2 minutes after the start of the 2nd half, after a foul by the Badgers, Skylar sent a perfectly placed free kick from around 20 yards out on the left, and as the ball dropped to the turf Mati collected the ball, turned to his right and fired a hard, left-footed shot into the net for the equalizer goal. Ebo found opportunity to take a hard shot from about 25+ yards out center but pulled the trigger just a tad late, and it deflected off an oncoming Badgers defender. Glenn had a good look at the goal from 15-18 yards on the left, fired a strong shot that flew wide and right of net. All in all a very strong performance by Inter. Tomorrow, Inter will face the Lynbrook/E.R. Magic (NYE) in game #3 of round robin play.