Bethesda Internationals

6 May '06. Inter faced its old friend and nemesis, MSC United in the Semi-Final match out at the Poolesville Polo Grounds today. Inter has been unable to secure a victory over this perennially strong team in previouis league/tournament play, but MSC United has undergone some significant roster changes in the last couple of seasons, and today Inter would not be denied its first victory over the Green Machine. It was another bright and sunny day but with strong winds which played havoc with the ball when kicked/booted in the air, not to mention the clumpy turf. The tone of the match took an eerie twist in the first minute with a wrong call by the center official on a ball which was clearly last touched by an MSC United player and went behind Inter's end line. Instead of giving Inter the goal kick, MSC United was awarded a corner kick as was exactly the same situation in league play last fall -- which MSC United scored an equalizer, game-tieing goal. But, this time, the corner kick was unsuccessful. Inter had the strong wind at its back in the first half but could only manage two shots on goal which went awry, and 1 unsuccessful corner kick opportunity and committed 5 fouls. MSC United played hard and strong, always pressuring/tackling the ball, and setup 3 shots on goal -- two of which were strong shots towards the upper center of the goal but Nat reacted brilliantly and jumped up high and deflected the balls over the crossbar. MSC United also created 3 CK situations which were all unsuccessful, and committed just 3 fouls, and one of them was significant. After a throw-in by Skylar, Ebo collected the ball and served a nice ball into the center of MSC United's goal mouth to Vitalis who was fouled by MSC United #56 in the box at about the 8 minute mark, and a PK was awarded to Inter. After MSC United's talented GK kicked the ball away in frustration and rcvd a Yellow Card, Vitalis took the PK and fired a hard strike high into the left corner of the net past the GK. At the 16 minute mark, Vitalis rcvd a pass on the left side around its own 40 yards and raced upfield on a break-away into MSC United's right side about 22 yards out and appeared to have been fouled hard by MSC United #56 and hit the turf hard with no foul called or YC being shown. But, another Yellow Card was later shown to #22 for a high kick which sent Nicholas down hard to the turf. Then, after a foul by Inter around the 21 minute mark, MSC United sent a high free kick from around 40 yards out into the center of the goal mouth and Nat initially came off the line to grab the high-arcing shot on its downward descent but at the last moment slightly hesitated and an MSC United player reached the ball first and put a head on the ball, striking it into the open net behind Nat to even the score and the match ended at the half, 1-1. MSC United had the strong wind at its back in the 2nd half and sent many long balls upfield into Inter's backfield to their swift #22 forward, but Inter's defenders quickly closed and possessed/cleared the ball safely away. Inter's strong defense limited MSC United to just 1 free kick from 60+ yards with the wind which landed dangeroulsy in the goal mouth but Nat was able to easily collect the ball and boot it away. MSC United continued its hard play but could manage no CK's and committed 8 fouls, while Inter committed 4 fouls (1 offsides), took 3 shots on goal and 3 unsuccessful corner kicks. At about the 30 minute mark, Inter (Mati?) sent a nice serve from the right side line about 20 yards out and into the center of the goal mouth about 6 yards where Vitalis collected the ball, turned and fired in the game-winning goal into the net past the surprised GK. End of match, 2-1, Inter. Inter advances to the MD State Cup Final on 4th June for the second year in a row and will play against the winner of the other Semi-Final match tomorrow between two very strong and talented teams, the Roadrunners and Freestate Titans, both of which have defeated Inter in past State Cup matches (Roadrunners in 2004 Semi-Final and Titans in 2005 Final).