Bethesda Internationals

28 May '05. In its 1st match of the tournament on Saturday out at the excellent soccer fields at OBGC in Olney, MD, Inter faced the Amerian Jets 92 Blue, 2004-2005 State Cup champs from Alabama. The forecast weather w/30% chance of rain cooperated and was nice for this match with partly cloudy/sunny skies and warm temps with just a slightly breezy wind. The Jets 92 Blue played well and launched several nice attacks/counter attacks, shooting 7 times on goal but was unable to finish, either missing wide or cleared/stopped by the defense and Nat. Inter created 5 shooting attempts on goal and launched 4 corner kicks. At about the 23rd minute, Chris collected a pass, dribbled upfield, eluding a couple of defenders and made a fine pass to Ebo in the left corner, who then turned and crossed a nice ball into the goal mouth where Mati timed his leap in the air to head the ball in past the surprised GK for Inter's first goal. The first half was relatively free of fouls, with Inter committing just two to none for the Jets 92 Blue. In the second half, the Jets 92 Blue played more aggressively, committing 6 fouls to two for Inter. In the first 30 seconds of the 2nd half, the Jets 92 Blue moved the ball upfield quickly and took a hard shot on goal which was saved by Nat. Chris was given a yellow card for what appeared to be stepping on/off the sideline during a throw in by Skylar? Later, Philip was shown a yellow card from the ref on a bizarre call for making a grunting noise when the 92 Blue had the ball!? Both teams played well in the 2nd half, with the Jets 92 Blue taking 6 shots on goal and 1 corner, while Inter managed 5 shots on goal and 2 corners with 2 fouls. At about the 17 minute mark, Skylar sent a nice corner service into the goal mouth, and again, Mati perfectly timed his leap and jumped up to head the ball into the net past the GK; however, the Jets 92 Blue weren't to be denied finding the net and just two minutes later they were able to penetrate Inter's defense and sent a ball into open space at about 30 yards out where a Jets 92 Blue player ran onto the ball, dribbled close to about 12 yards out and fired a hard shot on goal which hit the left side post as Nat layed out in an attempt to save the ball. Inter was unable to clear the ball out before a Jets 92 Blue player rushed onto the ball and tapped it in the goal past Nat on the ground. It was an entertaining match with both teams playing good soccer and Inter salutes the Jets 92 Blue for a valiant effort! In the second match against the West Hartford Premier team from Connecticut, the weather took a turn for the worse, the clouds darkened, the wind picked up and was fiercely blowing across the field with light to moderate rain coming down from a passing storm but with no lightning or thunder. In the 1st half, both teams were only able to muster up two shots on goal, no corners and no goals scored which was pretty much due to the weather and tenacious defense. In the second half, both teams managed to shoot on goal only three times with 1 corner each, but neither team could finish/find the net, and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. Hats off to the Hartford Premier for giving Inter all it could handle in a tough, scoreless battle. For the 3rd match the next day on Sunday, Inter faced its old friends from NCSL/D1, Reston FC 91 (now playing in the VCCL). The weather was fabulous with bright sunny skies, mild wind and warm temps. As was the case in last year's PSA Final, it was a physcial match with Inter and RFC '91 playing well against each other, attacking and counter-attacking, moving the ball up and down the field with great passing. The talented and well-coached RFC '91 shot 5 times on goal with, created corners and 5 fouls while Inter managed 3 shots on goal, 1 corner, and 3 fouls -- but neither team was able to finish in the 1st half, ending in a 0-0 tie. Just 2 minutes into the 2nd half, RFC '91 sent a perfectly placed corner into the center of the goal mouth near the goal line where Nat jumped up and punched out the dangerously placed ball, but it unluckily bounced about 6 yards out to the foot of an RFC '91 player who struck in the only game-winning goal of the match. Except for the unlucky corner kick/goal, Inter effectively shut down RFC '91 for the remainder of the second half and allowed only 2 other shots on goal. Inter stepped up its attack and fired 4 strong shots on goal, but barely missed on all attempts. Congratulations to RFC '91 for a well-earned victory and another entertaining, hard-fought match between our two excellent teams! After the 3rd match, Inter was tied in points with the West Hartford Premier team, and a PK event was setup to determine who would move on to the Semi's against the winner of the other bracket, Cobb FC Chiefs Gold. Finally, after about 30 minutes of tracking down the PSA officials and coordinating the PK event, Inter and West Hartford squared off on a nearby field during half-time of another ongoing match. Inter was able to make just 3 of 5 PK's while the West Hartford Premier made 4 of 5 PK's to move on to the Semi-Final against the outstanding Cobb FC Chiefs Gold (the Premier eventually lost, 0-2).