Bethesda Internationals

28 May '06. Today, bright sunshine filled the skies at the Poolesville Polo Grounds with warm temps in the low-80's for Inter's match against the Lynbrook/East Rockaway Magic (NYE), recent winner of Region I Northeast division. The starting configuration was the same as was the match against the Badgers yesterday, with Ben at GK; Roque, Nat and Tomiwa up top; Sam, Chris & Philip in the mid; and Marcus, Mati, Nicky and Nicholas in the back. Inter's strong defense shutdown the Magic, allowing no shots on goal and just 2 corner kick opportunities. The Magic played with less physicality than Inter's previous two opponents, committing only 3 fouls. Inter played hard and aggressively, taking 6 shots on goal with 1 unsuccessful corner kick, and committed 10 fouls (including 4 offsides and 2 handballs). At about the 4 minute mark, after a foul by the Magic, Nicholas launched a great free kick from the right about 35 yards out, and it sailed into the goal mouth around 5-6 yards where little Roque was in perfect position to time his leap up in the air and head in a clean shot into the net for Inter's 1st goal. The offense was clicking well, and an arsenal shots were fired towards the net, including a hard shot by Sam from a nice pass from Glenn (who came in later) that hit high off the cross bar, and a header flick by Nat as well as another shot that went wide. Nat made a couple of good passes to Chris and Tomiwa, who both sent hard shots towards the net that also missed, and the half ended, 1-0, Inter. Nat returned to GK to start the 2nd half, with Philip, Mati, Nicky and Nicholas in the back, Patrick and Jamie in the mid-field, and Vitalis, Glenn and Skylar up to. Ebo took over GK from Ben about half thru the half, as Inter was in control of the match, not allowing the Magic any shots or corner kick situations, and Philip moved up into the center. The Magic and Inter both committed just 1 foul each, but Inter's offense was firing on all cylinders, sending a barrage of shots on goal from multiple players -- but only found success in finishing on one goa. At about the 6 minute mark, Glenn received a nice pass on the right about 25-30 yards out from Jamie or Skylar (?), dribbled forward a few yards, eluding defenders, turning to his left and fired a strong blast into the net past the surprised keeper. Glenn took another shot later that missed wide. Roque came in for Skylar about mid-way through the 2nd half and made a nice pass to Ben who missed a header attempt; Ebo took a couple of shots that went wide; and both Nat and Vitalis got into the action sending shots towards goal that missed their mark. In all, 10 shots were launched on goal but only one shot got through and the match ended, 2-nil, Inter. Inter will face its friends from NCSL/D1, Potomac Cougars '92, in the Semi-Final match later this afternoon, while Inter's friends from VA, Reston FC '91, will duel Seacoast United (NH) in the other Semi-Final.

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.

21 May '06. Back on a nice pitch at the MD SoccerPlex on a partly sunny but windy/blustery day, Inter played its old friends, ABGC Red Devils, who returned to D1 this spring and have obviously been playing well, having won 4 matches to date. But, Inter controlled the ball and played good touch soccer despite the strong crosswinds, passing the ball well with overlapping runs and serving the ball often into the Red Devils' goal mouth, creating many close-in scoring opportunties that either the Red Devils were able to clear away or shots that just would not find the back of the net for Inter as was the case similarly yesterday vs. MSC Badgers. In the first half, with Ben at GK and Nat up top, Inter took 5 shots on goal which sailed wide or high of goal, and created 1 unsuccesful corner kick opportunity while committing 4 fouls (including 2 handballs). Inter's strong defensive back line denied the Red Devils from taking any shots on goal or corner kicks, and the Red Devils committed just a single offsides penalty. In the 2nd half, with Nat at GK and Ben in the back and later up top, Inter took 3 shots on goal, including a hard shot by Skylar from 20 yards out to the right that sailed high and wide to the right of goal. Skylar also made a nice run into the goal mouth towards the net and Vitalis sent a perfect pass between defenders to Skylar's feet about 3-4 yards out for what appeared to be an almost certain, easy goal, but as he attempted to dribble the ball his foot slipped off the ball and the GK was able to collect the ball safely out of harms way. Inter could manage no CK opportunities and committed 3 fouls (including 2 offsides). The Red Devils managed to breakthrough Inter's left side on a couple of occasions, firing a hard shot on goal around the 23 minute mark, but Nat was able to reach up high to stop/tap the ball to himself. And, about 8 mintues later, the Red Devils broke through Inter's left side once more and fired a strong shot directly at Nat who caught the ball, and the match ended a few minutes later in a scoreless tie.

20 May '06. Only 3 weeks ago, Inter faced the tenacious and hard-working MSC Badgers in Round 3 of the MD State Cup, which was tied, 1-1, in regulaton before going into 2 x 10 min. OT periods. Inter came away with a 3-1 win, but did not underestimate the capability of the Badgers as a serious force to be reckoned with in today's match at Avenel. The MNPPC fields in the upscale Avenel neighborhood are atrocious at best for playing good touch soccer with barren, dirt patches and clumps of grass strewn in between shorter grassy areas. It was one of those 'bounce of the ball' matches that could go any which way for either team at anytime. Just 2 minutes after kick-off, following an attack by the Badgers, Inter defended well, took control of the ball and countered with an attack, sending a strong ball upfield to the right where Glenn collected the ball and lofted a nice serve into center of the box to Vitalis about 8-10 yards out. Vitalis collected the ball, turned and sent in what would be the only goal of the match for either team. Inter managed 5 shots on goal, 4 of which were close-in and coul'dve/should've gone in. And, Inter created 3 corner kick opportunities which were unsuccessful, and committed 6 fouls (including 1 handball). Ben played up top and received a nice pass from (?) about 3/4 through the 1st half, dribbled upfield on a run to work his way into the box about 4-5 yards out from the goal, facing the keeper and was about to shoot when it appeared that he was tackled/fouled from behind -- but no foul called by the center official. Inter's defenders played strong, limiting the Badgers to just a single shot on goal with no corners, while committing 4 fouls. Although the Badgers were able to break through the back line a couple of times, Inter quickly closed to challenge and possess/clear the ball away. The second half was controlled by Inter for the most part, with 6 shots taken on goal with a couple of close headers that missed their mark. The Badgers gained some momentum and pushed the ball upfield on several occasions, but Inter's defenders were up to the challenge and successfully cleared the ball away each time, limiting the Badgers to 2 shots on goal which went awry and 1 unsuccessful corner kick, and they committed 8 fouls (inclulding 1 handball). An own goal by the Badgers was almost a score for Inter when their defender attempted to head the ball out/away, it deflected backwards instead, just past the outside of the right post. The match ended, 1-nil, Inter. The Badgers and Inter will play again in the Potomac Memorial tournament next weekend. It will not be an easy contest for Inter to be sure, but the turf at the Poolesville Polo Grounds should be in much better condition than Avenel, which should be to Inter's advantage with their finesse passing style.

17 May '06. Inter Bethesda has been accepted into the prestigious Surf Cup XXVI in San Diego, CA, 29-31 July. It will be the furthest that Inter has traveled to compete in a premier tournament event, and it is hopeful to play some of the top teams in Region IV as well as III.