Unlucky off side rebound gives Titans the game. Inter toil on.
The team spirit is there for all to see.

Bugger, a few lads missing from the early season (injuries, work) and we were soooo rusty.

Photos by Fernandos GF, which is presumably why he is so prominent
Went to penalties, we won !

Annoying as that was, we reluctantly moved onto the ensuing free kick – which Dayle did not flub into the back post pressure area where a combination of pressure from Matt and Ronny forced their defence and goalie to fumble the ball into the net. The story of the first half continued with Inter battling away and resisting the many wave of attack and trying to release Welner up top.

20 minutes into the second half and SL Kickers flop expert is called upon to dive in the box (their first foray into our 18 to this point) and without any contact or pressure from Ronny Chow goes down like a sack of spuds. Of course, Greg saved the penalty but they scored from the rebound and the psychic energy was sucked out of the hot and bothered Dinamos.

Tiredness ensued and Dayle got a yellow for mixing it with dive-boy, though other decision making went the way of wobbly legs and exhaustion. A battle to celebrate for sure, play like this with 16 guys available and we kill anyone in the division. Greg had an absolute blinder and the surprise package of the day was the terrific and industrious Alex Barco.

Hard fought in the new dustbowl that is Ferraro 5 early Sunday.
Terra was there with a camera to capture these fine specimens of manliness

Can you breathe ? The dry heat makes you exhausted after 20 yards… Still Ulysses Guevara’s first half opener had the Stewart Park lot on the back foot until early in the second when a clearly offside striker slipped it past the otherwise impeccable Greg Shull. New additions aplenty of course, but the stalwarts remain – Muraro, Hutz, Burton and latterly Christie, Adams, McGough, Molina, Pardo , Barco, Shull, Mikkelsen, and more recently Stewart and Sinick – Inter has always been at the heart of the club. Onward.

Photos and thanks to Reynee Scofield

We came at them like we had three or four subs, and with the intensity of the previous days performance with only 9 – and were very quickly camped in their half – mid field maestros Alex, Gavin and Mauricio toiled away to retain possession, and it wasn’t long before Benny got on the end of something and battered it past their ‘keeper who otherwise had a terrific game. Continued pressure earned us a corner before too long, and Alex put the ball right on Benny’s head. Benny had got the perfect amount of height on his jump and the contact was exquisite. Downward trajectory, their ‘keeper had no chance.

The second half was all about the defense, and with Sean weakened with a sore ankle, he hobbled to keep pressure on their back line but it was hard work. They switched to three up in the second period and though we had their moves covered it was only our intensity and focus that kept us in it. Matt McGough was outstanding and defensive mid and punished their lack of consistency in the first touch. Matt challenged for everything and ran his legs off. But it was the soon to be departing Diego De La Riva, jet engine acoustician that held the back line together – he was the glue that kept the line intact and kept Paolo, Chris and me (Dayle) together. Greg’s performance in goal was his best this season, and the only one past him was after a very questionable penalty awarded against Mauricio who was screening the ball on the edge of our 18 yard box. It’s always tough to save penalty’s – but generous though the call was, that spot kick was all they got through the Inter back line.

Coachella was no friend of Inter either, keeping out stalwarts Zach and Ally Christie.
More next week as Inter hunt down a play off spot.

Chris Juhlin’s expert penalty gave the lads some hope and SLU’s continued physical play ensured Chris went home with a broken 5th Metatarsal, and that the indomitable Ally Christie ended up with a knee the size of a watermelon.

Not really what we entered the contest looking for, but we’re still in the hunt for a play-off spot. But we’ve slipped to 5th with Halsted – our next opponent – three points away in 6th. Four games to go.

There were the usual Inter lapses in intensity but it was a profoundly workmanlike performance from the lads who defended brilliantly and worked the ball through the middle with tsandout performances from Ally Christie and Gavin Bates.

This is the second time in two weeks where Inter have beaten the top team in the division, tightening up the top of the table and Dinamo Internazionale are now in with a serious shout of a play-off place with five games left.

Of course, it being the day of The Los Angeles Marathon a number of the heroes of Dinamo Internazionale were upset by the road closures, not least substitute goalkeeper Chris Fernandez. Scott Hutz deputized while Sean found a pair of boots he could play in and Matt McGough ran onto the field just at Kick Off.

You’d have thought us a little depleted on paper – recent talisman Gavin Bates was out, as was Benny Scott, best defender in the universe Diego De La Riva and holding mid stalwart Ally Christie. Chris Juhlin’s eldest was hospitalized with pneumonia overnight. Ronny Mik’s work has taken over his life, Rosario is in Italy until tomorrow, goalie Greg is in Texas and Paolo is in an editing room somewhere dealing with deadlines.

What we did have on the field today was passion, we went to every fifty fifty expecting to win and we fought like shipyard dogs and ran our asses off. In spite of playing much of the game with one up, Benny got into a surprising number of one on one’s with their ‘keeper and though we had to wait until the second half Benny converted and we were one up and looking quite comfortable with it.

If the holding mid partnership of Cesar and Matty was the epitome of hard grind, it was the flair of Alex and Ivan that held the ball and worked it progressively through their defense to give openings for Benny and Sean when he was up top. Alex and Ivan play the antithesis of what has historically been comfortable for Inter – ball at their feet they create space and play so beautifully close to the ball that they invite the lunge and the uncultured tackle. Holding onto a 1-0 lead, Alex and Ivan proved themselves priceless and were always a threat.

The whole team suffocated the disappointment at not seeing Diego behind them today, Diego has dug us out of so many holes and is adept at sticking the ball and turning his striker. With little option but to use Mike Penman in central defense, Mike continued his revelatory period with an outstanding performance playing with composure, whisking the ball away from many an ambitious attacker.

Our hard work was shortly rewarded when in the two up front period, Benny again found himself in the box one on one with the ‘keeper. Benny dribbled round him, but was brought down. Cesar Molina put the ball into the net with his left sealing one of the most satisfying performances from Dinamo Internazionale.

Terra was there and captured the grit and grind at Ferraro 7 at 8:00am this morning: