Match Report – 21 February 2010 – Match Day 5

Dinamo Red Star (Deppe x2, Campos) | 3 – 2 | One Eleven

In 1954 there was Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, in 1967 Aldrich’s Dirty Dozen…and now in 2010 there is Red Star’s Infallible Nine-Ten-Eleven.  Fitting, as they were up against a vengeful opponent in One Eleven.  Wait…”what am I talking about?” you ask.  “Infallible Nine-Ten-Who against One Eleven what?”.  Sit tight my friends, you’ll understand in a second.

One Eleven is the reincarnation of what was once the formidable Belize Inter FC.  Years ago Red Star battled Belize Inter through regulation, literally into overtime and admirably but tragically lost in PKs.  The play was fast, the tackles were fierce and players saw red after punches were thrown.  Inter Belize celebrated the Metro Championship that year, but have since suffered a decline year after year.  Red Star on the other hand, regrouped, retooled and have improved year after year, taking the Super Metro by storm last season.

Now picture nine Red Star warriors arriving to battle it out with an old foe eager and prepared to get their revenge. They had about 40 players kitted and ready to go, while yours truly was busy speed dialing the bat signal to all the Red Star players in LA who where not yet at Griffith Park.  One Eleven sensed an opportunity in the making and pushed for the kick off.  And just as the referee was about to blow the first whistle,  a fog appeared on the sideline.  There seemed to be some commotion as everyone was trying to see what was going on.  Okay, so I am way over dramatizing the situation…but it helps build the suspense.  Basically, none other than Leo appears on the sides ready to join in the fun, bringing our number to ten.  Game on.

With additional spirit, we dominated possession as Tyler and Deppe controlled the middle.  Alex was a one man wrecking crew up top and Adrian, Sebas, Nick, Jason setup a fortress in the back, thwarting off long ball after long ball.  Leo and Christian kept the width and added to Alex’s attack while Mike used body, limb and back (literally) to clear opposing attackers out of his box.  The bat signal did it’s job as Billy arrived just before the half.  We still played with 10 as a player on One Eleven thought it would be fun to make Belgian waffles out of Christian’s family jewels.  The player received a straight red and now we would be the team up a man in the second half.

The second whistle blew and we came out firing.  The score was still knotted at zero, but it was only a matter of time before Alex, Deppe and Billy ran their back line ragged.  Kareem was eager to keep a clean sheet against us and was up to his usual cat like saves, but even he couldn’t stop Billy from flicking it over his outreached arms to Deppe who happily tapped in the the first goal, 1-0.  Frustration mounted on their side and play digressed a bit as tackles became uglier and the pace more panicked.  Within minutes, Deppe was put through one-on-one with Kareem and deftly pulled the ball to the left as Kareem nicked his foot, taking him down in the box.  Last man…should have received a red card, but we like Kareem and Deppe got the last say as he nailed the PK, 2-0.

Play continued down the same violent panicked path as One Eleven was desperate to switch the momentum.  They through everything at us and finally earned one of only a few corner kicks.  Unfortunately, that was when we decided to get soft on the corners as we have done on the past and their guy had a free header, 2-1.  For a moment, it looked like they had managed to change to tide setting up a frenzied finish.  Billy had other ideas though.  He pounced on a deflection off a shot and put us up, 3-1.  With the clock ticking One Eleven pressed but really failed to pose a serious threat.  They earned another corner and where given a gift.  With a heart of gold, Adrian felt they could use a consolation goal.  His technique was superb, but unfortunately it was a goal on the wrong end, 3-2.  Adrian played a stellar game, helping set up the third goal.  We’ll just have to point his striking compass in the right direction.

And so my friends, that is the story of the Infallible Nine-Ten-Eleven.  It was a good story, but let’s not make things so dramatic next week.  Overworld is next!