| Copa Americana Overview |
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| Written by Atlanta Chiefs |
| Sunday, 21 December 2008 14:12 |
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This is the first round of matches in the Copa Americana. AOG is the defending CA champion. Each pool contains 5 teams which means they will have a bye week somewhere. Because AOG is the defending champion, the US has 4 teams. Canada has 3. All were in play this week. FC Cape May [USA] 3-1 [Mexico] Rockstar Wild "Magico" Morodo scored 2 and set up Cypriot Yiorgos Christophorou for a third as Cape May rolled to a victory. It could have been worse were it not for several nice saves from Rockstar's Oscar Fonseca. But in the end, Cape May was too much and the scoreline flattered the visitors Airing of Grievances [USA] 5-0 [West Indies] Tumbrick Tumbrick were game in the first half, but eventually crumbled under the pressure of AOG's attack. They put up 24 shots, 11 on goal and 5 that went in. Imagine if they could hit the target! Speaking of which, Lalkamal Din Wadoo could have had a hat trick, but he missed from the penalty spot in the first half. But it was about the only thing that went wrong for AOG. Fully 5 players graded out a 10 for AOG, which is better than a Romanian gymnastics team! Carolina [USA] 1-0 [Peru] SCordova Carolina notched a win when Sherloch "Holmes" Coates scored in the 39th minute. A stifling defense limited loSCapos to 4 shots on goal and secured a clean sheet for Karley Adu. Pitch footaball club [West Indies] 0-1 [USA] Gilman FC It was the R&R show for 71 minutes as keepers Radford and Rodwell dazzled the crowd of 46496 at l'antre à choux. But in the 72nd minute, Armenian MR Tolenka Mezhlumian took a through ball from Santiago Catalán and deposited it in the net to give the visitors a 1-0 win. Arsène Roca took Man of the Match honors for the home side, but that's all they took on the day. Pinniko Football Clu [Brazil] 0-0 [Canada] FC Phoenix Heraclius Welcome to International Cup play Heraclius. You may well have entered the Group of Death! The Watchmen traveled to Maringá to face 2 time Brazilian champion Pinniko. Though they have fallen off from their glory years of seasons 8-10, Pinniko look like a very tough side at present. This is all a flowery way of dressing up a 0-0 draw. Although it was hard fought and close, the Watchmen were saved several times by Man of the Match Esteban Cruz in goal. But if his defense plays like this the rest of the way, we may see "saved in style" written after Cruz' name a lot more. Banda do Catete [Brazil] 4-2 [Canada] F.C Sambiase Ahh, Rio de Janeiro. A Cidade Maravilhosa. One can hear the Samba music, see the beaches and feel the Carnival. Well GK Bill "Dino Zoff" Beauchemin must have been distracted by the Girl from Ipanema when he let in 2 early goals. But to their credit, The Blue Peppers fought back and tied it up with goals from Andrew Girard in the 19th and 72nd minute. But Muller de Batista took over in the last 12 minutes as he set up the go ahead goal and scored an insurance goal in the 92nd minute. Marc Tupper took a lot of heat from his keeper for his defensive effort. But it was an uneven effort for Sambiase as a whole. Shaded Valley FC [Canada] 5-0 [Belize] ``>>MoDa<<`` Moda, on the other hand, didn't much enjoy their trip to Toronto. They were thoroughly outclassed by Shaded Valley. Moda managed only 1 shot in the whole match and it didn't come until the 78th minute. By that time, the Drifters already had a 4-0 lead. As if to punish them for waking up keeper Peter Bonnell, the Drifters added a 5th for good measure. In the 87th minute, Man of the Match Chris Royer brought the crowd to their feet as he completed a Gordie Howe hat trick by butchering poor Omar Ruiz and earning a yellow card to go along with his 2 goals and 1 assist. The only downer of the match was the 6 game injury suffered by NT GK Peter Renfro. Fans are still wondering how he hurt himself, since the ball hadn't come near his net. Solid day for the US with 4 wins. Canada goes 1-1-1, but faced stiffer opposition. We'll see how it progresses from here. |
