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The Flash win 1-0 in front of over 3,300 fans!
In the Pacific Division of the Western Conference the OC Zodiac is listed as being in first place, but they sure didn't look like a first place team tonight! The Flash were in the Zodiac's end of the field for most of the first half, and had many chances to put the ball away. The Zodiac 'keeper Mike Littman made some very good saves to keep the Flash to just the one goal. That goal came off of one of the numerous attacks the Flash put on, when Nate Hetherington slipped it in from about a yard in front of the goal in the midst of the confusion. Littman had fallen down and his defense failed to clear the ball out.
In the second half the Zodiac were attacking more, but they couldn't break our defense. And Flash goalie Joe Cannon had another great game, making some pretty good saves of his own. The Zodiac seemed to rely on the long ball forward to their strikers, but our defenders Jimmy Conrad and Carlos Cruz were a little bigger and won most of those long passes. The midfield was well patrolled by "Chile" Farias and Kevin Legg. "Leggie" is having a great season. He's playing the defensive midfielder role like Thomas Dooley has done so well for the National Team, or how Danny Pena does for the Galaxy. Leggie can also push forward and be a threat in the attack as well. He also takes the corner kicks from the left side.
As the second half wore on, it looked like the Flash were content to play defensively and protect the lead. This was, after all, the first place team! A win against them put us in a solid second place with 18 points, only 1 point behind the Zodiac (19), and we've played 2 games fewer than them. Next week we face the Seattle Sounders again, who beat Montreal tonight 4-0. So the Sounders should be tough, despite their 6th place standing in the Pacific.
The atmosphere of the game was great again. The game will be televised tomorrow (Sunday June 7) at 5:00PM on Channel 4. I spoke with Yan before the game, and he told me the channel 4 people like what they're seeing, so they've agreed to broadcast 3 more games after this. The original deal was for 3 games, so things are looking good there. Tonight's game was called by Joe Tutino and Ricky Davis! While Rick has his faults, he *is* the guy at Fox, who's done Galaxy games and international games, so it's kind of a treat for us A-Leaguer's to get him. and Joe has already proven he can call a good game. Yan also told me that the game we play against Milwaukee (Aug 21) will be the A-league Game of the Week, so it should be shown on all the Fox regionals across the country!
At tonight's game I was there again, banging the huge drum, and I had about four of those airhorn cans, which the kids all love to blast. Later, the Samba band that has attended all but the first game came over to where I was and set up and played, inviting me to play along! I thought that was great. I really enjoyed that. I hope they come over to my section more often! They are really good, and have a great sound, with several typed of drums and cowbells and such. They also attract people who like to dance along with them, and with all the kids that were hanging around me, we had a great, noisy, fun area tonight!
I wonder if the Zodiac were impressed or even intimidated by our crowd of over 3,300 tonight. I know they only get about 200 at their own home games! I will say, though, that I like the Zodiac's uniforms better than ours. They have Nike uniforms which kind of look like last year's MLS design, with the wide vertical stripes. We have Umbro all white uniforms. Not a lot of imagination!
We've won three in a row now. Next week will be tough, but hopefully we'll make it four! I knew the Flash were a good team since the first game, and now things look to be coming together and the team is playing very well. Who knows; maybe we'll do some more damage and make the playoffs and beyond. I can see Rochester over the mountain to the east, (8-0, 17 goals for, 2 against) and I think about how neat it would be to face them in an A-League final!
GO FLASH!!!!!!!
-Eric Bekins-
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