Playing with 3 men down, Miami FC loses 2-1 to Minnesota
Published on August 29, 2008 under USL First Division (USL-1)
Fort Lauderdale Strikers News Release
Miami, August 29, 2008 - Miami FC and the Minnesota Thunder played the first of 2 games Friday afternoon and Miami suffered a setback on its way to the playoffs by falling 2-1 to Minnesota. The Blues thumped the Charleston Battery in their previous game 3-0 with a hat trick by USL-1 leading scorer Alex Afonso. That result was just what the team needed as they are in the midst of a fierce battle for the playoffs. This game though Minnesota scored the winning goal in the 90th minute after a match that featured 3 Miami FC players sent off in 6 minutes and some very questionable calls which proved too much for the Blues to overcome.
It was evident that Miami wanted to push forward and create opportunities early in the game. In the 4th minute some lovely passing in the box by the Blues almost put them on the scoreboard. A nice through pass was played to Sean Fraser on the right side. The Thunder keeper Matt Van Oekel came out to take the ball away but a great move by Fraser left the keeper out of the way and away from the goal. Fraser then gave a low cross that Afonso was in position to put home but the ball was blocked away at the last second.
The first 25 minutes saw a few chances for both teams but there were not many quality opportunities to speak of.
The class of Alex Afonso showed once again in the 33rd minute with a great little flick on to Eric Vasquez at the top of the area. The ball met Vasquez in stride unfortunately his shot was blocked as he was dashing in towards goal.
Then in the 42nd minute the most dangerous moment of the match for the Thunder. After a misplayed header Ricardo Sanchez was 10 yards in front of the goal with only Josh Saunders in his way. Sanchez took a low, hard shot that got past Saunders but bounced square off the right post to the relief of the Blues.
Once the half ended Miami headed to the locker room looking to regroup and strategize. The 0-0 tie kept them in position to strike first and keep progressing toward the playoffs.
The intermission strategy talk paid off immediately. In the 46th minute Bruno Menezes blasted home a goal to put Miami up 1-0. He received a great pass from Eric Vasquez that sliced through the Thunder back line. Menezes ran onto it from the right side and blasted a shot at Thunder keeper Matt Van Oekel who had no chance to block it.
Miami could have gone 2 up in the 52nd. The Blues charged down field right after a Minnesota corner with only one defender back; it was two on one but Eric Vasquez tripped as he was going downfield which disrupted the flow of the attack. Vasquez's shot was blocked by the goalie and Fraser's rebound shot sailed wide right.
In the 63rd minute a penalty was awarded to Minnesota after a crazy sequence of events. A long throw in by the Thunder placed the ball in the 6 yard box. Then a Thunder attacker took a powerful shot that hit the crossbar then the ground and the ball bounced in the area only to have another Thunder player take a shot which the referee deemed to have struck the arm of a Miami player. Ricardo Sanchez slotted home the left footed penalty to the left side, as Josh Saunders guessed incorrectly to the right side.
In the 70th Connally Edozien had a chance to put Miami up but his header was saved by Van Oekel. A Walter Ramirez free kick was played into the area from the right flank and Edozien's header popped down but the goalie's feet saved the goal.
In the 84th minute a strange sequence of events started to happen. Miami FC midfielder Léo Inácio was sent off with a red card after he got into a little pushing match with a Thunder defender as he was trying to retrieve the ball. The two players fell to the ground and Léo Inácio was given the red card (he was shown a yellow one in the first half).
Then, in a weird call, three minutes later, the referee Fernando Galvan sent John Pulido off apparently for complaining.
Walter Ramirez would follow Inácio and Pulido into the locker room in the 89th minute after he took down a Thunder player on the outside of the box on the right side. He was shown his second yellow card of the match which resulted in him being sent off.
In the 90th minute from the free kick given after the yellow card and with the Miami FC players still surrounding the referee to complain about the red card shown to Ramirez, Nathan Knox put home a close range effort. The free kick was played low on the ground into the 6 yard box which seemed to fool the distraught Miami players. After a few kicks toward goal the ball squirted onto the goal line and Knox won the game for the Thunder and the game ended two minutes later 2-1.
Miami FC plays the Minnesota Thunder again on Sunday August 31st. After this weekend's matches, Miami's next home game at Tropical Park is on September 17th against the Rochester Rhinos. Group tickets are currently on sale by visiting our ticket page by calling 305-728-2612. Single game tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-866-57-MIAMI. Watch all of Miami's away games and all other USL games live on USL Live!
USL First Division Stories from August 29, 2008
- Thunder Secure Important Win Against Miami 2-1 - Minnesota Thunder
- Playing with 3 men down, Miami FC loses 2-1 to Minnesota - Fort Lauderdale Strikers
- Battery goes scoreless with Islanders - Charleston Battery
- RailHawks Host Montreal Impact - North Carolina FC
- Atlanta Faces Rochester in Home Finale Saturday - Atlanta Silverbacks
- Impact faces RailHawks in Carolina Saturday - Montreal Impact
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