Hello everyone and welcome to the Owaka Times MatchCast! I’m Miguel Arroyo and today is the third place game of the 2010 AHFA World Cup! Texas, one of the pre-tournament favorites, takes on Israel, beyond a doubt the surprise of the tournament, in a match full of history and revenge. Israel is already ahead in this World Cup after their stunning defeat of Texas in group play 3-1. Texas has been roundly criticized for their violent style of play, especially their captain, Max Bond, who obtained two red cards in group play. Oddsmakers are all over the place on this one; on the one hand Texas has soundly crushed all opponents after their first match other than Bavaria, while Israel has held every opponent in the elimination rounds scoreless. This promises to be a fantastic match and one that cannot be missed. Without further ado, here are the starting line-ups:
Texas: The previous game against Bavaria has shot the expected starting line-up of Las Rosas Amarillas to pieces. Juan Sanchez, the starting goalkeeper, will not play after he threw a punch at Bavarian striker Benjamin Lauth. In addition, Brian O’Rear will not play after gathering two yellows. To win, Texas either needs to avoid penalties and cards or score early and shift to a shutdown defense, like they did against Tibet in group play. One large question mark will be Joseph Tecumseh, who was very nearly left off the team and will be making his third career start for the national side. Texas are rolling out their 3-4-3 again after a brief flirtation with a 5-4-1.
Coach: Charlie Norris
GK: Joseph Tecumseh
DF: Donald Moneymaker
DF: Max Bond
DF: Jose Navarro
MF: Ashley Young
MF: Rudi Gillespie
MF: Michael Peterson
MF: Laurie Maldonado
FW: Gabriel Maldonado
FW: Carlos Santana
FW: Gillespie Silva
Israel: Despite a close loss to California, Ewells has not changed the starting lineup or formation from the 4-3-3. Suprisingly, Ariel Cohen is still starting even though California took him apart in penalty kicks. Other than that, the starting lineup holds no surprises. The true question is can Israel keep up their stunning run and defeat Texas for third place?
Coach: Jhon Ewells
GK: Ariel Cohen
DF: Yotam Maimon
DF: Oran Ofek
DF: Gal Tza'eer
DF: Borris Alon Liberman
MF: Yitzhak Dayan
MF: Yotum Aharoni
MF: Guy Kortetzki
FW: Oren Ya’akovi
FW: Eran Ashkenazzi
FW: Haim Shalem
Both captains have received the other’s flags, the referee is setting the ball on the ground in front of Santana, and here we go!
1’: Texas starts with the ball. No attack yet, but both sides are appraising strengths.
3’: Aharoni challenges L. Maldonado, who jukes left. Aharoni doesn’t take the bait. Maldonado waits, but Aharoni is waiting for Maldonado. Aharoni lunges forward, but Maldonado pushes the ball out-of-bounds. Throw-in Israel.
5’: Goal kick Texas. Dayan slipped a pass by Navarro to Ya’akovi, who dished the ball across the goal mouth. Tecumseh didn’t make a move on the ball, leaving a sliver of the net open for Shalem who missed wide left. Tecumseh got a bit lucky on that one.
8’: On the other hand, Cohen is unbelievably lucky! Maimon passed the ball back to Tza’eer, but Silva snatched the pass and took off down the field. Silva had Cohen beat if he had gone right, but his shot barely grazed the top of the crossbar. Goal kick Israel.
10’: And we have the first card of the match. Surprisingly, Ashkenazzi drew a card for a hard challenge on Bond. Young swiped the ball away from Kortetzki and pushed it back to Bond. Bond held the ball for a moment as Ashkenazzi went for the slide before trying to sidestep. Bond didn’t quite clear Ashkenazzi and he went sprawling. Free kick deep in their own territory, Texas.
11’: A retribution foul? Ashkenazzi is down after a vicious slide tackle from Moneymaker. The referee is talking to Moneymaker, but I don’t think we’ll see a card here. The Israeli fans are outraged, but Moneymaker was clean.
13’: Ashkenazzi is back up, but he seems to be limping a tad. That tackle may have been harder than we thought.
15’: Corner kick Texas. Tza’eer fumbled a long kick and Ofek had to push the ball out the back.
16’: Cohen makes a stunning aerial grab, stealing the ball straight off the head of G. Maldonado. Maldonado couldn’t do anything.
18’: GOAL Texas! G. Maldonado gets his revenge with a beautiful steal and shot. Liberman had the ball and was looking for an opening. A soft pass meant for Ya’akovi, but Maldonado lunged into the corridor and sprinted away. From about 25 meters out, Maldonado lofted an arcing shot toward the right corner of the net. Cohen scrambled backward, but the ball dropped just barely out of reach and into the corner of the net. TEXAS 1- ISRAEL 0
19’: Israel looks angry. The start-up goes back to Dayan.
21’: GOAL… No, it’s been called offside. Dayan and Ashkenazzi (no longer limping, by the way) pulled a back-and-forth for the ages. Dayan shifted the ball across to Ashkenazzi past the outstretched foot of Navarro. Ashkenazzi promptly lobbed a long pass to Dayan who one-timed it straight past Tecumseh, but Dayan started offside. Nice play by the Texas defense to pull Dayan offside.
23’: GOAL Israel! Really this time! Dayan strikes for his third goal against Texas on a wild shot. Bond went to pass the ball to Santana, but Dayan headed the high pass away from Santana straight to the foot of Shalem. Shalem booted the ball toward the net and Dayan was there to twist the curve just past Tecumseh. TEXAS 1- ISRAEL 1
26’: Play has gotten snarled up at the midfield. While the Texans have a numerical advantage, the Israeli forwards are playing conservatively and outplaying their opponents.
29’: Another yellow called on Israel. Kortetzki gets a yellow for colliding with G. Maldonado. Maldonado is clutching his shin and the medical team is on the field.
32’: Texas has made a substitution: Esteban Marquez is in for G. Maldonado. It looks like Maldonado is bleeding, but we can’t tell from out here. The medics have carted him off and we are ready to begin again.
34’: Goal kick Israel. Marquez made his mark on the game with a powerful blast from about 45 meters out. Some lucky fan in the second deck just got a souvenir!
37’: Corner kick Texas. Cohen’s deflection just barely cleared the right post. Santana took a wild shot from the left side, but Cohen got a fist onto it.
38’: GOAL TEXAS! Navarro redeems himself! Peterson took the corner and lofted a pass out of the goalie box. Navarro charged in and outjumped Liberman to head a hard shot into the bottom left corner back over the scrum. Cohen was dead. TEXAS 2- ISRAEL 1
40’: Five minutes before the end of the half and Texas is starting to turtle a bit. It’s not overt, but they’re delaying just a tiny bit.
43’: Corner Israel. Well, the turtling backfired. A hard pass back to Tecumseh took a funny hop and went out the back.
44’: Free kick Texas in the box. Too much shoving by Israel, but Ya’akovi gets credit for the foul. Another wasted opportunity.
45’: The referee is signaling for 6 minutes of injury time.
45’+2’: Free kick Israel. Moneymaker needs to be careful or he’ll get a straight red. Ashkenazzi is down again after a hard challenge from Moneymaker. Ashkenazzi doesn’t look exactly hurt, but he’s angry.
45’+6’: The referee brings an uneventful injury time to a close. Neither side wanted to push for a late goal and both sides looked to be resting up for the second half.
HALFTIME: TEXAS 2- ISRAEL 1
So far, the two teams have been evenly matched. Texas has been playing tough, but very clean. The Israeli fans are howling after the second tackle on Ashkenazzi, quite rightly, but other than those incidents, Texas has been remarkably clean. Let’s see if they can keep up this uncharacteristic cleanness.
46’: As we start the second half, Texas has made two substitutions, leaving them with none. Carlos Santana and Rudi Gillespie are out, replaced by James Irwin and John Dawson. In addition, Norris has shifted the formation to a 4-5-1 with L. Maldonado taking forward, Irwin falling back, and Silva dropping back to midfield. That will drastically change the pace of this game, especially if Texas can maintain possession. On the flip side, Israel has one substitution, but it’s a doozy: Ashkenazzi is out for Yehuda Kariv. I have no idea what Ewells is thinking here. Yes, Ashkenazzi has missed plenty of opportunities in previous games, but Kariv lacks Ashkenazzi’s foot speed and rapport with Ya’akovi. In fact, Kariv hasn’t played yet this World Cup. I wonder what happened in the locker room…
48’: Israel gives up the ball to Texas. Silva promptly plays the ball back toward the net and the Texan defenders sit on it.
53’: Texas is turtling very effectively. The Israeli forwards are really missing that spark and Kariv has been transparent so far.
55’: First yellow of the match for Texas, but it’s a double yellow. Ofek and Silva got into a brief shoving match after Ofek hooked the ball off Silva’s foot, leveling Silva in the process. The referee came running over just in time to watch Silva grab Ofek’s jersey, but the referee was able to defuse tensions. Both parties received yellows.
57’: Another double yellow! Tensions are getting high and we have 30 minutes to play… Young and Aharoni exchanged some words after Young kicked the ball out of bounds off Aharoni’s foot. From what I could tell, Young gloated a bit and Aharoni snapped back. Young and Aharoni just shouted at each other, but both captains pulled their teammates away. The referee said something to both captains before showing both Young and Aharoni cards.
60’: Bond is down! The worst part is that Israel will get the ball because Bond collided with Shalem. Bond is holding his wrist very still; he must have landed directly on it.
62’: The medics have moved Bond off the field, but Texas is now down a man unless Bond can come back in. Israel’s chances just got much better…
65’: Kariv finally appears, but it’s not good. Kariv is called offsides, ruining a breakaway and saving Tecumseh. Israel has to stop throwing away these opportunities!
67’: Bond is still off, but Texas are surviving. They’ve holed up in their half of the field and are just practicing some passing and waiting for Israel to attack.
70’: Free kick Texas. Kariv again with a bad play; he can’t just reach out to tap down a wild shot!
72’: Substitution Israel. Kortetzki is out, Shalom Barak is in. Good decision by Ewells; Barak is a good all-around player and should add another arrow to the quiver. The question remains, though: will it be enough?
75’: Goal kick Texas. Ya’akovi has been quiet this game, but he’s still dangerous. Barak flipped a quick pass to Ya’akovi about 30 meters from the goal. Ya’akovi’s shot only missed by a few centimeters high.
77’: Bond has come back in with his left arm wrapped from elbow to fingers in white gauze. Judging by the wrap, something is very wrong with his wrist.
79’: There’s a rumor floating around the stadium that Ashkenazzi was taken out because he needed to be physically restrained from walking into Texas’s locker room at halftime. Just a rumor, but it would make sense because Ashkenazzi was very upset at halftime.
82’: Corner kick Israel. Texas has gotten some great plays out of Tecumseh, but he has to be thanking his lucky stars again. Irwin managed to get his leg on that blistering shot from Dayan and push it out the back.
83’: GOAL Israel… No goal! NO goal! The stadium just erupted; it’s pure bedlam right now! Barak headed the cross from Maimon just beyond Tecumseh’s questing fingers, but the referee is saying that Dayan held Young back on the cross. Dayan is furious with the referee and yes, Dayan has a yellow! The referee is conferring with the goal judge.
85’: No goal. The referee stands by his decision, which I applaud. Hard as it was, it was the right call because Young would have deflected the cross away. TEXAS 2-ISRAEL 1
87’: Israel is playing angry, but they’re making a bunch of mistakes and Texas is capitalizing on them without challenging Cohen.
90’: The referee is calling for 5 minutes of injury time.
90’+1’: Free kick Israel. 33 meters away from the net, Bond tackled Ya’akovi, who went down.
90’+2’: Barak steps up to take the free kick. 6 Rangers are lined up in a wall, but that leaves an Israeli forward open somewhere. Barak blasts the ball low. The wall jumps over it, but Tecumseh rushes forward and covers it.
90’+4’: Israel can’t get anything together, but it’s not for a lack of trying.
90’+5’: That’s all she wrote. Texas survives for the win in a wild game and takes home third place. Israel wavered right at the end and has to settle for fourth.
FINAL SCORE: TEXAS 2- ISRAEL 1
TEXAS
Goals: G. Maldonado (18’), Navarro (38’)
Bookings: Silva (55’), Young (57’)
ISRAEL
Goals: Dayan (23’)
Bookings: Ashkenazzi (10’), Kortetzki (29’), Ofek (55’), Aharoni (57’), Dayan (83’)
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