Late on Saturday evening, Thunderbird FC ventured out to the Phoenix Sports Center for their first league game of the soccer season. The game was set to be an indoor 6-v-6 with 25 minutes halves.
Although the team was missing a few key players, spirits remained high and everyone was enthusiastic about the game. However, the optimism was quickly dampened when the opposition scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes. Refusing to accept an early defeat, the team rallied to equalise with goals from Ajit and Vinay. Takuma then scored a fine individual effort to put Thunderbird in the lead, and added another to further extend that lead.
Just when things were starting to look comfortable at 4-2, the opposition started to play more aggressively, constantly committing fouls and attempting to rile us up. Their attempts were rewarded with two goals to square the game at 4-4, before Andres scored to put us back in the lead. Ryota then gleefully scored an emphatic penalty to restore the two-goal lead towards the end of the second half.
To try and get something out of the match, the opposition poured forward in attack but were constantly denied by debutant goalkeeper, Matt Berry, who made a series of fantastic saves in what was his first soccer game ever! They eventually managed to squeeze one effort through, but it only served as a consolation goal, as Thunderbird FC managed to hold on for the tense (and very exhausting) final few minutes to end the game at 6-5.
Other members of the winning team were Mo, Abe and Stepan.
Thunderbird Soccer Club plays on the Rugby Field every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4.30 p.m., and welcomes players of all levels and experience. Feel free to drop in if you’re interested!