Metro ties in Guatemalan slop, advances in CCL
September 27, 2016
In a mostly meaningless game played in front of hundreds in a cavernously empty stadium and a water-clogged field, Metro tied Antigua of Guatemala 0:0. Anything but a three-goal loss would guarantee Metro advancement to CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals for the first time ever. That goal was achieved.
Metro had some early chances. Gonzalo Veron actually put the ball back into the net, but Mike Grella was judged to have moved the ball across the endline on the pass. Veron also had an opportunity when his split the defenders, but missed on a chip.
Midway through the first half, Metro resolved to take in the pressure, knowing that anything but a disaster would be good enough to advance. Considering that the ball stopped in puddles on every second past attempt, a disaster was easy to avoid. At the end, 0:0 was good enough to ensure Metro tops the group.
An interesting sidenote were Zach Carroll and Florian Valot, two RBNY II players who made the bench, but did not feature in the game.
Lineup: Robles, Bilyeu, Collin, Long, Zizzo, Adams, Davis, Martins, Grella, Wright-Phillips, Veron. Subs: Lawrence, Muyl, Wright-Phillips.
|
