Somehow, Metro beats Smurfs 2:0 to keep dream alive
November 23, 2024
"There are moments in a match when the ball hits the [goalpost], and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose." -- "Match Point" (sort of)
Being fans of Woody Allen (we know, we know), we think back to his best film of the 2000s. The quote refers to tennis, not soccer, so replace "goalpost" by "top of the net" to get the original.
So, luck. In the 25th minute, Dante Vanzeir hit the left goalpost, and the ball bounced into the net. In injury time, NYCFC hit the same goalpost, and the ball bounced out. One in, one out. It could have been 1:1*... but it was 2:0.
*(Of course, it doesn't exactly work like this, because if Vanzeir's shot bounces out, the rest of the game doesn't go the same way, but we digress.)
Luck? There was nothing lucky about Metro's first goal, 16 minutes in, as Vanzeir won the second header after a long Carlos Coronel goal kick. He perfectly sent it back to Felipe Carballo, who took a touch and sent a blast from outside the box and into the top of the net. The home team was stunned.
Luck? Yes, there was some luck in the Vanzeir goal, nine minutes later, when a corner created a goalmouth scramble that the newly-mustached Belgian converted. It wasn't just the bounce off the goalpost: he thought he was offside! Thankfully, a Smurf defender just kept him on, and Metro somehow was up 2:0.
Luck? Sure, Carlos Coronel stood on his head, making a close-range save in the first half and then putting on a clinic in the second. Luck? Not really, as the defense, led by usual playoff goat Andres Reyes, cleaned everything out. Luck? Not when two probable penalty calls do not get awarded by Metro. Luck? Well, it's hard to hold on for the entirety of the second half and the ninety minutes of injury time that followed, and Metro did just that.
So now, the improbable East final, for the first time in six years. Luck? If it's luck, we'll take it!
Lineup: Coronel, Tolkin, Nealis, Reyes, Nealis, Harper, Edelman, Carballo, Forsberg, Morgan, Vanzeir. Subs: Stroud, Eile, Carmona, Ngoma, Manoel.
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