A Point a Piece
The Game of the Week saw Shadow Premier FC and Elgin Pumas SC face off in the highly contested 19U Premiership I game. This was the first game that Shadow Premier received a goal and the first game they do not walk away with the full three points this Spring season in all competitions. With Shadow Premier scoring first and scoring early, it felt they were going to be the ones to hand Elgin Pumas their first loss in the Premiership division. Elgin Pumas managed to get the draw and show the resilience and grit it takes to continue the undefeated run and do it in a such a convincing manner.
Game Recap
The game began in a quick and physical manner, and this became a big theme of the game. It was evenly contested early on, both teams having spurts of possession and opportunities. The Shadow Premier goalkeeper – Angel Vazquez was not seeing immediate danger though, until 10 minutes in where the Elgin side saw a shot go slightly over the bar. Three minutes later, when Elgin Pumas seemed the one to score first, Shadow Premier saw a brilliant counterattack capped off by Brayden Johnson who took advantage of the goalkeeper being off his line and scored a brilliant goal from 25 yards out. This became a real back and forth affair as Elgin Pumas gathered themselves and not two minutes later, they saw a brilliant cross end with another shot that went right over the cross bar. They began to take more control of the game while Shadow looked comfortable off the ball and defended very well. Christopher Tellez had something to say about it however, as he was everywhere for Elgin Pumas in the midfield and used his quick pace to get past a defender, going 1 v 1 verse the Angel to slot it past him and go level! Alejandro Malagon of Elgin Pumas began to be a headache for the opposition. He began to go at his defender time and again with threatening crosses and a few shots that went slightly wide.
The second half was almost a mirror of the first half with the exception of the goals. It was clear Shadow wanted to hand Elgin their first loss and it was clear Elgin wanted to continue their undefeated run. Both sides gave away very little and continued to be very physical with only winning in mind. Both sides had chances early, where the most dangerous opportunities were coming off counter attacks. Christopher again would be the most dangerous for Elgin and the one to be most risky in their attack. Shadows defense however, continued to make a statement and really show why up to this point, they had only one goal scored on. Jesus Leyva of Shadow Premier was the heart of their midfield, being brave in his tackles, breaking down the Elgin Attack and recovering brilliantly. With 5 minutes left, the teams upped their intensity, it felt as if this was not going to end 1-1. Diego Flores had a late on-target header for Elgin cleared by Angel Vazquez. It was a moment where the whole Shadow Premier fanbase held their breath that the brilliant save, made them exhale in relief and cheer loudly. Again, Elgin was threatening and again Shadow Premier with some incredible defending. With now less than two minutes left, Shadow Premier would have the opportunity to go up as they countered and outmanned the Elgin Pumas defensive unit before a brilliant tackle would ruin the opportunity. The game was hard-fought, physical, with teams showing disciplined defending, disciplined possession, intelligence and great composure.
Interviews
Eno Obot of Shadow Premier took the time to discuss the exhilarating game that took place, and he was critical, yet praiseful after the game “Even though we did not particularly play our best game, we managed to get a point against a very technical team. That is enough to keep their (Shadow Premier squad) spirits up, knowing that we can compete against some of the best teams out there when we are disciplined and play our style of soccer,” he stated.
As previously mentioned, no fan can sense that one team or the other wanted this game more, every player out there had a winning mentality. Eno was asked about his team’s determination and grit. “Our Team goal for this season is to end up on top of the league rankings, or as close to the top as possible. Win President’s Cup. Understanding and believing in the collective goal has kept the boys very highly motivated, to complete at their very best every game,” emphasized the Shadow Premier Coach. With a point a piece, Eno was asked about what he felt he can take away from this game, where coach Eno said, “How well we maintained our composure in the face of some really hard tackles. I was very impressed with our collective defending.” This was expected from a team coming in with no goals scored on yet, and they delivered.
What’s Next?
Elgin Pumas will visit Chicago Eagles and PSG Chicago and will visit Lockport to end the season. Shadow Premier also have three left to play. Visiting PSG Chicago, Evolution and hosting Chicago Rush Oswego. The two cannot sleep on any of the adversaries in front of them if they want to claim the ultimate prize.