August 2nd vs Rio Grande Valley F.C.

Score: 3-3

Lineup: 40.Sean Melvin; 14.Cole Seiler, 41.Dominick Zator, 33.Francis de Vries ©, 62.Deklan Wynne; 64.Thomas Gardner (66.Michael Baldisimo 74‘), 42.David Norman Jr. (58.Will Seymore 89’), 32.Marco Bustos (54.Gloire Amanda 87‘); 63.Kadin Chung, 45.Myer Bevan, 61.Terran Campbell

Summary: Possibly the best football played all year by WFC2 but some naivety at the back lead to two silly penalties being given away by Cole Seiler and Dominick Zator respectively. The best play of the game was David Norman Jr.’s beautiful through ball to Kadin Chung on the first Thundercaps goal. Myer Bevan scored another goal as he linked up well with Thomas Gardner and the third goal was scored by Chung off a nice pass from Terran Campbell. De Vries looked solid in the back, Wynne bombed down the left wing impressively and Bustos looked lively.

Standouts: Chung, Gardner, Norman, Campbell, Bevan, Bustos, De Vries, Wynne

August 5th at Sacramento Republic

Score: 1-0 (Sacramento)

Lineup: 18.Spencer Richey; 65.Matthew Baldisimo 14.Cole Seiler (54.Gloire Amanda 70’), 33.Francis de Vries, 62.Deklan Wynne; 64.Thomas Gardner, 58.Will Seymore, 32.Marco Bustos; 63.Kadin Chung (66.Michael Baldisimo 63’), 57.Thomas Sanner (61.Terran Campbell 61’), 45.Myer Bevan

Summary: I could almost write a stock summary for most WFC2 games this year. A couple chances that they failed to bury, some encouraging individual performances undone by a moment of foolishness and another loss. This time the moment of foolishness came from Matthew Baldisimo who gave away yet another penalty which was converted by Jeremy Hall. Francis De Vries had a wonderful defensive game and Spencer Richey produced a save of the season candidate. Kadin Chung created a few chances down the right side but Sanner couldn’t put them in.

Standouts: Richey, De Vries, Chung

August 13th at Seattle Sounders 2

Score: 3-0 (S2)

Lineup: 18.Spencer Richey; 65.Matthew Baldisimo (55.Chris Serban 61‘), 14.Cole Seiler, 33.Francis de Vries ©, 62.Deklan Wynne; 66.Michael Baldisimo (58.Will Seymore 73’), 42.David Norman Jr., 32.Marco Bustos; 64.Thomas Gardner, 45.Myer Bevan, 61.Terran Campbell (46.Brett Levis 61’)

Summary: Garbage. The first goal came off some horrific defending with De Vries, Norman, and Bevan being the main culprits. Then Richey sat on the ball to long and had the ball taken off him to make it 2-0 for S2. Seiler then failed to track his man for the third goal. Myer Bevan was shown a straight red card. At least Brett Levis made his return from injury.

Standouts: A sense of existential dread.

August 19th at Rio Grande Valley F.C.

Score: 1-1

Lineup: 40.Sean Melvin; 55.Chris Serban, 14.Cole Seiler, 33.Francis de Vries ©, 62.Deklan Wynne; 58.Will Seymore, 42.David Norman Jr. (65.Matthew Baldisimo 81’), 32.Marco Bustos; 64.Thomas Gardner (66.Michael Baldisimo 68’), 54.Gloire Amanda (61.Terran Campbell 68’), 57.Thomas Sanner

Summary: Good performance blah blah, individual performances, yada yada They couldn’t win though! Bustos and Amanda were particularly lively as they combined to set up Deklan Wynne for the goal and created a number of other chances. Sean Melvin made a good save at the dead to preserve the point.

Standouts: Wynne, Bustos, Amanda, Melvin, Gardner

August 23rd at San Antonio F.C.

Score: 1-0 (San Antonio)

Lineup: 40.Sean Melvin; 55.Chris Serban, 14.Cole Seiler, 33.Francis de Vries ©, 62.Deklan Wynne; 58.Will Seymore (65.Matthew Baldisimo HT); 64.Thomas Gardner (63.Kadin Chung HT), 32.Marco Bustos, 42.David Norman Jr.; 54.Gloire Amanda, 57.Thomas Sanner (61.Terran Campbell 63‘)

Summary: The Thundercaps switched to a 4-1-2-1-2 formation. It did not go well. San Antonio ran riot down the wings and the got their goal after Kris Trypak outlept Deklan Wynne to power his header into the top corner. One player who did look good was Will Seymore at the base of the midfield diamond. His distribution was excellent. The Thundercaps missed a golden opportunity to level the score late on but Terran Campbell failed to convert a great pass from Matthew Baldisimo.

Standout: Seymore, Matthew Baldisimo, Melvin, Norman Jr.

August 27th vs L.A Galaxy 2

Score: 2-1 (WFC2)

Lineup: 18.Spencer Richey; 55.Chris Serban, 14.Cole Seiler, 33.Francis de Vries, 62.Deklan Wynne; 58.Will Seymore, 42.David Norman Jr. (66.Michael Baldisimo 66’), 32.Marco Bustos (65.Matthew Baldisimo 90’); 63.Kadin Chung, 57.Thomas Sanner (54.Gloire Amanda HT), 61.Terran Campbell

Summary: With a heavy heart I sat down to what I was sure would be another disappointing WFC2 match. I was so used to being let down that I barley batted an eyelid as Terran Campbell hit a spectacular volley in the 3rd minute to give the Thundercaps the early lead. A nice goal to be sure but there was no way they could keep this going. My suspicions were seemingly confirmed when Ethan Zubak equalized. Zubak was trouble all afternoon and Chris Serban really struggled to deal with his pace down the right side. At half time Gloire Amanda came on for Thomas Sanner at half time and it changed everything. The second half was by far the most entertaining half of football i’ve seen in USL this year. It was almost a 1v1 Competion between two players: Ethan Zubak and Marco Bustos. Amanda changed the dynamic of the attack which created more space for Bustos and he took it. Bustos created chance after chance both for himself and for others but Eric Lopez was spectacular in the Los Dos goal. Whenever the young keeper made his latest spectacular save off Bustos, Zubak would come storming back down the field and could have scored were it not for some timely tackles by Cole Seiler. Just when it seemed all hope was lost Michael Baldisimo had his shot blocked, it fell to Gloire Amanda who, from a seemingly impossible angle, smashed the ball into the bottom corner, the absolute madman, and won the game for WFC2! The first Thundercaps victory in 85 days.

Standouts: Wynne, Seiler, Chung, Bustos, Amanda, Campbell

WFC 2 Scoring Player Goals Assists Player Goals Assists Bustos 6 1 Sanner 4 1 Campbell 3 3 Amanda 3 4 Bevan 2 0 McKendry 2 3 Wynne 2 1 Thoma 1 1 Serban 1 0 Bartman 1 1 Chung 1 0 Norman 0 3 Seiler 0 1 Seymore 0 1 Apostol 0 1 Gardner 0 1 Baldisimo 0 1

Looking Ahead:

WFC2 have five games coming up in the month of September. The Thundercaps are 11 points out of a playoff spot and most of the teams around them have games in hand. This means they will have to win pretty much every game for the rest of the season. So the next month should be pretty exciting.

September 6th vs Tulsa Roughnecks (Mcleod Athletic park)

Kick off: 7:00 pm

Last time the Thundercaps faced the roughnecks they lost 3-1. Tulsa features former Betis, Zaragoza and Boca Juniors player Juan Caffa, who made the young ‘Caps pay with a goal and an assist. I’m not sure how they managed to attract him to the city of Tulsa but it is what it is.

September 10th at OKC Energy

Kick Off: 3:00 pm

The last time WFC2 played OKC it finished in a 2-2 draw so this is a good chance to pick up some important points.

September 17th vs Orange City SC (Thunderbird Stadium)

Kick off: 4:00 pm

Last time WFC2 met Orange County SC they lost 1-0. They’ve got a couple Liga MX players on loan and one guy that used to play in the Eredivise but honestly it’s kind of hard to build much hype for this one. It’s apparently “Health and Wellness” day though so that’s nice.

September 24th vs Phoenix Rising (Thunderbird Stadium)

Kick off: 3:00 pm

Drogba! Bravo! Matt Watson! Phoenix are one of the most exciting teams in USL in terms of star power. Last time WFC2 came up against them they fell 2-1 but it was a pretty exciting game. Phoenix is just outside the playoffs so you can bet they’ll bring their A game. I have to say, it would be pretty weird if Didier Drogba ends up playing a competitive professional game at Thunderbird Stadium of all places. It’s also Oktoberfest at UBC!

September 30th vs Portland Timbers 2 (Mcleod Athletic Park)

Kick off: 3:00 pm

Oktoberfest Part 2: The Festoning. As for the football on display; it’s a mini Cascadian derby against T2 who are bottom of the west. You have a pretty good chance of seeing a Thundercaps victory and enjoying the bragging rights that come with that.