BETHLEHEM STEEL FC 2

LOUISVILLE CITY FC 2

5-26-19

SPENCER

RASMUSSEN

<DAVIS MATSOSO🧨 <MKOSANA

WILLIAMS

FRANCIS CRAIG SOUAHY JIMENEZ

LUNDT

SUBS: TOTSCH> THIAM> JANE >

BALLARD DELPICCOLO HUBBARD MCMAHON

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Sunday’s game was yet another that might have ended up so differently. Louisville City has lately appeared on the cusp of a thrust for the upper reaches of the Eastern Conference, but has often baulked at the asking of the question.

Whether not finishing opportunities, as was the case versus St Louis FC, or as in this one, not being able to hold on to a lead, this is an edition of Louisville City FC that is still in a state of identity development.

With most clubs in the top half dropping points over the weekend, and after the attaining of a 2-0 lead, everything looked positive for a significant move upward in the standings. Unfortunately, Napo Matsoso’s 1st half ejection proved later to have unbalanced the midfield, and a 6 minute spell in the 2nd in which City temporarily ceded control yielded a deserved comeback for the happier home side.

The match started out with Los Morados, as expected, taking over the bulk of the possession, although holdup play up front needed to be better and chances around goal were at a premium.

City nearly got themselves into trouble early when Alexis Souahy gave the ball away and partner Paco Craig had to cover in behind to repel a possible chance on goal.

Immediately at the other end George Davis IV, out wide, took a ball from Napo and cut inside Cameroon MNT callup Olivier Mbaizo then fired in on goal but his shot flew directly to fledgling goalkeeper Tomas Romero.

Shortly after, in the 6th minute, Michee Ngalina, the electric heeled DR Congo-born Steel striker, came face to face with Paco, and as he moved to round him was unceremoniously hip-checked to the floor by the unforgiving defender. This matchup would turn into a central storyline as the afternoon progressed.

The free kick was cleared and City resumed their possession game. Morados had all the impetus as the home side continued to play tentatively, and pressed higher and higher up the field. In spite of this, little of substance was being produced and Luke Spencer in the lone striker role was seeing too little of the ball to be very effective.

Over the middle period of the half, Bethlehem temporarily turned the tide and managed to generate a triplet of very promising opportunities for themselves. In the 17th, a James Chambers free kick from right wing was cleared as far as talented 19-year-old midfielder Anthony Fontana. His chip from a central position found fellow 19-year-old Jamoi Topey. The already once-capped Jamaican connected with a well timed header that cleared ‘keeper Ben Lundt only to scrape across the face of his crossbar and away to safety.

With City still endeavoring to push numbers forward, Topey was involved again as the defender sent a searching ball out of defense and deep into the Louisville half. Alexis would like to have got more on his headed clearance as it was easily intercepted by Fontana who dropped to Faris Moumbagna. Steel’s other Cameroonian measured his pass perfectly to send Ngalina in behind the Frenchman. The thrilling young frontrunner had reacted quicker than Paco and left his former shadow for dead as he entered the area and hit a shot across Ben he could only swipe at. The ball seemed destined to damage the twine, however the effort corkscrewed bizarrely and the ball came out off the left-hand upright.

Two let-offs in short order for Hack’s men as the woodwork reprised its reliability.

Immediately afterward, another long ball up the left by wing defender Walter Cortes caught Oscar Jimenez unawares. Faris, looking to capitalize from the angle, fired for the near post, causing Ben, who had been anticipating the more likely cross, some concern as he scrambled to get down and collect the ball at the second attempt.

Just as it was appearing the Pennsylvanians had found a tactical avenue that may reap success City would shock them, and in minute 25 tally the match’s opening goal.

The Steel had conceded a free kick wide at the center line, and Oscar quickly recognized Shaun Francis in acres of space on the opposite wing. Shaun received the switched ball, carried forward and, after retrieving a give-and-go with wing midfielder George IV, the man selected (along with Speedy Williams) to the Reggae Boyz 2019 Gold Cup squad sent a chipped ball into the Bethlehem area. Center back Ben Ofeimu was under it but his stooping header lacked the required propulsion and fell directly to the prowling Luke Spencer. The canny predator initially sold a left-foot shot which instantaneously wrong-footed Romero and committed a lunging Ofeimu, and then deftly dragged back behind the defender and drove a right-footer through Cortes’ attempt to cover his ‘keeper’s goal line, and into the back of the Bethlehem net.

In spite of their general tactical ascendency it had been the first Grade ‘A’ chance for the visitors and had arrived somewhat out of the blue.

3 minutes later, Oscar received deep in his half and decided to emulate the opposition’s tactic, lobbing a rangy ball upfield for Luke who for a second was in behind the defense but managed to miss getting his foot to the ball as it hopped on to a grateful Romero.

City were not letting up, and Lucky Mkosana slipped a ball inside from his right wing for attacking midfield man Magnus Rasmussen to run at the heart of the steel rearguard. Not seeing a way through, the debonair Dane chose to drop it off to Speedy who quickly returned it wide to Lucky with a sharp pass to the edge of the perpendicular. The zippy Zimbabwean zinged in a first time delivery which eluded Luke as he approached at the near post but continued through to George on the far side. Mbaizo was alert to the danger, however, and was in position to turn it out behind via Ofeimu.

Oscar’s right wing corner picked out Alexis on the near post but the Frenchman’s header looped over the crossbar.

Now, at the 30 minute mark, an incident occurred that would destabilize the game and for which the match referee would struggle to compensate for the remainder of the 90 plus minutes.

The turbo-fueled Ngalina, who had cameoed for 10 minutes on Talen for the Union the night before, was establishing himself as the most dangerous threat for the Steel and the assignment to him of the significantly less agile Paco was clearly developing into a mismatch. Deciding the earlier message to his adversary was insufficient, the Englishman honed in on Ngalina, innocuously carrying the ball laterally in midfield, and scythed through him with enough force that the 19-year-old was fortunate to emerge with his various body pieces intact.

Ngalina’s teammate Mbaizo was understandably incensed and picked up a yellow card for a show of retaliation, while Paco was most fortunate to receive equal (though possibly not equitable) punishment, due largely to his opponent escaping serious injury.

A mandatory hydration break didn’t seem to do much to cool the atmosphere as just 3 minutes after the resumption an eerily similar situation took place.

Again Paco tracked down Ngalina, this time well in his own half, and as the striker offloaded he was caught with a late London lick to the instep. Once again, a sidebar distraction occurred as Napo and Faris ignored the foul whistle and scrapped for the ball, ending up in a goat-like mutual heading duel, though now without the sphere. Fearing the match could devolve into chaos the referee took the hard line, employing the technical option of issuing marching orders to both men. Through the ensuing remonstrations, as the two were finally compelled to depart, Paco was somehow able to skate free of punishment, leaving Hack’s ex coaching assistant (at Philadelphia Union) Brendan Burke highly aggravated and audibly calling on stiff action to be taken on the Louisville “No. 5”.

An air of unease was pervasive causing the quality of football to suffer for a time as neither side could string together enough passes to complete a decent movement.

Morados kept pressuring however, and in the 44th finally got another glimpse at goal as Speedy on halfway spotted George checking inside. The highly kinetic vet shuttled the ball ahead to Magnus who was now in a favorable area near the top of the Steel area. The Dane’s normally dependable left peg failed to display its customary deadly nature as the effort was dragged soundly wide.

Momentarily, George created a chance of his own as he received wide on the left, cut inside, played a one-two with Speedy and drove in a shot from outside the area which, like his effort earlier, landed safely in the arms of the rookie Romero.

George was finishing the half strongly, and in stoppage time helped Shaun up the left wing. The overlapping fullback fired diagonally into the area toward Lucky who piled into Cortes in a vain attempt to turn the cross on goal.

Another cross of Shaun’s saw Cortes at full stretch to again deny Lucky as he toed it wide of the upright.

After 5 minutes of stoppage time – and even more could have been awarded – the arrival of halftime was probably a relief to both sets of players, as well as their coaches who had each been diverted, vying to be the most animated, and the most influential over the match officials.

Brendan Burke’s Bethlehem Babes are literally that, the starting eleven for this contest featuring no less than eight teenagers, two 21-year-olds … plus the incongruous 32-year-old perennial team captain, James Chambers.

For the reciprocal stanza Mbaizo, at 21 the second eldest starter, who had battled hard with George IV and decidedly come off second best, was replaced at wing back by yet another teenager the more offensive minded Nathan Harriel, the change also designed to back up the ever threatening presence of George IV.

Yet this exchange could not have appeared to backfire more as in the very first minute of the half City’s nerve inducing No.22 took a feed from Shaun and drifted inside to probe his fresh, new marker. Harriel would be no match as he was unbalanced and outstripped by the wily winger. Producing a devastating jink George accelerated by, reached the byline and sent over the sweetest arrow, right to the head of Lucky Mkosana, in a handy position 5 yards out. The man who used to ply his trade over the way at Penn FC made no mistake in powering it home.

At 2-0 early in the 2nd it seemed the 10 man game was suiting the Morados and their capabilities much the better, and that the writing was already on the wall for Burke’s young warriors.

Belying age and experience, yet befitting of their name, the Steel would demonstrate that they are made of stern stuff, however, and it was the visitors’ turn to get a shock just 3 minutes later as Issa Rayyan received in right midfield. Shaun charged in to challenge as Speedy moved across in support, but Rayyan surprised the twin Jamaican assault party by wheeling and powering away from both. Now Paco was exposed again as Rayyan drew him enough to be able to give Ngalina the edge as he slipped him through in the inside right channel. Paco made ground to recover and fancied his chances in the tackle, but Ngalina had touched the ball away as “No.5” came clattering in to unceremoniously poleax the striker for what probably seemed to the Congolese man like the umpteenth time.

Amazingly, another cautionable offense was passed up, however what was assessed was the clear cut penalty kick, and Jamaican Chavany Willis stepped up and powered it to Ben’s right. The big Berliner anticipated correctly but could not quite get down in time as he was beaten by the pace on the shot, and as rapidly as that Bethlehem had been given renewed belief in themselves.

At the other end, Shaun skipped one in just ahead of Luke but the alternative Talen denizens countered right back as once more Shaun got caught out of position by Rayyan, leaving Paco – probably as surprised as any other observer to still be out on the pitch – stranded again. Harriel, overlapping, fired for the bottom corner but Ben was down sharply to push it away over the goal line.

The deficiency from Napo’s absence was steadily becoming glaring as Harriel drove forward again, and Magnus was compelled to curtail him before further trouble could develop, the Dane earning his second yellow card of the season for the trip.

From the restart, Shaun was forced to concede a corner which was only half cleared due to Chambers pressuring Magnus and the ball ran directly to Willis. Neither Speedy nor Lucky could close down in time, and from 19 yards the Steel No.39 struck a rocket wide of his helpless opposite number and inside the post for a stunning equalizing goal.

Bethlehem were buoyed and continued their surge up the right channel, with City desperate to get bodies in the way and just about managing to avoid being carved to shreds.

‘The Boys In Road Whites’ worked to regain their equilibrium, and after a spell of possession George IV received from Luke and let fly with a speculative 25 yarder that climbed above Romero’s crossbar.

Meanwhile, more problems at the Louisville end as Ngalina and Rayyan combined and the latter looked poised for an attempt on goal, however he had helped himself with a shirt tug and City were spared further embarrassment.

For their own part, Luke had been finding joy wider on the left, and in the 64th he drew Ofeimu, beat him with a stepover and sent over a lowish cross which Lucky raced in to meet just ahead of his marker but was only able to redirect into the clutches of Romero.

Hack’s men continued to work the prone left side hard, and Speedy delivered wide for George, his cross being misplayed by Ofeimu, flying back off his thigh but directly back to Romero.

However, the head coach, evidently not keen on what he was seeing generally and concerned at the degree of penetration the Steel had been achieving through the midfield, relieved George Davis, whose exhaustive efforts had earned him the break, and inserted Sean Totsch to assume the (of late) furloughed specialist holding midfield role.

It was an intriguing adjustment that on initial consideration appeared to be indicating the level of confidence City had in whether or not they would be able to chip out a winning goal.

But this move may have been somewhat of a ruse, as Shaun Francis was suddenly freed again to operate higher up the pitch, and in the ensuing minutes the overlapping full back knocked in a series of crosses and forced a pair of corners, one from his blocked shot. On the second of these he fired well over the bar but it seemed Hack’s cunning realignment might be about to pay dividends.

Luke, who had been involved sporadically, now made way for a fresh pair of legs in the form of Abdou Thiam, and his accession and role as a free ranging forward tested the back four for a time as he appeared everywhere at the the top end for the visitors.

In the 81st, the enthusiastic newcomer even created a half-chance for himself as Magnus recovered a blocked shot and found Speedy who sent out to Shaun for yet another left wing cross, this time low and hard toward the Senegalese replacement striker. Abdou took the ball with his back to goal and spun to shoot, but for all his enterprise he was unable to tee it adequately and succeeded only in scooping it well wide of the goal.

Los Morados had reassumed ascendency and a move involving Sean, Shaun and Magnus set Speedy up for a sizzler from the top of the box but Lucky, unfortunate to be passing through the firing line, did the dirty work for the defense as it caromed away off him.

After having settled back down into a proper game of football for a period, proceedings began to devolve again as Topey received a yellow card for taking down Abdou and the City sub received one also for his disgruntled reaction.

On Oscar’s free kick, Lucky incurred an apparent hamstring issue as went in underneath Romero’s leap to catch. He would be replaced shortly after by Sunny Jane.

With the clock winding toward the 90 minute mark and the home side calculating the odds the restart was dithered over long enough so that a yellow card for delaying appeared to be shown to Romero.

However, within 2 minutes it was revealed to be Ofeimu who had been sanctioned as he was surprised to receive a “second” yellow and a red for a nevertheless quite agricultural challenge on Abdou that caused No.14 a dislocation (and a subsequent trip to a local hospital) as he landed awkwardly on his right shoulder.

With both men out of the game the remaining participants would contract into a narrower configuration up the middle of the field and what had been a quite unusual encounter would peter to a 9 versus 9 stalemate.

… But for one last bid as Louisville’s twin central defenders had moved forward in search of an all-or-nothing three-point mark, and Alexis flicked on to Paco who had Romero scrambling at his feet to keep him from converting. An irritated Brendan Burke night have been ever so slightly aggrieved had the conclusion of this play been otherwise.

So, a second draw on the trot and yet another affair that produced plenty of talking points.

All things considered, the lack of availability of Niall McCabe – not in the traveling squad due to a minor twinge incurred in training – was probably a factor in the failure to secure victory from a winnable fixture, as was Napo’s unfortunate moment of immaturity.

As City prepare to host Birmingham Legion in Wednesday night’s US Open Cup clash at Lynn Stadium last round scorer Abdou Thiam is expected to miss several games.

The Boys In Purple are seemingly not yet about to receive relief from the confounded season long injury bug.

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@LouCityKiwi’s PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF 10:

Ben Lundt: 7

Incurs little blame for the 2 goals. Barely eluded by a well taken penalty and perhaps unsighted and well beaten by a superb volley from 20 yards.

Shaun Francis: 6

Some questionable decisions with the ball and a deficiency in consistency of crosses led to a second straight uneven display after a very good run over several games.

Paco Craig: 4

Uncharacteristic display from the USL all-star, seemingly just not having his head in this game. Exceedingly fortunate to remain on the field after being gifted multiple subsequent breaks following a 1st half caution, one as he conceded the penalty kick that paved the way for Steel’s unlikely comeback.

Alexis Souahy: 7

Contrastingly, quite a reasonable display by the co center back in light of the tribulations his partner suffered. Gets credit for mostly propping up his own side of defense.

Oscar Jimenez: 6 1/2

Quieter day for the key pass king as team strategy appeared to favor exploiting the weaker Bethlehem right side. By the same token, less busy on the defensive side, with most of the adversity coming back down the same opposite wing.

Speedy Williams: 8

Orchestrated matters through the middle very well all day, perhaps deserving an even higher rating as the value cannot be satisfactorily estimated of taking on the extra workload after the loss of his central partner.

Napo Matsoso: 5

Disappointingly extending a habit of getting into needless off the ball spats, and this time, albeit after a harsh decision, it came back to bite him. More importantly his expulsion undermined the entire team strategy on the day. The club has given up on one individual for attitude issues already this season. Hopefully, that will need to have been the one and only occasion.

Magnus Rasmussen: 7

Average day out for the man who had been nigh impossible to criticize coming into the game. Perhaps suffered from limited service and having to personally compensate after the departure of the aforementioned crucial component in the center midfield triangle.

Lucky Mkosana: 7 1/2

Tracked back well and a constant thorn in the opponents’ side (physically as well as offensively) with his headlong charges for the 6 yard area. On the one hand inconsistent, on the other encouragingly busy, and his vital goal was beautifully taken.

Luke Spencer: 7

Struggled to establish himself in the center for much of the match, latterly drifting wider in order to find ways contribute. The one shining exception, his superbly taken goal, further exemplifying his enduring value to the side.

Sean Totsch: 8

Very nice job in solving the major problem of making up for Napo’s absence. Crafty substitution by the coaching staff – although it took 35 minutes playing time to figure out.

Abdou Mbacke Thiam: 5 1/2

Unfortunate to end his afternoon in the ER after not really being able to get going in his fewer than 15 minutes on the park.

Sunny Jane: N/A

Too little time for Sunny to make any impact, unfortunately.

“LOS MORADOS NO. 1 ⭐️ OF THE GAME”

⭐️⭐️⭐️ GEORGE DAVIS IV⭐️⭐️⭐️: 8 1/2

Got through 68 minutes of hard graft, including being involved in several of the more promising offensive moves for his club. Never better than when he was running at defenders, one sensational move of which resulted in his inch perfect cross for Lucky’s goal.

In summary, went some way toward making up for Niall McCabe’s absence and continued to please with his progress back from a difficult injury.

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