Friday, November 12, 2010

Comets Fall in Opener

At times tonight, the Missouri Comets looked like a well oiled machine, stringing together plenty of passes and creating chances on goal. Other times they looked every bit of the expansion team they were going up against a team in their 27th season in the Milwaukee Wave as they fell 20-9 to last year's MISL runner's up. The Wave came out early attacking and were rewarded with two goals in the first 6 minutes of the game through Tenzin Rampa and Josh Rife. Shortly after though, the Comets came alive and scored their first goal with Mirsad Dzilic getting the goal off an assist from Stefan Stokic who got the loudest cheer during the pre-game introductions thanks to plenty of kids from the youth team he likely coaches. Late in the first quarter, the Wave added to their lead as Hewerton touched home a shot from Marcio Leite to give the Wave a 6-2 advantage at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, the Comets tightened up defensively and were able to keep the Wave off the board, a lot of this was thanks to the stellar play of Danny Waltman who came up with plenty of good saves throughout the game to keep the Comets in it. Unfortunately in the 3rd quarter it didn't take the Wave long to get back on the board, only 14 seconds into the quarter Leite dispossessed Stokic after a hospital ball from Waltman. Leite beat Waltman to the near post and the Wave were up 8-2. The comes though struck back quickly, with Leo Gibson leading the charge shortly after the Wave's goal, Gibson took a clearance from Wave goalkeeper Nick Vorberg off his chest and with Vorberg already out of his net, Gibson buried his shot for a 3 point goal to put the Comets within 3 points. A little over a minute later Gibson was again involved as he set up the returning Comet and former Wizard, Jamar Beasley with a tap in at the back post. Only signed yesterday, Beasley only played the second half, but during that time he certainly proved to be one of the Comets best players.

After that, things started to come undone for the Comets, the Wave made it 10-7 with 6:40 gone in the 3rd quarter as Rife scored his second goal on a well designed set piece, and then less than a minute later after a holding call on the Comets in the box led to a penalty kick they found themselves down 12-7 via Giuliano Oliviero from the penalty spot. Things continued to get worse for the Comets as they gave up 3 goals in just over 5 minutes of play in the 4th quarter as Rampa got his second, Hewerton got his second on a nice scissor kick, and JP Rodrigues scored as well to make it 18-7. Beasley pulled one back for the Comets, making it 18-9 after he finished off a break away when the Wave got caught up on a free kick. Matt Stewart though finished off the scoring for the Wave making it 20-9 with just under 5 minutes to play. Very late on things got a little intense with Byron Alvarez, who picked up a second blue card for kicking at Wave keeper Vorberg. Alvarez also appeared to horse collar him (to use a football term) a bit around the neck. Alvarez's first blue card wasn't any better as he slid in "studs" up on a tackle in the first quarter.

Overall not a great performance for the Comets, but certainly some positives, Waltman is a solid pick up in goal and it appears that he'll be needed quite a bit throughout the season. Beasley looks like he'll be one of the team's leaders offensively once he's had time to gel with the team. And Gibson looks to be a handful for opposing defense. But tonight the Wave were just more organized and too strong for the Comets to consistently break down.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good game time, awesome environment.

Wave is a really good team. KC will get better as season continues.

MOUFWASH said...

maybe im just not keen to the game, but it looked like the Waltman cost some pts with terrible passing

Wave looked like they knew what they were doing, while outside of that Beasley goal, it looked like the Comets just lucked into goals

Anonymous said...

Three distinct things the Wave did better last night:

*Better pressure through the center 1/3 of the field

*Polished, practiced set pieces

*Back side attacking

All of these points can be addressed by Coach Kim and you'll see the Comets improve

Anonymous said...

I am not saying that I do not enjoy indoor soccer, but if Americans want evolve their style of play to something more skillful, short passing, etc. they shouldn't be playing indoor soccer.

All of the really sucessful national teams in the World Cup did not play indoor soccer when they grew up, they played futsal, a game where you can't hip-check people and baacng it off the walls (like an American).

Do you think Lionel Messi every played (or heard of) indoor soccer. Absolutely not; he played futsal, starting at a very young age.

I understand if Americans can't change their ways, but it would absolutely be for the better.

Anonymous said...

Dude, Americans? Who are you? Are you an idiot?

Did you play the game at any sort of level. The reason other countries don't play Indoor Soccer and they play futsal, is because there are no facilities. It is easier, cheaper to play futsal on a basketball court or gym or piece of payment. Which is where futsal is played. Versus, building a facility, putting in turf, and boards. It's about money.

Your an idiot.

The comets have 2 brazilian players on their roster. Go ask them.

Anytime a player has less space to work in and has to make a quicker decision than in a normal outdoor space. It's highlevel, be it futsal or indoor soccer.

Anonymous said...

Wave was good. Hopefully that's what our team looks like in a couple months.

Anonymous said...

Whoever made the comment about Americans and evolving their game is a twat.