FC Berlin wins its first game of the season in great fashion.
FC Berlin took I-90 East on Saturday, as they went to visit Upstate United FC in Onondaga Hills, just outside of Syracuse, NY. The bad weather was no issue for the decent crowd who came to watch. The game promised to be an interesting one, and both teams delivered.
The first 15 minutes of the match kept people struggling to catch up with all the action! Berlin took the lead in the 5th minute, as Charlie Stewart captured a ball that had been headed outside of the box off a corner kick executed by Ramazani Juma, and took a superb shot from 25/30 yards that found the back of the net, making Upstate United’s Ryan Lyle’s effort futile. A true golazo!
Just a handful of minutes later, Upstate found the equalizer through an unfortunate play. Goalkeeper Oliver Alaviuhkola deflected a cross, but the ball hit Jean Tilo in his knee as he ran back to cover, and went into his net. But there was still some room for more emotions! Just a minute later, Ben Calkins passed the ball to Juma, who curled a beautiful shot from outside the box and into the net.
Our team prevailed for the rest of the period and had a couple of good chances to extend the lead, but the keeper and the woodwork prevented that from happening, so the score was 2-1 for FC Berlin at the half.
Nothing changed during the second period; if anything, Berlin got even more dangerous. The substitutions of Kyrell Kavanagh and especially Ethan De Sousa-Swan for Alex Babol and Bel Calkins gave the visiting team more speed and depth. De Souza-SWan was a nightmare for the Upstate United FC defence, making long runs on the left side of the field and then crossing the ball for somebody to tap the ball in. Unfortunately, our guys failed to hit that last touch despite their many chances. The posts also conspired to keep the score 1-2, until Stewart sent a lobbed ball to Juma, who patiently waited until it fell in front of him, and then sent it in with a strong shot. It was 3-1 and after that, Berlin coasted until the end of the game, neutralizing the chances that the home team attempted to create, with compactness and efficiency.
The Player of the Match award was given to Ramazani Juma, who scored two goals and took the corner kick that eventually created the chance for Stewart to score the match’s first goal.
It was a strong inaugural performance for our men’s squad. Coach Francesco Cardillo was very pleased with the team’s performance and certainly looks forward to this Wednesday, May 1st, when FC Berlin will host Chantilly Forever FC in their home opener.
