By Francisco Avila
Phoenix Military and Kenwood came into Tuesday’s Midway Cup first round with their sights on moving on and keeping their dreams alive for the bracket title. After a scoreless 80 minutes, penalties gave Phoenix the win 6-5.
“They were able to maintain their confidence and their mentality and when it came to penalties they were able to stay strong,” said Phoenix head coach Otto Rodriguez on the team’s penalty win and spoke also on the team’s performance throughout the game.
“I think a lot of it has to do with just how the other team is athletically fit, and we’re not. So I think that’s where all of our frustrations lie. We like to keep the ball on the ground and move, but when it comes to the speed that they give to us we get overwhelmed. That was frustrating to see, but I’m glad that we overcame it. We got lucky on a lot of chances, but we created some as well. But other than that I think the game, luckily enough, went in our favor. Penalty kicks are penalty kicks and it’s either or, you know, and it’s always fun to see.”
The opening 40 minutes was very even, but Kenwood looked to have the first goal of the game in the 16th minute when Kenwood defender Sems Tohoyessou hit a powerful shot that looked to curl to the top left corner, but a great save from Phoenix’s Gabriel Yepez kept the game at 0-0.
Nothing much happened in the first half, and the following 40 minutes in the second half didn’t offer much, but continued chances were created and shots testing Yepez.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Kenwood began to test Yepez yet again with two efforts from defender Ibrahim Emedi and midfielder Juan Ramirez, who produced an incredible double save from Yepez to keep the game at 0-0.
“In that situation, I thought my center-back was going to get it,” said Yepez on his double save.
“But then he (Ibrahim) headed it and I thought it was going to go in the goal. So then I dived and saved it.”
Phoenix then put the last shot of the regular time with a potent strike from midfielder Luis Garduno with 11 minutes remaining, but the shot hit the crossbar.
Down to its last shot and down 6-5 in penalties, Kenwood had the final shot to keep the match going, but Yepez came out big once again and gave his time the win.
“I was kind of nervous about that. But I knew my team was going to score everyone. I knew they had everything in them,” said Yepez on his deciding penalty save to give Phoenix Military the win.
