Matchweek 9 Review: Gloom and Colorado Record Big Road Wins

by NFPL

MATCHWEEK 9 REVIEW:
Gloom and Colorado Record Big Road Wins

BRUSA FC 4-7 Santa Fe Gloom

Santa Fe Gloom started out hot and held off an attempted comeback from BRUSA FC in Matchweek 9 and avenged their loss a few weeks ago on the same court. The road win stopped a 2-game losing streak, and cemented The Gloom at the top of the Southwest Conference, albeit with more games played than the rest of the division. 

The visitors jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, putting on a devastating display of lethal counterattacks and clinical finishing that tore BRUSA FC asunder. 

Peter Torres opened the scoring for The Gloom as he continued his excellent start to the season, smashing home first-time after Isai Rivas danced past a defender and put in a pinpoint pass into the danger area. 

Less than a minute later, Rivas once more was at the heart of the counterattack, running almost the length of the court before squaring to Francis Guzman who expertly found the top corner. 2-0 to the visitors.

The blitz continued and The Gloom opened up a 3-0 lead as they scored almost 2 minutes later. Rivas's clever back heel set Guzman free, who put Yeremi Valdez in with an eye-of-the-needle pass to poke into the net from close range. 3-0 to The Gloom.

Big saves from Hector Castañeda maintained the 3-goal advantage for the visitors and with a few minutes left in the half the visitors once again capitalized on a counterattack. A 3-on-1 break started with Peter Torres winning a tackle and squaring to Guzman for his second of the game, closing out a brilliant first half for the visiting side.

The second half was better from BRUSA - they closed the gap to just one goal as the home fans got behind their team. An early goal from Micah Vasey got them on the board as he lashed a powerful drive past the keeper after being first to a rebound.  

They had to wait about 9 game minutes before they got their second. Castañeda misjudged a ball over the top and Kaue Martins was there before anybody could clear it, poking into an empty net to bring the score to 4-2. 

A few minutes later, BRUSA hit The Gloom with a taste of their own medicine. Brayan Murcia led a counterattack and his excellent pass to Vasey was tucked home brilliantly as the fans erupted. 4-3, and The Gloom looked rattled.

However, The Gloom would not be denied. A foul resulted in a penalty, and up stepped Isai Rivas. With BRUSA applying pressure on the comeback and a nightmare looming, the ex-Flagship captain scored from the spot with a delicate panenka, cool as a cucumber.

The Gloom took a timeout and reestablished control of the game, scoring two more in the final minutes to cement the result. Torres scored his second of the evening on a solo run and finish and with just over a minute remaining, Castañeda picked up an assist, traveling up the court with the ball at his feet before finding Jesus Garcia to smash a ferocious drive into the far corner from a tight angle. 

Although BRUSA would score the last goal in the dying seconds through Brian Vargas's powerful strike into the far corner, it was just a consolation goal and The Gloom took 3 impressive points on the road. 

New Mexico Flagship 3-9 Colorado Futsal Academy

Colorado Futsal Academy headed south and took down New Mexico Flagship FC by a score of 9-3 to jump into second place in the Southwest.

Much like the previous game, the visitors jumped out to an early lead. Deivis Leal scored with a powerful strike a few minutes into the game after being found wide open in the center of the penalty area by a pass from Maikol Caro.

Moments later they'd doubled their advantage, this time through Diego Galan, whose clever run behind was found with an impeccably weighted through ball from Deivis Leal and tucked away clinically. 

The NMFS response was just moments later, though, as they closed the scoreline to 2-1 through a well-struck direct free kick from Alexander Romero.

The teams continued to trade goals in rapid succession. Beckan Ovalles danced brilliantly beyond the NMFS defense before squaring to Leal for his second of the game as Colorado went up 3-1. They extended their lead to 4-1 as Enberth Padilla ghosted behind his defender's back to get in behind, and he tucked away Andres Pacheco's beautiful pinpoint assist. 

The inevitable Flagship response came from yet another direct free kick, this one a fantastic training ground set piece that resulted in Jovany Orona finding the far corner. 4-2 in favor of the visiting Colorado Futsal Academy.

After this flurry of goals, the score would remain that way for the rest of the first half and several of the opening minutes of the second half. When the game did provide more goals, once more the floodgates opened. 

Colorado scored 3 goals in as many minutes, ending the Flagship's hopes and taking a 7-2 lead deep into the second half. Galan's nice pass on the counterattack found Pacheco who finished clinically into the far corner to take a 5-2 lead. Galan scored the next one, found alone at the back post to tap in from Nicolas Lasso's great pass to go up 6-2. For the 7th, Galan got his third of the evening, finding himself in the exact place as the previous goal to poke home a deflected shot. 

As fouls accumulated in a physical game, each team took advantage of penalty kicks from the spot. Colorado Futsal would score twice to go up 9-2, first through goalkeeper Jean Caro and then from Enberth Padilla to grab his second of the evening. New Mexico Flagship would score from the spot through Kevin Sanchez, but the game was well beyond reach. 

A LOOK AT THE TABLE AFTER MATCHWEEK 9:

A big win for Colorado sees them jump over BRUSA FC in the standings. It is beginning to feel like a 3-team race in the Southwest as New Mexico Flagship looks for their first win having dropped two games at home. 

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