Stachland Reds
Staying Alive
by Witold Elliott
Though it was quite the fight, the Reds emerged victorious by a razor-thin margin against Kiryu-shi to advance to the quarterfinals of the Cup of Harmony since their very first appearance in the competition.
The first half proved to be an offensive slugfest, with five of six total goals being scored in those first forty-five minutes. Zachary Zeelowe would commence the battle in just the third minute, with a powerful shot that sped between opposing goalkeeper Kohei Yasumu that put the Reds up one to nil. He would have an opportunity to score his second goal of the match in what seemed to be only a few seconds, but Zeelowe’s fifth-minute attempt sailed above the goal, wasting an opportunity to gain a decisive lead in the opening minutes.
Kiryu-shi would not take long in equalizing, as forward Connor Boyle made a well-timed shot that found its way into the net past the Stachlandic defense in the fourteenth minute. They would claim their first lead of the night in the twentieth minute, as forward and former gymnast Samantha DeCastro would find the back of the net on a cross from midfielder Bob Libby.
“At that point in the match, it was evident that our defense was struggling, and that the offense would have to carry the squad if we had any hope of making it to the quarterfinals,” explained a relieved coach Theodore Czacki following the match. “In fact, our defense has been deficient throughout this Cup of Harmony. So our forwards and midfielders, they came into this match prepared for this sort of play.”
On a pass from Everett Lang, Janus Chambliss managed to draw the Reds level with their opponents at two goals apiece in the thirty-first minute, narrowly avoiding an offsides call and maneuvering past the Kiryu-shi defense in what was one of the best offensive plays of Chambliss’s career.
While it seemed that the teams would go to the locker rooms locked in a two-goal standoff, Kiryu-shi’s DeCastro would have other ideas, drawing a hard foul from Stachlandic defender Francia Mohling in the forty-fourth minute that earned her a penalty kick. She wouldn’t waste it, and her team would go into the half leading the Reds three goals to two.
“I wasn’t demonstrating the best judgment at that point in the match,” admitted Mohling. “Or, really, at any point in the match, considering what happened in the second half.”
As the second half began, the Reds launched a furious attack in an attempt to equalize, but the Kiryu-shi defense warded off each successive attempt, including one which may have been successful had it not been for an offsides call which went against Lyle Verdak.
“All of a sudden, it became a defensive struggle,” observed Czacki. “There were five goals in the first half. In the second half, neither side was scoring at all.”
At the other end of the pitch, Navering Pounchtal made a pair of impressive saves in the sixty-fifth and seventy-first minutes, while the rest of the Stachlandic defense finally seemed to pull themselves out of the slump which had resulted in allowing eight goals over four matches. The most important play in the Stachlandic half of the pitch, however, was a second impact between Mohling and DeCastro which resulted in a fight between the two players at the edge of the penalty box.
“Their girl obviously was venting her frustration when she took another hard tackle from Francia,” coach Czacki said. “Now, obviously, Francia escalated it—that much was clear enough—but they both got into it. All we can do is play our next match without her and hope she’s learned her lesson by the time she gets a chance to play for Stachland again.”
Ultimately, both would be sent off with bruises, split lips, and red cards, and play would resume with only ten players from Stachland and ten from Kiryu-shi.
The Reds would draw even with their opponents once more in the eighty-third minute, as Elzbieta Wolszan—who entered the match just eight minutes earlier to replace an exhausted Chambliss—snuck past the Kiryu-shi defense and received a focused pass from her cousin Jerce that she would deposit in the corner of the net.
With the match now tied at three goals apiece, play seemed confined to the midfield as each team played the final minutes of regulation cautiously, saving their energy for what each side hoped to be a decisive extra time.
As the extra time began, the Reds would rejuvenate their line-up, using their two remaining substitutions to bring on Michael Esterhazy in place of Ratin Beenum and Alicia FitzBelmont in place of Zachary Zeelowe. Kiryu-shi, similarly, would use their three substitutions to bring on forward Ritsu Shinabata, midfielder Melanie Griffith, and defender Carlos Hamamoto.
The Reds would launch their offensive first, taking shots on goal in the ninety-forth and ninety-sixth minutes that were expertly warded off by goalkeeper Yasumu. As the Stachlanders regrouped, Kiryu-shi’s offense would make its first major attempt, only to run into a suddenly solid Stachlandic defense and falter.
In the one hundred and tenth minute, Esterhazy would receive a yellow card for a tackle against midfielder Lidia Barnes—a foul which coach Czacki thought was unwarranted. “I understand the fouls against Francia earlier, of course. She made a couple of hard tackles and got into a fight, so she obviously, you know, deserved it. But Michael’s tackle wasn’t like that—it was hardly more than accidental, and she was perfectly fine afterwards.”
With Esterhazy playing cautiously, the Reds would find themselves in possession of the ball only rarely during the extra period—in fact, the Reds spent only twelve minutes, or forty percent of the full half hour, in possession of the ball after regulation had expired.
The only major threat by Kiryu-shi would come in the one hundred and seventeenth minute, as forward Tziganes d'Arányi would weave through the Stachlandic defense and receive the ball for what would have seemed to be a wide-open shot on goal. The whistle blew, however, and d'Arányi would be determined to be offsides, much to the relief of the Stachlandic fans.
With one hundred and twenty minutes of football played and the two exhausted teams still even at 3-3, the match proceeded into what would inevitably be its endgame: the penalty kick shootout. Shinabata, D'Arányi, Barnes, Griffith, and Feingold would be shooting for Kiryu-shi, while FitzBelmont, Esterhazy, Lang, Jerce Wolszan, and Verdak would do the same for Stachland.
“Only rarely have we been involved in shootouts,” admitted Lang after the match. “It’s quite a nervous situation. Everything can hinge on just a single kick.”
Neither squad’s first kick would find the back of the net, as both Yasumu and Pounchtal managed to deflect the opposition’s initial attempt. Both d'Arányi and Esterhazy managed to score, however, as would Barnes and Lang, while goals by Griffith and Wolszan would keep the two teams utterly even—3-3 in both goals and penalty kicks.
“It was excruciating,” noted Alicia FitzBelmont. “I suppose I did my part to needlessly increase that anxious feeling. If I could’ve made my shot at the beginning of the shootout, it would’ve been that much sooner that we could’ve all taken a deep breath and relaxed.”
Finally, on what was Kiryu-shi’s fifth shot in that penalty kick shootout, midfielder Will Feingold had his attempt deflected wide to the left by Pounchtal, leaving the match dependent on the result of Lyle Verdak’s penalty kick.
For those who are familiar with Stachlandic football, they might have guessed the result: Verdak rarely misses. His shot would drill past Yasumu to find the back of the net, securing the Reds a mentally and physically exhausting 4-3 penalty shootout victory in a match which was otherwise hard-fought and utterly evenly matched.
“It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?” mused coach Czacki. “We haven’t been in this position in quite a while. We rarely get the opportunity to advance very deep into these tournaments. We just might make the semifinals—of course, the next match will be a tough one.”
The Reds’ next match will be played against the monks of the Archregimancy, a team that is ranked thirtieth in the world and which is coming off a much less strenuous 1-0 victory over host nation Ancharmunn. The last time the two teams met, the Reds fell 4-2 in a playoff for entrance into World Cup 59.
