The Villages SC 1–0 Orlando Kraze United
We are through to the second round of the U.S. Open Cup.
Our eleven: Paulo Pita; Antonio Rodriguez, Juan Carvalho, Yago Lopes; William Pereira, Pedro Dias; Carlos Vitor, Roberto Del Lima, Diogo Pereira; Carlos Araujo. Subs: Christian Martinez, Juan Carvalho, Paulo Vas.
For ninety minutes it looked like we might not be. We created chance after chance at the Polo Field on Wednesday evening and could not put one away — Carlos Vitor twice, William Pereira with a volley from the edge of the six-yard box, Roberto De Lima from distance, Carlos Vitor in the middle of everything. Their goalkeeper Marco Luan had a busy night, and the woodwork and the sky had busier ones.
Kraze United had their moments too, most of them from set pieces. Kevin Rockwell put a bicycle kick in the back of our net in the first half and had it ruled out for offside, which is about as close as you can come.
Paulo Pita kept us in it when he had to, including a fingertip save from a Charlie Dennis in-swinger late on.
And then, deep into added time, Roberto De Lima slipped a perfect ball into the path of Pedro Dias. The keeper came, and Dias put it calmly inside the left post.
1–0.
Our first goal in the U.S. Open Cup, in the last minutes of our first home match in the competition, in front of a crowd that had never seen a soccer match in The Villages before.
Sometimes it is good to be fashionably late.
Thank you to everybody who came out — to the honor guard who brought the colors out before kickoff, to Brian Morgan and the production crew who put the broadcast together, and to every one of you who stayed on the field afterwards to meet the players.
Next: Charleston Battery, in South Carolina, next Wednesday.
