Sgt Alex Matthews steals the ball off one of the US players in the fast paced soccer friendly. Photo by LCpl Neil Ruskin, 1JPAU(P)

A ball of a time
Social match US v Aust and friends

From Cpl Damian Shovell in Iraq

FOLLOWING Australia’s third place in the Coalition Knock Out Soccer Competition held at Camp Victory in Baghdad last month, America took on the Aussies in a do-or-die fight to reclaim some prestige from their early round defeat.

In a match that had all the trappings of a Sunday afternoon B-grade competition, the Australians from ANHQ, dressed in their distinct non-conformist collection of mixed PT dress, took on the uniformly attired grey T-shirt toting Americans from three corps.

With no referee, the Aussies took the kick off, and the four-a-side game erupted at a blistering pace.

Australia narrowly missed two early opportunities to goal, off the boot of Pte Kriss Bellette who shortly after put a left-foot snap into goal and put the first point on the board.

The Aussies continued to harass the US goal unremittingly for the next 15 minutes, and Australia failed to capitalise on the confusion caused by Cpl Deryl Allan’s grey T-shirt on the Australian side, before he was subbed off and later defected to play for the US.

This didn’t stop the Australian onslaught as Pte Bellette scored his second, which prompted a series of desperate attempts at goal from the US.

Somewhere near the 30-minute mark the US unleashed its secret weapon, when a British soldier embedded in one of their units took to the field. The game then became five-a-side and the first US goal soon followed.

Sgt Alex Matthews responded, making the score 3-1 in Australia’s favour.

As fresh Americans added to their pool of replacements, Australia drew on the services of Capt Ernest Odor, a huge Hungarian, and an Italian, Capt Madonnini Maurizao.

As the US tactics turned ugly with their British player throwing the ball in the face of Australian player Cpl Colin Pitts, the goatee toting, latex-shorts wearing import Capt Maurizao stunned onlookers with a talented display of fancy footwork and ball control to score a fourth for the Aussies.

The high-pace of the game continued as interchanges from the bench became quicker and the game moved past its 40th minute, with no sign of half-time or changing ends.

An unfortunate incident occurred for the Aussies when Flt-Sgt Bunn forgot he was goalie, allowing the US to sneak through a second, but left them still trailing 4-2.

Things then became really ugly as the US scored their third goal and I took my T-shirt off to allow Cpl Allan to run back on for Australia.

A brilliant combination then occurred between Pte Bellette and the big Hungarian. The pair grabbed two quick goals, increasing our lead to 6-3. This was further cemented with Flt-Sgt Bunn’s first goal seconds later, which put us at 7-3.

The ball sailing over the fence marked half time at the 54-minute mark, and, once play resumed, the US launched a vicious assault on the Aussie goalmouth that gave them two quick goals to take the score to 7-5.

The hot-stepping Italian almost won it for Australia. It wasn’t to be, as a goal from US SSgt Thomas Fernandez gave US victory.

The game concluded with organising a rematch.

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