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Frustration reigns as Croatians fall

04/08/2013, 9:45pm CDT
By Eric Anderson

Pretty much everything about Saturday ended up being frustrating for the Croatian Eagles.

The reigning U.S. Adult Soccer Association National Open Cup champions were ousted in the first round of this year's Region II tournament, falling 2-0 to fellow Croatian club RWB Adria at the wind-swept Kroc Center in Chicago.

Piotr Kolasinski scored for the home side in the eighth minute, Vlad Baciu added an insurance goal in the 73rd and goalkeeper Igor Dimov saved an 84th-minute penalty kick by Andrew Wiedabach (Mequon Homestead/UW-Milwaukee) to preserve his clean sheet and seal the Croatian Eagles' fate.

In the unique tournament format, one of the three teams that lost first-round matches advanced to the April 20 regional semifinals – the side that had the "best" result.

That ended up being FC Indiana, which lost to KC Athletics 3-1 but won a tiebreaker with the Croatians thanks to the goal it scored, earning a match at RWB Adria in the next round. Had the late spot kick been converted and the Eagles managed to see out the final six minutes with a 2-1 loss, they would have been the "lucky loser" instead of FC Indiana.

"It was frustrating the way everything transpired," Croatian Eagles manager Alex Toth said Sunday. "But the bottom line is you've got to go out and do it. We had opportunities and we didn't do it."

For openers, neither club was thrilled about playing each other in the first round of regionals for the second consecutive year – the Croatian Eagles knocked out Adria 2-0 last spring – especially after both teams qualified for USASA national finals last summer. While the Eagles won the Open Cup, RWB Adria advanced to the Amateur Cup final.

"They're one of the top clubs in the region, as we are," Toth said. "We're both probably among the top 10 (amateur) teams in the country and then it's kind of, I'd say a travesty, to see us have to play in the first round."

The Croatians started with the significant wind at their backs, but were stunned to trail in the opening 10 minutes.

Kolasinski's goal came off a counter-attack, Toth explained, with a Adria player getting to the top of the box on the right side and looking to get a left-footed shot on goal. However, the mis-hit shot ended up going across the top of the box and Kolasinski was able to re-direct the ball over Croatians keeper Bryce Boyd (Milwaukee Marquette/UW-Milwaukee).

"I couldn't believe it," said Toth, who added that Boyd was able to get a hand on the ball. "I don't know what to say. It was bizarre."

The rest of the opening 45 minutes, Toth said his team spent pouring corner kicks into the RWB Adria box, to no avail.

"We probably had 15 corner kicks in the first half," he said. "We were inside their box constantly. It almost looked like we were just playing with two guys back, because we were pushing – we wanted to get the equalizer before halftime, and they had a hard time getting out against the wind.

"I'm not kidding: We'd take a corner kick, they'd clear it and it would go out for a corner kick on the other side. We had shots, their goalkeeper made a couple nice saves, a couple shots were just wide."

Toth said that veteran attacking midfielder Jason Willan (Franklin) was trying to use the wind to bend corners into the goal directly, and RWB Adria often times had two players on each post.

"When you're camped in there, there's not a lot of room," Toth said. "So there's some balls dropping inside 10 yards, it's packed with defenders. You're hoping one gets through or goes off somebody. But they were solid back there. My hat's off to them for withstanding the onslaught in the first half."

The Croatians, who open their Wisconsin Soccer League Major Division spring season next weekend, had few chances to get forward against the wind in the second half and went down 2-0 thanks to Baciu. He worked past Eagles center back Mike Narciso around the left side and fired a shot that Boyd stopped, but the ball hit behind the keeper and found its way into the net.

Still, the visitors thought they had caught a late break that would allow them to stay alive in the tournament, as holding midfielder Scott Raymonds (Brookfield East/UW-Green Bay) worked his way into the box and was taken down for the late penalty.

Wiedabach's spot kick was right down the middle to Dimov, the final frustrating act of the afternoon. "He said he thought the goalkeeper was going to guess (and dive to one side), so he tried to go down the middle, but the keeper just stayed," Toth said.

"If that PK goes in, we're through. It's absolutely crazy."

CROATIAN EAGLES: Bryce Boyd; Cheik Drame (Scott Widule 70), Mike Narciso, Aaron Schroeder, Bill Von Rueden; Scott Raymonds, Jamie Bladen; Ross Van Osdol, Jason Willan (Ramon "Choko" Alvarado 46), Andrew Wiedabach; Aaron Lauber (Gustavo Mena 78).

From the touchline

The 41-year-old Willan was questionable for the match after suffering a hamstring injury in training earlier in the week and was subbed out at halftime. Left back Cheik Drame also had to be replaced due to injury in the second half. ... The top two finishers in the Region II tournament earn berths in the 100th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The other semifinal is between host KC Athletics and the Dearborn Stars (Mich.), who thumped Ohio's Cincy Saints 5-0 in the other first-round match. ... There will be one state team in the U.S. Open Cup this year, as the Madison 56ers received a spot thanks to winning the National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region last year. ... Toth said the Croatians likely will enter the Wisconsin Amateur Cup, but he expects some of the club's younger players to take part in that tournament. ... The Eagles learned Monday that they will play reigning National Premier Soccer League champion FC Sonic Lehigh Valley on May 24 in the semifinals of the inaugural USASA National Amateur Championship in Greensboro, N.C. The other semifinal pits Massachusetts' Battery Park Gunners, last year's USASA Amateur Cup champions, against the host Carolina Dynamo, who lost to Canadian club Forest City London in the USL Premier Development League final last summer. The final and third-place match are May 26.

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