What a fantastic way to end the home season: 5,000-plus fans, four great goals against a decent opponent and an undefeated regular season! The only things to mar the festive occasion were the oppressive humidity and running out of beer by the 65th minute, but even those failed to dampen spirits.
While Rocket City United had little to play for (save perhaps the role of spoiler, to keep CFC from ending the season undefeated in league play), they seem to wilt under pressure as soon as Irvin Espinal scored in the fifth minute. The second best team in the league started off strong, with a very good first ten minutes (aside from the goal), and then seem to completely cave in when Luis Salazar poked in goal number two halfway through the first period. The complete implosion came with Drew Courtney’s cheeky goal off of a goalie-kick-turned-ricochet-off-of-his-own-defender… with the insult added to injury coming as fan-favorite (and CFC co-founder) Thomas Clark showed off his version of the “one man wrecking crew” approach to goal scoring.
The whole team played so well it is hard for us to name the man of the match, but we think that once again, number 7 and halftime spokesplayer, Luis Salazar deserves the honor. Although we have to say Irvin Espinal showed real class when he sprinted the whole length of the field to dedicate his goal to leading goalscorer Chris Ochieng, who suffered a bad ankle dislocation in practice on Thursday and is out for the rest of the season. This is especially heartwarming considering Espinal (a starter for the last several games of 2009) has had far less playing time and very few starts due to Ochieng’s appearance this year. Yes folks, this is what Chattanooga FC is all about: TEAM.
So what is next for our team?
They travel to DC United to play the Super-20 team (along with some reserves from the MLS squad) this Saturday, then stick around to watch DC United take on Portsmouth later that night. That should be fun. We might just go to see that.
But more importantly, CFC goes on to play in the NPSL Final Four in a semi-final match on Thursday, July 29 at 9:00pm EST (8 CST) in Madison, AL — just outside Huntsville. Chattanooga: lets show up in droves to support our team! We want to come home with that National Championship trophy!
What’s the competition look like? We’re not to sure, but over the next couple days we will do some snooping and will try to write up a little scouting report for you. In the meantime revel in these two facts:
1. Over 22,000 fans attended the five home games this season. That is an average attendance of 4,400. That is just 300 less than the league average for the United Soccer Leagues last year — and these are professional teams with paid players and staff working to drum up fans!
2. Chattanooga went undefeated: 6-0-2 in league play and 7-0-2 including friendly matches. Counting the last six games of last season, Chattanooga FC is 11-1-3 in its last fifteen matches. Only one loss in 15 matches! Not too shabby!
And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming articles: especially for the 2010 Regular Season MVP. We need your votes Chattahooligans! Who was the most valuable player to the team in the CFC regular season in your opinion? Email us or post your votes!
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