Our second annual international friendly ended much the same way our first one did — with Chattanooga FC beating our Mexican visitors by one goal. The CF Monterrey U20 squad may have been a few years younger than our team’s average, but they played a very mature level of soccer, and made things quite difficult for us. But our boys came through in flying colors for the come from behind win!

Some interesting twists for our squad: due to the holiday (or other obligations), we came into the game without several talented players — Chris Ochieng, Mark Sherrod, Nickson Odeny, James Moore and Moises Drumond — all absent for the game on the Fourth. And while Thomas Hunter was here, Coach Crossman gave backup (and third season local-boy-makes-good CFC-er) Ryan Peck his first start of the season. Michael Brooks and Robbie Hill got the starts up top, their first time on the field together… So the squad was a very different mix than we usually see, and perhaps very different than how they are used to playing as well.

While this Monterrey squad is quite young, it is very important to note that they are extremely talented. We heard word that 3 of these guys have been practicing with the professional squad (the one that has won the Primera Division and the CONCACAF Champions League!) and we should expect to see at least 2 of them on that team this fall. Then both of the goalies play for youth national teams (one for the US the other for Mexico)… So while young, these jugadores are no slouches.

On to the game notes:

Robbie Hill started us off with fireworks in the second minute of the game with his immaculately placed chip to the left upper 90 of the goal. The goalie didn’t even move — except to watch the ball float lazily into the net. A fantastic shot that he has to be so proud of — we loved it!

CF Monterrey looked a bit rattled for the next 10 minutes or so, and the entire stadium saw a hand ball in the box that somehow the head official decided not to notice… But Monterrey quickly found their feet again and started causing problems for our backs. But the defense held for the most part until that absolute crushing blast that Ryan Peck deflected (that had to hurt!) and another attacker poked into the back of the net to take us into the half all knotted up at 1-1.

Early in the second half, a Monterrey player embellished some contact in the box and got a penalty kick out of it. Monterrey converted to take the lead 2-1. At this point Chattanooga FC seemed to struggle a bit, looking as though we might go down.

Wholesale substitutions came on with about 30 minutes left: Luke Winter, Phil Beene, Ivan Heredia, Tom Webster, Josh Shields and Julian Algeier and the pace picked up quite a bit. CFC started creating more attacking chances, but nothing was converted.

Then with about 15 minutes left, Julian Algeier took the ball at the top of the box and attempted a shot that the rushing goalie knocked back into the midfield. Someone (who? Ivan? Luke?) slid to reach the flying ball and one-touched a volley over the goalie and into the box, where a running Phil Beene picked the ball out of the air and rocketed it into the back of the net to tie us up at 2-2! The crowd went bananas of course…

Then in the last 7 minutes of regulation, someone (again, who?) fired a beautiful cross from the far left side to Tom Webster who came bearing down on the 6 yard box at full speed. Tom trapped the ball perfectly at his feet, carefully sized up the keeper and slid the ball home into the back corner of the goal. Pandemonium erupted. CFC leads 3-2!

Of course Monterrey pressed hard and the head ref allowed a bit more stoppage time than he should’ve, but CFC held firm and won the game 3-2.

Well, we have to say that we are extremely proud of the team. A comeback win is not easy and it was certainly not expected from a good number of guys who have not had a great deal of play time this season. Based on what we saw this game (and Saturday in Conyers), we are quite impressed with the quality of play of our so-called substitutes. There is not much of a drop off in talent, and this bodes well for the us at the end of the season. And our Man of the Match is one of those subs: Tom Webster for his game winning shot! Well done.

What a great way to end our 4th of July — thanks fellas!

Post by John Q. Chattanooga | Chattanooga FC, International
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Our very first match the against NPSL newcomer Georgia Revolution in Conyers last Saturday did not end in the desired result. The 1-1 draw was a better outcome than an outright loss would’ve been, but it still leaves the door open for other teams in the Southeast to have hopes winning the region over Chattanooga FC.

A quick game recap:

Chattanooga FC started off slow, allowing the Revs’ top scorer a wide open shot at the top of the box in the third minute of play — resulting in a goal and a blemish on Thomas Hunter‘s outstanding reputation (3 goals allowed in 8 NPSL games). The home team — bolstered by this fortuitous turn of events — grew in confidence and pushed hard for a second goal for the next 10 minutes. After that, CFC seemed to find our feet and started to make opportunities in the attacking third of the field — Chris Ochieng had two great chances (ones where we cannot believe he did not score!) before finally making his most difficult prospect into a goal (chesting the ball to his feet between two defenders at the top of the box and coolly slotting it home around the 33rd minute). For the last 15 minutes the play opened up and there was a good bit of back and forth.

The 1-1 scoreline remained intact as the teams headed into the break.

CFC looked sharper and more organized coming out of halftime. The Revolution created a few dangerous plays, but Thomas Hunter rose to the occasion on two great saves (one a header and another a fantastic free kick), and the good old post came to the rescue on a final attempt in the waning minutes of the game. Meanwhile on the other end, CFC had at least 5 great opportunities to score, but came up empty on all of them. Substitutes came on en masse: Luke Winter had two notable chances as did Julian Algeier, but alas, nothing came to fruition. A draw was all we could muster.

Worth noting:

The exact same woman referee from the Silverbacks game in Atlanta (the very one who allowed the goal after the ball was headed out of Thomas Hunter’s hands!) completely ignored a blatant shove in the back in the box: Julian Algeier got past all the defenders and was heading to the 6 when he was shouldered directly in the back, knocking him to the ground. The defender was not shoulder-to-shoulder, nor did he have any fair play on the ball, yet somehow she deemed Julian was flopping. Mighty poor officiating and very good homecooking.

But if that’s what you need to get a tie (not even a win) Georgia, then you are in for a world of hurt when you come up to Chatty this Satty. We will beat you. Because last Saturday we were missing some starters: notably forward Mark Sherrod and defender Nickson Odeny. Oh, and you’ll have 2,000-plus screaming fans cheering against you!

Oh, and our Man-of-the-Match is Chris Ochieng for the equalizer goal.

What this means to our Region Title hunt:

CFC rests on 17 points, still 5 ahead of the Georgia Revolution. If the Revs beat us and win their last game, they would have 18, so we would still need to win one more to beat them and win the region. If we tie or beat them, they can’t reach us.

The Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves won against Rocket City 1-0 on a PK, so they have 14 with two games left. It is unlikely that they will win down in Jacksonville, but in theory they could still get to 20 points if they win out, so CFC needs one more win to seal the deal, since our tie and win over them in head-to-head would give us the league title with 20 points. And if JUFC beats Atlanta, the best they could hope for is to tie our current 17 points and still lose on head-to-head.

Then there’s the outside chance that Jacksonville could get to 18 by winning both of their last games, in which case CFC would need at least a tie out of our last two games — but that’s cutting it close as we would win by total goal differential or by a +1 goal differential in our head-to-head competition.

And with all of this we are not mentioning that our last game of the season is at the struggling Knoxville Force (1 win, 1 draw and 6 losses) — a likely (but not certain) 3 points. So it is possible for CFC to lose this Saturday and still win the region. But we would rather have that game not matter by winning this Saturday!

Chattahooligans: let’s turn out the fans for the biggest attendance yet this Saturday and cheer Chattanooga FC to victory and another trip to the NPSL National Semifinal!

Post by John Q. Chattanooga | Chattanooga FC
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So we saw a slightly less powerful Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves squad on Saturday than we saw in the US Open Cup qualifiers (fishy, we know), but they still put up a good fight going down swinging (actually, kicking) 2-1 to Chattanooga FC.

While CFC seemed to win a slight edge on possession, several of the boys played sloppily (uncharacteristically) — James Moore and Alex Rodriguez made several errant passes, and Nick Chase had that big foul in the box that let Atlanta back into it right after our goal… And this week’s decision to start Moises Drumond over Mark Sherrod didn’t look quite so cagey as Moises lacked the speed and effectiveness he showed last weekend. However, he did get that great position down in the 6 yard box early in the game, ahead of the whole defense with only the goalie to beat, and had his legs swiped out from under him — with no call at all! Again, one has to wonder where we get these refs from…

On the other hand, some positives: defender-would-be-striker Nick Odeny took a gamble on a run up front and Chris Ochieng rewarded him with a lovely pass — and while it was a bit of a bouncing accident (Nick takes shot, shot hits goalie, bounces off Nick and into the goal), a goal is a goal is a goal. And Mr Ochieng’s penalty kick late in the game was picture perfect — low righthand corner (and you have to admire he didn’t have to employ the illegal-but-always-allowed “stop-start-stop-start” PK shot that Atlanta utilized).

But our Man of the Match award has to go to Thomas Hunter. While he couldn’t stop the PK and that final rocket shot of the game beat him, it did carom off the bar and off his head, and not into the goal! He had three really good saves, including the one-on-one where he came out quick to defuse the possible goal-scoring situation in the first half. A job well done Mr Hunter.

So now the league gets complicated. If the League Standings numbers are right on the CFC site, then we can make these assessments:

Chattanooga FC stands on 16 points with 3 league games left.

Former cellar-dwellers Jacksonville United have enjoyed putting their opponents through the long travel gauntlet and have won 4 straight league games to combat their 4 straight early losses. The only problem is they just have one home game left, along with a trip to RCU (who still has no home wins this year). So JUFC could end with as many as 18 points.

Meanwhile, RCU nabbed a win on the road at Georgia Revolution, giving the Revs their second loss in a row. Both Altanta and Georgia Rev have 11 points in 7 games. With 3 games left, either could feasibly end with 20 points, but Atlanta does have to go to Jacksonville. And the Revs would have to beat CFC twice — and winning in Finley has proved to be quite difficult for our opponents.

Meanwhile Chattanooga FC holds its destiny in its own hands. With 2 wins out of the next 3 games, we win the region straight out. A win and two ties would also see us through with no worries. One win against Georgia only would give us 19 points, more than the 17 the Revs would have if they won 2 of their last 3. Atlanta plays at RCU and at home to Knoxville, 2 games it should win, but the away game against Jacksonville looks to be a tough one (hoping for a point is the most we would recommend), and that is optimistic given JUFC‘s undefeated home record. That would keep Atlanta at 17 or 18 points, still less than 19. So it’s also possible that 3 ties could be enough to get Chattanooga FC through, if Atlanta lost one of its last 3 games.

Only Knoxville and Rocket City look to be out of the running for the league championship no matter how many they win in their remaining games. Though either team could be a spoiler for Atlanta, and Knoxville could make Chattanooga’s season end on a sour note.

So there are many scenarios where CFC can win the region, but the team cannot afford to rest on its laurels. We need 2 wins out of our next 3, pure and simple.

Let’s go Chattanooga!

Post by John Q. Chattanooga | Chattanooga FC
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So we’re now five games into the nine game home season stint of Chattanooga FC and its about time that we talk about the elephant in the room (or maybe more appropriately the elephant not in the room): Where are half of the fans from last year?

One of the great success stories of the first two seasons of Chattanooga FC was the amazing fan support. We averaged 2,200 fans per game in 2009, but more importantly we grew attendance every game (starting at 1,200 and ending at over 3,000). In 2010, we started like gangbusters with almost 7,000 people at the season opener, and averaged 4,400 for the five home games. A total of 22,000 people attended the games last year!

But so far this season we are averaging around 1,700 per game over five games. Where are the fans? And more importantly, why aren’t they attending games?

It might make sense if the team were losing or struggling, but they’re not. In fact, the team has not lost at home since the very first game in May of 2009. That’s a 14 game stretch with no losses in Chattanooga (and only two of those games were ties). And besides the fact that fans are virtually guaranteed to see the home side win, the team is arguably better and more talented than the side that went to the NPSL National Championship last year. So surely its not the quality of the soccer that’s keeping folks away.

So what could it be? Here are some possible reasons for the dip in attendance:

1. $5 Parking - It costs as much to park in the lots at the stadium as it costs to buy a ticket. Suddenly the expected expense doubles. What the heck? And thanks alot for that Finley.

2. Starting 4 weeks early - This year’s season started a month sooner than we did last year. That means there was a great deal of school sports and events and graduations going on to conflict with game days. The non-soccer fanatics have had a hard time registering that lots of games have already happened.

3. No big debut – Could we argue that last year’s unprecedented international friendly against FC Atlas opened the season with a big bang? We think we could. This year we started with a scrimmage against a Dalton team and a regular season match against an unknown newcomer to the league, Jacksonville United.

4. No World Cup - Surely the buzz around World Cup soccer last year got a good deal of fair weather fans to come to a game or two, just to say they’d supported live soccer.

5. More games - Oddly enough, getting the ‘more games’ that we’d been asking for may have deterred folks from coming out. There’s not a sense of missing it before it’s over — we have almost twice the matches of last year. Perhaps that’s perpetuating a sense of “I’ll make it by sometime, just not this weekend.”

6. The Honeymoon is Over - Is it maybe the case that Chattanooga is not a soccer town and all the folks who showed up the past two seasons were just curious? Now that the novelty has worn off, only the dedicated soccer fans are coming out. Does there need to be some sort of hoopla or big event to get the fans out again? What would it be?

7. Is it something else? Or a combination of all these things?

Tell us what you think Chattahooligans!

Post by John Q. Chattanooga | Chattanooga FC, Local
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For the third time in three weeks, Chattanooga FC defeated Rocket City United 2-0. The poor Huntsville team has to be glad they’ve seen the last us (as opponents at least, we hope to grace their stadium later this summer to compete in the NPSL National Championships). And boy do we have a solid average against them, no goals allowed at all and a nice two-for per game, plus 6 in goal differential at the end of it.

We thought the team looked highly motivated and very sharp for their third match in 8 days. The loss in Pittsburgh seems to have made our boys all the more determined to win the conference again this year. And it will continue to take good performances like this past Saturday if we are to do it. Atlanta comes in to town this weekend and is one heck of a team, and then we still have two matches against the enigmatic newcomers, the Georgia Revolution, who (like us) have beaten and tied Atlanta — and are therefore a pretty good team. So we still have a tough row to hoe.

The overall play of the game was back and forth and really quite entertaining. Chattanooga FC seemed to keep the majority of the possession and we were pleased to see some very nice play in the midfield. José Robles, Mark Beattie, Cody McCoy and James Moore seemed to fall in to a nice rhythm, with several really pretty passing series. While we heard reports that the team felt they did not play as well Saturday as they did on Tuesday against the Riverhounds, we beg to differ. CFC looked like an organized and highly motivated team.

Two interesting twists from the game Saturday: 45 year old Richard Northcutt, a former Covenant College keeper and regional soccer coach, was recruited as our backup keeper. With Juan Robles injured and Ryan Peck out of town for work, we apparently had to scramble to get a number two keeper. Fortunately Thomas Hunter survived the scare (an apparent injury in the first half when he collided with an RCU striker and hurt his shin) and lasted the entire 90. The other surprise was to have third year team member Moises Drumond start as attacking midfielder. Moises has not been getting much play time this season, so the outright start was a bit of shake up. However, he performed very well and almost slipped in that bouncing header. Well done!

It was great to see the hard-working and high-flying Mark Sherrod get his second goal of the season on a wonderful diving header. And of course, the ever entertaining Chris Ochieng did not fail to disappoint as he split two defenders settling a pass, then rocketing a goal through the keeper’s hand.

Not making appearances were Michael Brooks (who had two in the last RCU match), as he was out of town and John Calderwood, who was inexplicably in the stands. Perhaps the coaches felt he performed poorly in Pittsburgh?

After all three games against Rocket City, we need to thank our stalwart defense for keeping them scoreless. Great work on some pretty tricky forwards there boys! But our Man of the Match award goes to Thomas Hunter for his great work in making saves and intimidating some of those attackers to shoot sooner than they would’ve liked… You get your 6th shutout of the season!

Now let’s bring that same intensity to a very tough match this Saturday against the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves.

Post by John Q. Chattanooga | Chattanooga FC
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