USL Super-20 Round-Up
Sunday, July 24, 2011
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
BRANDON,Fla. – Columbus Crew Jrs. coach Brian Bliss said after his side’s victory in the USL Super-20 championship game against the Toronto Lynx that he felt winning the title as defending champions was more difficult that doing so for the first time.
“I said to the guys, ‘you come in as defending champion, you come in with the MLS label,’ so there’s extra motivation [for opponents] any time we play a game,” Bliss said.
While the Crew Jrs. were made to work harder than the final score of 4-1 would make it appear against the Toronto Junior Lynx on Sunday morning at J.C. Handley Field, their quality of play, especially in the attacking third of the field, proved the difference as they won their second consecutive Super-20 championship.
As in prior games in the tournament, the Crew Jrs. were able to take the lead early as Toronto appeared tentative facing a side that had handed it a convincing defeat during the Midwest Division regular season. Ben Speas almost took advantage within the first five minute, a fierce volley flying just wide of the right post, but another miscue led to the opening goal as Eriq Zavaleta’s shot after a poor clearance took a wicked deflection into the left corner of the net, leaving Lynx goalkeeper Matt Silva unable to recover.
The advantage was doubled shortly after as a fine driven cross from the right by A.J. Corrado was met by the head of Nick Haggland, who arrived late at the far post for an unmarked header.
Toronto was able to settle down as the half wore on and even had some good spells of possession and pressure in the Columbus half. However, the Lynx were unable to find a telling cross, with the deliveries more often than not ending up behind the goal line instead of in the penalty area.
“I think our final balls were poor today, they’re usually better quality,” Toronto coach Duncan Wilde said. “I think that’s part of the fatigue, I’m not sure they were quite as challenged in the group stage, looking at their scores, while we’ve been in a dogfight every game. I think we spent a lot of energy, but having said that I think they were the superior team when it came to quality and their composure, their build-up play and their patience. Their organization is very good, which is what I’d expect, I just hope we can learn from them and come back next year.”
Columbus’ Matt Walker had already had one opportunity saved by Silva as he knifed into the penalty area from the left midway through the second half, but he found the back of the net for the Crew Jrs. third after showing great composure to finish from a tight angle after beating Silva to a through-ball on the left side of the penalty area. And while Toronto was able to find the back of the net, Cameron Eisses’ header from a corner the only goal the Crew Jrs. would concede for the tournament, Columbus restored their three-goal advantage shortly after as Speas scored his fifth goal of the tournament to cap the victory.
The victory, completing a season that saw the side go undefeated and draw just once in the regular season, was a satisfying one for Bliss, who said the commitment his players had shown was the key to their success this summer.
“When we started this in mid-May, we set the tone early, but they delivered it,” Bliss said. “We set the environment for them. To me, [it was] the overall seriousness that the players approached the game with and the commitment they showed over the two-and-a-half month period.”