Team Calgary Match Reports by Jason Kmet

July 31, 2003 -- Cincinnati Riverhawks 2 at Team Calgary 0

LOSING STREAK CONTINUES FOR TEAM CALGARY 

In the thirty days since the last A-League match in Calgary, the club has lost its owner, name, and several players.  The Calgary Storm left on a road trip, and returned as the league-run Team Calgary.  Rumors abound that there are several parties interested in buying the club.  This talk has not helped the club on the field, as they extended their winless streak to 14 games as they lost to the Cincinnati Riverhawks 2-0.

Calgary's Sean Fraser had the first good chance of the game in the sixth minute, when he received a long lead pass in the Cincinnati half of the field.  He raced to reach the ball and beat the defender, but did not get enough control to make a decent shot.

In the 17th minute, Riverhawk forward Craig Yacks launched a knuckleball  from about 25 yards from goal.  Calgary keeper David Wiebenga punched the ball wide right.

Fraser had an excellent chance in the 19th minute when he was on a breakaway, but Cincinnati defender Rasool Esfani-Alizadeh blatantly pulled him down.  This intentional foul that cost a genuine scoring chance should have drawn a red card, but the referee only pulled out the yellow.

At the 32nd minute mark, Fraser took a dangerous shot from 20 yards out on the left side, but Cincinnati keeper Brendan Murphy pushed the ball wide of the goal.

In the second half, Riverhawk Edward Child had the first chance to break the deadlock, but his blast went right to Wiebenga.  Child kept up the pressure and in the 59th minute, his cross from the right went perfectly into the box where Esfani-Alizadeh headed it past the Calagary keeper to make the score 1-0..

Team Calgary tried to rally and retained possession for much of the last half hour, but could not put anything together once they neared the penalty area.  Calgary's Nicky Reyes had the best chance to tie the match in the 89th minute, but his shot was handled by Murphy. 

Cincinnati added a goal in injury time when Craig Yacks took a neat shot which bent past Wiebenga.  The game ended as a 2-0 victory for the Riverhawks.

STORM WARNINGS: 

There has been a lot of changes over the last month on the Calgary roster.  Two of the three Jamaican imports brought in by former owner Michael Vandale have returned home.  Ajai Authers and Richard Henry were both regular starters on the club.  The third Jamaican, Jermaine Richards, has decided to stay with the team...The Calgary PDL club was folded after the USL took over the organization.  Three graduates of that club are now with the A-League side.  Dwayne Gareau has been on the pitch regularly and started the Cincinnati match.  Brendan Garrity came on a substitute.  Keeper Brett McDermott has spent some time on the bench...American keeper Eric Kenas has signed with Calgary, and is currently the number two keeper behind Wiebenga...Shaun Wimble, a veteran of English conference football, has returned to Foothills Park.  He played briefly for the club late last season.  He has a long standing relationship with head coach and fellow Brit Tommy Wheeldon.  Wimble did not make it off the bench for this game...Ian Clarke's stay with the team appears to be over.  He did not return to Calgary after the club's recent west coast swing.  During that road trip, his brother Chris also suited up for Team Calgary.  The brothers are staying at home in Vancouver due to financial considerations...C.J. Pesznecker is out of the lineup because he is with Canada's U20 team at the US Soccer Festival in Houston.  Canada's side also contains fellow A-Leaguers Gordon Chin (Vancouver Whitecaps), Nick Blicharski (Toronto Lynx),  and Andres Arango, Chris Lemire, Jason DiTullio, Sita-Taty Matondo (Montreal Impact).  Lemire played with the Storm in last season...Jamie Auvigne made his first appearance at Foothills Park this season when he came on as a substitute.  The veteran has been struggling with injuries all year...The Nik Ledgerwood saga is finally over.  The talented youngster started regularly in the A-League last year as a 16 year old.  This season he did not appear with Calgary, even though he was apparently under contract.  It was known that he had several tryouts in Europe this spring.  He has now signed with German club 1860 Munich and is expected to play for their reserve and youth clubs this season...Jordan Gillespie will not finish the season in Calgary.  He will be representing Canada at the World University Games in Korea starting August 20...Team Calgary's next home game is on Monday, when they face the Vancouver Whitecaps at Foothills Park.  Game time is 2:00 pm.

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