OM LOSES FOR FIRST TIME SINCE JOINING UTAH SOCCER ASSOCIATION

By Pierre d'Estaim
Sports Writer

Park City, 1
Olympique Montreux, 0

Park City, UT (Wednesday, June 22).--Olympique Montreux coach Bel-Ami de Montreux believes that extreme fatigue and injuries to some key players contributed to the team's poor performance and defeat this evening at Park City.

Indeed, OM loses for the first time in regulation time since July 2004.

Taking nothing away from the workmanlike performance of a determined and well-organized Park City side, perhaps Bel-Ami has a point since many of his first choice players were called upon to play for Coach Chris  Dorich's Utah Select Team in last weekend's regional tournament.

True to his reputation, Liam Hanafer, the Snowmen's reputable set pieces specialist stepped up in the 20th minute to take the free kick at the edge of the area, and buried the ball in Aaron Bruderer's net.

The Olympians played the first half without their usual zeal and nose for the ball. The forwards and the midfielders could not come back fast enough and the defense lagged some 30 yards behind the offense, creating a huge gap in the side.

The Snowmen took advantage of OM's pedestrian display, controlling the center of midfield and dominating possession although they never really threatened Bruderer after Liam's goal.

As as been the case often recently, the Olympians coughed up the ball too much. Lately, the side appears unable to string passes for any significant time, and turns the ball over at an astonishing rate.

“Too many of our key men are just too damn exhausted.  Way too much soccer!” lamented Bel-Ami. “It makes no sense that the Select people would take seven, eight of our best players and make them play and Friday, and Saturday, and Sunday, and give them back to me battered, tired, and injured just a couple of days before the most important fixture of the season so far.”

Captain Todd Miller, who of course was on duty for Coach Dorich all-weekend-long, had to pull out of the game after eight minutes with a muscle tear in his upper right thigh. Losing Miller was a tremendous blow to a side that relies on the player's versatility, vision, ability and leadership qualities.

The team's main creative player, Nate Murphy, appeared to have blisters on his toes although the talented midfielder would never admit it. However, it is well known that Murphy was the victim of some violent fouls in the regional tournament.

Prolific goal scorers Sergio Vasquez and Chad Gilbert looked dog-tired early on, having been used too much in last weekend's jaunt.

While fellow Select teammates John McQuarrie and  Mike Rogers held their own, they were not at their usual high level, and relied heavily on the tireless display of young Kyle Copeland and Man of the Match JT Cracroft to keep the Snowmen from adding to their 1-0 advantage.

With fullback Paul Williams unavailable, cornerback Jeremy Jones and midfielder Arthur van Wagenen injured, the Olympians could not take advantage of their numeric advantage, even after Park City lost a player to a red card.

“To me, our players just did not have enough time to recuperate from their marvelous weekend crusade. That regional tournament put paid to our chances to recover and win this important game. Our men need to bear in mind that they are not professional soccer players. Many have wives and kids. They must work real jobs to help support their families. It seems irrational to me that they are risking serious injuries over-playing although they are perhaps the best soccer talents in the state and that it must generate quite a gush of pride to be selected to represent the Beehive state,” Bel-Ami whined. "Besides, Utah has never produced a world class player because of the way the young men are used."

The case of winger Jesse Day illustrates this tricky situation.

Day who has not played in a competitive fixture since early winter last year because of a serious ankle injury, and who barely came back to training two weeks ago after extended therapy was rushed into Utah Select action last weekend, although the player was obviously not ready.

“Of course there is no contact between me and the Utah Select coaching staff. The player just requests his player pass, takes his wife and children and off he goes to play Select soccer. I do not get to give my opinion on any particular player's fitness although I am best situated to know as this team's manager, explicated Bel-Ami.

“When the player is injured it is OM's problem. My problem. We have to support him and show him we care. Once the player can barely kick again, he is taken away, ran ragged, and again he is exposed to injury. That's not fair to the squad although the player cannot not refuse a call up for fear he might not be called again in retaliation.”

One thing for sure, OM is in a quagmire when its players underperform because they are worn out. The side is risking dropping games to poorer opposition and not winning trophies this season if the players are not men enough to protect themselves against over usage and just say no.