LAS VEGAS SYNOPSIS

SILVER MUG SOCCER INVITATIONAL RECAP

Las Vegas, Nevada - Olympique Montreux arrived in Las Vegas with high hopes of a very successful weekend but were soon let down with sloppy play and mistakes that would cost them advancing out of pool play..

The annual Silver Mug Soccer Invitational “Bud Cup” attracts only the best soccer clubs from around the nation to compete at a very high level. Currently it is the #3 tournament in the nation. O.M. took down both a women men squad to compete at this prestigious tournament. The men were in a very tough group scheduled to play teams from TX, CA, NM, and NV. 

It was early Saturday morning and at the Kellogg-Zaher Soccer Complex and the competition looked very good.

The mens’ 1st opponent was SD Pumitas out of California. The rain began to come down and along with the rain the Olympians began to struggle. Off of a close offsides call SD Pumitas took an early lead on a 1 on 1 break away against experienced goal keeper Andre Domingos. Despite a red card in the second half SD Pumitas eventually held off the attack and finished the game with a 1 – 0 victory over O.M.

“That was a crushing loss. We really needed to win that first game and get 1 under our belt early” said coach Bel-Ami de Montreux. The pressure was on and wouldn’t get any lighter. 

The OM men faced Stroke City a few hours later that afternoon. The rain began to let up a bit but the Olympians still couldn’t find a way spark the offense. Stroke City took an early lead off of an unfortunate defensive turnover and scored an easy goal against goalkeeper Jeff Rogers. “That was a stupid mistake” uttered coach Bel Ami referring to the turnover, “Each mistake can be severely detrimental.” Stroke City scored again and OM found themselves down at the half by a score of 2 – 0. In the second half various substitutions were made and OM tried to rally but still couldn’t put a single shot on goal. Loss number 2 was up on the charts and with those 2 early losses, things were looking pretty grim.

Playing now back to back OM rushed over to field 1 to face Escuela FC. Early in the game the Olympians had a great opportunity to score when a shot ricocheted off the post but failed to enter the net. It was half now and OM was still gridlocked at 0 – 0 with Escuela. Goal keeper Andre Domingos was coming up with some huge saves throughout the game including blocking a PK in the 2nd half. Escuela eventually capitalized and scored to make it 1 – 0. Then off of a missed call on a clear offside they put one in again to go on and win the game 2 – 0. They couldn’t believe it. Loss number 3!

It was a very disappointing start to a much anticipated Saturday. The Olympians failed to score a single goal throughout their first 3 games of the tournament and were now sitting on the outside looking in. At various scoring opportunities inside the area, experienced players like David Chevez preferred to try to nutmeg defenders or dive for penalties instead of shooting the ball.

“On Saturday evening, after a totally disappointing performance, I saw Hector Kalucha Rendon packing a 24-pack beer on his shoulders in the hotel lobby. That fellow called Cholo who came highly recommended by Joe Menino basically sat in the hotel room that I provided and drank himself to a coma along with other key players.,” said Bel-Ami.

“Basically, I took a number of drunks to an important tournament. We even had players arrested for various criminal conduct. Wasn’t right! Just plain deceiving.”

With a good chunk of the team under the influences of drugs and alcohol, OM had to find a way to regroup after that horrible showing on Saturday. There was no chance of advancing on to the playoffs but the team still had their pride to play for. Their next opponent was El Alamo Crew Select.

Early in the first half the defense was caught off guard when backing up for a free kick, the ball was played before the whistle and El Alamo scored the first goal of the game. This controversial call helped fuel the Olympians to not have a repeat of Saturday’s performance. OM controlled the ball very well and was making good attempts on goal. Just before the half midfielder Antonio ripped in a goal from distance, top shelf over the El Alamo keeper to tie the score at1-1.

Bel Ami de Montreux prepared the troops for the second half and you could see the effect immediately. Steve McMurdie played exceptionally well and quickly put in a goal just minutes into the second half. Forward Philip Menezes was put in and was immediately awarded a yellow card. Seconds later off of a breakaway he was pushed from behind into the red rocks and given a red card ejecting him from the game. This was probably due to mouthing off to the referee before he even got onto the field. Various substitutions occurred and the Olympians extended their lead as Garcia put in a great goal 1 v 1 against the El Alamo goal keeper. OM went on to win by a score of 3 – 1. Finally the OM players had played like they should have!

The final game for the men was against a team from El Paso, TX. OM began to move the ball really well controlling the midfield but couldn’t get a single shot to go in when attacking. Just before half forward Tim Ballantyne went up for a header and landed a nasty cut just above the left eye. It was quite a war wound. That’s Tim for ya though. In the second half OM kept putting shots on goal and attacking the El Paso defense but despite the OM attack the game ended in a 0 – 0 tie.

The men finished with a record of 1 – 3 – 1 for a total of 12 points. Nowhere close to where they needed to be in order to advance out of pool play to the playoffs.

The women didn’t do too well either. They managed to win 1 out of their 5 games as well but what can you expect with not much practice going into the tournament. “Many girls bailed out at the last minute and the team had to be thrown together in order to make it work”, said team captain Alexis McMurdie.

It was a very disappointing ending to a very disappointing weekend in Las Vegas for both OM squads. “I felt there wasn’t a single team we played that we couldn’t have beaten” said forward Steve McMurdie. It was a very humbling experience after such a dominating year for OM.

“I need to gather myself and rethink the personnel on the team” said Bel Ami. “Every year the lure of the Las Vegas tournament makes us want to come down here. When we had our last big game it was October of 2009 and it is awfully hard to compete with teams who are match fit and in the prime of their soccer season right now.”

“This was not a complete sporting collapse of Utah’s champions though. Other factors interfered. It definitely did not help that players like Kalucha and Cholo were so drunk that they could not stay on their feet and continuously made bad passes to the opponents. Those two did not even show up to play on Sunday along with those that were in jail in some Vegas police precinct. Go figure.

“Make me miss the days of Nate Murphy, Aaron Bruderer, Mike Rogers and Sergio Vasquez,” said a disgusted Bel-Ami.