NISA Independent Cup – 3rd Weekend Preview

OK – this time we will really have other regions joining the party. We got a fake out last weekend, but everything is now squared away with the Central Plains Region. And the winner is us, the lower league soccer-viewing public. Three days of Independent Cup footie action will be happening this weekend.

But you better be on your Ps and Qs when it comes to the Central Plains Region. With both club pairings playing Friday and Sunday, if you blink you’ll miss most everything. 

Central Plains Region

Louisiana Krewe FC v Gaffa FC – Friday, July 24th @ 9PM ET (Dobie Holden Stadium, Pearl River CC, Poplarville MS)

Louisiana Krewe FC v Gaffa FC – Sunday, July 26th @ 7PM ET (Dobie Holden Stadium, Pearl River CC, Poplarville MS)

So we not only have a change in dates for these two games, we have a change in venue. Instead of St. Julien Park in Broussard, Louisiana, we move to Dobie Holden Stadium on the campus of Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Mississippi. Advantage Gaffa FC, right? Well, Poplarville is a two-hour drive from Jackson (according to the Googles), so not exactly a home game per se.

Gaffa FC from Jackson, Mississippi, have not played a competitive match since last July due to the cancellation of the 2020 GCPL season. Winners of the GCPL in their first season (2017), Gaffa just missed out on the GCPL playoffs in 2019. This is a club that has a mix of veteran players from around the world who are coaches themselves as well as young players from the local area. The team is led by their Manchester-born center back Tom Cosgrave who will be on the roster for this tournament. 

Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Louisiana Krewe have only played one season in the GCPL but enjoyed moderate success and made some noise by qualifying for the 2020 Open Cup. And yes, the club has had a certain soccer website on the front of its kits. Like Gaffa FC, Krewe have constructed a roster that has many international players but also give an opportunity for local players. Will Krewe continue its successful run of play?  

Lone Star Republic v Mansfield Revolution SC, Friday, July 24th @ 9PM ET (Greenhill School, Addison TX)

Mansfield Revolution SC v Lone Star Republic, Sunday, July 26th @ 7PM ET (Summit High School, Arlington TX)

Lone Star Republic out of Richardson, Texas is a club that has made it clear its long-term intentions and ambitions. Formed in 2012, the team calls itself “The World’s Greatest North Texas Future Professional Soccer Club” on its website (which has plenty of goofiness going on – so I’m already a fan). Currently the club plays in the UPSL – but for how long? NISA-bound in the future, perhaps? Like many of the participating clubs, LSR gets a bigger spotlight to show what they’re all about. 

LSR’s opponent in this home-and-home is Mansfield Revolution SC, based in Mansfield, Texas. Mansfield joined UPSL for the Fall 2019 season. Maybe the least known of all the clubs competing in the Independent Cup, but we will learn much more about Mansfield Revolution SC over this weekend. 

Southeast Division

Savannah Clovers FC v Georgia Revolution FC, Saturday, July 25th @ 3PM ET (Columbia Int’l University, Columbia SC)

By pulling out a draw last weekend against Soda City, this game still has meaning for Georgia Revolution. A win against Savannah and a Soda City loss to Chattanooga FC could put the Revs into the finds (depending on goal differential). The Revs have looked dangerous at times but has yet to play a complete game. What lineup will the Revs go with this time around? Will Todd Fidler get a chance to blast some long-range rockets? Will the Eskay brothers find the magic and the back of the net? Will 16-year-old Noel Elder continue to impress?

For the Clovers, this is about earning some respect and trying to play spoiler. It’s also time that Timo Mesa went off. Virtually absent from the game against CFC, here’s hoping that Mesa can get some service and cause havoc for Georgia’s back line.

Chattanooga FC v Soda City FC, Saturday, July 25th @ 6PM ET (Columbia Int’l University, Columbia SC)

Unlike World Cup group stages where the last games happen concurrently, Soda City will have a much clearer picture when they take the field at home against Chattanooga FC. If the Revolution lose, Soda City is through to the championship game no matter what. If the Revs win, then things get interesting. The hope here is that Soda City will have to push forward and score, making for a exciting match. You have to love the effort of midfielder Graham Jermstad, who has been a player to watch in this region. Will he be able to pull out another beauty of a goal or assist that clinches things for Soda City? Or, will it be Jack Pondy standing tall in goal keeping CFC off the scoreboard?

Chattanooga, on the other hand, has little to play for at this point. But just being able to play games again might be enough motivation for McGrath, Bement, Zeca and all to play positive soccer. The question is whether they will go with their ‘A’ lineup or rest a few players. I’m sure that there is also some motivation to finish the group undefeated.

- John Howard-Fusco

Reviewing the Weekend's NISA Independent Cup Action

GEORGIA REVOLUTION FC 2   SODA CITY FC 2

Soda City’s drive to the championship was a clear path: a win against Georgia Revolution and they would be in the final. With the hardest game out of the way, Georgia Revolution looked to take some points in this game and had a different look to its starting lineup. William and John Eskay both got the start on the offensive side, while wonderstriker Todd Fidler was not in the starting lineup for the Revs (much to the disappointment of Dan Creel and yours truly).  

The first fifteen minutes was an even trading of possession, until Soda City’s captain Hunter Haynes went down with an injury and had to be replaced. The Revs controlled possession much of the half after that point, while Soda City was content to absorb the pressure. Youngster Noel Elder would push up from his left back position for the Revs and into the offensive side more – something that would play a factor in the final result (a little foreshadowing here). 

The half ended without a goal being scored, but you just had the feeling that goals were coming. And did they ever.

It was Soda City who dictated the pace early in the second half, pushing the ball forward with the most offensive urgency seen by them so far in the tournament. And the efforts would be rewarded in the 55th minute when Graham Jermstad stole a chested back pass that went astray and was brought down in the box by the Revs’ Jake Mathis for a clear penalty. Jermstad would convert from the spot, and Soda City had a lead.

But the Revs were not done. At the 68th minute, young Elder would take a pass at the left corner of the 18 and push two Soda City players to go after him, taking him down and giving the Revs their own chance from the penalty spot. Forward Ryan King went far right and calmly tied the game up at 1-1.

Image courtesy of Chattanooga FC Social Media.

In the 82bd minute, the sound was lost during the live stream – right before one amazing goals was scored. From about 25 yards out, Soda City took a free kick and whipped it in to the 18 to Graham Jermstad, who took the ball off one bounce off his chest, then with his back to goal booted the ball with his left foot over his left shoulder and just inside the upper right corner of the net. Wow! Surely this would be the goal that would send Soda City to the championship!

But then – oh no…poor Henry Kohel.

The Soda City defender, running back towards his goal on a headed ball from the Revs, mis-kicked and sent the ball even closer to goal. The Revs’ Ryan King caught up with it, and lofted a shot over a helpless Jack Pondy right at the 86th minute. A gut punch of a goal. The score was level once again.

The last six minutes (and extra time) were helter skelter, with minds and hearts willing to make one more push but tired legs giving out. The final whistle sounded, and Georgia Revolution were alive for another week. For Soda City, so close to punching their ticket to the championship, they now have to come home to face Chattanooga FC knowing that they may still need a result.         

CHATTANOOGA FC 3   SAVANNAH CLOVERS 0

The favored CFC looked the part in taking care of Georgia Revolution last week. Would it be more of the same again the Clovers? In a word, yes. 

Chattanooga would follow the script from last week and score early. In the 11th minute, Ryan Marcano, who was a substitute in last week’s game, took a pass in stride to the right of goal, drove hard towards the keeper, then zipped in pass in front to goal to a charging Brain Bement who drilled it first time past the keeper. 

Just a mere five minutes later, Ian McGrath would find himself at the top of the 18 after some nice one-touch passing and sent a low, driving ball past a ‘where did that come from’-looking J.W. May for the second goal. It was not a good look for May and the Clovers team as a whole, as they seemed frozen and caught off guard by the sequence. Sixteen minutes in, and CFC was in change with a 2-0 lead.

Would Savannah respond? Well, the response was to not press and push the offense. Chattanooga had no trouble moving the ball up the field, and the Clovers kept Timo Mesa alone up front and struggled to get any kind of service. The half ended 2-0, and without a sense of urgency from Savannah.  

At the 52nd minute a terrible back pass by Savannah from midfield was intercepted by Kalib Jackson, who drove past the one defender in his path and sent a shot through the legs of the ‘keeper. It was 3-0, and CFC were well on their way to clinching a spot in the region’s championship game.

It would not be until the 75th minute did Savannah bring on another offensive player and attempted to push forward. But the result seemed too little, too late. Things did get a little testy in the final minutes of the game with multiple incidents that would eventually bring out the red card for each team from pushing and shoving. Maybe Savannah could have brought that fire earlier in the game.

And so Chattanooga, to the surprise of no one, has made it to the championship game regardless of its final game against Soda City his coming weekend. For Savannah, now eliminated, they have one last opportunity to showcase its club and a chance to play spoiler against the Georgia Revolution.    

NISA Independent Cup Recap – Opening Weekend

CHATTANOOGA FC 3   GEORGIA REVOLUTION FC 1

Game night had finally arrived at Finley Stadium in 2020, albeit under most unusual of circumstances. The home side Chattanooga FC would not have the usual big crowd on hand, but being able to play a competitive match again would be enough motivation. And it would not be a NISA match but a NISA Independent Cup match against an old NPSL rival Georgia Revolution FC.

The Revs started a defensive-minded lineup with Ryan King as the lone striker. The talk of the lineup was between midfielder Braham Gamarra (the man to watch from the commentators), head coach Scott Redding calling his own number into the Starting XI, and defender Noel Elder – and at age 16 was hardly an ‘elder’ statesman on the field.  

CFC came out with a lineup that was quite different from the last time we saw the team play a competitive match. Only three of the Starting XI started against the Oakland Roots in the opening game of the curtailed NISA spring season. One of the new players was not new at all for fans of CFC: Jose “Zeca” Ferraz, who has been part of the club going back to 2013. The insertion of Zeca gave Chattanooga a more potent offensive look. 

Image courtesy of CFC social media.

And it didn’t take long for CFC to get on the scoresheet as Zeca fed a streaking Richard Dixon down the right side who sent a ball into the box that Ian McGrath got a foot to before the defender and slipped it in near post for 1-0 lead in the sixth minute. Zeca and McGrath would help create multiple chances over the next few minutes, and you started to get the feeling that this was going to be an easy night for the home side. 

But the Revs weren’t ready to go down just yet. Quickly down the field after a CFC missed chance, Georgia midfielder Todd Fidler would find himself with the ball just outside the 18 and would uncork a rocket that found the upper corner and even the score. POW! Game on! And for the next ten minutes, the Revs would find some success in picking spots to press CFC, creating some turnovers. But Chattanooga didn’t panic, with defender Alec McKinley keeping things tidy in the back.  

The game settled back down for Chattanooga, and Zeca would once again make his mark, delivering a well-weighted pass to a streaking Brian Bement to the right of goal. Bement’s long putt of a shot tucked in just inside the far post, and CFC were back in front. Bement, who had been on the quiet side of things for much of the first half before that goal would have more to say in the second half.   

And so on to that second half – or, at least those of us watching on mycujoo tried to go on to that second half. But to no avail. The streaming service froze up and could not get back to live action until almost twenty minutes had elapsed. So while those of us on muycujoo fumed, the trio of McGrath, Zeca and Bement would put the game on ice. A long ball from middle of the field from McGrath would be headed down by Zeca and onto the path of Bement, and he clinically slotted it home.

The last fifteen minutes of the match saw play open up, and while the Eskay brothers came on and injected some life into the Revolution’s offense, the team could not sustain enough pressure to really mount a stiff enough challenge.

With the win, Chattanooga put themselves in a great position to be in the championship game. Along with the trio of offensive players, honorable mentions should be made for midfielder Juan Hernandez for his work in transitioning CFC from defense to offense as well as for goalkeeper Alec Redington in his first professional start.   

For the Revolution, Todd Fidler made his presence felt with his goal and his lack of fear in taking shots from all over the place. I don’t think there’s a spot of the pitch where Fidler doesn’t think he can get it on frame.  

One more word about mycujoo: simply put, this kind of problem must stop happening, or NISA needs to pick a new platform for streaming. But while the freeze up by mycujoo was frustrating, that in no way took away from the overall production of the game. The play-by-play provided by John Freeman and Dale Schilly was solid and professional. Their commentary was an enhancement to the match. 

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SAVANNAH CLOVERS 1   SODA CITY FC 2

OK – since I could only watch one game live, I chose to go with the CFC v Revs game. This game I decided to watch the replay. And evidently the first ten minutes there was a problem with the feed, so we pick up the action already in progress…

Soda City and Savannah Clovers are division rivals in the UPSL, so they know each other all too well. And it didn’t take long for play to get a little chippy, with Savannah getting a yellow card within the first twenty minutes of the game. It would not be the only yellow card in the first half.

It would be Soda City striking first, as a long free kick would bounce through a maze of players and find an unmarked Dominik Byars for an easy header in the 19th minute. 

But the lead would be short-lived ad the Clovers would push the action the other way. Forward Timo Mesa looked particularly dangerous, giving Soda City defenders fits. ‘Keeper Jack Pondywas called upon to make a great reaction save on a point blank shot. But on the ensuing corner kick, Pondy could only deflect the ball away, and Henry Banegas would side volley a shot past the Soda City goalkeeper.

Image courtesy of Savannah Clovers social media.

The second half would see both teams take turns in pushing the action to create chances. But the difference would come down to the play of the goalkeepers. Jack Pondy stood tall – literally – as he handled every dangerous opportunity that came his way. At the other end, J.W. May didn’t make himself big enough when Soda City’s Troy Paul (a second-half substitute) took a lovely weighted pass and found himself behind the Clovers’ defense. May came out to challenge, but Paul got there first and floated one over the prone keeper and into the goal at the 84th minute.   

Savannah was a little unfortunate to not get points out of this one. They seem like a club with a lot of good pieces that when they put it together will be formidable. For Soda City, the game spoke volumes about the needs for a good goalkeeper. I’m not sure if Jack Pondy was the best player of the field, but the was by far the most poised.  

Oh, and a word about the commentary. While not at the same level of professionalism as the Chattanooga crew, these guys were enjoying themselves and were knowledgeable about both teams. And I could swear that one of the guys (Don) was doing his best Josh Duder impersonation. Oh – and it’s OK to say “NEEsa” – you don’t have to spell it out.

- John Howard-Fusco