Recap of World Minifootball Federation 2015 Arena Soccer World Cup
The World Minifootball Federation (WMF) announced in 2013 that the first ever WMF World Cup would take place in 2015. The US National Arena Soccer Team proudly represented by finishing undefeated and being crowned champions of the 2015 WMF Arena Soccer World Cup. Missed some or all of the action? Below is a recap of their road to victory.
Game Highlights
Opening Game: USA 10 vs Kazakhstan 1, Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA
Kazakhstan, the champions of their region and a participant in the European Mini-Football championships, impressed the crowd of 3,128, leveling the score 1-1 in the first quarter on a brilliant side netting strike by Kairat Imanalin. Goalkeeper Pavel Barabanov kept his side in the game with several tough saves in the first half, but the US scored three times per quarter after the first to put the game away.
Matt Clare scored a hat trick, Kraig Chiles added two goals with an assist and Evan McNeley added a goal and assist.
Clare opened the scoring on a corner-pass assist from Chiles, then finished assists from Jeff Hughes and Brian Harris to complete his hat trick. Donning the United States colors for the first time as a professional was a motivation for the Wichita rising star.
“It’s a big deal. It means a lot to me, and to my family and friends back home,” said Clare, the Wichita B52s striker named Man of the Match for his hat trick. “It’s great to wear the colors.”
Brian Farber, Felipe Gonzalez, Chiky Luna and Enrique Tovar also scored for Team USA, while John Sosa (Missouri Comets) picked up a team-best two assists. Team captain Danny Waltman started in goal and registered two saves for the win. Joey Kapinos (Rochester Lancers) finished in goal.
Game 2: USA 9 vs El Salvador 3, Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA
Team USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter behind goals from Luna and Chiles. El Salvador crept back in the game behind a goal from Hilal “Jam” Monterrosa, who netted a brace in the defeat.
MASL Rookie of the Year Gordy Gurson‘s turning one-time volley snuck between the legs of El Salvador keeper Raul Calderon with 8:15 left in the second quarter to answer back and re-establish a 3-1 edge. Gurson’s first USA goal was a welcome sight to the eyes of USA head coach Phil Salvagio.
“We’re playing better every quarter,” said Salvagio, “We got better today as the game went on. I’m going to love to see this team by the end of the tournament.”
Team USA’s quality was revealed on set pieces, as they netted three different free kicks for goals. Twice Harris finished feeds from Chiles for the restart goal. Clare added his fourth and fifth goals of the tournament in the second half to build out the lead. Luna later netted his second goal of the night. Waltman recorded the win in goal, while Kapinos manned the net in the fourth quarter, making several key saves to preserve the victory.
Farber, a substitute for MASL MVP Leo Gibson, was felled due to a lower body injury and questionable to return for the remainder of the WMF World Cup.
Game 3: USA 5 vs Czech Republic 4, Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, CA
When the United States’ Enrique Tovar (Las Vegas Legends) finished top shelf on a McNeley assist, Team USA was up 3-0 and in cruise control. Suddenly the Czechs forced the U.S. to tap the breaks, springing a counter-attack strategy that led to several quality chances.
Cenek Cenek’s goal with 1:25 before halftime made the scoreline 3-1 USA at the intermission. Ondrej Padera scored early in the third, and Cenek’s second goal of the night leveled the score at 3-3 and put a murmur in the pro-USA crowd, while a healthy contingent of Czech fans started to celebrate.
“My mother always says ‘a cool head wins a hot contest’ and I think there was a prime example of that in this game,” said McNeley.
I think we started well, doing right things for the most part,” said Sosa, “They got a goal and some momentum, and we maybe started feeling the heavy legs from the week. I’m just glad we were able to pull out the win.”
The man advantage backfired, however, as the Czech Republic was improbably able to take the lead 3-4. The Czechs used a tweak in the international rulebook allowing their keeper and defenders to relentlessly kick the ball out of bounds from the defensive zone. Instead of the free kicks awarded for such a violation in the MASL, the resulting downfield kick-ins under WMF rules wasted time on the U.S. advantage.
Healey, donned the keeper’s jersey to attack with 2:45, manning the point of attack before getting close enough to launch a rocket straightaway from the attacking red line, beating keeper Marek Gruber for the equalizing 4-4 goal.
After a series of Czech meltdowns on field led to a red card (for headbutting a ball at the official) and two yellow cards for subsequent dissent, the U.S. went on a 5-vs-3 power play, converted when McNeley beat Gruber back post on a left-footed wing shot off of Healey’s pass to win the game.
Game 4: USA 9 vs Germany 2, Expo Square Pavilion in Tulsa, OK
Team USA scored first with a goal by Chiles 5:15 into the first quarter. Just 1:06 into the second quarter, Chiles took a shot from just inside the yellow line that rocketed into the net, for his second goal of the game.
It took only 41-seconds for USA to score again, on a goal by Sosa, to take a 3-0 lead over Germany with 13:13 remaining in the second quarter.
Donatelli scored for USA with seven minutes remaining in the second, and then less than four minutes later, Donatelli scored again, and USA led 5-0 going into halftime. Clare dribbled the ball up the pitch on a breakaway and scored on a one-on-one with the keeper to give a 6-0 lead just five minutes into the third quarter.
Germany got on the scoreboard with a goal by Marc Windecker, with 4:36 remaining in the third quarter. USA’s Gonzalez drew a yellow card, two-minute penalty, with 3:23 left in the third quarter; however, Germany did not capitalize on the man advantage.
Just 14-seconds into the fourth quarter Hughes scored for USA to take a 7-1 lead. USA answers with a second strike by Clare, and then less than a minute later, Donatelli gets his third goal of the game, to make it 9-1. With 1:11 left in the fourth quarter, Germany got a goal from Massud Assiel-Sarmie ending the match 9-2.
Semi-Final: USA 7 vs Romania 3, Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, IL
Chiles netted two goals with two assists and Harris scored twice as Team USA defeated Romania 7-3.
Romania, the European Mini-Football champions of 2014, playing in front of a boisterous and sizable pro-Romanian fan contingent that left the U.S. players wondering if they were in Bucharest instead of Chicago. Team USA defused the fan energy less than four minutes into the contest, when Chiles found Luna alone in the crease for a one-time deflection and a 1-0 lead.
Harris opened the quarter scoring a power play goal by knocking home the rebound of his own low post shot just thirteen seconds into the action. Later he and Sosa linked up on assists to Chiles for back-to-back restart goals to push out the lead to 5-0 at halftime.
“Hats off to Romania, they’re a great team in Europe, coming halfway across the world to play us, and they had a bit of a home field advantage with the fans,” said Harris, “We had to slow down the pace a little bit and turn things back into our favor.”
The physical play ramped up in the third quarter while the scoreline remained the same, as the United States’ Gurson absorbed a big blow at midfield from Romania’s Adrian Calugarenu. While Gurson earned revenge with a fourth quarter goal on a Clare assist, Calugarenu took advantage of a less than motivated U.S. defense down the stretch to net a brace in the defeat.
McNeley added the final goal for the United States, his third of the tournament.
World Cup Final: USA 5 vs Mexico 3, Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, IL
Mexico and the USA sure brought down the house in an effort to bring home the Arena Soccer World Cup. The first quarter started off fairly quiet with both goaltenders making some huge saves to keep their opponents off the board. It wasn’t until the final seconds of the first quarter were ticking off the clock that USA’s Healey beat Mexico’s Bernardo Valdovinos to put the first tally on the board. The USA doubled their lead midway through the 2nd quarter when Harris took a Chiles pass and flared it past Valdovinos.
Mexico was able to answer back 2 minutes later when Miguel Vaca received a pass deep in the box from Bogar Moreno and beat Danny Waltman through traffic. The USA, knowing how dangerous Mexico can be when they gain momentum, got back in the mix 2 minutes later on a long pass across the box from Sosa that Gonzalez headed into the net with authority. Team USA would get 1 more goal before the half just 30 seconds later when Chiles buried one past Valdovinos to head into the locker room with a heavy dose of momentum.
Chiles would get the scoring going again late in the 3rd quarter. As the quarter was winding down, Chiles took a pass from Donatelli to extend the lead to 5-1. Mexico answered back immediately on a Rodrigo Flores strike coming off of a great Omar Santillan pass. Mexico would add 1 more goal to make the score 5-3 on an unassisted Omar Quiroz goal, but it was too little too late as time was set to expire.
Despite Mexico’s valiant efforts late in the game, Team USA held onto the lead and are now the 2015 WMF World Cup Champions.
