Brooklyn fall to controversial late goal
- Pietro Barone
- May 2, 2015
- 2 min read
BROOKLYN, NY - In a truly historic night for soccer in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Italians NPSL team faced the NY Cosmos B at MCU Park in Coney Island. The starting 11 for Brooklyn: Michael Bernardi (GK), Daniel Grundei (D), Yannick Larouche (D), Alejandro Penzini (D), Christian Rodriguez (D), Daniel Herrerra (c) (M), Kareem Joachim (M), Harry Odell (M), Martin Williams (M), Diego Zuniga (M), Yvener Guerrier (F). Entering the game as substitutes were: Adrian Cosovic (F), Vincent Bezecourt (M), Kevin Lue (M), In the opening minutes of the match Brooklyn dominated play as Harry Odell impressed the crowd as he controlled the middle of the field alongside Danny Herrerra. Brooklyn’s best chances in the first half came when both Yvener Guerrier and Kareem Joachim were unlucky not to bury the ball in the back of the net. (Click here for a video of Joachim's chance) Daniel Grundei brought down Ruben Bover of the Cosmos and conceded a penalty to the home side. Christian Hernandez converted as the hosts took the lead 1-0. Just before the half, Haji Wright put one past Michael Bernardi to make it 2-0. After the start of the second half, Guerrier challenged the Cosmos keeper for the ball and in a bit of scrappy play a Cosmos defender put the ball into his own net. In the 77th minute, Brooklyn captain Danny Herrerra had a wonderful free kick effort saved. It was a great chance for the Italians. (Click here for video of the chance) Substitute Kevin Lue came into the match and made an immediate impact when he scored a wonderful header from a great ball by Alejandro Penzini. (Click here for video of the goal)
Two minutes into extra time NY Cosmos sub Stahler knocked the ball into the back of Brooklyn’s net to take the 3 pts. A very controversial moment from the match officials. Brooklyn Italians Head Coach Miro Huseinovic said, "the game could have gone either way with calls made and not made for both teams by the match officials. I liked that the group pulled back into the game and we were unlucky to conceede in a controversial way." Assistant Coach Alessio Cannata said "we had the better chances in the first half but unfortunately could not put them away." NY Cosmos B coach Alecko Eskandarian agrees that “there were a lot of controversial decisions both ways.” However with that being said both sides did put on a great performance and the Brooklyn boys showed real character to come back into a match having been 2-0 down. Present at the match were over 450 Brooklyn Italians fans who braved the cold night to watch both matches.
