Wave United-Mustangs

By Eric Anderson, a-league.com Match Reporter

06.August.2004
MILWAUKEE - There was no sugarcoating this loss.

Milwaukee Wave United missed out a golden opportunity to improve their standing in the A-League Western Conference playoff chase Friday night, wasting an early two-goal lead and a late one-goal advantage in a 4-3 double-overtime loss to the Calgary Mustangs in front of 2,195 fans at Uihlein Soccer Park.

Wave United coach Art Kramer said his team was "far, far too soft defensively on the goals we gave away." Forward Todd Dusosky confessed that he and his teammates "really messed things up" by allowing "bad goals" in a game that Milwaukee dominated statistically - including a 22-8 advantage in shots and 14-3 in corner kicks.

Mesut Mert notched the game-winner for the Mustangs (4-14-4, 16 points) in the 106th minute, heading a ball from Geert Brusselers past Wave United backup goalkeeper Jeff Richey to the lower right side for his fourth goal of the season.

The goal gave Calgary its first road victory of the season (1-10-1), extended the Mustangs' unbeaten streak to three (2-0-1) and kept Milwaukee winless in four matches (0-3-1) since a 7-0-1 run that got Wave United back into the playoff picture.

"That hurts. That definitely hurts," Milwaukee midfielder Johnny Torres said. "It's something that comes at a crucial time when we needed some points and it hurts to give that one up. … It's obviously a heartbreaker."

In the opening 15 minutes of the match, though, Calgary hardly looked capable of pulling off the road upset.

Milwaukee (8-10-3, 27) struck first in the 13th minute, as Greg Howes made a quick impact in his first game for Wave United in nearly three weeks - he, Dusosky and defender Pat White missed four A-League games while helping the U.S. national futsal team win the CONCACAF regional tournament in Costa Rica.

Howes had a takeaway at midfield and chipped the ball ahead to Torres on the right side, and Torres' low, hard shot to the left side beat Mustangs keeper Lutz Pfannenstiel for his team-high eighth goal of the season.

Two minutes later, Dusosky took a pass from Howes and blasted a shot from the top of the box past Pfannenstiel for a 2-0 lead. And since Wave United was unbeaten when scoring two goals or more at home this year (2-0-1), the odds looked good that they would gain some ground in their pursuit of Minnesota and Seattle in the standings.

"We all were feeling great," Dusosky said. "We were getting down the line, we were coming right up the middle with some good combinations with me, Johnny and Howesy, and we started out exactly the way we wanted to start."

The Mustangs, coming off a 1-1 tie with conference-leading Vancouver and a 3-0 victory over Seattle, fought back. Brusselers started the comeback, firing a shot from the top of the box past Richey to the right post in the 27th minute for his second goal of the year.

Just less than 10 minutes later, Calgary's Conrad Smith managed to control the ball in a group of players near the top of the box on the right side and put a shot on goal.

Richey - making his second start and third appearance of the season because regular starter Jim Larkin was assessed a red card in last weekend's loss to Portland - was slow to react, and his dive was too late to stop the ball from rolling inside the right post to tie it at 2. Smith's team-best sixth goal came on the Mustangs' third shot of the night.

"You've got to give their team credit," Torres said of Calgary, which dropped a 3-2 decision here on July 14. "They came in here, being away from home, and it's been a difficult season for them, and they showed a lot of character tonight. They just kept plugging away, even after we were, at times, bombarding them."

But after the Mustangs nearly went ahead in the opening minute of the second half - Brusselers' header off a free kick by Mert got behind Richey but stayed out of the goal, and a wide-open Smith inexplicably fired high over the empty net from the right doorstep - the combination of Dusosky and Howes gave Wave United the lead once again.

Defender Joe Hammes had the ball for Milwaukee in the middle of the offensive end and sent a pass toward Howes at the top of the right side of the box. Howes, though, stepped over the ball and let the pass go through to Dusosky, who promptly zipped a shot to the left side past Pfannenstiel for a 3-2 advantage in the 60th minute.

Dusosky's eighth goal matched Torres for the team lead, and the 28-year-old from Anoka, Minn., almost took sole possession 20 minutes later.

Torres took one a corner kick from the left side, and Hammes - stationed at the near post - flicked the ball across the goalmouth to Ibrahim Kante. He tried to shoot, but the ball instead found Dusosky in front, and Pfannenstiel somehow kept the ball out of the net.

"I had to take a touch off my chest. My back was to the goal and I took a touch off my chest I went for the side volley," Dusosky said. "Anytime you have to take two touches in the box, they got numbers back and their goalie made a great save along with one of their defenders.

"Then, boom, it felt like an indoor game. When you don't score on one end, the team usually comes down and buries one."

It took less than a minute for the Mustangs to do just that, quickly capitalizing on the momentum created by the big stop. Substitute Nicolas Zuniga got in behind the Milwaukee defense - Richey and some defenders argued that Zuniga was offsides - and his shot trickled in during the 80th minute as Calgary knotted the score once again.

"That's the way this game works," Kramer said. "You see it a lot - you miss at one end and at the other end it's in the back of your net."

The goal was disturbing to Kramer not only because of its importance in the match, but because it also continued a distressing trend - getting burned by counter attacks.

"We've got to get back behind the ball," Kramer said. "We're at the point in the season where (we can't) get countered three times for goals at home. … A tactical foul would help out every once in awhile to stop a counter attack."

Despite all of those problems, Wave United still had a great chance to win.

In the final minute of the first overtime, Howes worked his way around Calgary defender Charles Peszneker on the right side of the box near the end line and crossed the ball in to Marcelo Fontana alone in front of the goal. Fontana fired from point-blank range, but his first shot of the season went right into Pfannenstiel's hands and the teams played on.

Milwaukee dodged a bullet in the 102nd minute, when referee Fotos Bazakos didn't award the Mustangs a penalty kick on Steve Lawrence's late tackle on Damir Jesic on the right side of the box. But Wave United's luck ran out minutes later, as Brusselers lofted the ball into the box and Mert nodded it home, sparking a celebration for Calgary.

The Mustangs stayed on the field, enjoying the postgame fireworks overhead, while Milwaukee players and coaches headed into the locker room ruing a lost opportunity.

"If you put up three goals up at home, you should win those games," Dusosky said. "Give Calgary credit, they've been playing great the last four games … They're playing well right now, and we knew that coming in and we really messed things up this time around.

"We're trying to battle and keep our playoff hopes alive … those were three points we definitely needed. It's tough."

After the weekend's matches, Wave United remained in fifth place, six points behind fourth-place Minnesota and seven behind third-place Seattle - only the top four teams make the playoffs.

"It was a big game and it's disappointing we didn't get a result, but there are seven more and we'll keep fighting along," said Kramer, whose team, along with Minnesota, has three games in hand against Seattle as the regular season winds down.

"The margin of error just got a little tighter."

NO DEFENSE FOR DEFENSE: Wave United not only played without keeper Larkin, but also starting defender Chad Dombrowski, who was sitting out the first game of a two-game suspension for collecting seven yellow cards this season.

Kramer refused to use the absences as an excuse for how Milwaukee allowed Calgary to score a season-high four goals. Coming into the game, the Mustangs had scored only 20 goals in 21 games (0.95 per game) and had amassed two goals or more just five times.

"We've got capable players," he said, "and tonight they didn't get the job done."

Dombrowski's fellow defenders Kante and Chris Morman each have received six yellow cards this year. Morman could have received another on a hard foul on Smith in the 72nd minute, but Bazakos opted to keep the card in his pocket.

Smith suffered an injury to his right leg or ankle on the play. He left the field to get treatment in hopes of returning, but had to leave the game 3 minutes later.

It was Smith's final game with the Mustangs before returning home to Trinidad and Tobago for World Cup qualifying with his national team.

CORNER KICKS: The 14 corner kicks were a franchise record for Wave United. … Milwaukee is 2-3-3 in overtime this season - last year, Wave United played just one OT game (1-0). … Milwaukee forward Digital Takawira said his hamstring injury, which has kept him out of the last three games, was feeling better and he hopes to be ready for Thursday's game against Vancouver. … That game against the Whitecaps is the penultimate home match of the season for Wave United. Milwaukee's final regular-season game at Uihlein is Aug. 19 against Edmonton FC. … Howes, Dusosky and White were honored at halftime for their roles with the U.S. futsal team. Wave coach and vice president of soccer operations Keith Tozer, who coached the American team, and Wave assistant general manager of soccer operations Bryan Koch, the futsal team coordinator, also were honored. … Attendance update: 18,750 in 12 matches; 1,562 per game.

August 6, 2004 - Uihlein Soccer Park
Calgary Mustangs 4, Milwaukee Wave United 3 (2OT)
Att.: 2,195. Weather: Sunny, 68 degrees.

Calgary			2-1-0-1 - 4
Milwaukee		2-1-0-0 - 3

CALGARY: Lutz Pfannenstiel - Mike Pavicic, Aaron Richer (Angelo Sestito 73), Charles Peszneker, Jordan Gillespie - Geert Brusselers, Steffen Holdt, Mesut Mert, Sergei Kolomiets-Raad (Nic Reyes 80, Steven Frazao 100) - Damir Jesic, Conrad Smith (Nicolas Zuniga 75).

Substitutes not used: Jordan Robinson, Conrad Chala.

MILWAUKEE: Jeff Richey - Steve Lawrence, Chris Morman, Joe Hammes - Ibrahim Kante (Jamar Beasley 100), Matt Schmidt, Nino Marcantonio, Nick Walls (Marcelo Fontana 67), Johnny Torres - Greg Howes, Todd Dusosky.

Substitutes not used: Nick Vorberg, Pat White, Troy Dusosky, Andrew Rosenband, Kevin Burk.

Saves: C - Pfannenstiel 9; M - Richey 1.
Shots: C 8, M 22. Fouls: C 15, M 15. Corner kicks: C 3, M 14.
Discipline: C - Damir Jesic (caution 41), Angelo Sestito (caution 78), Steffen Holdt (caution 78); M - Todd Dusosky (caution 32), Matt Schmidt (caution 84).