BY RICO REED
Of The Post and Courier Staff
A Saturday night match between the Charleston Battery and the Puebla Mexican professional team labeled as an international friendly at Blackbaud Stadium was anything but that. Charleston prevailed 2-1 in an exhibition match terminated by officials in the final minutes of stoppage time play at the end of the match.
Puebla exhibited physical play throughout the first half with three different players picking up yellow cards. Cosme Castro was hit in the 16th minute, Nicolas Ramirez in the 19th minute and Roberto Trotta in the 38th minute. Puebla picked up 14 fouls against just nine Charleston first-half fouls.
After Charleston midfielder Kevin Anderson was hit with a red card and ejected in the 11th minute, head coach Chris Ramsey was ejected in the 21st minute. In the 31st minute Charleston's Jake Edwards picked up a yellow card.
"I thought they applied themselves well even though it was a friendly," Ramsey said. "We played a little unlike ourselves, but I have to take some of the blame for that because I should have been more emotionally controlled than that. I've actually fined myself $500 for my behavior."
Puebla took just four shots on goal during the first half, but made the most of an opportunity in front of the goal when Milton Coimbra sliced a shot into the right corner of the net to put Puebla up 1-0 in the 32nd minute. Charleston took six shots on goal, with Raul Diaz Arce accounting for four of those shots.
In the 46th minute, a Puebla miscue gave Charleston a goal to even the score at 1-1. Attempting to pass the ball back to his own goal keeper, Puebla's Joaquin Velasquez put the ball into his own goal, giving Charleston a goal.
Another mishap involving Puebla goalie Adolfo Castro, helped the Battery take a 2-1 lead in the 59th minute. Trying to stop a penalty kick off the foot of Charleston defender Steve Klein, Casto instead tipped the ball into the goal.
The physical play and tight officiating continued in the second half, with two red and three yellow cards being handed out after the halfway mark. Charleston's Paul Conway and Puebla's Mauricio Serna were both red-carded in the 80th minute. The match was terminated during stoppage time at the end of the second half after an alteration between players escalated into a hostile huddle as both benches cleared onto the field.
"We know there is always going to be some sort of physical confrontation when you play a team from Mexico. With their skill and ability we knew we would obviously have a hard game, but we played a good match," Ramsey said.
"It's not the result we were looking for. We were looking more for a good performance out of the team."
