The first two games for FC Dynasty Cup XVIII are now a part of history as the Group Stage has started to award points. the crutchanators of soccer grabbed the tourney's first victory as they hosted and handled FC Not Very Athletic in Group E play. Shawn Lindholm quickly got the home side on the board when crutchanators was awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box. Surveying the defense, Lindholm lined up the kick and lofted a beautiful cross to himself after running around the wall. Athletic goalie Derrick Richardson, a little taken aback by the display of speed, was slow to react and his diving effort was too late to stop the ball from rippling the back of the net.
To prove it was no fluke, Lindholm did it again when his set piece kick in the 30th minute to the right of the wall gave him the right angle to head in his own pass to make the crutchanators advantage 2-0 at halftime. After making some adjustments to contain the Danish speedster, things turned into a defensive affair as neither team was able to tally until a late corner allowed crutchanators Finnish midfielder Mainio Vatanen to one-up his teammate. Arching a corner cross into the center of the box, Vatanen not only showed speed but a vertical leap as he rose above the defense to head it home to finish the scoring in a 3-0 win for the Cup XIV Champs. There must be something in the water in Scandinavia these days.
In the other morning game, Southeast Indiana Football Club hosted FC Stolpen Steamroller to get Group F started in a much more conventional game, at least from a scoring standpoint. Indiana struggled to make an impression on the Saxons as they had to frequently foul to recover from turnovers and gaps in their defense. However, they made the most of their few opportunities by scoring in the 30th minute when Leo Ingraham redirected a cross that left Steamroller goalie Sein Flórez no chance to prevent the goal, giving Indiana the 1-0 lead. However, right before the referee blew the halftime whistle, Cup veteran and former Cologne central midfielder Stirling Carrillo tied the game when his shot wasn't cleanly tracked by Indiana goalie Patrick Borgman to make the game even at 1-1 going into the break.
Although Stolpen dominated the 2nd half statistically, they couldn't manage to find the winning goal. Their last good scoring chance was in the 87th, when another former Cologne player, Defender Ritchie Font beat Borgman to the far side but got a bit unlucky as the ball clipped the post and spun out for a goal kick. With the final whistle, both squads split the points, much to the relief of the entire Indiana lineup, who was gassed at that point.
This evening the Metropolitan Eagles get their first spanking out of Group D when they travel to Lower Saxony to open up against Wolfsburg Dynamit.