North American Finals Underway
U17 Boys: Chicago Magic 4 Kendall SC 1
 Friday, November 16
TAMPA – Action commenced today for the ninth annual Super Y-League North American Finals being held at Ed Radice Sports Complex in Northwest Tampa and Land O’Lakes Recreation Center in Land O’Lakes, Florida.
Play started slowly as unfloridian temperatures dipped into the 40’s overnight. It took the hot Florida sun until the 9 a.m. kickoff time to drag temperatures back up to their normal November highs in the mid 60’s. Already heating up was a U17 boys match between the Chicago Magic and Kendall SC.
Kendall held Chicago in their defensive third nearing the 20 minute mark while Chicago played structured defense in front of talented goaltender, Evan Johnson. Under pressure early Johnson made one eye-popping save, at full extension to his left he pushed a Kendall shot wide for a corner. On the other side of the ball the Magic continually troubled the Miami team with dead ball chances.
The architects of Chicago’s free kick opportunities were Bryan Gaul and Lucas Young. The pair hooked up early as the Magic earned a free kick from 40 yards. Gaul bent the kick towards Young only to have it come right back out of the area. A second Magic defender played a looping ball into the box, drawing Kendall goalkeeper Alexis Mina off his line. Chicago’s Young was the first on the scene. He headed a ball backwards over the charging goalkeeper and into the six yard box were teammate Stephen Lucianek finished for a 1-0 lead.
“Our first half game plan was to keep everything tight in the back,” said Chicago Magic Coach Todd Bailey. “We knew Kendall could play but in the first half we had a lot of trouble getting good balls into our target player up top.”
Kendall could play. They answered immediately. Their Southeastern attack barely left the ground as right back Victor Angulo pushed a ball out wide to midfielder Luis Yamashita who drove a low ball into the box. The cross picked out the instep of Eduardo Jimenez’s right foot as the striker finished clinically into the corner of the net to draw even 1-1 heading into halftime.
In the second stanza Chicago began to press the issue. Their long throws put heavy strain on the Kendall defense. The Magic’s free kick opportunities were even more effective. A corner, just minutes into the second half was won decisively by a Magic player charging forward only to have it saved off the end line by an alert Kendall defender.
Before long Chicago struck for their second one goal lead of the day on another corner kick taken by Gaul. Gaul placed a ball directly on the head of teammate Jake Federlick, whose textbook header beat Mina to his left.
The unbeaten Magic never looked back, and as the second half wore on, they extended their lead to 3-1 on a great individual effort by Dean Wern and eventually 4-1 by way of a converted penalty kick by Scott Larson.
“I wasn’t sure how well our style was going to play down here,” said Bailey following the match. “We managed to get the ball to the feet of our target players a lot better in the second half. Our kids played well and were well organized and structured in the back.”
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