CAT Match 10 – Estrella de Chile “B”

Kickoff: 8:30pm Wednesday, December 1st at Andy Livingstone Turf

After 3 straight cancellations Rino’s “B” team finally got on the field in a mid-week match up against the Stars of Chile.  A full squad was out for Rino’s, who were buoyed by the sideline presence of the legendary Hawk.  They were well prepared at kickoff time, only to find that their opposition were employing some stall tactics and the referee seemed powerless to deal with them.  The match kicked off a full 15 minutes late, and it didn’t take long for the Chilean antics to begin.  Their screams could be heard from Chinatown to Coal Harbour, and the referee was being conned.  Dive, scream, whistle.  And repeat.  The peak of their trickery involved their 6″ centre back doing a pirouette, swan dive combination after the diminutive Tim Pritchard ran full steam face first into his raised forearm.  The referee, who’s eyes had f0llowed the ball bought this shocking performance and a produced a yellow card for young Pritchard!

In between the acts of the ballet there was some football being played.  Rino’s forwards managed to get themselves into good shooting positions, but then generally misfired either into the keepers arms or off target.  A good through ball was met strongly by Chile’s keeper and winger Shawn Wilhelm, resulting in the latter doing a much less elegant flip and burning his face on the turf.  At the other end Chile created some chances of their own, the closest of which rung off the goalpost.

In the 2nd half the referee seemed to finally catch on and allow the play to continue even when the Chileans protested for alleged fouls.  Quality chances arose at both ends of the pitch, and Jeff Thom was frequently called into action in Rino’s net.  In particular he made a spectacular save on Chile’s forward who after receiving the ball in what appeared to be an offside position fired a great shot towards the goal.  Jeff dove to his right and got a good piece of the ball which then bounced off the post, allowing him to scramble and retrieve it.  Rino’s pushed hard to the end and continue to buzz around the Chile penalty area.  Dangerous crosses were being delivered, and someone just needed to get a foot on the ball.  Winger Yuda Shih was rugby-tackled in the box, but play continued on.   The ball was cleared just to the top of the area where a streaking Ryan Arceneaux met it, and smashed it well over the net.  There was no go-ahead goal.  There was no winner.  The only stars on this day were the goalkeepers.

Team:  Thom, Khosrovi(Thompson 45), Caulfield, McArthur(Simey 45), Chow(Kaplan 65), Crompton(Atkinson 45), Wilhelm(Shih 45), Hill(Arceneaux 45), Martin(Nolan 60), Pritchard(Ford 45), Cougny(Crowe 45, Martin 85)

Final Score: Rino’s 0 – Chile 0

to the end, and while winger Yuda Shih was tackled in the box play continued on.   The ball seemed to constantly be to the end, and while winger Yuda Shih was tackled in the box play continued on.   The ball seemed to constantly be

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