By Dylan Matthias
Hello, and welcome to the men. In coming weeks, we will strive to have minute-by-minute photos. Not this week. Please also remember that this is preseason, so we don’t have formal rosters yet. Some names may be off. Where we’re unsure, we’ll just use a shirt number.
1min: Kick-off to Dal. SMU win a throw immediately.
2min: Weymann owns SMU 14, but his long punt reaches an offside Tyler Lewars.
3min: The Dal left flank goes on a journey to Mars, leaving SMU 10 free to run at Ur. Ur scrambles it clear and SMU roll a follow-up wide. Dal break the other way and go offside again.
4min: Free kick to Dal, 30 yards out. SMU delay by encroaching. The cross comes to naught.
10min: Shane Rajaraman (not sure which) is in acres of space on the left, mainly because he’s offside.
11min: This time Rajaraman is onside, but his poorly angled shot is way over the net.
12min: Lewars breaks past SMU 20 and instantly cojntrols before blazing a shot just over. That’s how to make a first impression. Talent, we have.
13min: Dal #5 (possibly Zach Bauld) gets skinned down the left, but Dal recover.
16min: SMU 19 has the ball in the net, but the flag had stopped the well before the shot.
18min: SMU with some pressure off a #10 (probably Jhonattan Cordoba) run, but a timely punch from Ur averts the danger.
20min: SMU free kick, wide right. Cordoba’s ball falls to SMU 11 and his curler is fingered wide by Ur.
21min: Water break. And changes for Dal, as Hawley and #9 enter. SMU look unchanged. Hawley’s first touch of the season is dreadful.
22min: Dal win a wide free kick on the left. It’s cleared by SMU 19.
28min: After a lull, SMU pull off #7 and #8 for #15 and #14.
31min: Cordoba (?) pulls back Weymann as the Dal defender tracks back. There’s a foul going Dal’s way, but Weymann makes sure Cordoba goes down hard. The physio’s out now.
33min: This may be a serious injury, actually, though it looked like an innocuous fall. Cordoba hasn’t moved much yet.
34min: 5 Huskies help him from the field. Not sure what happened there, looked like he maybe twisted awkwardly as he tried to pull Weymann.
36min: #5 is fouled away from the ball, I believe by SMU 17. That looked somewhat nasty.
39min: We’re hearing whispers that Cordoba may have a broken leg, which if true, is very bad news for SMU. He’s an excellent player who would be out for the season.
41min: Dal #23 wins the ball from SMU #3 legally, only to be flattened with a push. #3 is warned for his trouble. This has gotten somewhat chippy.
42min: SMU #20 tries one of those incredibly ill-advised backpasses and it’s predictably way too short. SMU’s goalkeeper slides to clear it–barely.
43min: Half-time, I guess.
Dal have looked like a team missing Hamzeh Afani due to knee surgery. They also look like they are used to relying on Michel Daoust to score. Lewars looks intriguing, very Daoust-like, but stronger. He’ll need time to adjust to the older players, though.
Cordoba still hasn’t left the field, but is propped up behind the goal. He looks in some pain.
46min: SMU kick-off. Mazurkiewich, who missed most of last year due to injury, is in for Dal. Perrotta has come out. Kironde (?) is in, as is Kieran Hooey. Mannix looks like he’s come in at right back, and #2 has replaced #6 in defense. Weymann sticks around. Hawley’s out for Andrew Hutchison. No idea who SMU brought in, though there don’t look to be many changes.
48min: Hooey plays with a lot of tenacity. Looks like a definite improvement at left-back. SMU have come out much better and win a corner off of a decent break. Dal force another one, and clear it properly this time.
49min: Kironde is beating SMU 18 to a loose ball when #18 holds him back. Kironde had that and a lot of space, too. That’s a very cynical uncalled foul.
50min: SMU win a corner and swap #7 for #8 before wasting it.
51min: Dal are fouling a lot down the right side, and both #13 and #23 are on the ref’s radar now.
52min: Dal concede another rather cheap corner down the right. It’s put behind by Dal’s #23, who may or may not be Luke Thompson. SMU do absolutely nothing with this or the next corner.
54min: Cordoba is now being moved, very slowly, off the field. On the pitch, SMU go offside.
56min: SMU #15 gets in acres of space as Hooey forgets he’s playing full-back for a moment. #19 mis-hits the header from the cross and Dal clear rather scrappily.
59min: Hutchison is brought down and gets up slowly. Dal have a free kick 45 yards out, from which they quite predictably get very little.
60min: Mazurkiewich wins a corner which everyone misses in the box. Took a nick off of a SMU player, so Dal have another corner. Nothing much comes of it.
63min: SMU #17 collects a bounce and is in on Power until Dal #6 catches him. Mazurkiewich goes the other way quickly and wins a corner after being bodychecked by SMU #15. Dal work some possession, but can’t find a shot.
64min: Hutchison turns #5 and wins another corner.
65min: It looks like we are playing full time in this one. Here’s another water break, though.
67min: We’re back. Dal have Lewars back on, along with Perrotta and Hagen.
69min: Dal do look a much more comfortable team when they play with possession. They’re quite good. More patience and a bit of killer touch is needed, though.
70min: Hooey plays hard, but he’s never quiet, either. Talkative doesn’t begin to describe him. He’s the most entertaining left-back Dal have had in years.
73min: Dal are coming on a bit, and SMU are making the odd mistake, leaving Dal to find some space. In other news, Kironde is now on RefWatch, too.
74min: A SMU cross is overhit. Lewards fouls and is also warned.
75min: Hagen tests SMU’s goalkeeper from 20 yards. It’s not the sort of effort that usually goes in.
76min: SMU #5 tries a whal of a shot from 40 yards and he isn’t all that far off, either. Missed by about 5 feet, and that had Colin Power a bit worried. Kironde off for #7.
78min: Dal escape after a cross bounces rather simply to SMU #12 in the box. Had he hit it first time, he might have scored. Instead, he hesitated and took a touch, which cost him the chance.
79min: Weymann’s taken a knock and goes off for #5. Weymann’ll be fine, that looked pretty precautionary.
83min: SMU #21 has a go at a loopy cross, but he misses on the header. Lots of space in the Dal back line, though.
84min: SMU have subbed, but I didn’t see it.
85min: Another cross from the left into the Dal box is hazily dealt with by Dal, who look more than a bit preseason at the moment.
86min: Another SMU cross, but this one is well cleared by Power, who replaced Ur at half-time, if you’re wondering.
87min: Power fumbles in a fairly creative manner but recovers before it can approach anything near dangerous.
88min: The ref calls time on our second 0-0 of the afternoon. Dal look like they’re in preseason form, but there are some good pieces there, even without Afani for the season. SMU, however, look like a team with a purpose. They attacked quick and hard and won’t be as easy a team to beat as they were last year. If Cordoba does have a broken leg, though (and, assuming it was him, he didn’t look good) then they’ve lost a key player. Either way, the rivalry is good and alive for 2010. It resumes Wednesday, September 22nd.
–Dylan Matthias is the incoming sports editor at the Dalhousie Gazette. He runs Dal Soccer Live on the side to provide more in-depth coverage of AUS and ACAA soccer. He has been a Toronto FC fan since Danny Dichio scored the team’s first ever goal. It showed him the magic of soccer.
