Ohio Football Club is a team of size and strength. They played up a year in league play in their area and finished second in league play. They came into this years Manchester Cup as semi-finalist the year before.

Ohio FC Mutiny's Captain, Chad Barson is shown here leading much greater responsibilities as Captain of the U-15 U.S. National Team. Chad has captained the National Team since his selection to the team in 2004. Plus they featured Kofi Sarkodie another National team player for his age.

The task for Crossfire would be large, but Andy Flory the coach of Crossfire was very confident in his players. Below is the re-cap of the game.

The game started a bit slow with both teams feeling each other out.

Crossfire has the first chance of the game on a ball sent into the edge of the 18 that Fimi Akinnyi of Crossfire went in and challenge the Ohio keeper Justin Luthy. On the challenge Fimi won the ball, turned his back to the keeper to shield it and then popped it over his own head toward the goal. The ball barely went over the crossbar on what would have been a stunner 2 minutes into the game.

Crossfire seemed to be pressing hard to score and minutes later James Mytern had a great one time chest trap pass to teammate Kelyn Rowe. Rowe had a nice turn at the left edge of the box and fired a hard shot just wide of the near post. The combination was a beautiful thing to watch.

Ohio then had a great chance to score off a corner that Hassan Saad cracked on frame, but Crossfire keeper Alex Ferguson was cat-like and somehow got the ball.

Crossfire then struck gold on a freekick from about 25 yards out. As the Crossfire players lined up, they simply rolled it to Tyson Sykes who sent a laser beam towards the goal. The velocity was tremendous and caught the keeper off a bit. The ball hit the bottom of the crossbar and slammed into the net for a 1-0 Crossfire lead. It was a world class strike that left the keeper with little he could have done.

Overall Crossfire played a great half and controlled the game against a class team with quality players. They played solid defense only allowing Ohio a few shots on goal.

As the second half started the rain started. It was a downpour of rain. It also was a half that Crossfire seemed to be content to play for the win and defend.

Ohio had the 1st of many chances as Nick Kellogg passed a ball to Mohamed Saad, who sent a great cross into the box. Alex Ferguson of Crossfire punched the ball away. Minutes later Nick Kellog was driving into the box with a great chances for Ohio, only to have Nathan Sackeyfio strip him of the ball to end the threat.

Ohio seems to found their stride and game in the second half. Ohio then had Ben Fisk break loose into the box on what may have been their best chance. Fisk's shot again is saved by Alex Ferguson with his quick reactions. The deflection goes across the goal, with Ferguson pouncing on it and winning a dangerous play freekick for Crossfire to end the goal scoring chance for Ohio.

Ohio then later has some great build-up and gets the ball to Jeff Addis who strikes a ball just wide. Just a bit later Ohio has Hassan Saad strike a ball on target as well, with Ferguson again coming up with the save.

Basically Crossfire plays the defense they needed to and wins the game. Although at times scary, they held and won the game 1-0.

The player of the game for me on Crossfire had to be James Mytern. He controlled the middle of the field and found players all game long with great passes. He also took away the attacking of Ohio down the middle of the field early in the game. Great Job James!!

WPS Soccer