On a rainy afternoon at Blackbaud Stadium, Miami FC tied with Charleston Battery 1-1. The South Floridian squad got their second point in three matches of the USL First Division.
Due to the strong rain the game had to be delayed a little over one hour. The poor field conditions affected both teams in the first half. Nonetheless, both teams were able to create scoring opportunities. Two shots by Mario Rodriguez and one by John Pulido were well saved by Charleston’s keeper Keith Wiggans.
In the second half, Miami FC kept pushing forward regardless of the difficult field conditions. In the 25th minute, midfielder Fabian Sandoval scored Miami FC’s first official goal in history with a beautiful left footed shot from outside the box assisted by Zinho.
The end of the match proved to be dramatic and controversial. At the 95th minute of play (even though only 3 minutes had been added by the fourth official) the referee Tony Russo called a penalty in favor of the local side. Stephen Armstrong took and converted the penalty for the 1-1 tie.
Miami FC will now face Portland this Friday May 12th at 7:30 PM at Tropical Park Stadium.
MIAMI FC
Chris Doyle
Allen Handy
JP Rodrigues
Michel Erush
John Pulido
Stephane Guillaume
Walter Ramirez
Sean Fraser (Oscar Gil)
Diego Walsh (Fabian Sandoval)
Zinho (Pedro Power)
Mario Rodriguez (Luc Harrington)
CHARLESTON BATTERY
Keith Wiggans
Shane Crawford
Chris Brunt
Mark Watson
Brandon Curran (Teba McKnight)
Jeff Matteo (Lazo Alavanja)
Omar Daley
Chris Corcoran
Luke Vercollone (Troy Lesense)
Ben Hollingsworth
Gavin Glinton (Stephen Armstrong)
SHOTS
MIA 10
CHR 18
SAVES
MIA 2
CHR 5
FOULS
MIA 9
CHR 15
OFFSIDES
MIA 7
CHR 2
CORNERS
MIA 5
CHR 4
CAUTIONS
John Pulido
