Kangaroo vs. Ibis Battle in City Stadium as Tormenta FC Flies into Town – Kickers Preview

Opponent: South Georgia Tormenta FC (3 – 3 – 2)
Date/Time: Saturday, June 3rd, 6:30 PM
Last Result: Kickers 3 – Chattanooga 0

Weather Forecast from Weatherbug.com

It’s looking like a great night for a bit of soccer.

Three Things to Kick About

1. Scoring Good – Last preview I lamented on the lack of goals. They heard my pleas. Three goals last game all firsts, as Kickers, from Nathan Aune, Jalen Crisler, and Leonardo Baima. All these players are defenders. The goal by Baima was a beauty and was the result of other players putting it all out there mainly Ethan Bryant. In general, the team looked much more dangerous. Bolanos, Pavone, Gordon, and Terzaghi had solid chances of scoring. Gordon was denied in the last minutes by a seemingly impossible save. Things are looking up in the scoring catergory.
   

    

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2. Ethan Bryant – I mentioned him above but he deserves even more attention. He had a stellar game and is finding his groove this year. On Wednesday Bryant was crucial in all three goals. The first two were nearly identical balls put into the box from corner kicks and the third he was laying on his back and pushed the ball out where Candeala was able to send to Baima. It was enough to earn him Man of the Match. I expect more of the same.
3. Bolanos is Back – Bolanos was a menace throughout the game last Wednesday. He was tearing apart the wing and when not shooting was serving up crosses. He lead the team with 4 shots and also had 2 crosses officially but I’m going to say there were a couple more in there. The fight and speed he showed put any fears of a slow recovery from his early-season injury to bed.

Prediction

If the Kickers have the stamina to play as they did on Wednesday they’re an easy pick for the win. Coach Sawatsky made wholesale changes during the game on Wednesday so players should have enough steam in the tank to repeat. Tormenta has the exact same record as the Kickers right now (3-3-2) but have a -1 Goal Differential compared to Kickers league leading +5 Goal Differential. Tormenta is on a two-game losing streak one of which was a 0-4 loss to Central Valley Fuego. The win is there for the taking and I think the Kickers can grab it but it’ll be a battle.

Kickers 1 – Tormenta 0 (This could also be a goalfest but I still think it’ll come down to one goal.)