Hamburg 2:3 Ukraine (PKs)

100 minutes in the sweltering late-May heat was not enough to decide this wild game. Hamburg suffered a gut-wrenching first round exit in the Wood Cup, losing 3-2 in penalty kicks to Ukraine (4-2).

While the game was at Rehm Road, we didn't play on the field we should have been playing on. Our field happend to be 96' x 46', almost a kids' size soccer field. I don't know if Ukraine knew about this conflict or not, but the game ultimately should have been played on a regulation size field. The Nike Base was open, that's for sure. Hamburg, as per usual, showed up with only 11 men. For a TOURNAMENT game. The lack of attendance is, quite frankly, a joke. I hope our guys realize that they've just wasted their money by not showing up. We were missing 8 men today. Ukraine only had 2 subs as well, so maybe the small field was a blessing in disguise. Either way, this game was very odd in many ways, and should have had a different outcome.

The first half started with Hamburg putting on a lot of offensive pressure. We were sharp the first 20 minutes or so, which was something that was sorely needed. We got about 25 corner kicks, but couldn't finish any of them. Who could blame us, though, with the field dimensions being so wacky? Ukraine got on the board first despite our constant pressure, when a volley from the top of the box was buried into the left side of the net. No chance for our keeper to stop it. Ukraine didn't give us a lot of space to manuever and make runs and was very physical, which frustrated us. The score remained 1-0 at halftime.

Ukraine would get the better of possesion and chances for the first 20 minutes of the second half, but it was Hamburg's turn to score. Phil Eckhardt set up Tim Dorsheimer for his patented header which was as pretty as it gets. It's Tim's 3rd goal in his last 2 games. Ukraine remained physcial, and it only took about 30 fouls, many of them blatent, for them to get their first yellow card handed out to them. Ukraine should have had at least 5 yellows and a red in this game, but the referees couldn't get their hands out of their pockets. Despite our frustration, Matt Hamister would get the go-ahead goal to put us up 2-1 with about 10 minutes left in regulation time. All that we had to do was hang on to the lead, and we were on to the next round. However, Ukraine quickly countered with a couple of lucky bounces that ended up in a partial breakaway. A low shot scampered just past 2 of our defenders and under back-up goalie Howie Hayden's left arm, tieing the game.

The score would remain that way until the dreaded penalty kick situation. What a lame way to decide a great performance by 2 clubs. Ukraine caught another break as we didn't have our starting goaltender for this situation. This doesn't take away from anything Howie Hayden did in this game though, because he was fantastic for us. I'd like to say that both teams deserved to win this game, but frankly we were the team that should have won this one today. It's just one of those strange things that happen in sports: The better team doesn't always win.

Hamburg goals:
Tim Dorsheimer 3 (Phil Eckhardt)
Matt Hamister 3