DEARBORN, Mich- Liquid Football (2-1-2) beat Cedars FC (2-1) by the score of 2-1 at Fordson High School in Dearborn on Saturday night.
It was an understatement to say Liquid Football had a short bench for this game. Liquid was missing key players such as George Chomakov, Kellen Landefeld, Ali Alhalmi, and more.
Liquid made two emergency signings, Sal Alzamzami and MJ Nahshal, to shore up the back line and central midfield. Liquid’s backup keeper, Tony Serraiocco, couldn’t make the game either.
The game started, and both teams struggled, stringing passes together. Liquid and Cedars felt each other out for the first few minutes, but Liquid began taking it to Cedars. Liquid kept the majority of possession and created many chances.
It started to get chippy early as two yellow cards were issued to Papi Gueye in the 15’ and Mohammed Jamal in the 22’ for pulling down Dehane Gnonrou, who was starting a promising counterattack.
Despite Liquid’s possession, Cedars were still getting opportunities here and there. Finally, the Cedars struck against the run of play by way of Mabrook Salah.
Seven minutes later, Liquid Football earned a free kick deep in Cedars territory. Jonah Dahn played in a great cross that found Atou Dia's head inside the six-yard box. Dia directed it into the back of the net to tie the game 1-1 going into halftime.
The second half was pretty even. Both teams had many chances to score. A vital moment of the game came in the 73’ off one of Cedars’ numerous corners. A cross went to the far post and was headed towards goal, but Jonah Dahn was in the right place at the right time and headed it off the line.
In the 88’, Liquid earned a corner. Papi Gueye crossed it into the box and found Atou Dia for his second goal of the game and his fourth of the season. He gave Liquid the lead and tied Dehane Gnonrou for the top scorer for Liquid Football so far this season.
This was a massive bounce-back win for Liquid. The fact that they got the result with a depleted bench and only used two subs with five minutes to go against a team like Cedars is enormous and could be a pivotal result down the stretch. Hopefully, Liquid can build on this, start a winning streak like last season, and climb up the table.
Liquid’s next match is against Troy United on Saturday, June 29, at 7 p.m. at Gabriel Richard High Catholic High School.
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