Club Hispanos FC Win the Inaugural Stampede Cup!

This year was the first season of the adult Stampede open division. There were eight teams of promising athletes from the local community. The first season came to an end as the third seeded team, Club America FC, took it all after a challenging game in the semifinal and a hard fought battle for the Final.

Club Hispanos holding up the Stampede Cup after their 2-1 win over Little Mexico FC.

Club Hispanos FC managed to squeeze into the third spot to tie with 10 points in the final game of the season. In that game, CHFC managed to outscore the opposition 5-1 and propelled themselves into third spot for a tough draw against second seeded Los Migos FC for the semi-final match. In the semi-final match littered with tough tackles, Hispanos managed to take the lead early only to have the opposition net a quick rebuttal off the restart. Deep into the second half, Hispanos number 10, Marvin, received the ball against the run of play. He looked up and took the shot from thirty yards out, it was a perfect corner strike with tremendous pace. The Goalkeeper for Los Migos, Chuey, had full extension but still had no chance. Marvin won the semifinal for Los Hispanos with the strike of the tournament.

The other semi-final had #1 seeded Club Atletico FC against #4 seed Little Mexico FC. This match comprised of tremendous defensive tackles and spirited one on one battles in the mid-field. Atletico took the lead after left winger, Javier Rodriguez scored early on. Club Atletico looked like they had control of the match, but they were having trouble of keeping possession with Little Mexico’s relentless pressure. Little Mexico seized control over the attack after they took advantage of an error in the mid-field. After a strong initial save from keeper, Jacob Chavez, he parried the ball straight to another Little Mexico attacker who controlled the ball and finessed it into the bottom corner. Chavez had no chance on the follow up. Little Mexico just scored in the last minute of the first half, with the momentum in their favor. The second half had both teams pepper the goal with direct shots, but the teams keepers were too strong. The semi-final ended in a draw with extra time to be played. Little Mexico came out shooting. In the first several minutes of extra time, Little Mexico took several strong counter-attacks until they caught a ball from outside the eighteen. The Little Mexico midfielder drove the ball with his left foot in the opposite corner for everybody on the field and watching play to stare in astonishment. The ball wasn’t seen by Chavez in time for him to reach it, before it hit the inside of the post. Little Mexico went off to seal the match with a red card in the final minute for disrupting the replay.

The final match was all about pressure. Both teams were aiming to get possession of the ball, and in the process most tackles were extremely tough, with players getting right back up and into position to receive the ball again. Both teams had scrapes and knocks from their previous matches, but still managed to put up a fight. Club Hispanos proved too much by scoring goals in the first and second half and retaining possession for most the match after the initial twenty minutes. The second half goal came from a free kick just outside the eighteen yard box. Little Mexico’s goalkeeper was to far away from the post and Club America’s striker blasted the ball into the upper 90 with incredible pace. Little Mexico resisted and came up with a consolation goal with the game dying. Club America retained possession and won the final in great fashion.

League Director, Tido Martinez, said “This year was great to see all of the local guys come out and establish a high level of play. I can only see this league getting better with amount of passion the players put into their community teams.”

Club Hispanos pose with the Stampede cup with their coach, Bigote.