With a spot in Sunday's championship game already secured, the Kansas City Wizards Juniors U-19 team played to a relaxed 1-1 tie with North Texas' Solar 89 in a preview of the final of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Little Rock, Ark.
Head coach Jon Parry chose to rest many of the players who had logged a lot of minutes as starters in Wednesday and Thursday's games, reaching to the depth of his bench. The lineup took a few minutes to find its feet, allowing Solar to hold most of the possession through the first 15 minutes, but the Texas side was unable to craft anything better than long-range and tight-angle shots.
It took 18 minutes for the Wizards to create a shot. Spencer Nash took control at the top of the penalty circle and hit a low right-footed shot to the near post. The ball was swerving away from Solar goalkeeper Ryan Englemann, but he got down to tip the ball around the post and out for a corner kick.
Four minutes later, the Wizards were ahead. Ian Christenson passed to Kelly Porter, who slipped a low shot past Englemann and just inside the far post. The goal disrupted Solar's passing game and sparked the creativity of the Wizards' attack, which generated six total shots in the first half.
Unluckily, though, the Wizards went into the half tied 1-1. Solar stormed down the wing and played a low cross into the Kansas City penalty area. The cross deflected off center back Matt Griffin and into the goal as the Wizards defender ran back toward his own goal.
The second half saw Solar regain its attacking edge, and in the 53rd minute the Texas team would have led were it not for a superb save by Wizards keeper Alex Burton. After Kansas City's Tyler Schwab overcommitted on a tackle on the wing, Solar had a clear path toward the end line. Christopher Schneider ran into the Wizards' penalty area before laying the ball back to forward Zachary Nulisch, who was unmarked near the penalty spot. Nulisch hit a one-timer hard and low to Burton's far post, but the Kansas City keeper dove across his goal to steer the shot away for a corner kick.
With nothing on the line and neither team willing to risk injury, the game became more and more casual down the stretch, and by the 80th minute, it was clear that neither side was going to attempt to win the game. Instead, the two teams passed the ball around with each other and eventually formed a juggling circle as the last 10 minutes of the game became more of a cool down than a contest. Some tricky ball handling, a comical handball by Brett Heinz during the juggling session and a brief appearance from Wizards winger Matt Kuhn, who is rehabilitating a torn meniscus, highlighted that cool down.
Wizards assistant coach Randall Porter said the coaches agreed before the game to the casual ending.
"A lot of times in a game like this, the players will just stand and stand around and talk for 90 minutes," Porter said. The kickaround Friday was supposed to start after halftime, but coaches from both teams wanted to get some game experience for their bench players instead of just killing off the game.
Solar and the Wizards meet again Sunday morning at 10:45 to decide the title.
