0 - 6
Today we faced Brazil in our third match. They had lost both of their matches with 1-0 defeats against Israel and Argentina. We knew they would come out hungry and that was indeed the case. Early on, they tallied their first goal on a cross from the byline into the box that was finished skillfully. A few minutes later, they were awarded a penalty kick and it was 2-0. Mark Wiznevitz had the best scoring chance in the 30th minute when he took a through ball to goal and barely missed the far side. By the end of the first half it was 4-0 and the final score was 6-0. They had several other chances that Fish saved and he was able to get his hand on the ball to push a penalty kick past the post in the second half. Two of the USA players were not available for play. Jeff Moshal suffered bruised and possibly broken ribs in a collision in the first game against Argentina, bringing back the memory of Jimmy Benjamin’s broken ribs in Israel 2009. Unfortunately, I had to sit the game out having received a one game suspension following yellow cards for hard tackles in each of the first two games. The game was not without controversy as the Brazilian side played their #18 Ernesto Matalon in spite of a red card ejection in his previous game. He should also have been serving a one game suspension (as I had to) says the rules of the Maccabi games. This player was instrumental in their first three goals. There was significant consternation on the USA bench and the managers were planning to file a complaint with the Maccabi organization. It is unlikely though that the result would have been much different had #18 not played for Brazil today and #10 played for USA. They were by far the superior side on this day at the Maccabi games. Tomorrow we play Israel, the second place team.
