Scoreless draw in Madison leaves FC Tucson barest of hopes of making league final

Both teams needed three points from Saturday night’s match between FC Tucson and Forward Madison in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Neither team came away with a win or even a goal.

“It was chaotic,” said coach John Galas after the match. “We didn’t create enough with our possession or our passing; there was no doubt.”

His assessment is borne out by the statistics. Although FC Tucson, as per usual, dominated possession (58%-42%), they only managed four shots, none on frame.

Madison was far more productive. The Mingos (as they are called by fans because of their logo) recorded 19 shots. Only, one, however was on frame.

The credit for that, said Galas, was both to keeper Amal Knight and center back Niall Logue. Knight organized the defense for a flurry of corner kicks that Madison earned in the dying minutes, but Galas wanted to highlight Logue’s work as well.

“Niall Logue was excellent and helped anchor the defense to lock down a shutout for us,” he said. “That was a massive task tonight.”

That lone shot on frame came at the dawn of stoppage time after FC Tucson started to bunker in the hopes of getting a draw. Charlie Booth came in for forward Azaad Liadi but played more of a defensive role. This gave a bit of room for Madison’s Don Smart to take a shot. It wasn’t the best one, a bit slow and predictable, so it got scooped up by Tucson keeper Amal Knight to preserve the draw.

One of the more active people on the pitch was referee Łukasz Szpala, who gave out a total of eight cautions during the match.

The draw reduces FC Tucson’s chances of a spot in the final considerably, but Galas considered it a success. The game was played away from home on an artificial turf field with markings for four different sports (Galas joked about having to explain this to the Spanish and Brazilian players). It was also 50 degrees and raining. Coming away with a point under these circumstances is a plus for what he thinks is a much-improved side.

“We traveled yesterday; got in. It was tough weather for a crew from Arizona,” he said. “We came in and got a result. I’m really happy for the boys.”

“Three points would have really helped the cause,” he added. “But the goal for the second half was to finish a lot better than we did the first half of the season…we accomplished part of that tonight.”

FC Tucson stays on the road with a visit to Tormenta FC in Statesville, Ga., on Wednesday.