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Three first half goals lifted Bethlehem Steel FC to a 3-0 win over FC Motown on a cold afternoon at YSC Sports on Sunday.
Panama youth international forward Saed Diaz opened the scoring with a beautiful curler from several feet outside the box in the 22nd minute.
The other two goals came right before the halftime whistle, with Union Academy right back Nathan Harriel scoring a nicely worked goal with an assist from Faris in the 42nd minute. Just one minute later Zach Zandi put the ball in the back of the net after a great through-ball from James Chambers.
Chambers quarterbacked the team mixed with trialists and academy players, as the team looks to mimic the new high-pressure system that Ernst Tanner has brought to the Union. The Steel dominated possession in the first half, and their high pressure kept the FC Motown attack largely in check.
The Steel only made one sub at half, swapping academy goalkeeper Tomas Romero for Kris Shakes. Early in the second half, left back trialist Walter Cortes made several bombing runs up the left wing almost grabbing an assist on a well-placed cross.
Everyone except Cole Turner, Saed Diaz, and Kris Shakes was subbed off by coach Burke in the 60th minute to make way for academy players Tonny Temple, Michael Pellegrino, Sekou Soumah, JD Wagner, Danny Flores, Nick Blacklock and Shanyder Borgelin, as well as Steel player Selmir Miscic.
Cole Turner played beautiful line-splitting passes and showed bursts of quality throughout the game, while Ben Ofeimu continues to show that he is a quality center back who reads the game exceptionally well.
FC Motown, which made it all the way to the final in the NPSL in 2018, was close to scoring a few times late in the game, but Steel FC’s quality and first half goals were too much for them to match.
The Steel improved to 2-1-0 on the preseason and will next travel to West Chester to take on West Chester United in a friendly on Wednesday night.
Steel FC Lineup
Tomas Romero* (Kris Shakes* 46’), Ben Ofeimu (Sekou Soumah* 60’), Trialist (Michael Peligrino* 60’), Trialist (JD Wagner* 60’), Nathan Harriel* (Tonny Temple* 60’), James Chambers (Selmir Miscic 60’), Cole Turner*, Trialist (Danny Flores* 60’), Zach Zandi (Shanyder Borgelin* 60’), Faris (Nick Blacklock* 60’), Saed Diaz.
*Academy Players