Evander Childs’ Victor Nelson controls the ball. (lauren marsh)
When he’s not on the pitch or doing his homework, Romario Guscott is in his room playing video games. The Evander Childs midfielder tries to emulate his favorite players on his favorite team, Barcelona FC, and for once, he was able to do.
The junior released a rocket shot from 20 yards out that bounced off the crossbar. As everyone marveled at how close it came to finding the back of the net, Guscott never stopped. He sprinted toward the top left corner of the 18-yeard box and beat Columbus keeper Sanna Mass with a header in which he laid out on the rain-soaked turf
“That was like FIFA,” teammate Yankuba Janneh exclaimed as the two celebrated the 72nd-minute tally, the Tigers’ fifth and final goal in a surprisingly dominant 5-0 win over Bronx A power Columbus in the two teams’ opener Wednesday afternoon.
“In two or three years, this is the happiest I’ve been,” Evander Childs coach Toma Goljcevic said. “They’re actually playing team soccer.”
To be fair, Goljcevic pointed out, Columbus (0-1-0) was shorthanded, down several starters. To be eligible, players need eight practices and several Explorers players, such as midfielders Jordan Scarlett and Shaquan Bailey, were away part of the preseason and won’t be allowed to suit up until Saturday. Making matters worse, striker Martin Dadaj and central midfielder Endri Berisha are academically ineligible.
“There was nothing I could do, but play with my bench,” Columbus coach Jason Renick said. “We’ll be fine once those guys are eligible. That’s what happened last year. We started 0-2-1 and won 10 games in a row.”
That didn’t take away from Evander’s exuberance, during the game at least. The Tigers (1-0-0) celebrated each goal like a division title was clinched, and it made sense in a way since Columbus had won the last eight meetings.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Janneh said. “The last two years we’ve been working hard trying to get to this position.”
Janneh had a field day, scoring two goals and setting up two others, both of them finished off by Chemoko Nian. Columbus failed to get a single shot on goal on junior keeper Genaro Bravo, who Goljcevic said is Evander’s biggest question mark. For a team that has has not finished higher than third the last five years, it’s certainly an impressive start.
“We went out and played hard,” Guscott said. “The team is getting better and better.”
Goljcevic knows the rest of the year won’t be so easy – particularly when Columbus comes to Evander Childs on Oct. 3 or when the Tigers face the division’s other powers, such as defending champion Bronx Science and Lehman.
“The story is gonna be a little different [the next time against Columbus],” the coach said. “I know if four weeks they’re gonna have a full squad. We need to improve a lot.”
