Match Recap: T2 Are Defeated in Final Merlo Match

A scoreless first half between Colorado Springs and T2 may have lacked in goals but did not lack in battles. Both teams came out to play and were aggressive right off the mark. Both team's twitter accounts insisted their team was playing better for the first half. And both had reasons to believe they were correct.

It was a very even match and going into the break even was fair. Throughout the first half, Colorado seemed to have a little bit better in individual attacking, and team defending, while T2 probably had the edge in winning the individual battles. Charles Eloundou vs Andy Thoma was a battle on the near side that continued to impress the entire half. 9 times out of 10 Thoma got the better of him. And given how Eloundou was attacking (took the majority of Colorado Spring's 10 shots) down both the left and the right, it was all the more impressive Thoma usually got the better of him. Andrew Weber also made a handful of great saves to keep Colorado Springs off the board.

In the second half, it was more of the same battles between the (mostly) evenly matched teams. Unfortunately, Colorado Springs were the ones to break the deadlock in the 65th minute. And despite every effort by T2 they were unable to crack a Colorado team that backed way off and defended their one goal lead with everything they had.

In the 65th minute, Nick Besler cleared a ball out past the end line (one that didn't necessarily need to be cleared in that direction) to provide Colorado Springs with a corner kick. Colorado Springs sent in a ball that floated in the air for a long time right over traffic. Long enough to fool a number of players into jumping early. But no one got to that ball as it bounced down off the crowd and went loose towards the top of the box. Fatawu chased but it was Colorado Spring's Miguel Gonzalez who got to it first. He put his laces through it and sent a powerful shot through traffic that slotted right into the bottom left corner of the net. Weber didn't have much of a chance on that.

After the goal, Colorado Springs didn't park the bus, but did defend as much as possible while still trying to probe with their wings to determine if they could nick an insurance goal. Meanwhile T2 pushed everything forward to try to get back into the match. They even went 3 at the back when Harrison Delbridge was knocked down and had to be subbed off following a T2 corner. But Colorado Springs held firm and were able to get all three points.

With this defeat, T2 are very nearly mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Any result by Sacramento Republic (1 point or more) in any of their 4 remaining matches will officially eliminate T2. Up next will be said Sacramento Republic coming back to Portland next Saturday the 12th. It will at Providence Park and the final home match for T2 this season.