Roots Report: Another Victory

This week is a 3 game week. T2 continued where they left off in the final 30 minutes vs LA II and secured a second win in a row vs Orange County Blues. Up next are two road matches, rounding out 3 games in only 7 days. Thanks USL schedule!

OC Blues: 2-1 Win

If T2 turned a corner in the final 30 minutes against LA II in Carson, CA they stayed around that corner back home at Merlo Field. T2 sunk the other Southern California team securing the first points they've ever achieved against Orange County Blues.

T2 opened the scoring in the 28th minute when Steven Taylor put a Blake Bodily corner kick into the correct net. Academy product Blake Bodily took three different corner kicks in a row. All three were quite dangerous, with one of them resulting in a Bijev header that got past the keeper but was cleared off the line by a defender. However, third time would be the charm. Former Newcastle United man, Steven Taylor redeemed himself after last week's own goal and directed Bodily's third corner kick into the (correct) net with a header you would expect from a premier league veteran.

Just two minutes later, Victor Arboleda doubled the lead for the home side, making it 2-0 to T2. Arboleda himself started the counter that led to his goal. He stole the ball at midfield and passed it up field to Bijev. He took on two defenders and then played Arboleda (who continued his run from midfield with blinding speed) into the box. Victor put the ball past the keeper for his third tally of the season.

The rest of the half continued to play in favor of T2 and they went into the break with the 2-0 lead. Coming out of the break though almost all of the second half was OC Blues as they pushed harder than many opponents I've seen for the entire half trying to level the match or even steal all the points. Especially with the heat we had on Sunday afternoon. You could tell T2 were getting slow and tired due to the heat. The game itself slowed down quite a lot when T2 got the ball as they wanted to kill the game and the tempo. But it still took until the 89th minute before the OC could crack the T2 defense. Bijev was whistled for a foul in the box and gave up a penalty kick to OC. The visitors converted it and made it a one goal game but there was only stoppage time left. And T2 made sure the consolation goal was all they were going to get.

Play The Kids LIVE

Part of the reason I'm putting up the Roots Report on Wednesday instead of Friday is: T2 has two away games coming up (which I'll recap next Friday), one tonight, one Saturday. But the other reason is I want to get it out there as much as possible that Play The Kids is recording live tonight.

We will be on Rabble.tv live broadcasting our next episode during the Real Monarchs SLC match. Follow myself on twitter or @ptkpodcast for more information. Our broadcast should go live just a few minutes before 6pm. We will be available as an alternative to the RSL commentary that will be on the webstream. Mute them, listen to us, you'll be happier for it.

It won't just be my co host Josh and I as we commentate the match for you. We will also have special guests rotate throughout the pre and post show, in addition to during the match itself. So spread the word and let anyone who plans on watching the T2 stream know that they can get friendlier audio tonight.

Our live episode will also be available later on, just like every other Play The Kids episode. So that way you can listen to it just for fun if you want. And, if you cant watch the T2 stream live, we will make sure we are clear on our show when exactly kickoff is so you can time our episode with the T2 stream archive.

Tonight, when T2 take on Real Monarchs SLC in Sandy, Utah, we will go live a few minutes prior to 6:00pm. Our live broadcast feed will be on rabble.tv, just click for the link and bookmark it. And don't forget to follow Play The Kids Podcast on twitter!

What's Next?

T2 play in Sandy, Utah tonight, Wednesday, August 17th at 6:00p pacific. They take on Real Monarchs SLC after a short turnaround from Sunday afternoon's home match vs OC Blues. And then they follow that up with another away game on just as short of rest.

T2 will have to go from Utah to California, where they will take on Sacramento Republic FC at Bonney Field. That will be on Saturday, August 20th, at 8:00p pacific.