FC Wichita shuts out conference-leading Corinthians FC

Thirty minutes in, FC Wichita could relax. By halftime, it was all but over.

A three-goal first half from FC Wichita handed the team its third straight win, and conference-leader Corinthians FC its first loss in nine contests. The home side defeated the San Antonio club 4-0.

“It really could not have gone any better than it did,” FC Wichita coach Larry Inlow said. “It was a culmination of all of the efforts that we’ve put forward up to this point, because it was such an important game, and the players knew it.”

Matt Clare scored the game’s first goal in the 19th minute. Clare pressed up, then made an aggressive play against Corinthians’ left back, who was looking to make a pass up the field. Clare took a few dribbles into the box, then curved a right-footed shot around the keeper to make it 1-0.

“With the score lines that they’ve had in the past, it’s kind of evident that teams were just trying to absorb, absorb, absorb, and we went after them,” Inlow said. "Somebody was hitting them, somebody was taking the ball off of them. That may have frustrated them a little bit, and worked to our advantage on counter attacks.”

For the first time all season, undefeated Corinthians trailed in a game, and FC Wichita piled on quickly. Chisom Ogbonna made it 2-0 in the 26th minute with a long-range rocket from at least 10 yards outside the box. It was Ogbonna’s third goal of the season.

With time winding down in the first half, FC Wichita got a breakaway opportunity as Iyassu Bekele took a pass way out in front of him. Bekele fumbled his first attempt. Bekele recovered, shook the keeper at point-blank range, and blasted it into the net to make it 3-0.

“I heard the (fans) screaming at me… The coaches were telling me, ‘If you miss that man, we would have killed you,’” Bekele said of missing the first one-on-one chance.

More remarkable than the first half effort, was the defense silencing the typically high-powered Corinthians FC offense.

With a solid defense in front of him, and a host of point-blank missed chances from Corinthians, FC Wichita goalkeeper Mauricio Vargas didn’t have to do a lot to claim the clean sheet. Vargas nabbed 16 saves in the two wins prior to Friday, but needed only four to get the job done against Corinthians.

“That’s always what we’re looking for,” Vargas said of the shutout. “The whole team, defensively, we did really good.”

“We were so tight on defense,” Inlow said. “And didn’t give them time to play the balls nice and easy like they’re accustomed to.”

Though the team trails Corinthians by four points in the standings, a playoff spot lies in Wichita’s own hands. If the team wins out, it will advance to the playoffs without relying on any other team to get the job done.

“We preach to the players … it’s very nice to have your own destiny in your own hands,” Inlow said. “We’ve got another chance to get at (Corinthians), and we can only hope that the other teams in the league trip them up as well.”

FC Wichita will close out a four-game homestead when it takes on Regals SCA on Sunday, before heading to San Antonio for its rematch with Corinthians that could decide the league next Friday.

“We’re creating our own destiny,” Vargas said, “and I’m excited to see what’s going to happen.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 11:03 PM with the headline "FC Wichita shuts out conference-leading Corinthians FC."