The City Lions beat Granite City 5:4 in penalties after drawing 2:2 by full-time in last Sunday’s semifinal campaign before advancing to the first finals of the Minnesota Fall Cup slated for today September 27th at the Fernbrook Synthetic Fields in Maplegrove, Minnesota against Vlora FC kicking off at 7:00 pm CST.
Prior to the Semis, FC Minneapolis had put up a strong fight against mostly fellow UPSL teams such as Vlora FC, Turbo Sports FC, and Granite City FC, in the five-team group stage losing 2:3 to Vlora FC, drawing 3:3 with Granite City FC, winning 2:1, and 3:1 against Turbo Sports FC, and Minneapolis Inter FC respectively.
Since being knocked out of the United States National Cup regional quarterfinals last year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by the Bavarians, FC Minneapolis has not had another opportunity to make the playoffs of a major competition until the Minnesota Fall Cup, and Oluwalaanu David, the club’s head coach has been doing everything possible to grab this opportunity by both hands to bring the trophy home, and he will be looking to his most experienced player at the club Ian Sendi, the Ugandan midfielder to inspire his squad to today’s triumph.
Sendi who last scored for the City Lions against Granite City FC in the group stages’ campaign that ended 3:3 at Fernbrook three games ago, suffered a slight knock to his side in last Sunday’s semifinals and was not able to finish the game, was able to train with the team throughout the week and will be ready to feature in today’s Minnesota Fall Cup Final in Maplegrove.
According to the Nigerian Coach Oluwalaanu David, the Ugandan attacking midfielder has all the qualities required to compete at this level and he will be hoping to see more of him in the game from start to finish.
Speaking to our media, Sendi thanked all players that fought tooth and nail from the beginning of the competitions to this stage, and he believes that they all have what it takes to perform highly tonight.
