Two great teams Oromo United and FC Minneapolis fielded their best players today evening as they both took the field at 6:30pm to meet each other for the very first time.
FC Minneapolis which was visiting dressed in its usual white while the hosts decorated themselves with their outstanding red and white stripes.
One could easily notice that both teams were ready for the occasion.
Oromo United, a Fridley based team, is one of the strongest and most organized clubs in Minnesota. Most of their players have played with top clubs in Major League Soccer (MLS). They have a huge fan base that has helped push their success year after year.
Fuad Ibrahim who also plays for the Ethiopian National Team is one of the many great strikers at the team.
FC Minneapolis on the other hand has a young squad with most of its players coming right from college or high school. That cost the team at the beginning of the year but given their performance in the previous games, there’s a great gain in maturity and experience in their squad.
Oromo’s Hamza opened up the celebrations for the hosts when he dribbled through the entire Minneapolis defense and scored a beautiful goal to give them a 1-0 lead in the first half.
Alain Njipwo who played behind Jonathan Mulenda made some efforts at goal but he was unlucky.
Sendi demonstrated an extra ordinary maturity as a right winger. He kept himself involved with the defense, the middle field and strikers at the same time. His pace, work rate, and fast dribbling abilities overwhelmed the Oromo defense on a number of occasions but the Minneapolis side just couldn’t find the net and the first half ended 1-0 in favor of Oromo.
The second half started with some changes in the Minneapolis formation. Darius Sango came in for Benjamin Lee to enforce the 4-3-3 system.
Darius Sango, Jonathan Mulenda and Alain Njipwo played upfront while Andy Martinez, Gamada Indissa and Ian Sendi played behind them in the middle field.
Jesus Alberto, Roberto Cholico, Dan Donatucci and Michael Garibay kept the defense line while Hernandez Sanchez played the keep.
Oromo United also made some changes to bring in Mohammad Nasir who is one of the team’s notable players.
In the 55th minute, FC Minneapolis scored an equalizer when Ian Sendi took a long shot from the right wing to equalize 1-1 for the visitors.
Shortly after that, Darius Sango was brought down recklessly at the 18 yard mark and Andy Martinez who has been taking the team’s free kicks curved it past the Oromo defense into the left corner of the net giving FC Minneapolis a 2-1 away lead in the 72nd minute.
Abbas Hajji had an opportunity to equalize for Oromo when the referee called for a hand ball in the Minneapolis box giving a penalty but Hernandez saved it.
The final score was 1-2 in favor of FC Minneapolis.
Zerihun Abebe a recent signing for FC Minneapolis has been struggling with an injury but he is expected to be back for training tomorrow.
Oromo United will be announcing becoming an APL member by 2016 in the third week of August.
