Hellenic United Athletic Club | Chicago, USA

Despite having an advantage in time of possession and scoring opportunities, Hellenic United dropped a 2-1 decision to Jahbat at Pottawottomie Park Septmeber 27th.  Hellenic United now finds itself needing a win in one of their last two matches to secure a playoff spot.
 
Hellenic United got on the board first with a tally from Danilo Acamovic at the ten minute mark. Hellenic United controlled the match for most of the first half with excellent mdifield play, exerting constant pressure on Jahbat's keeper, yet couldn't come up with a second tally.
 
HU was dealt a serious blow early in the second half when fullback Firas Abraham went down with an ankle injury. Nermin Dautovic was pulled back from midfield into Abraham's fullback spot for shorthanded HU. Jahbat seized the opportunity and went on the offensive, scoring two second half goals (the last with about five minutes to play), both off of set pieces, to come away with a 2-1 victory.  
 
"I really can't understand this" said HU coach Andy Sotiropoulos. "This is the second time we've outplayed this team and lost by the same score and in the same fashion. Just like at the Schwaben tourney, they came back in the second half from a 1-0 deficit to score on two far post headers off of set pieces. In fact, they've scored five goals on us in the three matches we've played, and all of them have come from set pieces. Two hundred seventy minutes of soccer and they've yet to score a goal from the run of play, yet they have two victories and a tie against us.
 
We almost tied it at the end when I gambled and pushed Neno (Dautovic) forward. Both Neno and Smedz (Alen Smjecanin) had glorious opportunities to tie it in the waning moments, but we deserved a win today. What a shame. Firas' injury really crippled us. We had to sacrifice a lot in the midfield as a result and lost some possession. If we had one more sub in the mdifield, we definitely would have won this match, but its hard to win in this league showing up with 12-13 players, especially when none of your subs is a midfielder.
 
The last goal was definitely a foul on their striker, and a yellow card. Instead, the goal counts and we get one of OUR guys sent off. Ridiculous. But I guess its the referee's subjective opinion as to what constitutes a foul. What I really don't get is why we weren't allowed to make a substitution on that play when the ar had his flag up in the air signalling for it and Jahbat was not attemping a quick restart. I'm still waiting for that answer."     

Hellenic United: Khoshaba-Mullan, Abraham, Mahmutovic, Hadziahmetovic-Prses, Villanueva, Dautovic, Malkoc-Smjecanin, Litos (Acamovic, Petrov, Nanic)