Hellenic United Athletic Club | Chicago, USA

Hellenic United "White" took on Gremio "A" this past weekend at Argo High School. Once again playing conditions were bad as the Chicago weekend weather had another scorcher in store compounded by the heat brought forth by the artificial grass field. Additionally, there was a strong wind that really affected the play of the game.

HUAC won the game toss and elected to play with the wind in their favor. The game started out slowly as both teams felt each other out. HUAC's best chance of the half came off a set piece by Mario Mele when Bill Tsoukalas rose to head it above the cross bar. Half-way through the half Bill Tsoukalas pulled out of the game with a hamstring injury after running down an outlet pass, a run that left HU with one sub on the sidelines. At the 40th minute, Gremio opened the score when a loose ball was one timed outside the box and it hit the post and then fell in the back of the net. The half ended 1-0 which was very disappointing considering HUAC had the wind in their favor.

HUAC came out strong during the second half and applied pressure. Gremio held strong in the back and withheld the pressure and in one of their counter-attacks they were able to score a second goal in the 55th minute to make it 2-0.

A few minutes a Gremio striker received his second yellow of the game and was properly ejected.

With the man advantage HUAC applied even more pressure but without any luck. Paul Stellatos and Apostoli Hardaloupas combined nicely on a corner kick with Stellatos hitting it slightly above the cross bar. At the 80th minute Gremio made it 3-0 with a beautiful shot outside the box that sent the ball sailing in the upper left hand corner.

A special thanks goes out to HUAC O30 players Gus Velios and Mario Mele for coming to help out.