REICHENBACH-STEEGEN, Germany – The Bahrain boys soccer team needed a positive result against Vicenza on Monday afternoon to keep its hopes of advancing to the DODEA Division II European championship semifinals alive.

The Falcons had dropped a two-goal contest to top-seed American Overseas School of Rome in the morning, turning the Cougar match into an elimination match.

Things went from bad to worse when midfielder Tandol Gumede was sent off for a serious foul in the 17th minute.

Yet when the final whistle blew on the turf field at VfB Reichenbach, the Falcons found themselves celebrating a 1-0 victory, putting them back in the driver’s seat for a semifinal berth.

In the 57th minute, Bahrain senior Mohamed Aljish picked up a mishit clearance by a Vicenza defender behind the line. The Manama, Bahrain, native then dribbled around Cougar goalkeeper Sam Grady to slot the ball into the wide-open net.

The Falcons (3-1-2) then proceeded to mob Aljish by the corner flag.

“When we come back to Vicenza, I said, ‘Guys, we need to do it, and I believe in you and trust you and I have confidence in you, but we have to take care of the game,’” Bahrain coach Emiliano Herrera said. “After that goal, I start feeling so emotional because I was feeling the emotion from the whole team running straight to Mohamed Aljishi to celebrate with him.”

What made it so emotional was a combination of the adversity faced by the players before and during the tournament.

The Bahrain school was without water for three weeks, keeping kids out of the building. Then the 4-2 loss to AOSR happened in which the Falcons erased a two-goal disadvantage with a pair of Lindokuhle Letsoko goals on either end of halftime, only for AOSR to respond with goals by Giorgi Antelava and Jacopo Giuffrida.

Mix in playing with 10 men for 33 minutes, and it made the revelry all the sweeter.

“Sometimes, you have to be patient,” said Aljishi, who shrugged his shoulders after scoring the winner. “It means a lot to the team, as you can see with the celebration.

“If it wasn’t for the team fighting those 60 minutes, we could have not had that (celebration). So, it’s a team effort.”

The irony was Bahrain played better after the red card.

The Cougars (5-4-1) had some chances, but the best came from the Falcons. Grady was called into action multiple times in the second half, blitzing off his line in the 43rd minute to block a Letsoko attempt and then saving an Aljishi header off a corner in the 51st minute.

“We were playing too soft and light and were moving the ball wrong,” Herrera said. “After (Gumede) came out, the boys got it together and just moved the ball forward without making silly mistakes.”

Even with the win, Bahrain isn’t getting too far ahead of itself. The Falcons need a win over Rota and either a tie or victory for AOSR over Vicenza on Tuesday to punch their ticket into the semifinals.

“The boys, we respect every single team, and we want to make sure we play well and make sure to win (Tuesday) against Rota,” Herrera said. “We definitely want to make sure we take care of business.”

Vicenza girls not perfect, but good enough

Injuries have plagued the Cougars all season, even to the point the squad wasn’t quite 100 percent heading into the DODEA Division II European tournament Monday.

Yet after two matches on the grass field at VfB Reichenbach, Vicenza can consider it mission accomplished so far – even if it isn’t pretty. The Cougars opened the European championships with 2-0 win over Rota and followed that by holding on for a 2-1 victory over Aviano in the evening.

“We’re just finally getting everyone healed up,” Vicenza coach Philip Paniagua said. “Yeah, we’re getting the wins, but we’re really not where we want to be. We know we can play better.”

Vicenza’s frustrations seemed more with the match against the Saints (1-10-1) than against Rota (4-2-2).

The Admirals and Cougars (6-1-3) played out a scoreless tie during the regular season, but Vicenza made sure that wasn’t to be repeated when forward Kayla Steimle poked in a shot after a mad scramble in front of net in the 17th minute.

Then, in the 24th minute, fellow freshman forward Natalia Lopez lofted in a shot from distance that went over the outstretched hands of Rota goalkeeper Pamela Munoz’s hands.

Against Aviano, however, the Cougars struggled to get past keeper Page Rogers. It took a wicked deflection off a Steimle shot in the 26th minute to beat the Saint junior, and while junior center back Avonlea Sparling doubled the lead early in the second half, Aviano’s Ily Zamora sent the Saint bench into delirium minutes later when she scored from near the edge of the 18-yard box.

The Saints didn’t threaten again, but Vicenza was unable to put the match to bed.

“Honestly, we played down to their level,” Steimle said of the win over Aviano. “This definitely shouldn’t have been this close.”

Paniagua said he understands the players’ frustrations, especially considering junior forward Maya Fitch, who scored 27 goals in 2023, has struggled with an ankle injury and has scored just three goals this campaign.

It’s also a young roster with just three seniors and nine freshmen. The coach said that could mean the best is still to come for the Cougars.

“It’s frustrating for them, but I remind them, ‘Hey, listen, you got so much more time to mature and that, but don’t get frustrated, don’t get down,’” Paniagua said. “We’re running out of games for the season, but this tournament allows them to go into these fights back to back.”

Other notable performances

The Naples girls team continues to dominate in Division II, beating Black Forest Academy 6-0 and Bahrain 4-0. Six Wildcats (10-0) made the scoresheet over the two matches, including two each by VaNae Filer, Hayden Medford, Jazmin Miranda and Emerson Shorey.

The goalkeeper for the Falcons, Jayda Miller, kept them in both matches despite the losses to Naples and AOSR (1-0). The junior, playing in just her seventh match ever, made 19 stops against Naples.

On the boys side, AOSR, Marymount and Naples punched tickets to the semifinals by going 2-0. The Wildcats (8-0-2) needed heroics from goalkeeper Joey Randazzo to stave off a lively BFA team, 1-0.

related stories

• DODEA European Soccer Championships