‘Mingo Monday: Unbeaten run is no more

While Forward Madison’s week didn’t end the way they wanted it too it doesn’t mean the entire week was full of bad news. In fact there was plenty of good to great news to start the week off.

When USL League One announced Team of the Week honours for Week 8, Madison would pick up two nominees for it. Defender, Jiro Toyama and Midfielder, Michael Vang both picked up TOTW honours for Week 8 after their performances against New England Revolution II. Vang had one goal (while being the first was also techinically the game winner) on two shots against Revs II. He also had 85.7% passing accuracy on 42 passes, won a single foul, and conceded a single one himself. Jiro Toyama on the other hand had 3 tackles, 2 clearances, and conceded one foul during that match.

The following day the league announced that Madison’s postponed match against North Texas has been rescheduled. The match originally set for August 30th was postponed due to what happened in Kenosha, WI earlier that week. The new date for the match is now October 21st, and it will still be played at Hart Park in Wauwatosa, WI.

Forward Madison’s Week 8 thrashing of Revs II also had quite a few fancy goals, putting the team in contention for Goal of the Week honours as well. And it would be Adolfo Ovalle’s rocket from over 20 yards out that took GOTW.

On Sunday afternoon in Greenville the Flamingos met the league leading Triumph for a huge battle in the standings. The hosts came in with a remarkable 6-2-1 record and 19 points on the season to that point. Forward Madison on the other hand was riding a four match unbeaten streak with their last loss coming on August 8th to Richmond. With a 3-2-2 record and just 11 points on the season the ‘Mingos needed to come away with some points to make their chance of making the USL League One Championship a little easier.

Greenville, as the league leaders, weren’t going to let that be easy. The hosting Triumph put themselves on the board in the 25th minute. Omar Mohamed sent a cross in from the right side to Lachlan McLean who gathered the ball before sending an arguably gorgeous shot past Madison keeper Philipp Marceta.

Greenville may have scored first but Madison wasn’t going to let them off easily though. Forward Madison would really force Triumph keeper Dallas Jaye to make some tough saves on the night, including ones like this.

Madison would have another chance on a set piece in the 50th minute. But just as before it would be Dallas Jaye making the save and keeping the score 1-0 Greenville.

Unfortunately for Madison, Greenville would find the back of the net one more time. This one coming from Jake Keegan after a through ball from Aaron Walker.

The 2-0 score would be the final with Greenville breaking Madison’s four match unbeaten streak.

You can view the full highlights of Madison at Greenville below.

With USL League One having played 9 weeks the standings have not only taken shape but are also looking fairly stable as we have hit the halfway point of this shortened season.

Since the end of Week 8 the top two spots have remained the same with Greenville recording the aforementioned win and expansion side Union Omaha drawing with South Georgia. With two games and two wins this week the Chattanooga Red Wolves have jumped from 5th place up to third, only one point back from Omaha. Richmond’s loss to the Red Wolves dropped them from third to fourth place while Madison drops from fourth to fifth place.

There actually were some changes on the bottom half of the table with both Fort Lauderdale and North Texas winning this weekend. Those wins combined with the Tormenta loss puts FTL in 6th and NTSC in 7th while dropping SG to 8th place. As a repercussion of this and their loss to North Texas, FC Tucson drops from 8th to 9th place on the season.

Forward Madison FC will not be back in action for over a week and a half as they get a bye in Week 10. The Flamingos next game is Wednesday September 23rd at FC Tucson but stay with E Pluribus Loonum all season long for ‘Mingo Mondays each and every week.