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On Tuesday evening I had the opportunity to attend the home opener of Minnesota Amatuer Soccer League’s Division 3 club, Dynamo FC as they took on Lions FC at Whitney Park in St. Cloud.
Club History
Dynamo FC was founded prior to the 2017 season for the purpose of bringing a soccer team to Central Minnesota for players who had already graduated high school and college so they would have a competitive team in the area to play for during the offseason. Behind the club’s name Co-Head Coach Eduardo Silva stated “One of the founders, Father Nathan, he did research and saw that there were granite workers who lived around St. Cloud and that’s how the name came up.”
Dynamo FC in their first season won the MASL Division 4 and won promotion to Division 3 for the 2018 season. Coach Silva stated that they chose the MASL over another league (such as the NPSL) as they want to establish the club and the brand, make sure that it’s reliable and players want to play for them then ultimately step up to play in NPSL. This puts the team on the same path that Viejos Son Los Trapos (VSLT) FC did and build the club from the ground up before moving to a higher level.
Outside of winning Division 4 in their first season the club also won the MASL Wilson Cup, a tournament run by MASL that is open to all clubs outside of Division 1. The amount of players that are wanting to play for Dynamo has also resulted in a second team, Dynamo FC 18, being established to play in Division 4 this season.
The Match
The match was played at Whitney Park’s Field 12 tucked away near St. Cloud Community and Technical College and not far from the Mississippi River. The 8:30PM kickoff meant that as the match started the sun was just starting to set behind the trees to the west.
Dynamo would start the match fast taking control early and producing two chances and a shot within the first eight minutes. They didn't stop putting pressure on and in the 11th minute #11 Abdiaziz Maggio would score for Dynamo as the Lions keeper played too far out and he was easily able to get past him and finish it for the opening goal. A few minutes later Dynamo had another chance but ran the ball past the end line. Lions would hold the ball for the next few minutes before scoring their first goal of the night with a shot from around 30 yards out to even the score at 1. Just 2 minutes later Dynamo would have an opportunity on a corner that #18 Logan Lommel would put in for their second goal of the night. In the 28th minute #3 Kagan Foster would score for Dynamo to make it 3-1. In the last 17 minutes of the first half both teams had a few more chances but no goals were scored and the half ended with Dynamo leading 3-1.
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Lions FC started out 2nd half just as fast as Dynamo started the first scoring in the 50th minute after the Dynamo keeper played too far out in the box and the Lions forward was easily able to get past and score. Just two minutes later the Lions scored again with a shot blasted from just inside the box to even the match up at 3-3. From that point on Dynamo would take control of the match and in the 66th minute #9 Uriel Rodriguez scored from 22 yards out on a free kick to make it 4-3 Dynamo. Just two minutes later #11 Abdiaziz Maggio made a play off a free kick and finished it off inside the box with a goal to make it 5-3. The next 22 minutes would see more back and forth play. In the 90th minute Maggio took a shot from 40 yards out that rolled just wide of the goal, which would be the last shot of the match.
Dynamo FC would take their home opener by a score of 5-3. After the match Dynamo Midfielder Logan Lommel said “We’re looking to get promoted [so we’ve got] a lot of momentum coming [in] and winning, we play two more home games next so we can keep the momentum [going] and get those 6 points.”
Dynamo FC 18 (Second Team) played their opening match against Monticello FC on Thursday night in St. Cloud and won 6-2 to open the season with a win. The First Team also hosted Waconia FC at Whitney Park in St. Cloud and won that game 4-0 to move to 2-0-0 on the season. Dynamo FC will play their next matches on Sunday May 20th in Whitney Park as the Second Team will host Flamingos FC at 4:30 while the First Team will host VSLT B at 6:30 PM.
You can follow Dynamo FC on Twitter @DFCSTC and their gameday Twitter @DFCgameday. You can also catch all the matches for free at Whitney Park Field 12 in St. Cloud.