Another strong team performance from the Des Moines Menace sees them breeze past Chicago City Soccer Club, with a final result of 4-1 for Mental Health Awareness Night Presented by NAMI. Last night’s win leaves the Menace with 7 points in the Heartland Division. Match details follow.

Without wasting any time, Marco Manduzio delivers a cross over City goalkeeper Alejandro Ortiz, which finds star boy Edward Gordon, but he narrowly mistimes his header to put it wide.

City react quickly in the ninth minute as a slipped through ball sees City’s Lewis Albert’s initial attempt parried by Menace goalkeeper Enzo Carvahlo, only to be tapped in by Takuto Nishide. 1-0 to Chicago City.  

Menace continued to push forward with captain Peter Pearson finding Marc Torrellas in a pocket of space but his shot hits just over the crossbar.

With a fancy bit of footwork, Edrey Caceres sends Manduzio down the line into the box who strikes the ball first time but it takes a strong deflection off Ortiz and hits the City crossbar.

A Menace short corner in the 28th minute sees Caceres put in a delicate cross to find the target man, Preston Popp, who heads it home near post. A promising start for both debutants. The score now tied 1-1.

Just four minutes later, a cross from Menace’s Ze Ribeiro da Cunha is allowed to bounce in the City box, a fatal error from the City defenders, which is capitalized on by none other than Popp. He heads it over Ortiz to get his second of the match and the Menace lead 2-1.

Five minutes into the second half, an offside call gets the better of Caceres, who taps the ball away in frustration, warranting the first yellow card for the Menace.

The booking fuels the El Salvador native’s fire, as a cross from Manduzio in the 65th minute finds Caceres, who cleans out the cobwebs in the bottom right corner. Menace extends their lead, 3-1.

In the 67th minute, a silky dribble from the young Ezekiel Padilla is too much for the defense to handle and City’s John Renteria takes him down illegally, earning himself a yellow card in the process.

The remaining 20 minutes of the match saw an onslaught of corners from the Menace, one eventually finding the Englishman, Max Broughton, who makes no mistake from close range, sliding it near post with a well calculated header. This brings the score line to 4-1, a great ending to the night for the Menace.  

The Menace are on the road for their next match ups, visiting River Light FC on Thursday, May 30th and Sueno FC on Saturday, June 1st.