GAME RECAP: One Knoxville 1-0 Tri-Cities Otters
By the boot of Scandinavian striker Sebastian Andreassen, the hosts took a vital three points at Knoxville Catholic High School.
Note: I made my color commentary debut for this game, so I was not on the ground reporting like I did during last Saturday’s match. This is not a play-by-play recap. You tell me in the comments what you like best—what you want from your chronicler/podcaster.
There was no player who received more love from the more than 1,500 One Knoxville supporters at Knoxville Catholic High School on Tuesday night than Sebastian Andreassen, the hulking Norwegian #9 whose 36th-minute strike earned the club its first win of the season.
He was in tears in the corner, celebrating with his teammates after a sequence of tiki-taka passing, starting in the host’s own half with central midfielder Amferny Arias Sinclair, and ending with a precise pass-and-return play between Andreassen and Scotsman Adam Kirkwood, in for Moses Mensah on the left side. On Saturday night, on a breakaway opportunity that would’ve put One Knox up against visiting Asheville, Andreassen had taken a touch too many. Against Tri-Cities Otters, he settled Kirkwood’s pass slickly, then buried it past goalkeeper Jasper Rump at his near post.
It was a poetic flourish to what had been a scrappy first half, with the home side making nine changes to its starting 11 from Saturday night (Scottish center-back Finn McRobb and Ghanaian holding midfielder Seth Antwi the only starters to retain their places). Arias, a former Costa Rica under-20 international and likely MLS Draft selection, dominated the midfield alongside the dogged Antwi, who snipped at heels like a Rottweiler chasing after a UPS driver. The Spaniard Alberto Suarez, a goalscoring center-back, and Dutchman Diego Konincks broke up attacks, dominated in the air, limiting Tri-Cities to just three shots on goal. American Alex Abril and Brazilian Zyan Andrade provided creativity up top in support of Andreassen before coming off for Marko Mitrevski and Jeorgio Kocevski, a recent call-up to the Macedonia u-21 national team.
In the second half, Andreassen exited to a roar of applause, members of The Scruffs—three dozen strong, again, cheering ad-infinitum throughout the match—lauding the effort of the Thor-ish striker. He acknowledged them joyfully on his way to the bench, tearing off his hair-tie to release his golden locks, leaving a sizable portion of both the women and men in the stadium swooning. Canadian Stephen Afrifa, who had been so dangerous up top Saturday night, replaced the Scandinavian giant and had another curling effort smacked away by the keeper deep into the second half. On a corner kick, he nearly doubled the lead for the club, connecting with a short header just inside the six that Rump came away with.
At times, it wasn’t pretty. While the hosts managed nine shots (six on goal) to Tri-Cities’ five, head coach Mark McKeever acknowledged the play was imprecise, lacking fluidity. But it didn’t matter. Because of the heroics of Andreassen: a man who had only been cleared to play two weeks before the season began, who had torn his knee so badly in last summer’s playoffs with the Des Moines Menace that he missed the final and his entire fall season with Central Arkansas. On crutches last August, Andreassen raced onto the field in Des Moines to celebrate his team’s conquest of the USL 2. Now, in Knoxville, reunited with McKeever, who he played for both at Young-Harris College and in Iowa, he has a blank slate from which to carve a new legacy. To rise, like Thor from Asgard, just as he rose his hands to the sky, tears drying on his face at the redemption he claimed by the flick of his right boot as the city embraced him. 1-nil to One Knoxville.
Patty and I will release a podcast episode again with our CAR TAKE from recorded in his ‘subio’ just after the Tri-Cities game ended, to complement this recap.
Gaffer’s Take
On the 1-0 win
“It’s perfect. All of the objectives were met. There’s more objectives met with a 1-nothing than there are with 4-3 because the two objectives are win, get the points, and clean sheet. We’ve done both tonight. I’d rather score four goals, don’t get me wrong. We’re set up to score goals. Again I think the keeper’s made some wonderful saves tonight. So congrats to Tri-Cities for the effort. That was a great game. They came and they caused us a lot of bloody problems. Absolutely delighted. Good luck to them. We’ll see them again soon.”
On whether he shifted the approach for the Otters
“It’s a different type of preparation because we’re playing against a different type of football team. It’s a different surface, which I think maybe hurt us a wee bit in the first half until we got used to it and then we started to pop it a little bit. It still wasn’t perfect. It still was far from efficient. But I feel like we’re gonna keep making that progress. These lads are too good for us not to. There’ll be a point where we say, ‘Okay, that’s what we’re talking about.’ It’s not there yet. But we’re hoping it gets there.”
On managing squad depth and player rotation
“Everybody’s finding their comfort zone right now. We had Alberto Suarez out there playing for the first time since the fall. Sebastian, what a story, coming back from a knee injury, it’s the first time he plays since last summer—almost a year. So again, that’s the nuts and bolts I’m talking about. Once they get their fitness, once their hearts and lungs are good, the connections are going to start to flow. We’re going to knit it together and then that machine will be more efficient. Tonight, it wasn’t. But I don’t care because we got the three points.”
On what’s next after the win
“We’re going to give the boys the day off tomorrow, because we worked hard for this. And I think there’s a sigh of relief there. Because we’ve got our first three points. A day off tomorrow, reset the board, reset the brain, recover, get the body where it needs to go, and then we’ll go smash it Thursday, Friday, and then we’ll go and try to make a good account of ourselves on the road.”
Finn McRobb
On winning aerial battles and bullying opponents
I work a lot of aspects of my game. It’s definitely something that’s improved recently. But it’s all about aggression, the way you attack the ball. It doesn’t matter if you’re small, if you’re tall. Everyone can do it. So I try to get in there and make the most of it.”
On recovering after two 90-minute games in four days
“Lots and lots of sleep. It’s honestly just as much about the mental side as the physical side. You’ve got to prepare yourself, prepare your body, and prepare your mind to go again. For me, I just get home, get to bed, chill tomorrow, then look forward to the next one. What keeps me going is knowing I’ve got another game in just a few days. I’ve loved it so far. I love the coach. I love the boys. And we’re really excited, it’s going to be a really promising season.”
Sebastian Andreassen
On scoring his first goal for the club
“You know it’s been a long time since I played football. It was an amazing feeling. The people are absolutely amazing. It was just like a roar that came through. The sensation of scoring in front of passionate people, and for my teammates—I can’t describe it, it’s amazing.”
“It’s been a long process to get through the injury. I’ve always had one goal in mind: to get ready for early May, to be ready for this. That’s always been the goal in my mind. When it’s been tough, it’s like, ‘Okay I’m doing this to get ready, I’m doing this to be here so I can play from the very first day.’ I’m lucky that I get the trust and I’m happy I’m able to repay it.”
On the reaction of the fans
“We couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s over every expectation. The people that show up are absolutely tremendous. We say thank you for them. This win is ultimately for them and for the club. And you know we can keep on winning for them and for the club.”
On being a threat with the feet and in the air
“Honestly, I think: ‘What can I do to help the team?’ If that’s going on and using my feet to score then I’ll do that. If that’s going in the box to head in a goal, I’ll do that. If that means using my chest to put it down for somebody then I’ll do that. It’s ultimately about the team. This is a team sport. I couldn’t do it without Adam [Kirkwood’s] assist. It’s those things you want to do for your team, and you use what you have to use to get it.”
Watch the full match on YouTube