Internationals edge Juventus- Chronicle Journal.com

Internationals edge Juventus
By Emmanuel Moutsatsos
Sep 5, 2006, 00:45

They thought the monkey was dead
Thought they had knocked it off their shoulders when they beat the Winnipeg Sons of Italy on Sunday to reach the final of the Thunder Bay Invitational.
But Thunder Bay Italia-Juventus, who lost to Sons of Italy in last year’s final, quickly discovered their was still some life in that stinky little primate since they weren’t able to ride the momentum garnered from that win as they were beaten 2-1 by the Minneapolis Internationals on Monday afternoon in the championship final.
“It was nice to get the monkey off our back and get the win off them,” said Juventus defender Tony Valente of his team’s win over Sons of Italy, who were the two-time defending champs. “That was probably our best game of the tournament so we had a lot of momentum heading into the final, but we came out a little flat.”
That will happen when you play five games in only three days — but the same could be said for the Internationals.
“I’m sure both teams were a little tired — there are so many games in such a short time,” said Valente.
What’s funny, though, is that Juventus probably wouldn’t have minded playing a little bit longer since they were the ones gaining momentum in the second half, but time ran out on the team that is the last from Thunder Bay to win the Invitational when they did it back in 2001.
The Internationals scored both of their goals in the first half and, though there was barely a cloud in the sky at Fort William Stadium, things looked glum for Juventus especially when Marcelo Santos had to bow out due to a injury.
Santos’ name might sound familiar since he was a standout player for the Thunder Bay Chill the past two seasons, but the midfielder by way of Brazil couldn’t get over a leg injury that he originally had suffered against the Sons of Italy the day before.
“I think it would’ve helped us for sure if he would’ve been healthy and able to play like himself,” said Valente of Santos.
It probably would’ve since Santos was probably the best player to have taken the pitch this weekend; signing a contract with the Milwaukee Wave of the Major Indoor Soccer League is proof to that.
Santos, the co-most valuable player of the year with the Chill this past season, will report to Milwaukee next month for camp before the team kicks off their league opener against the Chicago Storm in early November.
But Juventus played well despite Santos’ absence. That was evident when Frank Ianni broke through for a score with 25 minutes left in the half and it was close to being 2-2 when Ron Badanai, who had been questionably called offside on a play that would’ve gave him a breakaway earlier, sent a cross to Dave Colistro, who one-timed a shot on net only to have it steered aside by the Internationals keeper.
“We just ran out of time,” said Valente.
The Winnipeg Sweat Shack beat the Thunder Bay Lakehead Express by a score of 3-1 in the women’s final.

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