International San Francisco Edges Out Rival SF Viking FC
Dillon Montgomery’s 30th minute goal enabled International San Francisco to advance to the second round of U.S. Open Cup qualifying with a 1-0 victory over their San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL) rival SF Viking FC at the Beach Chalet on Saturday afternoon.
This was the fourth meeting between the clubs in 2023. They split their two regular season meetings and three second half goals powered International to a 4-1 win in the SFSFL semifinals.
The game was a matchup between two teams who were founded nearly a century apart.
The SF Vikings were started by a group of Danish immigrants and celebrated their centennial in 2022. Over the years, they’ve played a key role in helping U.S. soccer grow from a loosely connected group of clubs representing various immigrant groups into a mainstream sport.
International San Francisco SC was founded in May 2021 by Dr. Amir Darabi, who was born in Iran and lived in Europe before immigrating to the U.S. Darabi is also the coach of the team and sometimes a player. The club rose from the third tier of SFSL to the Premier Division in only two seasons and also won four matches in 2022 to qualify for the 2023 US Open Cup tournament proper.
International Takes the Lead in the First Half
The first 20 minutes of the match were very even, with few clear chances on either side. But as the half went on, International began to assert itself.
The goal came when Montgomery grabbed a loose ball at the top of the penalty area. A Viking defender made a sliding tackle, but Montgomery kept control of the ball, cut back to his left to avoid another defender, and blasted a shot that made its way into the upper right corner of the net.
It made up for a missed opportunity less than a minute earlier, when a teammate missed on a breakaway, in a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Mike Loiacono.
The Vikings’ best first half chance came in stoppage time, when a long ball into the box was headed on target, but the shot rebounded off the bottom of the crossbar and was cleared away.
More Chances in the Second Half
Both clubs had chances in the second half, as International pushed forward and the Vikings’ defenders began to tire.
In the 65th minute, the Viking’s Matteo Ascherio-Victoria’s shot from short range sailed over the crossbar.
In the 69th minute, International’s Tanner Pappenfuss’s shot forced Loiacono to make a diving stop.
In the 72nd minute, the Vikings’ Connor Grant dribbled past a pair of defenders in the box, but his shot went wide.
International’s best chance in the second half came in the 78th minute, when Pappenfuss had an open net in front of him, but his soft header gave Loiacono to get back into position and make the save.
Late in the match, International’s goalkeeper Mason Kealy made a pair of difficult saves to preserve the club’s tenuous lead. First, he made a diving stop on a shot by James Baldwin and then a kick save in stoppage time on a shot by Felipe Gonzales Fuentes.
The Vikings’ last chance came just before the final whistle when a long throw-in by the Vikings’ keeper was redirected on target, but Kealy came away with the ball.
The Coaches Speak
Both coaches struggled with the unavailability of key players after the last-minute scheduling change that moved the match from 11 AM to 4 PM. Viking’s coach Pat Cadam said that three of his starters were unavailable and another had to leave the match early.
“The ongoing problem in San Francisco is fields, being able to get fields when you want them,“ Cadam said after the match. “I understand there’s a lot of competition for fields. We had a really hard time getting a field from Rec & Park. And they finally said, well, we’ll give you a four o’clock slot. We were at their mercy. But you know, it didn’t impact our game. Would we have liked to have had the other players? Sure. But they would have had more players too.”
International SF’s Darabi said that his club was missing five or six key players.
“We had prepared for this game and we had to do a lot of changes last minute,” Darabi said after the match. “We were confident enough. I think we are the best in the Bay Area. So even missing our star player Matt Fondy, Nikolai Littleton, [Leonardo] Lázaro, Dylan Autran, and a bunch of others it didn’t impact us much. We had a lot of chances. We could finished four or five zero but it came all the way down to the last minutes. Still, I’m happy.”
While International SF moves on to the second round and a rematch of the recent SFSFL final with Olympic Club, the loss marks the end of Viking’s season.
“They’re obviously a very, very good team,” Cadam said. “We love playing against good teams. That’s what this is all about. I’d much rather play and lose one to nothing than play a team that had six players and we beat them five to nothing. It’s the competition, it’s the camaraderie. We had a great season. We had a really good team, people that enjoy the game and I’m happy.”
Olympic Club and Bay Area United Win, Real San Jose Falls Short
Also on Saturday, the Olympic Club went on the road and delivered a resounding 5-1 win over Marin County Union SC. This sets up the fourth meeting of the season between Olympic and International SF in the second round. Most recently, Olympic Club won the SFSFL championship match on August 20.
“We just played them in the final of the league as you know,” Darabi said. “We lost three to one, unfortunately. But this time, we have plans for them, we’re gonna come back harder and we’re gonna try whatever we can to win that game.”
In a match between NISA Nation clubs, Bay Area United FC traveled to Redwood City and beat JASA RWC by a score of 6-2. They will travel to Fresno for the next round, to take on Valley 559 FC of the UPSL. Valley 559 recorded a 2-0 win over perennial cup qualifying entrants Real San Jose from the NSL.