Raspado de tamarindo, por favor

Granted, David Brown Soccer Field is probably not high on the list of opposing teams favorite places to play. Home Field advantage comes in to play. Instead of "mi casa es su casa" it's "mi pueblito es mi pueblito." When you kick the ball out of bounds, play stops until somebody fetches the ball out of the bushes and weeds. Your goalie will probably be looking directly into the setting sun in the second half. Finally there is usually a loud and boisterous crowd of people, sometimes accompanied by drums, shouting or singing things you may or may not understand and you may or may not think might be directed at you in various unintelligible languages. Much of the local crowd lives by "ora latina" and are late arriving. After the last two matches it would seem that the Pelican Rapids Tigers themselves live by Latin Time. It takes them until the second half to warm up to the game.

Wednesday night the Fergus Falls Cyclones came to David Brown Field for the return match of Summer 2007. They came ready to play with a smart gameplan: Play hard from the opening whistle and catch the Tigers off-guard. After five minutes the Tigers found themselves down 0-2. Even the Cyclone Players seemed surprised. Only two balls had passed Shrekito all summer. Then total calamity, a third ball Shrekito seemed to whiff on. In disgust Shrek tossed his cap into the net after the ball. "Mea culpa, amigos." After a penalty kick The Tigers went to their bench down 1-3 at halftime. Whatever Salvador put in the agua he gave them at halftime worked. The crowd screamed for "Presion, mas Presion!" Pressure. Defenseman Diego Diaz, aka The Moose, is always dangerous when he moves up with the ball. He scored on a beautiful header off a corner kick to make it 2-3. The Tigers squandered a second penalty kick before, five minutes before time, Mohammed brought the Tigers level with the Cyclones with yet another beautiful goal into the top of the net. This time he kept his shirt on afterwards. Gracias a Dios! Uffda what a game!

The Godina Family had their concession stand going last night and the raspados and churros were selling like hotcakes. Raspado flavors were: strawberry, grape, coconut, pineapple, bubble gum and tamarind. "Mango? No hay." Not many of the customers were from Fergus, which, although they played us to a draw, was their loss. Maybe next summer?