Jun. 30—WORTHINGTON — Los Toros’ road to redemption is complete.
After falling just short last year in the NE-SD-IA championship game and navigating expectations to get it done this year, the Worthington Community Football Club stands alone after beating Club Athletico Omaha 2-1 in the conference title game Sunday at Trojan Field.
Los Toros won the conference title in just year five as a program and year four in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL).
“We worked on this project all the way since February,” said Toros coach Juani Mackrey. “I started talking to all the guys, getting them together, and saying, ‘Hey, why not us?’ I know it’s Worthington, Minnesota, a small town, but we have the great facilities, we have the great support of the people behind, and then, of course, the players, they managed to pull through. This is everything they deserve.”
WCFC was in the same position last year with a chance to win the conference title on its home field, but a 2-1 defeat to Omaha Street Futbol Club ended the season in heartbreak.
This year’s challenger was Club Athletico Omaha, a team in year one in the conference, but with many of the same players on that Omaha Street squad that beat Worthington a year ago.
Even though Los Toros beat Athletico Omaha 3-0 in the regular season, they knew the challenge ahead of them on a humid Sunday evening. The first half went scoreless as both teams narrowly missed numerous scoring opportunities.
“The guys were feeling the intensity from the final and playing a little bit quicker than usual,” Mackrey said. “So, we just told them to slow down, the opportunities are going to create themselves, and eventually they did.”
WCFC came out aggressively in the second half and found the back of the net early. Jose Velasquez, who led the team in scoring until suffering an injury earlier in the season, was back in action for Los Toros. He scored early in the second half near the goal off a Toros free kick.
With a 1-0 lead, WCFC was less than a half away from victory, but Athletico Omaha tied the game two minutes later.
“We talk about being level headed on a pitch,” said English defender Harry Twinn. “Sometimes the game gets aggressive, but I think today everyone kept their heads really well. We concede an early goal in the second half after scoring, we don’t lose our heads, we don’t argue, we stay as one and we knew we had the players to do it.”
Los Toros would respond as German forward Tim Berger scored to put them back in front. It was his ninth goal of the season as he became the team’s primary scoring threat when Velasquez went down.
“I have so many good players around me, and they make it easy for me,” Berger said. “And I just have to be there, and that’s the job of the striker, and I’m just there to score the goals, but I couldn’t do it without my team.”
WCFC needed to hang on to its lead and not let Athletico Omaha tie the game again. The game reached the 90-minute mark when extra time was added on. As the end of the game approached, Los Toros were anxious to celebrate. When the final whistle sounded, they stormed the field and celebrated together.
“We are a family, and all the boys have said it,” Twinn said. “Some people maybe go to college and fall out of love with the sport. Everyone has said they’ve come here and they’ve realized why they love playing it again.”
Now Los Toros look ahead to their first appearance in the UPSL national tournament, where they will face the winner of the Midwest West conference. That matchup will be on either Saturday or Sunday.
If Los Toros were to win, their next match would be the following weekend against either Central Kansas United or Arkansas Wolves 2.
There’s plenty of reason to believe WCFC can make a run as a team that hasn’t lost a match and conceded only two goals all season. But as the tournament progresses, WCFC may lose some players due to early university deadlines.
One of the key players soon leaving is Berger, who will be going to Life University in Marietta, Georgia. But he and the rest of the team are confident in its talent and depth going forward.
“We have a very talented squad, and one of the deepest squads in the conference,” Mackrey said. “So even if we miss a few players, other players will step up, the ones that we still have remaining, and hopefully we can keep on winning.”
