Miracle on Ice, Leicester City, Greece Euro 2004, Iceland Euro 2016; none of these underdog stories even come close to the Baggio Husidic and Ashley Cole (and AJ De La Garza? More on that controversy later) 2-1 upset over a whole bunch of elite ten year-olds. The prestigious Ridiculous Soccer Challenge (Driven by Chevrolet) pitted the two (or three) LA Galaxy stars against some of the most fearsome ten-year-olds you’ve ever seen — seriously.
The kids came out in what appeared to be a 1 defender, 6 midfielders, and about a million forwards formation. But the tactical genius from the Galaxy and their 1 defender, 1 attacker formation counter balanced it perfectly.
Ashley Cole should have gotten his side on the board right away, but the young opposing goalkeeper made a sensational save right off the line. With her ponytail flying, “the Lioness” as fans are now calling her, threw her arms up and parried the ball out of the danger area.
Pace. Strength. Determination. That’s what it took for the LA Galaxy as they worked hard to deal with the Barcelona-esque ball movement of their opponents. But mid-way through the first half, the Gs pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book—blatant cheating. AJ De La Garza whipped out the classic, “look over there!” move, distracting the 4th official on the sideline, and he snuck onto the field giving the Galaxy a completely unfair advantage and bringing the total number of players on their team to a whopping 3.
It wasn’t long until the match fixing was apparent. Replays showed Husidic was arguably offside as he played a one-two with DLG, who shocked the world by tapping in for the lead.
Order was restored, however, when “Young Squad” whipped in a absolute dime of a cross to a young man on the line who had so much time, he literally took a nap before he poked it home.
Finally, the upset was complete, as Husidic weaved in and out of the “Young Squad” in a move so devastating that child services probably should have been called. Hey Baggio, negative points for the poor effort with the Robbie Keane impersonation on the goal celebration. Final score LA Galaxy 2, Young Squad 1.
Stay tuned for the next round of this prestigious tournament. We’ll see if the Galaxy can carry this momentum into the next round against 350, three-year-olds, or whoever their next opponent might be.