THUNDER BAY – The 2022 playoff dream is over for the Thunder Bay Chill.
The USL 2 team, seeking its first post-season berth since losing in the 2017 championship game, dug itself an early first-half, 2-0 hole on Friday night at Chapples Park, visiting FC Manitoba seizing the play and dominating the ball possession.
But despite an Osita Obiekwe goal a minute after Manitoba doubled its lead, the Chill were unable to complete the comeback, falling 3-1.
The loss eliminated the Chill’s playoff hopes. The team needed to pick up at least four points in its final two games to potentially overtake second-place Peoria City, but drew a goose egg in their penultimate match and can only look to what might have been.
“It’s very disappointing. I believe this must be one of the worst performances we’ve had under my watch, under my leadership, if not the worst,” said Chill coach Gio Petraglia, his team falling to 5-4-2.
“But playing very bad in the first have, we still could have gotten back into the game.”
The veteran bench boss was unhappy, to say the least, about the officiating, and while he later said he doesn’t think the calls cost his team the game, they didn’t help.
“Today the reffing was the worst I’ve ever seen in this league. The first half they took the responsibility of three huge calls. One was on the 0-0 score, it was a clear pick on us, one on the 1-0 goal, which was a clear passive offside and they do not understand the rule at some point,” Petraglia said.
The first call came on what turned out to be a own goal by the Chill, the ball bouncing off midfielder Abraham Rodriguez who was racing into help and overwhelmed Eduardo D’Avino in the Thunder Bay net, FC Manitoba controlling the play deep in opposition territory.
The goal came in the 16th.
The second came with Obiekwe writhing in pain just outside the Manitoba box, leaving the Chill shorthanded at the other end of the field.
Manitoba’s Manuel Reyes Delgado was left with a wide open net and made no mistake in the 25th, and the enthusiasm of the 502 in the stands at Chapples Field quickly began to fade.
They were back on their feet a minute later, after Obiekwe, who sat out the past four road games due to visa problems, beat Manitoba goalie Evan Barker from a near impossible angle, the ball just inside the goal line.
Down 2-1, Thunder Bay thought they were going to be awarded a penalty kick before the half came to a close, but the official ruled Andrea De Vincenzi’s foot, which was touching the line, was outside the box. Sebastian Bocaz Canales took the free kick instead, but the ball flew high and Barker made the stop behind his defensive wall.
Bocaz Canales almost fed Obiekwe for the equalizer in the 47th, but the Chill striker couldn’t get enough muscle on his header attempt. Three minutes later Obiekwe blasted the ball over the net.
In the end, it was FC Manitoba adding to the scoring, Ethan Cabral connecting on a hook shot in the 68th to restore their two-goal lead.
It was frustrating, Bocaz Canales said.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t want to win the game. We played very bad in the beginning. We didn’t play the game we should have played and we dropped points that we should have got at the beginning of the season and now we’re paying the price,” he said.
The Chill and Manitoba (4-2-5) will close out their USL 2 schedules on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Chapples.
