In the opening matchup of The Soccer Tournament (TST), Louisville-based Villita FC overshadows their English Premier League opponent Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 6 to 3.  

Villita had the open goal of the match in the 7th minute as forward Luiz Morales Perez Jr. put The Little Village up early; Mitchell Cardenas assisted on the goal. The next ten minutes we spent with both teams feeling each other out and getting comfortable in this new format. The teams exchanged shots on targets, but it was Wolverhampton that was able to find an equalizer as Leon Clarke put the ball in the back of the net past Villita goalkeeper Boris Pardo. In the first half’s closing seconds, Villitia broke the deadlock with a 20th-minute goal by midfielder Juan Carlos Gonzalez.

The second half was all Villita. The half opened with a 21st-minute goal by forward Zach Reget to give Villita a 3-1 lead. Six minutes later, Villita defender Cesar Cerda scored to give them a 4-1 lead. And in the 33rd minute, Villita put a bow on the match as defender Mitchell Cardenas put in a goal past the Wolverhampton keeper Harry Burgoyne to give Villita a 5-1 lead. Wolverhampton scored one more in the last few minutes of the second half to close the scoring at 5-2 in favor of The Little Village. 

As the final 20 minutes ended, the officials set the Target Goal at six, and the special ending to all of the TST matches was set: Wolverhampton had to score four more goals to win, and Villita only had to score one to secure the victory. Wolverhampton scored the opening goal of the extra time to make it 5-3, but they would not have enough to make the dream comeback. Villita defender Cesar Cerda scored off a shot outside of the penalty box to give Villita their 6th goal and the victory.

With the victory, Villita moves to first place in Group B of the TST 7v7 showcase and drops Wolverhampton to fourth. After Villita’s impressive win, The Little Village seems to be in the driver’s seat to win the group and advance to the knockout stage. With a roster of primarily champion indoor 7on7 players, this tournament seems suitable for Villita to make a deep run in the chase for the $1 Million cash prize. 

Villita FC will retake the field this evening at 5:45 PM EST (4:45 PM CST, 3:45 PM MST, and 2:45 PM PST) against DMV Diplomats, who is coming off a loss to Blade & Grass FC this morning. The match will be streamed live on the TST YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/@thesoccertournament7v7. 

To keep up with all things Villita FC and all things soccer here in Kentucky, make to follow, subscribe, like, and comment on all Bluegrass Soccer Cast social media sites: @BGSoccerCast. 

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