The tournament was organized by one of the regional chapters of the American Amputee Soccer Association of which I am the Vice President with local sponsorship and support from the Dynamo Dash Youth Soccer Academy.  Responsibility for speaking during the Opening Ceremony fell to me as the senior person present from the AASA and I was more than happy to return to photography as soon as that obligation was satisfied. Below, Nicolai and the captain of the English squad exchange greetings and gifts before what proved to be a thorough drubbing at their hands. To put things in perspective, the UK squad practices with each other as many times in a week as the US team does in 6 months, one of the down sides of living in such a large country and playing a sport with little financial support.

Despite the one-sided outcome, the US played a great match. Nicolai looked strong, relentlessly pounding away at their goal. Our only score came from the US Sled Hockey Gold Medal Paralympian and youngest member of our team, Noah Grove, who struck a beauty from distance over the head of their keeper.  The English dominated the remainder of the game amassing a total of 10 goals.

Redemption for the US came during a rematch with Haiti under the lights where we managed a 2-2 tie after giving up a questionable penalty kick early in the game.  Nicolai had a nice assist and lovely breakaway goal, shown below, his 14th in international competition.