Wearing new Desert King Snake-inspired uniforms, the FC Tucson players showed their fangs a few times in the early going and struck just a few minutes after the break en route to a 1-1 draw with Forward Madison FC on Saturday night.
In their 2021 home season opener at Kino North Stadium, the Men in Black gave the crowd of 680, the first fans to attend an FC Tucson match since October of 2019, some thrills in the first 45 minutes but weren’t able to find the target.
That changed after halftime when new forward Deri Corfe, from Chester, England, pounced on a giveaway by Forward Madison in the 52nd minute and slotted one home against keeper Phil Breno for his first goal in an FC Tucson uniform, which these days is a black ditty with the hexagonal pattern of the slithering desert dweller.
“I just saw it was a sloppy pass and just thought I could take a gamble nick it,” Corfe said. “Luckily, I flicked it over the guy’s leg and it was just a one-v.-one against the keeper.”
Sixteen minutes later, Forward Madison evened the match up when Jake Keegan was the recipient of a gift deflection that came his way and he right-footed a shot home.
Both teams pushed to get the three points but left with just one each.
“We didn’t have a ton of information about Madison” who was playing its first game of the season, said FC Tucson coach John Galas. “We were dangerous at times but struggled to break them down. … Sometimes we are trying to walk it into the goal.”
FC Tucson (0-1-1) returns to action on the road on Sunday, May 16, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. FC Tucson will host a watch party for all May away matches at American Eat Co.
