Goodnight, Moon

Chicago House Athletic Club sent off head coach Matt Poland in style on Saturday night, as they defeated DeKalb County FC 3-0 at the Northern Illinois University Track and Field & Soccer Complex.

A relatively calm first half, the only goal came from a corner when Dan Hayes poked home from close range. Things came unglued to start the second half, though, and two quick Chicago goals all but sealed the result.

It was rudimentary from there, as the House secured one final win for their departing coach.

Story of the match

DeKalb had two early chances to open the scoring via set-pieces. The first came from a free-kick, and a close range header was only denied by the bar. The next was from a corner, and this time the attempt simply went wide.

Chicago jumped in front about 10 minutes later, ironically enough from a corner themselves. Hit low towards the near post, Dan Hayes was first to the ball, and he managed to redirect it into the back of the net.

They nearly made it 2-0 midway through the half. AR Smith picked up the ball on the edge of the box, and went for a low strike that seemed destined for the bottom corner. However, Matt Markee-Ori got down to make an impressive save.

The hosts tried to respond with a goal of their own when Sebastian Carranza snuck in behind the backline, but his shot was blocked by an onrushing Ryan Grady.

The House ended up hitting the woodwork themselves, as Eduardo Aguillera’s curling effort was denied by the far post.

Things really slowed down for the remainder of the half, but things burst back into gear following the break. Ricardo Alavos doubled Chicago’s advantage with a lovely goal, dancing in the box before coolly slotting home into the far corner.

It was 3-0 in the 55th minute. Nico Williams flew down the wing, and even though the angle was tight, he was still able to rifle a shot into the top of the net.

That was all she wrote, really. DeKalb had some half-chances to pull one back, and a blocked clearance nearly found the back of the net, but it instead rolled wide. The House, meanwhile, held on to the ball and killed time when they could, and it led to a simple end to the contest.

What it means

Chicago continued their perfect start to the campaign with this win, and they’ve now picked up nine points from their opening three games. It keeps them near the top of the Heartland Division 1 standings, and they’re real contenders for the title.

DeKalb, meanwhile, will continue to hang around the middle of the pack following this result. They’re not in relegation danger just yet, but they’ll hope to get some more points under their belt relatively soon.

Notes and observations

I’m not sure what kind of deal DeKalb made with Northern Illinois University, but being able to use their soccer stadium is absolutely wonderful. There’s a press box with wifi, and the stadium has a large bleachers area which gives supporters plenty of space. The turf is in good condition, too.

The DeKalb home kit is lovely, as the shade of green works very well with white sleeves. However, the ensemble is ruined by the shorts, which feature two shades of gray for some reason, with the same color on the socks. Get some white shorts, lads.

Jack Kramer started at centerback for the House instead of his usual right back position. It was an interesting call, as he’s been a reliable defender on the right-side, but he still did well in his new position. There were some awkward moments here and there, but it could be a clever move that helps the team in the future.

My only problem is that Kramer is the epitome of an AI controlled player on pro clubs when he’s at right back, and that’s always fun to watch.

It was great to see Dan Hayes score the opener. He’s not someone who gets the most gametime, but he was given the chance to start today, and he made the most of it. He’s someone who works hard in training, and his efforts were rewarded when he flew to a loose ball in the area and hit it into the back of the net.

When his teammates noticed me talking to him post-game, they erupted into a noise I’m not quite sure I can describe. It was a mix of pride and joy with a bit of sarcastic disgusted shock.

“It’s nice to be here, everyone’s very excited. We had been training all week on this hard near post run, I beat the first player and slotted it in,” said Hayes. “It feels amazing to score. All credit to these guys who played amazing, and played the right passes. We really got together. The first half was kind of shaky, but we focused up in the second half and made a run and put it away.”

DeKalb has really nailed the community feel to their games. There was a good crowd, and the club let fans onto the pitch at halftime for a quick shootaround, while also getting everyone together at full time for a group photo.

Man of the match - Matt Poland

I don’t give a damn if he’s not actually a player, it’s his special day, give him all the flowers.

He made some tweaks to his usual lineup, and even though things seemed scary at times, the decisions ultimately paid off handsomely. It was a performance that summed up his House tenure quite well, as his team played for him and played some lovely soccer in the process.

Best of luck in the future, bossman.

Farewell tour

There’s the match report covered, but this match was much more than the 3-0 scoreline.

As mentioned multiple times earlier, this was House head coach Matt Poland’s final match for the club.

In a rare turn of events, I was able to grab him pregame for a quick chat. He was just kind of wandering around the premises. It turns out he doesn’t really watch pregame warmups much, preferring to take a moment to himself.

DeKalb was a surprisingly appropriate venue for this farewell contest considering the type of places Poland’s been during his tenure.

“You’ve got space here to free roam, you’re not locked in. It's very fitting to have my final Midwest Premier League game here, I think it kind of is the perfect bow tie on it,” said Poland, who had a backdrop of campus buildings that didn’t look too different to prison blocks.

However, Poland wasn’t letting the occasion get to him, and least just yet.

“Honestly, I haven't really thought about this being my last game. Yesterday, some of the guys were asking me how I feel about it being my last training and everything, and I hadn't really thought about it,” said Poland. “I'm hoping in the little break before I start my next job that I’ll be able to think about things. Right now, though, I’m kind of in game mode and focused on that. I'll worry about the memories after it comes to a conclusion.”

There was one thing the coach had been thinking about was his outfit for the contest, and I’m the one to blame for him. Over the years I’ve constantly bugged him to wear lighter-colored pants instead of the usual black or dark blue jeans coaches tend to opt for. I feel like it’s better to be bold, and Poland’s Florida connections only make him a more appropriate candidate for brighter options.

“The light pants are back. I don't want to scare you. You have me overthinking things now with those pants,” said Poland.

There was one color the manager made sure to wear, and that was for a truly special reason.

“I actually went today with the family of a girl that passed away last year, Maggie Strong, and so I wore purple for her. I guess for me that's a special outfit, in the sense of honoring her memory and showing that football and the community of football is bigger than just your club and it's about the community as a whole. That's important.”

It was time for him to get back to work, though, so Poland returned to the pitch. He had a pregame chat with House director of team relations and communications Jenn Jarmula, who he’s probably talked to every single day during his House tenure. The two have solved countless issues during the past few years, and they were able to enjoy one last contest together.

“What I’ll miss the most is that we communicated really well together. He’s very organized, he’s very professional, he holds a very high standard. I appreciate that about him. He puts a lot of time and effort into everything, he’s very thoughtful, he’s always available,” said Jarmula.

“I don’t even want to think about replacing him. You replace the job, you can’t replace him. He’s built an amazing culture, a community with the players, he worked well with the staff. We were so fortunate he was able to step in for CJ Brown in 2022, and maybe we’ll get lucky again, but you can’t replace a guy like Matt.”

There was always going to be one last person to talk to before full-time, and that was House head honcho aka club managing partner, president, and CEO Peter Wilt.

“I’m gonna miss his friendship. It’s cliché to say but it’s true, he’s a very good coach, but he’s an even better person. The wonderful culture that’s been built by the House men’s team is really a credit to Poland, and much of that has carried over to the whole organization. No one is irreplaceable, but it’s going to take a number of people to replace the qualities he had. His professionalism, his commitment to treating people the right way, and his ability to create a professional environment, which is a challenge in a semi-pro organization,” said Wilt.

“It's not just the quantity of training sessions that we've been doing, I don't know that there's another amateur team in the country that trains four days a week in addition to their games. It's also the quality of the training sessions and the lessons that he teaches these guys. I think the standard is higher than many of the professional teams I've been involved with. Fortunately he's set that standard not just for the players, but for his coaching staff as well, and his coaching staff will remain through this season and will carry on and build on the environment that Matt has had with them.”

Just like that it was full-time. The House players and staff made the walk across the field to applaud their supporters, and suddenly Poland was being thrown into the air once again.

Mostly everyone returned to the sideline, except two. Poland stuck around a bit longer to talk to his family, as you’d expect. The other man who stayed by him was House captain AR Smith, who’s been with Chicago throughout his head coach’s tenure.

“It’s been a f**king honor, man. Being able to work with him ever since the House started, it’s kind of crazy to think he’s leaving. It was expected, and it’s kind of overdue because of his talent. The experience has been wonderful, being led by a guy who’s honest and willing to learn himself, able to correct his mistakes and coach kids in a way so they understand him, where he’s not just running his mouth. It means a lot when a coach has a relationship with everyone on the team. Players will leave practice mad sometimes, but they’ll always come back the next day and shake his hand. That’s a sign of respect. It’s gonna be a big loss at the end of the day,” said Smith.

“With him as a head coach, every game we go out there to fight. The goal is to fight on his behalf because he puts so much time and effort into every session. He puts a gameplan together, he scouts the other team, he lets us know their strengths and weaknesses. We then train for four days off that, so we go into games expecting to win, and when we lose it’s almost a shock because of his leadership.”

Alright time for the main event. Everyone else has moved away, it’s Poland and I in the middle of some random ass field for the final time.

It wouldn’t be a proper final post-game interview if we didn’t actually talk about the game first.

“It was slow, it was lethargic to start, but we got up and got a goal, and luckily they didn't take advantage of some of the chances that they had in the first half. I think we kind of had to reset at halftime, kind of wake up, kind of focus back in on just doing the little things at a high level of execution,” said Poland. “We came out in the first eight minutes, put two goals in, which took away the momentum from the opponent and then at that point it's just about seeing out the game. So I think the second half we were organized, we were disciplined, and it was about the little things. At the end of the day, more often than not, doing the little things right leads to success.”

Alright enough about that, let’s get back to what we’re all here for. Poland told me pregame that his only focus was on the match itself, and that stayed true during the contest.

“I probably should have maybe thought more about this being my last game, I don't know, but I think it probably would've been wrong for the guys to focus on anything other than them seeing out the result,” said Poland. “Obviously there's still a lot of the season left to play, and so I need to do my part in making sure I’m leaving the team in the best spot possible for the next guy to step up into. It didn't cross my mind during the game that this was my last, I just wanted to focus on the guys and make sure I was solving the problems that I could solve to help them have success.”

That got us to full-time, where everyone could finally celebrate the occasion. However, it turns out the House players might need to work on their celebrations in the future for when the next coach decides to leave.

“I was talking to my family, and the guys decided to toss me again. It was not the most secure system. Let me just say, if they were gymnasts instead of soccer players, we would've had a lot more injuries on this team,” said Poland. “It got a little dicey, and I think only two guys were catching me on one of those tosses. I was thankful to not be hurt when it finished more than anything.”

This is where I almost got Poland. He’s a very stoic and composed man, so I wasn’t expecting to see too much in terms of emotion from him. He had kept a pretty straight face throughout, and it looked like we were so far away from seeing a potential tear or two.

But then I asked him about what his final message to his players would be, and you could tell the emotions of the moment were starting to get to him. My only concern at that point would be that if he started to cry, then there was no way I’d not cry either, and then we’d have two dudes just crying together at midfield. He fought through it, though.

In all seriousness, that little moment goes to show how much these players have meant to him.

“Thank you. That’d be the big one. They've taught me a lot. Hopefully I've given some help or guidance in their lives, but they've given me innumerably more than I could ask for,” said Poland. “The other thing is that whatever happens, they stick together, they continue to fight and uphold the standards. I think the standards of what we've created for an amateur team is unbelievable. Then the last thing is, it's the same thing I tell to every guy that comes in here and every guy that moves on is to leave the jersey better than you found it. Hopefully I’ve left my position better than I found it. It's not a knock on CJ Brown or anything but the club was in a rough situation when I took over, and to see it so much better now makes me so happy.”

Lastly, Poland had a message for practically everyone that’s been involved with the House during his tenure, whether it was the players, coaches, staff, fans, or literally anyone else.

“The support has been crazy. The fans literally have traveled across the country with us, going through terrible weather or terrible locations or poor fields or poor performances from us, but they've always been here and supported us. I just hope that whatever we did, we always made them proud to support us,” said Poland. “I'm just so blessed to have the support of such a strong footballing community, and I think no matter what happens and no matter where else soccer takes me, this organization, these fans, this situation, it's so unique in so many different ways, and it'll always be a very special place in my heart.”

- Adnan Bašić