Midfielder Johan Venegas felt a sigh of relief after Sunday’s game.
After creating his own scoring opportunity while pressuring Columbus defender Michael Parkhurst to make a mistake, Venegas calmly placed the ball towards the opposite post in the 77th minute. On the play, he overlooked the streaking Didier Drogba, who was crashing in alone on goal to Venegas’ right.
The goal ended up being the game winner and a weight off of the young Costa Rican’s shoulders, who had been going through some difficult moments.
But his relief was multiplied afterwards when he entered the locker room as the night’s hero, avoiding what could have been a serious lashing from the Designated Player he ignored.
“We joked about that in the locker room,” said Dominic Oduro, with a huge smile on his face. “Let’s just say if Johan would have missed that chance, Didier would have given him… uhm… a good shake!”
A ‘shaking’ is probably a light way of describing what could have happened if he missed, but lucky for Venegas, that shaking wasn’t even a consideration.
“I didn’t even see [Drogba] to my right,” said Venegas. “Once I got the ball, all I saw was the goalkeeper and the goal. I saw that there was a little room to shoot and I took my chance.”
After he admitted that the adjustment period in MLS hasn’t been easy on him, Venegas vows to continue to improve.
“The MLS is a much more physical game than I am used to, playing in Latin America and internationally, but I am here to work hard to help the team.”
