It is truly an exciting weekend for the new Chicago Riot. The MISL club kicks off their team home opener today Sunday, December 5th at 6PM at the Odeum in Villa Park. Tickets are still available, if you love Chicago soccer, you need to be there to check out all the MISL action. Our fearless leader, Tweed Thornton, has his season tickets in hand, and even though I can't attend because I live in the middle of nowhere, yours truly will be watching the game stream live tomorrow from the Riot website. I will have a full report/recap on Monday for those that can't catch the game. Follow me after the break to find out a little bit about the Riot's opponent, the Milwaukee Wave.
The Wave have a very rich club history, and there's no question they will present a very interesting challenge for the Riot. Milwaukee is coming off a superb previous season, one that saw them go an impressive 14-6, and advance to the championship game of the MISL. The Wave led the title game at one point by 6 points, but La Raza de Monterrey came back to break the hearts of the Wave fans and stole the title out from under them. When all was said and done, La Raza de Monterrey walked out champions by scoring 12 unanswered points and shutting down Milwaukee for a final tally of 12-6.
As one can imagine, the Wave went into the off season disappointed and hungry to redeem themselves. This drive has carried over to the start of the new season with a bang. The Wave have shot out of the gate to an impressive 3-0 start. The game will provide further intrigue, as the Chicago Riot's President & CEO Perter Wilt was formerly a Director of Marketing and Publicity for the Wave from 1987-1990, and as recently as 2009 served as team President and CEO. I know I definitely can say that I am happy that the Chicago soccer legend is on our side now!
The Riot meanwhile, are coming off of a 10-7 win against Costa Guerrero in an exhibition match on November 28th. Although they dropped their first MISL match to the Baltimore Blast 10-6, they will be looking to pick up their first regular season win while dealing the Wave their first loss all in the same night. Rioters were further bolstered by the news that they have acquired former Chicago Fire defender Krzysztof Krol for the month of December, as was reported here on your very own HTIOT and confirmed in the Riot's official announcement. Although he unfortunately won't be eligible for selection against the Wave, he should bring a lot to the table for the Riot during his time. I am very interested to see how quickly he adjusts to the indoor soccer game.
If you are on the fence about going tonight, don't forget that parking is FREE for every game and tickets are very reasonably priced. Whether you go by yourself, with friends, or decide to make it a family night, make sure you get out to the Odeum to support the Riot. Indoor soccer is fun, fast paced, exciting, and the price is definitely right. Let's go Riot!