Memphis 901 FC secured a 2-1 victory over Western Conference leader New Mexico United FC on Saturday night at AutoZone Park.
“It’s a good team coming in here and you could tell by their play," manager Stephen Glass said. "They really fancied themselves a little bit. They wanted to put pressure on our backline and thought we’d give the ball away. I think we were very good. We were aggressive and I think we fully deserved to be up and potentially put it out of sight before they come back."
First-half goals from Bruno Lapa and Lucas Turci established a decisive lead for the Beale Street Boys.
New Mexico committed an unfortunate and uncommon error early on in the match. Goalkeeper Alexandros Tambakis quickly sent a short pass from a goal kick to Jon-Talen Maples and the defender intentionally grabbed the ball with his hands resulting in a penalty kick. Bruno Lapa stepped up to the spot and calmly dispatched his penalty into the bottom-left corner to give Memphis a 1-0 lead in the 13'.
901 FC maintained relentless pressure throughout the first half, culminating in a break in New Mexico's defense. Lapa dinked a pass on the edge of the box to Lucas Turci, who effortessly scored with a powerful. Turci, who has primarily played as a defender this season, is Memphis' Swiss Army Knife. He stepped up tonight at center-forward and was a handful for defenders.
“It says he’ll play anywhere for the team," Memphis manager Stephen Glass said, praising Turci. "I think if you ask any of them, they’ll do the same because they want to play, especially for a team that’s winning. I think we knew what Lucas could offer us and it allowed us to change a little bit in the way we played. I think with how good Marlon and Bruno have been centrally, they get a bit of punishment that goes unnoticed so we thought we’d take that away and use Lucas’ physicality, but his quality came as well with the finish.”
Turci and his fellow Brazilian teammates, Marlon, Lapa and Luiz Fernando have been vital to 901 FC's success so far this season. In the past nine matches, the Brazilians have contributed to 16 of Memphis' 18 total goals.
901 FC played three games over the past seven days, drawing two and winning one, a testament to the team's overall endurance and squad depth.
"The resilience the boys showed at the end in their third game in a week," Glass said. "We had to really go to the well to get the work done. I'm proud of the team. Delighted for the team. It’s the workload we talked about this week. They don’t know when they’re beaten, and they also really love winning. “
With this victory, Memphis remains unbeaten in eight of their last nine matches, improving their record to 6-6-3. The win also moved 901 FC to No. 3 in the Western Conference through Week 15.
Memphis 901 FC will return to action next Saturday as they travel to face Las Vegas Lights FC. Kickoff for the Western Conference matchup is set for 9:30 p.m. CT.