In a year of firsts for professional soccer in Maine, Wednesday night the Portland Hearts of Pine hosted their first international friendly at ever-lively Fitzpatrick Stadium.
What’s a friendly?
“Well, a synonym is exhibition,” said Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, the Hearts of Pine’s founder and chief community officer.
Friendly just sounds better. And they have value. Even when things get less than friendly.
Tensions heated up in the final minutes between the Hearts of Pine and visiting Halifax Wanderers of the Canadian Premier League just before and after Ollie Wright banged in his sixth goal of the season from the top of the box in added time to give the Hearts a 2-1 win.
Moments before, Portland captain Mikey Lopez was pushed repeatedly by a Wanderers player while Portland was setting up a direct kick that Halifax deflected out of bounds for a corner kick. On the corner, bodies went flying, with Lopez taking an elbow to the head before the ball caromed out of the scrum to Wright, who buried his shot to the upper right. After the goal, Wanderers goalie Aiden Rushenas was given a red card, the second absorbed by Halifax.
“Friendly means, I don’t know, without consequences I guess” said Portland coach Bobby Murphy. “Like, it doesn’t really matter in terms of standings or a tournament knockout but … I wouldn’t expect them to switch it off. Yeah, it got heated.”
Tempers quickly subsided after the game. Portland, which is 4-4-8 in USL League One, improved to 7-7-8 overall in its first season. Halifax, 7-7-3 in the eight-team Canadian Premier League, lost its fifth straight game. Portland will host league foe Richmond Kickers (4-9-4) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Having international friendlies was an idea Hoffman-Johnson talked about long before the first-year franchise had a name, a stadium or even officially a league to play in. Hoffman-Johnson said the club has had “early-stage conversations” about future friendlies and would like to have one a year. Kevin Schohl, the club president, said having future friendlies would “depend on field availability” at city-owned Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Wednesday’s game had value at many levels.
From the political angle, it was a chance for the Hearts franchise and Gov. Janet Mills to promote goodwill with their Canadian neighbors. Mills was at her third Hearts of Pine game to watch the two northeastern-most pro soccer teams in North America.
For fans, it’s a chance to see another league’s product. The attendance was 5,645, another Fitzpatrick sellout, with likely a few first-timers buying tickets on secondary markets.
One of those Hearts newbies was Matt Dyer, a 2001 Westbrook High grad who now lives in Madrid, Spain. He was chatting pregame with longtime friend, high school soccer teammate, Rosevelt Soccer Club co-founder and Hearts season-ticket holder John Morgan. Dyer said he’s watched a few Hearts games on ESPN+ in Spain and felt fortunate to get $25 tickets, only because a friend owed him a favor.
“On Stubhub they were $83. I wasn’t going to pay that. I can go to a Real Madrid game for $50,” Dyer said.
Most importantly from a performance standpoint, the midseason friendly was a great opportunity to get multiple Hearts players the game time they aren’t getting in regular-season games.
Player like Khalid Hersi. The former Lewiston High star made a splash as the first player from Maine to be signed by the Hearts, earning his spot in a tryout camp. He appeared in front of his hometown fans in the inaugural game, played at Lewiston High but had not played since. Hersi shined in the opening minutes, four times beating defenders in the middle of the field with quick moves and sending long forward passes — to the left, center and right — to create dangerous opportunities. He played 60 minutes, coming out in a mass of substitutions when Portland put most of its regular starters in after Halifax tied it 1-1 on a Tavio Ciccarelli goal.
“It was a great opportunity, a great time to showcase myself,” said Hersi, who looked comfortable from his first positive touch. “It was a great opportunity, to be honest. I’ll take this any day. It was a great game. Of course it has value. That performance just plays a big impact on me and the way I’m going to look at things.”
Nathan Messer, the left back and team minutes leader (1,983), was the only player with more than six starts to open the game.
Murphy said the friendly gave “a lot of guys the opportunity to change my mind on some things. Some took advantage, some didn’t. So I think that’s the value of this for me.”
Mickey Reilly, another professional rookie, took advantage of his start, scoring his first professional goal to give the Hearts a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. Reilly has played in 14 of 24 matches, averaging about 30 minutes per appearance.
Reilly said taking advantage of his opportunity means “more belief in yourself and confidence. Hopefully I get some more minutes and we’ll see what happens from there. I’m ready. We have a lot of work in the league to do and obviously that’s more important. Hopefully we make the playoffs and have a good run.”
