Thursday Night Soccer Report

So – this is a very late report for last week’s game probably because I wasn’t really happy with the result and didn’t want to relive it. Not a good excuse but at least I am getting to it before this week’s game.

We were playing the Montville Stallions who were in second place while we were residing in third place. A win meant we moved into second and had a good shot of playing for first place in the playoffs two weeks from now. We had a full compliment minus Nick who was off at Lake Placid and the second game of the night so it wasn’t late at all.

We got off to a great start. Less than 5 minutes into the game Rolfie had his first shot of the night and placed it well in the lower left corner of the net. The keeper didn’t have a chance. We had them pretty well marked up and were keeping them away from the net. Around the 10 minute mark – Rolfie had a ball down the left side of the field where he somehow beat the first guy; even he isn’t sure how he did it and the managed to get past the next two for a weird angle shot that looked pretty all the way into the back of the net.

We felt pretty confident at this point. We were marking their team well and seemed to have a good rhythm. Then we got to over-confident. We started giving them more room in the middle and our fullbacks made some runs up the side. Although we were getting caught a little bit, we still managed to hold them pretty well. We had a play down the left side which got broken up and then 4 passes later it went to one of their players who put a shot in off the right post. Frank didn’t have a chance at it but we never should have given him the shot in the first place. We gave the room in the middle and didn’t have enough people back to cover them on the break.

We clamped down at this point but we did this by not pushing up. Effectively we were stranding either Rolfie or Wes up front with no one to pass to. Rolfie kept trying to go through people but even he isn’t that good (although he would never admit that). He still managed a shot or two – hitting the post once and then on the second reverting to his old self – nowhere near the net.

Montville equalized with about 8 minutes left with a shot from the same guy who scored the first goal – this time from around 24 yards out. It was a beautiful shot that completely handcuffed me and Frank in goal too. Bent right around and ended up in the right side of the net. We discovered later that he used to play professionally in Italy, didn’t make us feel better though.

We spent the last 8 minutes pushing as hard as we could, everyone played pretty good. With less than two minutes we had a corner from the left side that went right to Wes at the far post. He was lined up and we thought this was it – a third goal to put the game away. He tried to head it down but misjudged it and it came off the top of his head and went over the wide open net. The game ended up in a tie.

Although I was pretty happy with my play, I had some nice passes and defended well, I was sick with the outcome. We needed a win to move into second and with the tie we dropped to 4^th, one spot behind the Wildcats which one their game. Since the Wildcats and the Stallions play each other this Thursday our best hope is for them to tie and for us to score 9 goals to beat the Stallion on goal differential. Since we played the number one team, I am not sure we can score the nine goals even though I expect to win. So, until Thursday, we will have to just wait and see what happens.

Thursday Night Soccer Report

We started tonight in third place and needed a win to stay in third with the possibility to move up to second. We were playing the fourth place team GJOA (pronounced Yoah). I didn’t think it would help that we had the late game – except that we usually have a full complement of players at the late hour. Nick was missing tonight as he was a bit under the weather but we had a new substitute join us who was pretty good. It was good to have a deep bench – 4 subs, meant no one really had the right to get tired.

We started off on the defensive with GJOA pressing hard. Nothing that we couldn’t handle – we had Buyar on the right and Charlie on the left so we were pretty strong. Rolfie started on the bench – he had a bad head cold and I wasn’t sure he would make it into the game. We cleared the ball once or twice and then about 3 minutes in – we had nice pass to Wes who brought it up. Frankie was wide open on the right and Wes played it beautifully to his feet. Frankie pulled the keeper off his line and passed it to Wes in front. Wes’ first shot was blocked but he made the second one count and we were up one nil. It took us less than five minutes later to go ahead two nil on a nice pass to Aharon who was wide open on the left. He held onto the ball until the keeper moved and then placed it right under the keeper’s right arm.

Rolfie subbed in for me after 10 minutes as sweeper and he was a sight to see. Holding his head in his hands when the ball wasn’t near him and then perking up. He had a great head ball and when I asked if that made his head feel better or worse the reply was to press both sides of his head in pain and scrunch up his face. He still ripped a shot from more than half field that the keeper barely stopped.

We dominated the rest of the game. We were confident and played that way. Tony had his first goal of the season on a nice shot from the left side. He can only score when his son David doesn’t come to watch. David likes to make fun of Dad and his scoring would have ruined it. Not 3 minutes later he pulled a Del Piero move going down the wing and beating two separate players. We may have to ban his son from coming to any other games.

We scored our final goal on a great shot from Charlie that beat the keeper high to the right. We had a few more chances including one from myself where the keeper made a nice save, although I probably could have placed it better.

We started playing really sexy soccer at one point. Rolfie moved up the left wing from defense and received the ball from Wes. He passed it to me at the 25 yard line as the last man back and then we did a back and forth with Rolfie and Buyar until we found an opening. I think we looked the best we have all season as we made them run around and chase while we found open space. Looked almost professional for a few minutes and if we can do that more often we will win every game. Great communication and great passing makes great teams.

We were determined to make sure that Frank got the shutout. GJOA started pushing their entire team forward and had one good shot on Frank from point blank that he made a great save on. Other than that we refused to give them anything. I promised Frank I wouldn’t let the ball get to him and made a couple of diving saves and blocked shots. We were clearing the ball and pressuring them. In the last 7 minutes they got one of their players thrown out on a red card. He was upset at a call the ref made – and to be fair – the ref didn’t see everything but no one played dirty. Their player ran up to the referee and started yelling how blind he was and how he never moved. The ref gave him a yellow card and when he still didn’t stop a red. It was too bad since GJOA was a pretty good team and needed all their players.

We finished off the game with a 4 – 0 shutout and a guarantee of staying in third place. Not bad for a night’s work and a heck of a birthday present for me. The game ended just as my birthday started.

Thursday Night Soccer Report

It’s that time of the week again. Being Thursday and all we played the fourth game of the second season. We are currently in fifth place with a 1-1-1 record and were playing the second place team which had a 2 – 1 record. We were blessed with the early slot tonight – 9:00 PM which actually played against us in the beginning. Nick had a previous engagement and Jeff was nursing a strained hamstring. We were supposed to playing with two subs but at game time we had exactly 8 players. Thankfully Tony and Aharon showed up just after we started to gives us a bench to go to. The nice part of having the early game was that my daughter, Kimmy, came to watch. The games are always too late for her but she had her homework done and I promised Mom she would be home by 10:15.

This was the third time we played the Wildcats this year. We tied the first game 1 - 1 and won the second 5 – 1. They had a much deeper bench this go around and had recruited a few new players. We knew we could beat them but expected a hard fought game. They did not want to lose again.

We came out pretty strong and applied a lot of pressure to them. 5 minutes in Rolfie had a beautiful pass handed to him and sprung free on the left side. He had no one in front of him and a clear shot from 12 – 13 yards out and wouldn’t you know it – just plain missed. Sometimes you wish he could hit the broadside of a barn – but no – he has to try and make it interesting. At one point – he was standing at mid-field when the ball popped out to him. No one in front of him and what does he do – pass it or take it in – no, he shoots from the half line and other than the fact that it was a perfect field goal it looked silly. I think he sometimes confuses his English football with American Football. Wes had a bunch of great shots tonight but truth be told – their keeper was fantastic. He was determined to keep the Wildcats in the game.

They applied some pressure forward on us, mainly with their two strikers pushed all the way up but we were up to the task. They had only 3 somewhat quality shots on the night – Frank had two terrific saves and everything else was wide. Mark who played with us last year likes to slip by upfront but we held the line and played defense well the entire game.

There was very little interruption from the ref except for one of their guys complaining that we were fouling all night. He tried to prove his point by running over Buyar’s leg and earned an Oscar for his beautiful dive. The ref just laughed at him and waved it off – he did a great job.

We had lots of chances but did not manage to score until the 35^th minute. We had a corner from the left side and Irish Frank slid up from defense and called the ball. Rolfie slickly played it right to his head and Frankie put it in the upper corner out of reach of the keeper. Frank had a great game – helped keep the game sane on right defense and a goal to boot while Charlie handled the left side equally up to the task.

One of our issues is that we are too quiet and do not talk enough. The Wildcats pushed everyone up the last 7 minutes and at one point we had three of our guys and one of theirs in front of the goal with the ball bouncing around but not going anywhere. As Charlie said, I growled like a bear – called the ball and cleared it down the pitch. No one was camping out on my doorstep tonight! What we really needed was a second goal and it just wasn’t going to come tonight. We kept counter-attacking but between their keeper and all we weren’t able to get a shot in the net – had a few off the post but just weren’t able to get that second one in.

The great news was that it was enough. We won the game 1 – 0 and as they say – keep the other team from scoring and you can’t lose. We are guaranteed at least 4^th place and quite possibly higher. Kimmy had a great time at the game. She wants to go again but will only manage that if we can get to 2^nd place by playoff time.

Thursday Night Soccer Report

Tonight we played the Greek team Doxa. We had the late game – supposed to start at 11:19 and didn’t start until 11:24. We had everyone there so we were playing with 4 subs and we decided to be a magnanimous bunch. Doxa only had 7 players so we let them use a youngster as their goalie instead of playing a man down.

This was without a doubt our roughest game of the season. Doxa came out hard and there was a lot of fouling. I got taken out once as did many others on the team and the ref was constantly blowing his whistle. They had one yellow card for a 2 minute suspension and the ref cautioned them many more times. I asked him after the game why he didn’t give any reds and his reply…they had no subs and I wanted to keep it fun. Although he made the right calls as far as fouls not sure it was the right way to go.

We started off on a letdown when 5 minutes in they had their first goal on an excellent shot from the left side. We were not successfully passing and kept trying to go straight up the middle. They played a very well spaced game and had some great passes. It only took another 5 minutes for them to score their second goal. We let one get behind us and although he whiffed on his shot it took a slow bounce over Frank’s leg. He was pretty annoyed at the end of the game. He felt that he should have at least had that one.

We finally started to pick it up after the second goal woke us up. We started to use the sides and with our resident Irish man Frank in with Rolfie and Wes, we got the ball in front of the net. Either Wes or Frank took a shot that clanged off the past and bounced right back to Rolfie on the 6 who pounded it into the net to get one back.

The game stayed pretty close for the next 25 minutes. We were definitely the better team but we refused to run them enough. We did a good job subbing but we had a tendency to lay back and let them attack and then look for a counter. We should have spent more time running them ragged since they had no subs. They had one terrific player, who really pushed us but between a few of us we managed to contain him.

I felt very comfortable – going to the gym the last 2 weeks has definitely made a difference. I was diving around at one point making 2 stops before the ball could get to Frank on some hard shots. We were doing a good job of containing.

We had our second goal on a miscue from their keeper. We put a ball up which he caught and then stepped out of the box. It gave us a direct kick right in front of their net. They put their whole team on the wall directly in front and Rolfie, instead of shooting, layed it off to Wes on the edge of the wall where he put it in the top right corner. We were back to 2 – 2.

This is where Rolfie decided to embarrass himself. He stepped up to forward as we were playing 4 back. 3 defense and a floater and Rolfie hung out at midfield. With about 9 minutes left we put the ball to Rolfie who was all alone in front of their net. Now, as a reminder, – let’s go back three weeks when Wes passed me the ball in the same situation. What did I do, I tried to one time it in the net instead of settling it down and completely missed. So what does Rolfie do, he brings the ball down to his feet turns, I yell “nobody” so he should no he is alone and he takes a shot from maybe 12 yards out. Calling it a shot is pretty generous though, it hit the bubble 8 yards to the left of the post. He knew he blew it but that wasn’t the end. We sent another ball to him two minutes later, he is down on the right end line and starts dribbling towards the goalie. Remember, Rolfie has great foot skills and claims he can beat everyone. Instead of trying to beat the keeper he shoots from 2 yards away right into the keeper. Nick and I decided that Rolfie just can’t shoot from the right side, only from the left.

By the way, he actually had a third chance. During the yellow card 2 minute man up, I moved forward and Wes had a great pass to me on the right side which I turned and put it to Rolfie’s feet (all alone on the left side) and all he could do was lose control. I think he had a case of the yips tonight.

We ended the game tied 2 – 2 and a little beat up on a game we should have won. Tony managed not to get kicked out tonight and even Buyar behaved after his first talking to by the ref. All in all it was a good game but not a great game. We dropped from 4^th to 5^th with a tie and Doxa moved from 3^rd to 4^th due to the tie. Next week we play the Wildcats whom we have tied and beaten in the past but who are in 2^nd in the standings due to their 2^nd win and goal differential. It should be interesting since Paul won’t make it and it is the early game at 9:00.

Thursday Night Soccer Report

Last night was the start of the second season for our 38 and older team – really we are playing 40 and older but they have been nice enough to let a few of us youngsters play with the older guys. Our first game was against the Montville Stallions and needless to say it wasn’t pretty out there. We truly played horribly and deserved the final score of 3 – 1.

I have to start out with how disappointed I was with my play. I felt good going into the game but ended up winded and a step to slow the entire night. I can fairly say I hadn’t fully recovered game fitness since being sick over the weekend but really that is just an excuse. I was lousy. The second goal I let my mark slip past me and then he made an impossible shot off the far post, Frank barely gave him a view of it but he banged it off the post and into the net for the second goal. It didn’t help that we let him goal hang all night, but he never should have had the shot in the first place if I had followed my assignment.

Enough of me for the moment trust me there will be more, as a team we looked like a bunch of odd ducks out there. Our passing was off, we couldn’t communicate for the life of us and until the end of the game we weren’t marking our men. They had very good pressure and when you don’t communicate bad things happen – third goal was a pass from me to no one (I thought Buyar was moving forward) and resulted in a 2 on 1 which turned into a breakaway on Frank.

Frankie (our resident Irishman) played beautiful all night, and saved at least one goal for us. To think he was playing hurt too, had a slip at work and has a sprained wrist. Rolfie on the other hand was not a sight for sore eyes, maybe if you were blind. He went back to playing rugby again, had an open net and put the ball 20 feet over the net looking for a quick rugby 3. He claims it was his left foot and half volley but those are just excuses for really cocking it up. It all started with Nick getting a nice pass from Aharon and putting a low shot on the net, Wes was there for the rebound and put it right back into the goalie, where it then popped over to our aforementioned wanker who claims it was bouncing too much and it was his left foot and the moon was full and the the light got in his eyes….! He did not look good all night. He got frustrated and started shooting from 25 yards out and out of 5 shots maybe one actually made it to the front of the net….the rest were right into the defense. He went one on one a few times and just couldn’t manage it.

Wes was looking for rebounds and scored our only goal on one. We did have our chances but we had our usual suspects shooting wide or over the net. Wes had a beauty that clanked off the crossbar from 25 yards out and then put a nice cross in where I had most ignominious moment of the night. I had no chance at the ball so I tried to go over the top of the bloke in front of me – had my hands on his back and made the grunt to go with it – not my best surfacing whale imitation ever – and yes – the foul was called.

All I can hope for is that we get it back together for next week and put the team back on track, we are better than we played last night and now we have to prove it.