The Great Pretender’s lived up to their name last evening as our secret witnesses observed them recruiting multiple players from the pick-up match that preceded our game. Concerns were raised, Mooch waived most of them off as we had fielded a good side, the night was spectacular, and if a team is down that many players he would rather play the match then get into a short sided game, or worse, have to cancel the match, particularly when we are obliged to pay the ref. Mooch, however, will take the matter up with Michael R their manager, to let him know it’s better to disclose their intentions in advance rather and to try to be sneaky about it, even though Mooch himself walked onto the Pretender’s as a “Visitor” in August last year and had a great match vs Mt Vernon. Here is the post from that came.
We also played the Pretender’s in Jan of this year...that was the game where 24 Orangemen turned up.
And prior to that we played the Pretender’s in October last year, which just happened to the be the game Mooch took the line-drive to his eyeball. Gooch handled the blog post.
To their great credit, however the Pretender’s opted to enforce the no-slide tackle rule, not so much to prevent themselves from being taken out by sliding Orangemen, but to keep their own side, with their multiple “Visitors” in check. Mooch recognized this immediately and immediately agreed with the suggestion at the center circle.
Final score, Orangemen 5, Great Pretenders 5. Almost everyone on the pitch would agree, it was a spectacular game, right on the money in terms of fun and competition. It is hard not to have fun when there is so much action going on. Everyone played their heart out. We generated offense, midfield, and a scrambling but effective defense. Dougie returned to D for the first time in many months. He was joined by Jan, Mikie, Karl, and with Maurico, Alfredo, and Chris taking turns in the back.
The game waged back and forth with most of the advantage going to the Pretenders in the first half...which put a lot of pressure on our Defense. The boys did well enough to contain the damage to 2 goals at the half. We stayed in it because our first break came off a corner kick to which Tedd didn’t respond to the corner in his typical timely fashion. Before we could sort it out Chris, of all players, was placing the ball down as if he was going to have a go at the corner kick. A hue and cry went up the field questioning the selection however the criticism was short lived as Ben scored off the kick that came in. Chris toe poked a lofty duck, that stayed straight and dropped right into the center of the box. After the brief melee the ball popped up nicely for Ben to slam into the net at close range.
We ended the half at 1 to 2...still well in the match considering the pressure they were putting us under particularly with their 20 something’s considerable skill and speed. The Pretenders could outpace us to every single ball. The only way we could stay in possession was to keep our traps clean and close, and then keep the passes moving.
As the second half started the Pretenders were able to score first taking them to 3. The potential for the came to move out of reach was real. However we pulled another one back when Peter scored from another corner kick. Very similar to our first goal, this time delivered from our veteran corner taker Tedd. Another melee, but this time Peter got his long leg and size 13 shoe onto it for another close in finish. The set pieces were working for us. The score was now 2 to 3. The Pretenders scored again, this time off of a beautifully played series of passing down our right flank. They passed through our defense and going deep almost into the corner, than bringing the ball back out to the 18 where one of the Pretender’s strikers hit the cover off the ball, placing a line drive through the defense, and into the net. Our keeper didn’t have a chance to react. That took the score to 2 to 4. and their was a brief bit of confusion at the center circle as to the actual score. The ref said 2 to 5, Mooch went over and told him, oh no, the score was 2 to 4 and the ref agreed
Other goals of note include Alfredo scoring during the run of play off a lofty cross from Kendall. The keeper came out but Alfredo beat him to the ball and lifted it over his head and into the goal. Kendall continued his run and headed the bounce ball further into the net, but the ball had crossed the line before Kendall made contact, therefore the goal stands as Alfredo with Kendall earning the assist. We were now within one of a tie at 3 to 4. The Pretender’s were not finished scoring either. And were able to capitalize on a short sided defense when they caught us on a quick break away. We were still two goals behind as the score advanced to 3 to 5.
But Orange kept their heart in it and the pressure on. Our next goal came from Tedd as he scored from the top of the box, with Alfredo once again getting involved. Alfredo approached deep on the right, got into trouble and then pulled the ball back to Mooch standing on the 18. Tedd was shouting from his left and Mooch had time to get the lateral pass to him, which he knew if Tedd could connect with his left foot it was a higher probability shot then one he could take as Pretender’s were throwing their bodies in front of him to block the shot. Mooch moved the ball to his left and punched it laterally with the outside of this left foot. He gave Tedd a bouncing ball, but it was straight. Tedd pulled the trigger placing the ball into the upper right corner of the net, the Pretender’s keeper had no chance. The score was 4 to 5.
With 10 minutes remaining, Peter made a run up the left side of the pitch and he had options running into the box. He could cross it into the box or pull it back to the 18 for a marauding Ben. He chose the later, The ball stayed low and as it crossed into the center, Ben hit’s it with his instep curling into the top right corner of the net. After that there were only 5 minutes left in the match, Karl and Gene entered the game to provide closing minute defense. The Pretender’s made a last minute scramble to win the game but the Orangemen defense held and we finished with a tie. The ref blew the whistle and indicated to Mooch with his two hands raised, final score, 5 to 5. It was an awesome match.
Unfortunately, clouding the spectacular night, we had an issue with Orangemen getting upset by other Orangemen for criticizing their play. First, all Orangemen need to toughen their skin, both to external and internal criticism for their own mistakes as well as to the necessity to comment on another player when they witness other players mistakes. As previously stated, the only criticism I will allow on the field from other players is to point out a passing option that was missed. Criticism of a players ability, direct attacks on another player for failing to do something correctly, or generally being a verbal nuisance as in coaching everyone during every second prior to, during, and after each play is of no real use on our pitch and only annoys other players. The Orangemen are a collection of players of many ages and skill levels trying to enjoy our beautiful game. There is no room for criticism, only encouragement at our games. We’ve taken great strides to clean up our interactions with the other teams players and of course with the referees, who tend to warrant angry words most often. If we’ve cleaned up there, we can clean up in the other departments as well. If a player is directly criticizing your action to the point where it is distracting you from your game, tell Mooch, no need to engage the offending player directly. That only elevates tension, pulls everyone into the argument, and distracts everyone from the game at hand. That said, some of our stronger players have been working with some of our weaker players off the pitch. Coaching is not criticism if it is conducted with love. It’s always appropriate to help a player learn new skills...but the best place for that is off the pitch. No one is learning a new skill on the pitch, so that is not coaching. One place where we are having great success learning in skills is at our pick up practice on Wednesday nights...still going and still very useful to get in a midweek run.
Back to the match...Ben, for his two goals, relentless use of the phrase, “Ben’s-In”, and not paying his game fee with his name sake, a Benjamin Franklin, receives Man of the Match honors last evening. 5 to 5 Orangemen, we all should be hugely proud of that result.
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