by guest blogger Kendall Perez
On a comfortably cool, misty night the Orangemen were facing one of the Grey division's most ill-tempered teams. In fact Alianza had just come off a three game suspension for fighting. Previous instructions from our management advised us to play our normal, sportsman- like way.
Most of our players arrived on time and in fact we even had a few guest players insuring that Le Orangé even had a few subs. With the approval of Mooch I was allowed to invite a previous guest Richard. Others such as Gene's son George also made a cameo appearance.
The game started promptly at 8 pm and began at a frenetic pace with Alianza attacking throwing many players forward spearheaded by their two under-30 players. The game was lively with chances at both ends. Several lovely balls over the top allowed us to draw a foul just outside the left side penalty box. William stepped up to take the direct free kick and blasted a laser beam of a shot left-to-right to the top right corner of the goal. Golazo! Their goalie could only look on ....frozen in disbelief. "First blood"to the Orangemen! 1-0.
Throughout the first half Kendall (henceforth referred to as I) had several chances to score but only managed to kick it too close to the keeper for a tip over save and one shot that hit the crossbar and that was just in the first half. Before the half was over we were leading 2-1.
In the second half Alianza blocked several of my shots and I missed even more chances! Luckily William scored again from distance on a well placed shot to the left lower corner. Alianza answered back with a swerving blast of their own that Jean did well to get his gloves on but was unlucky to deflect in for a goal.
The Orangemen would never relinquish the lead and more unselfish play from the defense and midfielders released Ben down the left flank. He accelerated past the last defender cleverly going near post to squeeze one past the keeper. Near the end of the game we were leading 4-3 when Andy of Alianza did his best "Greg Louganis" diving impression deceiving the ref into calling a questionable penalty. Alas the score was tied 4-4 in a game that if not for my futility in front of goal we would have won.
Thanks gentlemen for continuing to have faith in me throughout the game. Lineup f/Orangemen: Jean, George, Jan, Matt, John H, Mauricio, Ben, Ted, Chris, Nathan?, Dave Nanney, Richard, William's friend, Kendall
What a night!
Thanks Kendall for a terrific write-up. You put me right in the action. I'm sorry I couldn't be there!!
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