A strange thing happened on the way to an intra-squad scrimmage on 22 February. The bottom line is that last night's event was an unofficial, unscheduled, ad-hoc, 90 minute pick-up game with an opposing team that happened to show-up and take the pitch with the Orangemen. Mauricio's brought four friends because our numbers looked way down and this was just a pick-up game after all. All four were excellent players who brought skill and talent to the game and made the Orangemen competitive challengers. (Having made no contact with the Internationales manager during the week, Mooch declared the game a bust and Gooch organized the pick-up match)
The highlight of the evening was beer at Glory Days with Dave Nanney and Karl. We learned several interesting tid-bits such as: the conference Mooch attended last week was a Japanese-style comic book convention, D.C. United is having a full squad, first-team practice with the Pentagon Soccer Club in May; Dave's daughter is getting married next month; a second generation Orangemen (Luke Tickner's USAFA classmate) should be joining the Orangemen soon; Sam A. and Julia moved to Dallas; Jose Olivera is returning from Afghanistan; Jose's son retired from pro basketball, got married, and is following his Dad in the Army; Ann and Gooch will be moving to New York in July; and Tedd is recovering from shoulder surgery (wear and tear from swimming). I think we should make "Dave's Dish" a regular feature on the blog.
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And now for the rest of the story…..
We had 9 regulars and Mauricio brought 4 outstanding guests. We were setting up cones to scrimmage 6v6 when the Internationals showed up with approx 20 players, families, and loud fans. We went up 1-0 and were dominating thanks to Mauricio's guests - Sebastian, Mikey, Firmin, and Mr X. John A. sent John H on a tear up the left side; after winning the 50 yard dash on the touchline, John H drove a superb cross to the back post where guest Mikey was keeping pace with the run and perfectly positioned to drill the ball into the back of the net.
The Internationals played a familiar style - using their forearms, elbows, and bodies to screen, possess, and dispossess. Our midfield and attack was matching them blow-for-blow and the referee seemed content with allowing the physical play. The Internationals clearly were not pleased that we refused to back down and they hacked and grabbed at Orangemen as we dribbles around them. Mind you: all this was occurring during sequences of play - both sides were playing physical soccer. On numerous occasions, the referee engaged in loud discussions/debates with dissenting International players. The ref had an unusually high-pitched voice as there was this ear-piercing sequence of screeches from the Internationals penalty area. Turns out, it was the ref squeaking with Internationals during the typical scrum and jostling which occurs in an out-of-control physical match amongst passionate players.
As the ball was cleared from the Internationals back quadrant, the pushing/shoving continued in the middle/center part of the field and there was upper body contact (looked shoulder to shoulder to me) between Orangemen guest Mr X and Internationals. The ref blew his whistle and Orangemen Guest X continued to jog away from the Internationals and towards the Orangemen half. The ref was frantically screeching, and one of the Internationals literally launched himself through the air and delivered a flying kick to the back of Mr X. So Mr X turned and went back into the on-rushing fray of Internationals, while addressing them. At no time did any Orangeman strike, kick, trip, tackle, spit at, etc. any International. Nonetheless, the ref pulled the red card on both Mr X and the International Flying-kickster.
In Mooch's absence, I discussed the matter with the ref, who said Mr X had kicked the Flying Wallenda's son earlier so Flyboy was retaliating. I told the ref that I did not see Mr X or any Orangemen commit any of the 7 sending-off offenses. The ref repeated that he saw Mr X kick Wallenda J. first. I asked why he didn't caution or send-off Mr X at that point, and the ref said he "told" the Internationals that he would handle it, he gave them a free kick, and he "told" them not to retaliate. That's what all the earlier squawking was about. I guess the Internationals decided not to obey him. Unfortunately it made the game more ugly than necessary.
The Internationals equalized the score with a loose ball that bounced around our penalty area after a corner kick - weak goal. We failed to convert on many opportunities. My other criticism is that the Orangemen did not maintain possession and string together series of passes. There was only 1 pass backward and we failed to get the ball out the wings enough. We tried to dribble through 2-4 opponents when a wall pass would have been more effective. We did have good communication and excellent running off the ball to get into open space. Defense was excellent - only allowing one instance where a full-back was beaten and a supporting mid-fielder was a half step away from clearing. As this midfielder stated, that was my fault for terminating slide-tackles at halftime (after the red card fiasco). During an uncontrolled game, I'll risk a 2-1 loss if we can mitigate the chances that one of our guys might get carried to the ER - again. I'll take the blame; however, if presented with the same circumstances, I will make the same decision every time.
After the final whistle blew, the ref told me that he did not want to report the red cards at the International manager's request. I engaged the ref in another discussion that from my vantage point (I played goalie), the Flying Walleneda karate kick was the only dangerous or violent act. The ref said that he saw Mr X fouling Wallenda Jr and the Orangemen were the instigators - so I should believe him and not my lying eyes. Any officially licensed referee would have penalized a dangerous foul if they saw one. Furthermore, a legitimate official would have documented and reported a violent retaliation such a deliberate flying kick (intended to injure) to the back of a player. Recognizing that my protest would be countered by the other team and the referee, I agreed to treat the red cards as a matter that stayed on the pitch. The only logical conclusion is that this bizarre event was not an official, league-sanctioned match.
A few beers and good stories were definitely necessary to cleanse the mind and soul after witnessing such a felonious assault perpetrated against the beautiful game.
Orangemen - Special Thanks to Gooch for the write-up last week. It definitely appears that something strange was going on between the Ref and the Internationales...I’m glad no one was injured and that everybody, considering the circumstances, kept their heads together. As far at resetting the Red Card clock to zero...I’m not sure what to do about it. We’ve gone 480 days without a Red Card...and the player involved wasn’t an Orangemen...and the Red Card wasn’t reported. I will have to talk to the other Team Manager...to understand more about the ref involved. But to me, it seems like the red card was issued to avoid a major altercation. He red carded both players to keep the peace… In the end though, if red is shown, sportsmanship has broken down, whether it was our fault or not. My sense is we’ve got to reset the clock to zero.
in my humble opinion we should not play known instigators like Inter.
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