Spring in Janurary - Orangemen vs Great Pretenders

Perhaps I should re-figure the time and location of Orangemen games.  On a near springtime day in mid January, last Saturday at 11:30 am at Patriot Park, 24 Orangemen came to a match.  That rivals the turnout for our Family Night back in the Fall and had it been a home game and I was collecting funds, it would have been a windfall!

With 24 players it was going to be hard to monitor substitutes and give everyone something close to half a game playing time.  But Mooch tried hard.  The game itself, against the Great Pretenders, was decent enough,  I think at the end the final was 2 to 3...we lost, but not by much.

Because most players really didn't get a full run, and the field was open at the end of our game, we stayed for another 45 minutes playing a 8 v 8 sided pick-up game.  It was a load of fun and gave everyone who needed extra time the chance to get their Saturday run in.

Since I've waited a week, I can’t think of much more...but here are a few bullets that come to mind.

Chris H played the second half in goal...apologies for pulling Gene and not putting him back in the second half.

Great Pretenders player earned a red card for dissent.

Gorilla Greg went up for a ball, and came down hard.

Jan also went down hard and injured his already tender ribs.

Eric made one of his infrequent Cameo appearances.

John E also made a cameo and did well stepping in for Eric or Tedd in central midfield.

Chris B and Jim L senior made rare appearances.

Banana Fana Tedd

In the morning it was looking like another cold one. Mooch still couldn’t feel his feet from the game against Agosto the week before. But by the 3 pm game time the temperature was downright balmy...well maybe not balmy but it had increased to the high forties and there was no wind. It was a great day to engage with our nemesis from Chantilly, the Casuals under the leadership of long time Grey League Manager Dick C.

As the Orangemen collected at Arrowbrook Park a touch game of American Football was being played on the field. Arrowbrook is the only field in Fairfax County dedicated to strictly soccer...but those American Footballers will always find a field to play on.

Orangemen had a good turnout, except in the defensive 3rd of the field. No of our regular sweepers turned out, and Sam was missing from his signature left back position. As the game began Mooch fielded a brand new defensive four...with Karl being the only regular at right back. The Casuals were, rather casual as they scored their first and second goal. Basically there were two rather nothing plays that resulted in the ball being walked right into the net. This prompted Jose to ask if I wanted him to play sweeper. Jose, who has played sweeper many times for the Orangemen, could have been considered a regular for us in defense year ago. But not any more. It didn’t take Mooch a second thought to shift the defense around to allow Jose to take charge in the back.

Aside from the crappy first couple of goals that were scored against us we played very well We are passing perhaps better than we’ve ever passed before. Multiple combinations of passes right out of the back and down the field. If we can keep this kind of passing the tide will turn for the Orangemen, I can guarantee it.

We had plenty of opportunities up top. Mooch had multiple shots on goal as did Tedd and B. Tedd was dialing in a new pair of shoes, but should be awarded goal of the game for scoring from a corner kick. I haven’t seen a successful banana kick like that in years. As Tedd dialed it in he kept coming closer and closer finally drilling the cross bar on one fabulous strike. Tedd had about 5 goal scoring opportunities but only came away with one on the fabulous banana kick. On another day he would have done far greater damage to the casuals.

B however, was once again running down every ball and creating opportunity after opportunity for the Orangemen. B get’s man of the match for scoring 2 goals. One a magnificent header where he had to out jump players twice his height. And one from a throw in from Gooch to Mooch, who related it to Tedd, who slotted it across the goal for B to finish. That’s good passing gentlemen.

Cold Feet and Red Card

When we awakened on Saturday morning the first thing we to notice was the dusting of snow on the ground and the sleet falling from the sky. First instinct was that the Orangemen game would be cancelled. Mooch checked the weather and it showed by noon the precipitation would end the the temperature would rise above freezing. Having been cooped up all week Mooch was not interested in cancelling the game although during the day several, shall we say fair weather players, called to announced they wouldn't be making it. As it turns out our numbers we already down. Mooch sent out a plea for more participation and with Pete responding.

I don’t remember playing at Oak Marr in Oakton Virginia previously, but there’s always a first, and if it not a first, certainly a first on the new turf field recently installed there. As we arrived the first thing we noticed, other than it was a new field, was that the field was poorly installed. This was the first turf field that I have come across that didn’t shed it’s water. In fact there were standing pools of water all over the field. What’s worse is that the temperature was in the low thirties. An the wind was blowing. It was going to be a cold night of soccer for the Orangemen and I lost the feeling in my feet early on.

Our opponent hosting us this Saturday night was Agosto FC. They are a very good team and perhaps shouldn’t be playing down in the grey division. Maybe just for the Winter Season.

The final score was 2 to 6 or there about...my brain was frozen as well as my feet. We played very well, our passing was good. Kurt had to step up his game as the wind kept most of the play on the left side of midfield, Kurt’s position. He saw more of the ball in 15 minutes than he’s seen all year.

Pete brought Jeff H to play in the net because Gene said he wasn’t coming...he’s apparently afraid of a little snow. Jeff did great for us. Gene played in the field as a defender and had some wonderful touches on the ball and passes into midfield. We may try Gene in the position from time to time.

Thanks to Pete for making the drive down from Baltimore and bringing some players. Sadly Pete missed some goals that really would have turned the score around. He missed a 1 v 1 with the keeper and then missed a chip over the keepers head for a certain goal...but we created the opportunities so it was promising. 

Tedd hit a perfect goal with his signature left footed blast. High into the left side corner netting. He was breaking in a new pair of orange shoes that he claims he gets to wear because I no longer let him wear orange socks. Socks or no socks did I mention my feet were cold.

Agosto has a few players who play extremely dirty. Fortunately one of the players in question was spotted by the ref. When this player attempted to start a fight the ref rightfully produced a red card and sent him to the parking lot. It remains uncertain as to whether the player actually made it to the parking lot.

My feet were still numb in the morning...

Orangemen vs U-18s

In a strange twist of events the team we played the weekend before Christmas was having a hard time fielding a team - we were to play long time  rivals Mt Vernon.  In fact they only had 5 confirmed going into the weekend.  Since the Orangemen held promise of having at least 15 or 16 at the show the Orangemen Manager convinced Jon (the Mt. Vernon manager)  not to cancel but instead show for the game and we would just combine the sides so we could all get out for a pre-Christmas run, and work of some of the meal calories ahead of time.  The twist came when only 2 players from Mt Vernon appeared and only 12 Orangemen...it’s pretty hard to make up two teams with 14 players.  A number of young players however were hanging out at Arrow Brook park as Jon and Mooch proceeded to ask a number of them if they would like to play.

As we started the game, Mt Vernon was at full strength, with 11 players, and the Orangemen were short handed at 10.  Mt. Vernon added 9 players to the roster which turns out, a number of them play for South Lakes High School.  We know this because a South Lakes Teacher plays with us, Mr. Palmer.  He was greeted with a “Hi Mr. Palmer” as he entered the pitch.  And in some weird transcending generational vortex, we found ourselves on a play ground among 16 year old kids showing us how the beautiful game is played.  Mr. Palmer, had to assume his roll as hall monitor instructing his kids to put their cell phones away.  That’s right, in the middle of the game at least two of these kids thought it was appropriate to pull their phones from the pockets and talk during the action...incredible for several reasons...however, the day is coming when this technology will be embedded bio-mechanically into our brains and we need never stop from the action to phone our wives our girl friends.

Turns out the Orangemen were  well outclassed by these kids -  these Sea-hawks from South Lakes, can’t give Mt Vernon too much credit for the score since there were only two of them, needless to say we lost by a healthy margin. But we passed well, kept out heads up, and had plenty of opportunity, we were just no match for the one thing they had in spades, speed.  Considering the game could have been a bust it was fun nonetheless that it all worked out.  Plus, since it was a home game, and with the exception of a few stragglers who made good on the cash, I collected enough to pay for the officials.  

 It was really fun playing with those young kids...and as it turns out those kids were playing when we got field and after the game and they continued to play.  Keep in mind it was pretty cold that night as well, and windy.  But they continued to play...no wonder they are so good.  I wish I could say that's the future of US Soccer...but still the best US athletes are not playing soccer and these kids don't stand a chance as the road forward is still for the elite who can afford to buy their way onto the prestigious traveling teams and building their playing resume in accordance with USSF.  After that, it gets very political , but this blog is to just report on the game.

Special thanks to Jon for not canx the game and managing the affairs of kids team so we could have this pre-Christmas match.

As small group went for pizza and beer at Bertucci’s after the match to relive some of the action...something I hope will catch on more following our home games.

UnReal Fun

When the Orangemen arrived at the pitch on the cool Saturday evening in mid December, the first thing they noticed was that a strange team, one they had never seen before, was slowly going through their pregame warm-ups  A few asked Mooch if this strange team, was in our league. The answer was, “They are not in the Coaches league, they are normally in the NVSL but as NVSL does not have a winter season so they are playing with with us”. They looked like pros and the only consolation was that although they play in NVSL, they play in the over 40 division. James, the UnReal Fairfax manager, revealed to Mooch that today they would have a few actually under 40 since it’s to the competitive season, and asked if that would be alright? Mooch said absolutely, not one to really take exception with how another team fields a starting 11. 

As it turns out UnReal would actually play a man down for the entire match. Upon hearing that UnReal Fairfax played in the over 40 league, one of the Orangemen laughed and said, yeah, and we’ve been playing in the over 40 division, for over over twenty years. And he would be correct as included in tonight's line-up would be many veterans of the squad including Jim L, Jim L Sr., Karl M, Dave N, Gene O, Bob A, Tedd O, and Jim M all safely past the age of 40, and then some. On average, this team was much older than the starting 11 we fielded for the humiliating defeat against our rivals the Vienna Metros the previous weekend. In fact, unless I’m not thinking clearly, our youngest starter tonight would be Greg Z, who is still cutting his teeth, this being his first year of organized soccer. Greg Z would start in defense, and come face to face with the UnReal Number 10, their star striker who was no doubt one of those players under 40 James was talking about. And who, quite frankly, has to be the most talented player we have faced in many years. So take a team loaded with talent, and over 40 experience, and add a striker who should be playing in MLS and we were in store for an interesting game. 

Before we started Gerard our duly assigned ref for the match, led us in a moment of silent reflection to remember the taking of innocent life at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut yesterday. As we stood at the center circle, each in our own thoughts, I wondered if our soccer brotherhood could bring some light to this dark time. For those assembled to play this beautiful game let's simply give thanks for our good health and these wonderful opportunities that are so easily taken for granted.

As expected, the Orangemen fell to UnReal, but not in the manner that was expected. Mooch was extremely pleased with how bravely the Orangemen played and how our senior experience came together. In fact mid-way through the first half, one of the UnReal players was overheard asking, how many players we had on the pitch, 14? Clearly a complement to how we were defending in mass in our end of the field. We left them very little space to work, however, they worked incredibly well and didn't need a whole lot more  space. Early on Chris H, made the statement that they played like an indoor team. They passed, passed, passed...many one and two touches with multiple combinations, it felt like being in a pinball machine, always leading to a through ball played to their number 10 who stated his run onto the ball, well in advance. They played incredibly well, and I think were having their own brand of fun, courtesy of us. Were it not for Maurico, interrupting play as stopper, and Jan using his speed to intervene on every ball, the score would have been a lot worse. As it was the score ended 7 to 2. Not bad against a team that could seemingly score at will. And a far better showing than last week.

What changed? Well for one, the midfield defended, along with the four full backs. Lacking more defensive players we switched back to the defensive formation of yore with Jan sweeping and Mauricio stopping. As always Karl M started as right back, with the rookie Gorrilla Greg Z playing left back. What Greg lacks in skill he makes up for in speed. Today however, we were giving Greg a little too much guidance. We would tell him to move forward to engage the off-sides trap, and then UnReal would sprint by, beating the trap by inches. We would tell him to move outside to cover the right wing, and they would attack through the center where we needed him. Late in the second half Greg got tangled with up with one of their wingers and using his speed to stay with him, accidentally gorilla'd him to the ground to earn a yellow card. Suffice is to say that Greg fared extremely well in the face of a team that could intimidate the most experienced players.

Our passing was far improved from the previous week. We always passed out of the back to the midfield, with Tedd, Mooch, Chris H and Jim L Sr. receiving passes from all full-backs. Jan, Maurico, Karl, and Greg all got their heads up and made quick passes the to midfield. Bob A, Jim Landoll, and Dave Nanney then lingered around midfield to receive a pass, while Emile made a run forward using his long legs to sprint at the UnReal Defense.  We had considerable options and used them all.   And we were not ineffective going forward.  With all those options we from the midfield we then played ball after ball foward with Emile running down most of them.  Chris H and Emile hooked up on numerous runs forward as well., with Tedd and Mooch running just behind in support. Later in the game Peter Z arrived and added to the attack. The only thing lacking was the final finishing touch...Emile, Chris, or Peter had opportunities to score on numerous occasions. Many shots went wide and the few that were on frame were collected by a keeper who could jump about 11 feet and defend above the rim. All three had one on one opportunities with the keeper and failed to come away with a goal, but there were plenty of opportunities to keep us in it and that made it exciting.

It’s hard to criticize all those opportunities other than to say our finishing was lacking. However, we had a number of other opportunities when another pass in final third would have resulted in a better percentage change to score. Mooch missed a big one to Tedd on his left, Emile missed one to three open Orangemen, on the right as he attacked through a crowd on the left, and Bob A frittered away another wonderful opportunity to put the ball back to Tedd’s famous left foot. I’m not saying to attack when the opportunity presents, but keep in mind the other options, and it helps to make the attacker know he has options...for most of us, when the attack is on, tunnel vision sets it, so a call from the other players is always helpful. I suggest a review of the following Orangemen vocabulary to help communicate passing in the attacking third.

SQUARE - you are directly even and would like a 90 degree pass to the left or right.

THROUGH - you are running forward passed the defense and would like a ball played into space between or over the defenders.

SUPPORT - you are behind the play but in an open position to receive the ball if necessary.

EIGHTEEN - play the ball back to the top of the box, you are open to attempt a shot.

Our breakthrough goal came in exactly this manner when the ball wasn't going forward, but when it was played to an on rushing Ogre at the top of the box. Played to Tedd’s left foot at the 18, the result was vintage Tedd. He buried it in the top left corner of the net with stinging pacce. A very well struck ball indeed.

A final goal came in the second half to cap off, despite the defeat, what was an extremely  fun game. Mooch, brought a poorly cleared bouncing midfield ball under control with shoulder and ran onto it. Half expecting to hear a whistle for a hand-ball (it hit the ball of his shoulder) he lifted his head knowing he had space, time, and options...he could play the ball left or right. He heard Chris H on the right side as well as a screaming Pete on the left, and he knew Tedd was in there as well. As he glance up to see which was the better option he looked forward and couldn't understand why the goal looked so big, even though it was far too distant to take a decent shot. Above the din he heard one voice...Bob A was screaming “Keepers Out”. And that was all it took. The ball was settling nicely as he ran onto it and fell perfectly for a right footed kick. He hit the ball square on the bounce and knew it was on target the moment it left his foot. It carried the defenders and Mooch could see the scrambling goalkeeper trying to make it back between the sticks. He was too late. Mooch had scored an easy late game consolation to compensate for all for the Orangemen’s hard work.

Part of the fun during the game, aside from UnReal playing very good soccer, was that they were having a lot of fun during the game as well. Not only were they talking to each other, and encouraging each other in a friendly way, they were also talking to us and encouraging us. When we did something good, they told us we did it well. It was a very friendly game between two sides who love to play the game...I hope we get to play this team again some other season.

It's Why a Soccer Ball is Round

Let’s start with the positive things...The winter soccer season has kicked off and the weather was spectacular. Collecting money for the game went seamlessly and turned out to be surprisingly easy. After the game, the group that went to Bertucci’s really enjoyed the beer (Draft Peroni) and the stone fired pizza. Every two weeks, when we play these home games, I intend to rally the team for Bertucci’s after the match. In fact we may also invite the other team.

With the positive things out of the way, now it’s on to the bad news. On Saturday evening, under the lights of Herndon’s spectacular Arrow-brook Park, we suffered one of our worst defeats in Orangemen history. The Orange was crushed to death by the Vienna Metros by a score of 10 to 0.  If this was indoor soccer they might have forced a forfeit of the match so we could have started drinking early. As it was we had to suffer through right until the end as the Metros never took their foot off the gas, wanting to relish in their goal scoring extravaganza right until the end.

What went wrong? First, I’ll take the easy road out of this and push the blame on the Metros. They have been playing with the same core teammates for at least a decade. Same faces, same names, same positions. Their team never changes. The Orangemen on the other hand have a much smaller core...and that core is never consistently at the match. This is a by product of the Orangemen Philosophy...as we are a fun organization as opposed to a competitive one. If you come to the match you will play, and you will play with considerable field time, no matter what your skill level. This can be frustrating, particularly during games like last nights, but to try to change our philosophy is to cease being the Orangemen. Currently we have 55 players on the roster, 34 of whom attend games during the season. Consistently we average about 14 at each match. That means we literally rotate 20 other players through our revolving door. I’m not about to change that because to reduce that number, would reduce the likelihood that we would have 11 at any given match. So we have to live with an inconsistent line-up with various amounts of fitness level, etc.  And we will adjust or positions and formation on the fly.

Second, the Metros, in case anyone didn’t notice, are a passing team. They pass the ball in the back, they pass the ball through the midfield, and the even pass the ball in the final third. Most of their goals coming off of crosses or simple passes to the open striker on the other side of the box. Yes, some of the Metros passing comes from their familiarity with their teammates. But more likely, they pass because their team approach is built on passing the ball, not unlike the winning teams such as Barcelona who have made the approach so successful. The Orangemen, on the other hand, have been moving backwards in their passing abilities. If we counted the number of passes made by the Metro’s last night, and the number of passes the Orangemen attempted, we would find a similar imbalance to the scoreline, quite possibly 10 to 1. The question is, how do we fix our passing deficit?

The Orangemen typically pass as a last resort, not as a tactic. We have a number of individuals with good individual skill, but we don’t have, in general, an always pass first mentality. Passing first requires individuals to set their ego’s aside and to get their heads up. It’s as easy as trapping the ball first, that’s the first touch, followed by the second touch that should be a pass. If we had time to practice two touch ball, we could have some fun. As it stands we don’t have the opportunity to practice unless individually you can do it during the week, etc. But two touch ball is hard, in fact the only thing harder than two touch ball, is one touch ball. And whereas you might see some pros doing one touch ball in training drills, they rarely do it during a match. Two touch ball is also, hard, even for the pros. About the only team that I’ve seen playing two touch ball has been Tottenham Hotspur during Champion’s League games under Harry Redknapp. Short of that, no team plays two touch ball. Even the kings of touch, Barcelona, don’t play two touch ball or even one touch during most of the game. They actually play three touch ball most of game. That doesn’t mean they don’t switch to one or two touch when they attack, they do, but it’s not how they play for the full 90 minutes. But that’s what you see in the highlights. No, for most of the game the Barcelona players, trap the ball with their first touch, make space for themselves with their second touch, and their third touch is always a pass. It’s helpful to emphasize this...their third touch is ALWAYS A PASS! Their magical play comes down to this very simple formula. And, is obviously far easier than one or two touches. One touch ball means your first touch is perfect, every time. Two touch also means your first touch has to be perfect every time, to set up your second touch to become a pass. Three touch means you can make minor errors on both your first and second touch, and still produce a decent pass.

So what does this mean for the Orangemen. It means I’m going to start getting vocal about passing. Fair notice, if you are trying to dribble through a crowd you are going to start hearing some criticism about getting your head up and releasing the ball to a teammate on your third touch. As it turns out, because a soccer ball is round, its pretty good at rolling across the turf to your awaiting teammates. Use them!

Passing alone would not have changed the outcome of the game last night...but it most definitely would have reduced the Metro’s possession and we would have created more chances for ourselves.  The winter season will be about passing.  Get ready.

Post Turkey-Day Scramble

Special thanks to all who provided commentary from the Orangemen Game on 24 Nov.

It was a cold windy night with 11 Orangemen and 8 opposition players at start time.  Bob noted that wind-chill put the temperature around 20.  Peter accepted duty to even out the numbers as an additional opponent arrived, but by a minute into the game Peter was back in Orange (well red actually) as the game settled at 11 Orangemen and 11 plus 1 sub on the other side.  

The give and go(s) need work…the first pass was good but when the other player  got the ball pass every time without looking and to the a terrible angle, so the ball never got back to the first player that pass the ball in the first ball in the first place. Each time the other team was able to read the play and intercepted the ball. 

The offensive attacks that get stuck in the corner of the field while dribbling needs to look as they are dribbling down the sideline for a teammate at the 20 yard line(top of the box)  to get the better shot on goal. A player shooting on goal from the goal line and near the corners can make a goal easier if they would pass the ball to a player that is open at the 12 yard to around the 20 yard line. 

As the first half proceeded we yielded two or three goals before mounting more frequent and penetrating counter attacks finally scored.  As with most of our scoring opportunities, their excellent keeper and backs stymied us on the initial shot and multiple rebound shots.  This brought us to 3-1 shortly followed by another score against us.  As time expired, Bob brought the score to 4-2 with a short range header on a Ben(?) cross/shot.  We were scoreless the remainder of the game, although with multiple opportunities, while we let in 2 more.

Noteworthy play was the endurance of Karl, playing with a bum back, Doug, Tyler O, and Jean repelled continuous assault, while Ben led multiple counter attacks, but failed attempts to finish (Tedd's legs seemed to never seemed to warm as shots went high, wide, or softly to the keeper) left us trailing the entire game.  Andres and Nate, bolstered the midfield running both ends for the full 90.

During an offensive attacks, any player controlling (providing there is enough time) the ball needs to look at both sides of the field to see which is the best  odds of progressing to score. If the midfielder has the ball and can reach the pass to the opposite where there is lack of other team players then make the switch. Instead of passing the ball on the side of the field where is a mismatch of skills or and overload of players.

We only had eleven guys, played against very talented team, but everyone of our guys played their hearts out. I for one am proud the way they played.We lost even though played maybe the best game of the season. Bob scored and that felt great.

Special thanks to Ben's sister who braved the elements to lead the cheering section.