Orangemen vs Internazionale Dec 2014

Orangemen played their last game of 2014 in fine fashion vs their arch nemesis, Internazionale...in fact Internazionale is everyone in the Grey Division’s nemesis.  It just seems like these guys have a style of play that goes beyond physical and treacherous, it’s down right organized and criminal.  From the use of hands to push and pull you off the ball, to their use of hands to direct the ball, it’s almost like they don’t know handling the ball is against the rules.  They dive at the slightest kick, and sometimes, it doesn’t even take a kick for them to go down.   I was watching John H run down a ball on the sidelines, one of their players was standing just off the field about 5 feet from the play, I was about ten yards further down the field looking straight down the sideline.  John kept the ball in with 6 inches of daylight between him and the ball, there wasn’t even a question as to whether or not the ball went out of bounds, but, sure enough the players hand went up to signal the ball was out of bounds.  The ref didn’t buy it, even though he was standing at midfield.  Just goes to show how egregious the attempt at gaining the advantage is to them.  But it gets worse.  They make their calls for offsides on every single through ball, doesn’t matter if a guy is off-sides or not.  Just like with their use of hands, fair play in whatever culture they grew up in, is basically whatever you can get away with.  And when a push or a handled ball, or a wrong call isn’t enough, they simply bring down their man.  Cris S was taken down 3 times, deliberately.  After the first time, the ref, to his credit, gave a yellow card the next three times.  Three Cris, and all just have Cris beat his man, and ran by the defender.  Rather than give chase.  The forth was Mike Z, running onto the ball and touching it by his defender, who rather than give chase, simply turned into Mike’s path and took him down.

Despite this style of play,  Orangemen, you all kept your heads.  Final score was (4) to 4 and a fight didn’t break out.  Clearly on another night, and with that kind of treacherous play going on, someone would have lost their head and starting fighting back.  Thanks for keeping it together and making it a very enjoyable evening.

Great goals and passing is to be applauded.  I’m gonna go ahead and count Mike’s Z’s final miss as a goal for us...given us a 4 to 4 tie.  Simply because the assist, was nothing short of world class.  Someone should have video taped that perfectly weighted ball through the center of the field, splitting the defenders and drawing the keeper into no mans land.  Z easily moved passed the defender, took the ball in stride, side-stepped the keeper, and simply had to roll the ball into the net.  Just like Wil H, did a bit earlier in the game.  We also had goals from Alfredo and Jose, and hit the post a least three times.  The game winner...in the last seconds of the game...sadly, deflected off of Cris’s feet...but was definitely headed into the low right corner of the goal.

Well played in 2014 Orangemen!  See you next year!.

Orangemen vs FC Valpo Nov 2015

First a word about sportsmanship.  Orangemen we have gone 760 days without a Red Card.  That's over two years Orangemen.  A fantastic record and symbolic of the great members of our team who come out to play rather than to compete violently!

Chilly night Orangmen in the Low forties...but not freezing cold.  Final score, about 3 to 5, FC Valpo.

We won the first half, with Cris scoring 2, and with opportunities for 2 more.  Bernie had as great opportunity in the first half as well but rushed the shot.

We controlled the first half extremely well.  FC Valpo was talking amongst themselves like they had forgotten how to play.

Second half they used their speed to come at us.  Our formation in the back was less organized than the first half as our stoppers were creeping too far forward on the attack.  The stoppers can’t stop too far forward as long as they are in a line with the two sweepers behind them.  No reason a five man defense can’t work at midfield as well as it does in the final third.  If the formation is not held tightly though, it all breaks down.  FC Valpo was able to exploit this breakdown on multiple occassions.

We did threaten in the second half.  Bernie had a tremendous goal and a thundering second shot that just went wide of the top corner.

Fun game...I’m glad we played even though the threat of a cancellation loomed large.

That was the last game of the season...a new season starts soon.

Orangemen vs Arlington Nov 2014

1st Goal from Bernie, Mooch play ball over the top

Lost 1 to 5.

Passing needs to come quicker...at least 5 players...all quality for the Orangemen, were caught in possession on multiple occasions.  You know who you are.

The distribution has to come quicker.  If you can’t fight the urge to beat the guy in front of you, then go ahead, and beat the guy, but then get the ball moving.  Don’t try to beat the second guy because the space you originally had has evaporated and the defense has closed.

Orangemen vs Springfield Nov 2014

At kick-off it was registering 31 degrees Fahrenheit, or just under 0 degrees Celsius.  The winter is officially here, although we didn’t switch to the winter ball!

Great responses to the SignUpGenius, no one seems to be having a problem with the process, except Alfredo, and I’m getting the word if you bail on Saturday (except Fabian and Steve H).

Line up last night was fantastic.  

Gene

John H

Greg Z

Karl

Josh

Matt

Tedd

Cris

Alfredo

Mauricio 1

Mooch

WIl

Jose

Pete

Sam

Final score was 4 to 4.  Both teams played very well, although I’m happy to report the Orangemen clearly had more of the position, reported to me by an independent observer, Kent, who braved the cold to watch us play.  Kent had aspirations of one day being an Orangemen Keeper, but alas foot and back surgeries have kept him on the sidelines for many years...the back and foot being important elements of an individuals well rounded game.

Best goal of the game goes to Wil for taking a perfect crossing ball at the top of the area and driving it low and hard with with a wicked curve that took it just inside the far post.  Assist of the game goes to Mooch who used the outside of his left foot to put the ball perfectly into the path of Cris who then side stepped the keeper and practically walked it into the net.

Jose also scored a great goal to beat the Springfield keeper on the near post.  I can’t remember our fourth goal scorer, my apologies, maybe Josh on one of his runs?

Truth be told we hit the post, perhaps 3 times, and had at least two incidents in the box which could have resulted in PKs on another night.  There is no doubt the ref last night was succumbing to the cold, as he was not moving much and making his calls from 30-40 years away.

We were passing well...the only critique I have on the night would be that we need a little more talking...passes that could have been made, were probably not being made, because the folks in position were not calling for the ball.  And, we played with 3 strikers last night, which means all three of them can’t be prima donnas and stand around waiting for the perfect ball.  All three have to be in constant motion...and that wasn’t happening as well as it should have last night.

All in all it was a great outcome on a cold night...Oh and thanks to Pete for playing for Springfield as well as to Alfredo for the shift he put in with them.

Orangemen vs Rowdies Nov 2014

We it was a fun game.  I think the ref robbed us of several fouls while placing several of our players in the book for protests.  No doubt Wil was taken down in the box.  No doubt the Rowdies were physical off the ball just out of sight of the ref.  No doubt, the ref missed holds, and pulls, and trips, in plain sight of the ref.  

That said, it was still a fun game.  Yes we lost 3 to 6, but we had our opportunities.  The wind worked against us in the first half. The second half the wind died down considerably and didn’t help us as much.  Two of their goals were soft.  And we had a number of close shots.

We started the game disorganized with only 10 players....12 were at the field but I gave two to the Rowdies to get started.  As their players and our players arrived we got Cris and Karl back and went to full sides.  Eventually we topped out at 16 last night.

Gene

John H

Peter

Karl

Greg

B

Bernie

Cris

Mooch

Forrest

Alfredo

Mauricio

Dave N

Wil

Sam

Matt

We should have done better with this side against the Rowdies.  Perhaps it was the wind but I didn’t see a series of more than 1 pass strung together last night.  I was mostly kick and run with some individual ball handling.  The exception would be our first goal where Mooch controlled a hopelessly fast ball, held it for a moment, then hit Bernie on the right wing who raced forward and got a great cross into B who was arriving into the box.  B had to control it, the defender thought he was gonna turn to his right with his back to goal, instead B turned to his left and easily finished to the near post.

Sam played some left halfback last night and was making really energetic runs of the left side creating all kinds of problems.

Maybe it was the wind, but I didn’t hear a lot of calling for the ball last night.  That could have contributed to our lack of passing.

That’s all I got for this weekend...see you next week and remember we tailgate after the games.

Orangemen vs One More....Drink? 18 Oct 2014

On a beautiful Fall night with temperatures in the mid 60’s and dropping, twenty (20) Orangemen gathered to play the Team Formerly Known as “The Great Pretenders” to play at Braddock Park, out near Centerville. No way I can remember everyone, but here goes…

Gene

John H

Karl

Greg Z

JV

Matt

Alfredo

Maurico 1

Mauricio 2

Daniel

Wil

Fabian

Mooch

Floppy

Scott Fearing

Cris

Fuz Kelly

Mick (Berbatov - With Mauricio 1)

Shaun (with Johnny H)

Mike (with Wil)

Whereas I alway welcome all players...and wish I would have collected fees on a night when 20 guys show up...clearly we’ve got to do better about communicating and signing up.  Everybody had fun last night, but some folks didn’t even get to play half a game, some even less than that.  What’s worse is five or our regulars were not even there last night...which would include Tedd, Dave, Forrest, Pete, and Sam...Twenty five players?  Yikes.  Seriously though, if we really have this number of players who are excited and want to play on a regular basis...this is a great success story...and I don’t want to stem the energy...particularly since the guys we have coming have been hand selected by each of us to fit the Orangemen profile...really good attitudes, sportsman, and there for the fun of the beautiful game.  If the same level of energy were to persist we could consider running two full Orangemen teams in the league...maybe for the first time we could field a team in the White division as well as one in the Grey Division.  But let’s just see what develops.

This morning you will see a new calendar eVite that will we will try out for a couple of weeks.  Hopefully, the sophistication of this new software will allow  for tighter control of our games...but more importantly simply allow for me to know who’s coming and who’s not.  I’ve tried it on both my computer and my Android and it looks pretty good.

The fact that we only had six confirmed on Saturday morning was unsatisfactory.  Under the new league rules I should have canx the game on Thursday to prevent a one game suspension had I been forced to canx the game on Friday or Saturday morning.  But I knew we would have some folks dropping in, as they always do. 

OK...onto the game.  We lost to the team formerly known as “The Great Pretenders”.  I think they are now calling themselves Uno Mas FC.  From the Urban Dictionary Uno Mas translates to One More...as in please stay at the bar and have “One More" drink.  Which is definitely the meaning they had in mind as most of their team stayed in the parking lot to celebrate their victory.  Of our twenty players who showed up last night, only three regular Orangemen stayed for the social...and two visitors...including our new friend from Bulgaria who I’ve nicknamed Berbatov after my favorite player.

We played a decent game last night.  We had moments of control and our passing was definitely working.  We were just a little bit unorganized due to the number of players switching in and out...but by the end of the game we really were starting to figure it out and were pressing Uno Mas.  Another 10 minutes and I think would would have had them.  Not unlike last week when we came from behind to win 5 - 4.  And the previous week, very similar.  Once we start to gel, things start to get rough for the other side.

One very important thing to point out from last night.  We have an incredible offensive strike weapon with both JV and Matt’s ability to throw in the ball.  If you think JV’s throws are amazing because they can reach the front post, Matt can reach the back post.  Two times Matt carried the crowd in the box to reach Mooch who was standing there looking like at the ball come in like a deer staring at the headlamps of a car.  Both times he was unable to play the ball into an open net...player of the match honors were his to claim, but instead he is awarded player of the match horrors...as in he had nightmares about those two wiffs last night.

Special thanks to Floppy, returning to the games and a special special thanks to Fuz who’s been on the Orangemen email for two years and finally made his first match!!

OK...let me know what you think of the new SignUpGenuis Software.

Orangemen vs Fairfax Lions Oct 2014

When I checked the calendar on Saturday morning and I only saw 7 signed up for the game I thought, this is gonna be a sad weekend.  Then I remembered that Season 5 of the Walking Dead would air on Sunday night.  So no matter what happened tonight, the weekend would be a time of celebration.  Those of you who don’t like soccer, probably hate playing soccer in the rain.  I however, like playing soccer in the rain, and as the downpour continued throughout the day, I was more and more encouraged that we would play the game under my field conditions so it would be a great match, regardless who attended.  As the day developed I got email from a few other players confirming their attendance, bringing our roster to what I estimated would be at least 12 , maybe one or two more.  By kickoff we had 11 and the rain had stopped.  In fact it was dry and clear.  But a nice temperature in the mid 60’s.  A perfect fall soccer night.

On the other half of the field, the Fairfax Lions assembled in their Azzuri blue jerseys.  Led by Rabih ( although Rabih didn’t attend) this is the Lions first season in the league, the first thing that we noticed, they looked very strong.  At to that, they all warmed up together.  Whenever a team warms up together it can always be intimidating.  And that’s the point.  They get in your head early.  They show teamwork, they show organization.  Since we know Rabih and that he is a great guy we knew he would put a great team together.  I also heard from the league that the Fairfax Lions have been a fine addition to the league.  From the looks of it they were here to play.

On our side of the pitch, I was starting to get nervous.  Since Tedd was out from surgery after having a fight with a car, I immediately thought I would play our Marine in mid-field.  Forest has the arguably the best fitness on our team and I knew he would work tirelessly.  JV, Pete, and Sam were on-hand, and all of them have a tendency toward defense.  This actually made my decisions easy.   I wanted a strong defense and I’ve also wanted to return to my 2-sweeper system I invented last year.  So placing Sam and Pete in the back as dual sweepers, I place three stoppers in front of them with Mauricio on the right, JV in the center, and Greg on the left.  Honestly, those five could have played the game alone and repelled the best many teams had to offer, but they were not alone.  With the remaining five I could fashion an offensive threat.  With Forrest in the middle, I place Wil the Dave N up top, with Alfredo and Mooch, running the halfback flanks.  Later Fabian would show, with his broken shoulder, and assistance on the attack.  And did he assist us.  Fabian would score three goals tonight...but I get ahead of myself.  Here is how the action unfolded.

The Lions attacked relentlessly for the first 20 minutes of the game  were back on our heels but the 5 man defense never let them get a good chance on goal.  But during that time we had several runs forward which threatened and proved we could do it when the opportunity presented.  I made sure the offense knew that with only five of us attacking we had to stay tight an attack as a unit.  If one of the attack drifted off, the attack would be isolated and out manned.  We need all five together which meant we all had to run and the far side halfback had to move to the side of the field were were playing on, leaving his position open.  It was, however, up to the outside full-back to step forward into that position to stop the ball if the Lions switched the attack.  It worked again and again.  Add to our credit, we drew first blood.  Off a corner kick from Wil there was scramble in the box and Alfredo was able to poke the ball in to open the scoring.

Then we went to sleep.  We were getting tired and we were getting sloppy.  We turned the ball over in a 15 minute period no less than ten times.  Tempers were flaring...mostly mine...and I was yelling at us to keep our heads and not turn the ball over.  I of course was also guilty of turning the ball over.  The Lions took advantage of us  punished us for the mistakes.  They scored three goals...and it was beginning to look like they found their form and a way through our defense.  I was convinced, however, that the system was working, we were simply giving the ball away too cheaply.   We still had our moments and we able to get forward and we forced a number of corner kicks.  Wil delivered another kick from the left side and the ball came across the box to Fabian.  He kept his head down, connected with the ball, and what should have be a goal came out off the post.  Fabian, didn’t give up, he ran forward, collected his own rebound and shot again.  This time he stretched the back of the net.  At the half the score was 2 to 3.  We had a fighting chance.

I kept our system of play alive and had a talk with the offense to stop quibbling, start passing, and run run run.  And get the ball to Forest because he is a tank and can run through their defense.  True to form Forest was a fitness animal, running end to end, breaking us plays, and continuously demonstrating how to step in, get a foot on the ball, and apply continuous play.  Stand up your player, so one of your teammates can make the steal.  We’ve been lacking a player that relentlessly steps in ever since Ben left us to play in Atlanta.  Forest would clearly be a candidate for man of the match...but once again I get ahead of myself.

Because we were still able to get forward and to press into their box early in the second half, the Lions took down one of our players in the box.  It looked like a Lion taking down a wildebeest on the Serengeti. The ref didn’t see the same infraction, but it didn’t matter, he awarded a PK for a handball in the box.  Wil stepped up and didn’t miss.  With his V. Percy jersey on we wouldn’t expect anything less.  We were tied at 3 apiece.

With our defense working well, we were able to continue to press forward.  We had several series where we passed and ran through their defense but came away without a goal.  The pressure on them was apparent, however, and they knew they were in danger.  A break came and Mooch found himself just outside the box and wondering what to do with it.  The ball was in the air and he heard members of his team calling to play it back.  If he was going to get his foot on it the only thing he felt he would be able to do is to play it back forward over his head...not an ill advised play, since we were in their half, but certainly not a high percentage play.  He looped the ball forward and it carried over the defensive line.  Fabian, ran up the left flank and the ball dropped over the defense and into his path.  He opened his body and shot the ball low and on the ground, across the keeper, to the far post.  The Orangemen had scored number 4 and were now in front.

With 15 minutes remaining it the game there was still plenty of time for the Lions to equalize.  It was time to play it safe.  I pulled Wil back to half-back and he wanted to win as much as anyone, and preserving our lead was in his vocabulary so he stepped back to shore up the midfield.  So we had Sam and Pete sweeping.  Maurico, JV, and Greg stopping in front of them.  Alfredo, Forest, Mooch, and Wil playing four across in front of them, and Fabian the lone striker.  That’s a solid defensive posture and we held.  With five minutes remaining, JV stepped forward to take a long throw in, which he seemingly could place in the box from midfield.  The ball came screaming in, Fabian got his head on it, and the Lions Keeper made a horrible error and spun with the ball as it entered his grip.  Without his body behind the ball, the ball slipped through his grip and into the goal  As soft hat-trick for Fabian but a hat-trick none the less, and some breathing room for the Orangemen to finish out this game with a victory.

The last four minutes were not without excitement, as the Lions valiantly tried to score again.  And they did so in the last minute making the Orangemen very very nervous.  Final score held though and the Orangemen had their first victory in their very first match over the Fairfax Lions.  Final score, 5 to 4.  After the game, man of the match honors were discussed and to a man, Forest was voted man-of the-match for his tireless efforts running end to end...from defense  all the way up to run the attack.  However, it’s almost impossible for me to award man-of-the match when we have a hat-trick at the game.  Fabian humbly conceded that Forest was man-of the match, and I would concede given his third goal was soft, and a goalkeeper error.  However, Fabian is also playing with a broken shoulder.  So for this match, I have no choice but to split man-of the match honors between Forest and Fabian.  Great game last night Orange...we are starting to believe again!!