Always the Beautiful Game!

The manager of Fairfax Arsenal sent me an email on Saturday at 10:31 am. to cancel the game.  The other team is supposed to cancel before noon on Friday, otherwise they still may have to pay the referee. That is if they really scheduled one.

I sent the email to cancel at 4 pm. Although there was a bit of confusion  for the most part the word got out there. This reminds me that I still don’t have a good list of everyone’s cell phone numbers. I’ll be collecting those once again...then I can send out a txt message when these last minute details pop up.

But more if we have enough time to cancel properly, we probably have enough time to reschedule with another team. Or we have time to better prepare for a practice session, since the field will be open, as it was last night.

So, the field was ours, and per my request, some of us still gathered to play. For those of you who wanted to preserve your Saturday nights for other pursuits, big mistake. Those of us who showed up had an awesome time. We had 10 players in all and we divided up and set up a small field at the center line with two cones marking the goals on either end line. With the blue lines marking the width of our field at 40 yards.

Mooch, Karl, Gene, Maurico (from Arsenal), and Ronald (a walk on) played on one side with Tedd, Emile, John (Tedd’s friend), Greg Z, and another walk-on who plays in the grey league lining up against us.

The play was end to end. We had enough space for wide open passing as well as close touches in the final third to perfect a fancy finish. This is the way I was forced to play soccer for three years in Florida. We rarely played full field, albeit we had upwards of 15 players a side at some points. These smaller touch games are fun, with low numbers they are grueling.

It was great practice for all of us as we each had the ball over and over again...many times all five players touched the ball on each possession.

Emile worked on bringing the ball down with his back to goal, then turning on it and beating the first defender with his speed and long legs.

Gene, who I’ve never seen play the field before, was spectacular. He was always making the right charge to break-up and attack, and then, would bring the ball out of the back sometime dribbling to midfield, tough to do without beating at least two of the opposition on his advance.

Greg Z showed why when I played with him in Florida, he carried the nickname, Gorilla Greg. Playing his tight man marking and not being afraid to get physical, although one wonders why in a friendly pick-up match. Turns out Greg is a competitor...he’s all in, all day, everyday. Occasionally when we were playing in Florida at lunch, and no one showed up to play, Greg and I would go one on one. He was just as competitive. Imagine a lunch-time one-on-one where you have to ice your body after the game. Greg was close to the action when I found myself on the ground at least twice...although it’s hard to pin anything on him other than elevating the level of play.

Karl was playing his signature defense, which included his impeccable timing, as he stepped in to break up a pass. But also, he was not satisfied to play defense. He made countless runs forward and had multiple shots on goal, for which he was rewarded, I think more than once.

Tedd was manning the midfield for his side, reaching in with his long legs to break up passes and bringing the ball down for distribution to the flanks. He was also seen juggling the ball, and reversing direction by looping the ball over his head, something he rarely will do during an actual game. Tedd was also responsible, if memory serves, for passing the ball into Gene’s gonads, and on another pass, for pasting my junk to my abdomen. It was an aggressive game.

John, who Tedd brought this evening to try out for the Orangemen, was a favorite target. We gave him the nickname, “Cow Bell”, because it sounded like he had a can full of marbles in his pocket as he ran. John hasn't played in a while but showed real skill on the field.

Mooch was very happy with his game last night...he had enough time on the ball to practice some of his ball handling he rarely uses during a game, and worked on his pinpoint passing to strikers breaking toward goal...in fact he put the ball on the foot of these runners too many times to count.

The other players last night were walk-ons. However, Mauricio expressed interest in continuing with the Orangemen. He has wonderful field presence and will be a welcome addition to our team if he chooses to come out with us.

To all those who didn't come out or didn't stay, let that be a lesson to you. If you love the beautiful game, a formal fixture is never necessary. Where there is a ball there is a match. Sandlots, dirt fields, grassy parks, beaches, parking lots, or an immaculate abandoned turf fields under the lights in Springfield Virginia. It was a wonderful time to play and it is always the beautiful game!

Mooch & Gooch See Red

A perfect fall night for a soccer game...it was cool and clear and as the Orangemen assembled at Bryant Alternative School to play Alianza...one of the Grey Divisions teams coming back from a suspension after fight and an altercation with the ref. Their manager game me this description of what happened the night that led to their suspension.  Here are his own words

“We've got a history of rough (in all senses of the word) games with [the team we played] -- and this one fit that pattern and we strongly and vocally disagreed with the ref's calls almost from the beginning of the game and would not quiet down about it. He showed at least 4 of our players cards for dissent -- including 2 of them who got red cards. We apparently weren't interested in getting his message that he wasn't interested in our opinion of his calls. I don't think there were any cards for anything else other than dissent, but a large majority of our players thought that there should have been -- for rough and late tackles by [the other team]. Game ended in some sort of scrum that involved a lot of vocal disagreement both between our players and [the other] players and between us and the ref. Scrum started after one of our players was tackled -- our guys thought deliberately and from behind. Ref saw it differently and intended to restart with a drop ball. Game never restarted. Apparently quite a few folks puffed and feuded, the ref left, and then everyone else went home. No one got hurt, but apparently punches were thrown and there was a whole lot of fussing.

Having played in our games against [this team] before I'm very sympathetic to the ref. He was probably in over his head and our persistent, vocal dissent only made things tougher since it sounds like it made him increasingly upset (and perhaps even less prone to make some calls -- not sure since I didn't see it).

Certainly nonstandard, but I think the best available option would have been to simply walk away from the game. We didn't.

Ref's report showed lots of cards to Alianza, none to [the other team]. [They] reported that the scrum at the end was driven by them needing to defend the ref from our players. I think that was both a distortion and exaggeration of what actually happened, but that's what they reported. Bottom line, ref's report included the fact that he felt threatened. Hard for me to imagine anything went (or would have ever gone) beyond verbal with the ref -- for the record it didn't, but the fact that he felt threatened made the league's choice to suspended us from play for 3 weeks quite understandable.”

I’m not wanting to take sides here but typically where there is smoke there is fire...we are playing in a league where we all have to go to work on Monday. We have to play physically and mentally in control. I am proud of everyone on the team who has heeded my warnings and kept themselves in check and not escalated the tension on the field, despite questionable calls by the ref and actions of questionable sportsmanship on the other team. We haven’t had an incident many weeks...until tonight which unfortunately sets our Number of Days, without a Sportsman Incident back to zero.

But first the game...tonight we brought our A team for sure. We had plenty of defense, midfield and firepower. And it showed. Although we lost the match the score was 0 to 1. Our best showing in many weeks. Because we were loaded with talent, some of our organization broke down...as we didn’t need a back line of 5 defenders. Many times during the game our two sweeper were actually playing forward of our three stoppers., essentially leaving out two outside stoppers, back to sweep. This is not the formation...sweeper sweep. Stopper stop. As it turned out, Alianza only goal came as a direct result of this confusion. Since our new formation is primarily a defensive formation, when we bring a extremely talent defense to the pitch, we might revert back to one sweeper to avoid any confusion, and keep the sweeper back to sweep. We shall see. 

Overall the game was a tremendous battle. And very fun to play and watch. Mooch spent most of his time watching as for the second time in 40 years he got hit in the eye with the ball. The first time was a few short weeks ago. This proves statistically that the probability of getting struck in the eye with a soccer ball while on the field of play is exponentially distributed.

As we all know, toward the end of the game we suffered a “Red Card”. Gooch aggressively pursued one of the big Alianza player out of bounds. It didn’t look all that dangerous as Gooch wrapped his leg around the other players right on the sideline. Gooch actually suffered more from the incident by losing his balance and tumbling out of bounds. The ref showed him a yellow card, which seemed appropriate for his last second lunge, and nothing more. The yellow card means he would have to sit out for 5 minutes. As Gooch was walking off the field the Alianza player who he fouled, reached up and touched Gooch on the side of the head with an open palm. Misinterpreting the player’s motion as a slap or a smack, versus a brotherly open hand touch on the face, Gooch turned and aggressively advanced on the player attempting to slap him on the head with his open palm. The ref immediately ran over. The altercation ended immediately and the ref issued Gooch a red card and sent the Alianza player to the bench to cool down as well. The Alianza player immediately came to our bench to explain that Gooch misinterpreted his gesture. This should be a lesson all around. It’s best just to keep your hands to yourself, until we shake hands at the end of the match.

Because of the Red Card, Gooch, will suffer a single game suspension.

Gents...as the season draws to an end...I appreciate everything you’ve done to keep in under control...please continue.

Shake Hands and Come Out Cheating

If you've been keeping up with recent commentary and op ed pieces in the press and on the internet you know there has been a serious debate regarding the fall from grace of the Lance Armstrong.  The discussion has run the gamut from the use of performance enhancing drugs, to the strong arm tactics of Armstrong to enforce the “omerta” or code of silence.  Interleaved been these primary headline making topics has been a more open discussion of cheating.  A serious debate has erupted not just over drug use but,  more applicable to every athletic competition, the gaining an unfair competitive advantage...what drives it and how can seeking a competitive advantage go too far and become cheating.

What does this have to do with a fun soccer game between the Fairfax Rowdies and the Orangemen?  A game that the Orangemen hosted at their home field under the lights of Bryant Alternative school on a brisk fall evening?  As it turns out, the referee during last nights game played a critical role in determining how and if either of the sides would push to seek a competitive advantage.  During the game it became clear that the necessity to report this referee to the league for abysmal performance on the field would be necessary.  When the officiating is poor and either team feels like they have been dealt an injustice on the field, tensions flare.  Not only that, there is a natural tendency to look for justice in the next call.  Sometimes it comes.   Sometimes field justice replaces the referees whistle.  Sometimes, calls are seen differently than might have actually occurred.   About two months ago, we had the same ref.  I wrote the blog, “And Field Justice for All”.  He hasn't improved and the same tendencies emerged.

The first goal of the game came on the kick-off.  The ref blew the starting whistle, the Rowdies kicked off.  In fact they really kicked off.  Gene, our keeper, wasn't ready to play.  He was standing at the top of the penalty area.  The whistle came as a surprise to most of the team.  Mooch had actually been on the sidelines having just been to the center circle with the ball pump that he returned to the bench.  He was running onto the field.  He wasn't even facing forward when the whistle blew.  He turned to look over his shoulder and saw a very high ball arching toward the goal.  Gene who had no idea that the game had even started took a step back and could only watch the ball sail over his head and into the net.  Now it was an exquisite kick to travel that distance and arch into the goal from the kickoff but the referee never confirmed with either goalkeeper if they were ready to begin.  Having just run onto the field Mooch asked the ref if he asked the keeper if he was ready before he blew the starting whistle.  The ref’s response what that it wasn’t necessary for him to check with the keeper before starting. Really?  In forty years of playing soccer this was the first game I've ever been in when the ref didn't ask the keepers if they were ready to play.   FIFA is silent on any requirement to determine if the teams are ready aside from the technical necessity that all players be on their side of the field, the ball be stationary in the center spot, and the opposing team be at least 10 meters from the center spot.  But clearly something happened that seemed unfair.  The Rowdies scored a goal by taking advantage of a referee willing to allow the them the opportunity to exploit confusion at the start of the game.  

Here Mooch describes what happened in his own words, “I would be upset if it happened when we were passively not ready.  I’m even more upset because I was the captain of the team who was asked by the other team to bring them a ball pump to inflate their ball for the opening kickoff and wasn’t even allowed to return onto the pitch to have a  look around before the whistle blew...which I suggest is actively not ready.  By the letter of the law it was a fair goal.  By the rules of sportsmanship and fair play not a chance...  In this case I don’t fault the Rowdies for exploiting the seam in the rules.  In this case I fault the referee for promoting something less than fair play at the opening kickoff.  At the center circle the ref was basically saying as he flips his coin, heads or tails, shake hands, and come out cheating.”

We have had at least three games this season with this ref and all of them have been dysfunctional.  This particular ref officiates from the center circle.  Maybe he walks +/- 10 yards from the center-line   He rarely blows his whistle...whereas some might consider this to be a good thing because he is letting play go on, it's not.  Because he doesn't blow his whistle because he's not paying attention to the game and doesn't know it's time to blow his whistle.  I noticed this behavior the first game this season, when incidents occurred not only was he not in

position to see the incident, on several occasions he wasn't even looking in the direction of play.  So when something happens...even as innocuous as the ball rolling out of bounds, he doesn't blow his whistle and he doesn't indicate who should take possession of the ball...literally the players have to ask him.  Almost every time. This is just one symptom...there are many more.  He also speaks in whispers, so even when he does give direction only one or two players

closest to him have the vaguest idea of what he is saying. By the way on one of these questionable out of bounds calls I heard Sam Ashpole  announce to everyone on the field that it touched him last thereby surrendering the ball to the Rowdies deep in our territory.  My hat’s off to Sam for the exact display of sportsmanship we are looking for at these matches.

With that long introduction, let’s get on to a shorter recap of the game. The final score was 1 to 3.  The Rowdies played their signature passing game.  Scoring their second goal early in the first half as we sunk into our defense.  At that point it seemed like the Rowdies would begin running away with the game, however, Jan and Phil, who have never played in our new dual sweeper role together before began clicking.  Play after play they divided up the defense and one or the other took turns breaking up the attack.  The Rowdies were helpless coming through the middle and were force to attack from the outside.

Even though our new formation forces us to sink back and put nine orange shirts behind the ball, only Bob remained up top on at the center circle, we were not without an offense.  On at least four early occasions we were able to break out of the back and with Mauricio sending Emile sprinting from his outside left position to collect the ball and make a run on goal.  On two of these occasions Emile carried so much speed that he beat the defense and made a one v one challenge on the Rowdies keeper, Doug.  Unfortunately Emile hasn’t been out to play with us in over a year so his finishes went wide.  But the Rowdies were put on notice that the Orangemen were not going to sit back and let them attack.

With only one substitute on the bench Mooch made the decision to invite two players from the pick-up game that ended before they took the field.  The Rowdies had at least one underage player on their team and Mooch offered them additional players to they would have at least one or two substitutes.  Chris Harvan was the last Orangemen to arrive bringing us up to four substitutes...a very good number to have at any game.  When Chris and prepared to enter the pitch Mooch put him up top.  His impact on the game was immediate, joining Emile on the attack, always with Mauricio breaking out of the midfield and distributing a ball for Chris or Emile to run onto.  At the half-time the Orangemen defense had held solid and didn't allow any more goals keeping the  score locked at nil -2.

The second half started and we played very similar to the first half.  The defense was working well however it seemed like a good idea to let Jan and Phil get involved in the attack by making runs out of the back.  One of them could go forward as long as the other stayed at home.  This helped take pressure off the back and we also continued to attack with from the front.  Again the combination of Bob, Emile, Mauricio, and Chris running forward afforded a few more opportunities.  On one forward attack Phil came out of the back controlling the ball on his own and moving through the Rowdies like a hot knife through butter.  He dumped to ball to one of invited players who ran forward on the right.  Emile and Chris ran up the left side calling for the ball to be crossed in.  Finally the guest player crossed it in high and it arched high over the box, dropping perfectly onto Chris’ s foot which he was able to loop back across into the far side netting.  A wonderful goal for the Orangemen.  We were back in the game.

The Rowdies scored their 3rd goal when are back-line was a bit disorganized following one of our advances.  Four Orangemen we still above midfield when the attack game and our signature “W” line of five defenders was more or less in a straight line with one of the stoppers playing deeper than the sweepers, which also defeated the offside call, not that the ref would have called it anyway.  The last Orangemen defender allowed the attacker to get goal side which when he received the pass and turned on it allowed him an unobstructed shot on goal, which he took and finished putting us under a great deal of pressure to come back.And we were not without opportunities.

We continued to have breaking attacks with Emile leading the charge.  He had at least four more runs in the second half.  He is tall and fast.  Time after time with the ball at his feet he was able to push the ball past the defense and run on to it.  Each time as he sprinted forward you could see the gap open between him and the defenders as he simply outpaced them.   Alas as he tried to make the very last touch on the ball, his speed, his new shoes, and his lack of playing in over a year caught up with him and his coordination at top speed failed him.  Nevertheless, it was these consistent runs forward...at least eight of them during the course of the game, that gave us our best opportunities to score and clearly relieved the Rowdies constant attacking pressure.  Therefore Emile emerged as our man of the match.  

Also during the game there was a controversial call involving Jan.  Has he ran forward he lost control of the ball and lunged to keep it off the foot of one of the Rowdy forwards.  He played the ball clear and a second later the Rowdy attacker made contact with Jan foot.  He fell to the ground shouting in pain.  It took several more moments for the ref to blow his whistle.  The injury was bad enough for the game to stop for several minutes as he was taken to the sidelines and attended to.  Just before returning to action the ref issued Jan a yellow card and sent him off for 5 minutes.  This incident set off a number of other tension building tackles and tempers began to flair.  Once again the ref’s inability to control the game was leading to a degrade in sportsmanship between the two sides.  However I applaud both sides for ultimately cooling down and keeping their heads and getting on with the game.  All in all if was a good match and we should look forward to playing the Rowdies next season with a different Ref.