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.