Orangemen vs Turtles -- November 2015

We beat the Turtles 3 to 2 in an outstanding game...

Players

Gene in Goal

Golden Sweeping

Greg right fullback

Karl left fullback

Mauricio Stopper

Tedd Central midfield

Mooch rover

Pete defensive Halfback

Javar ?

Alfredo striker

FAHM Striker

With no subs we played the full game but it was a cool night so everyone ran their butts off.

Turtles scored first fairly early in the first half on what was clearly an off-sides call, at midfield, that somehow the Ref missed.  He was calling us for off-sides but not the Turtles.  Mooch had two magnificent touches to FAHM, over the top.  One with the outside of his left foot and one with his right...they were short looping balls directly into FAHMs path. In both cases, when he kicked them, FAHM was even with him, so how the ref judged those to be off sides I will never know.

FAHM returned the favor.  At halftime it was 1 to 1

Mooch opened the scoring in the second half when he received the ball at the top of the box...it was the a deflection from an errant shot by J.  I trapped the ball and with time and space, and  the ball sitting up nicely, it was all his to finish into the right side of the goal to an outstretched Tony.

But the Turtles came back to tie at 2 2 to make for an interesting finish to the game.  Tensions flared as a loud mouth on the Turtles kept complaining that FAHM was obstructing him.  His anger got the better of him and he took down Alfredo in a vicious tackle that earned him a yellow card.  Strange because he was taking down players left an right...so this speaks to the ability of the Ref to control the game.  He was losing control...on another night vs another team not as well behaved as the Turtles there could have been a different out come.  Way too much yelling from that loud mouth.

And speaking of loud mouths...Mooch did his sharing of yelling too.  But it was, of course, to get his own team to pass the ball.  Whereas we did win the game, and we did create plenty of opportunities...with the right pass at the right time we could have put the game last night away really early in the evening.  If Orangemen continue to hold the ball one, two, three, even four touches past when they should have passed, Mooch will continue to yell.  And he apologizes for any profanity that he might have used last night.  For the record it goes like this...

Pass the ball first touch - Great praise by Mooch

Beat the first player with first touch, then pass the ball - Praise by Mooch

Beat the first player, get ball stolen by second player - Mooch admonishment

Beat the first player, beat the second player, lose ball -  Strong admonishment by Mooch

Beat the first player, beat the second player, beat the third player, lose the ball...  Mooch goes apoplectic and who knows what will come out of his mouth, it's not his fault...

So the game winner came from FAHM...he received the ball just out side the box on the right side.  It set up nicely...and he hit a rocket with his left foot.  No spin, I could see the seams on  the ball as it went left into the side netting, Tony had no chance.  Definitely the goal of the game and the game winner.

Great play by all, including our defense that was left alone deal with a decent Turtles attack all too frequently. Golden was running down every ball even with a tight (insert medical term here) tendon in his back that was making his knee sore...or something like that...  Whatever it was he seemed to work it out as he was getting more distance on his goal kicks then he ever has.

Special thanks to Peter for making the long haul down from Baltimore to give us sufficient numbers.  Also, Peter played a lot of defense last night, most I've seen in a long time.  That was helpful too ensure our win.  I think Peter specifically didn't want to Turtles to beat us last night and made sure of it.

Orangemen vs Internationalze Halloween 2015

Due to Halloween falling on a Saturday night, and very few folks actually wanting to play, I think I had 1 confirmed, we were able to reschedule the game for Friday night.  Strangley it all worked out well...too well in fact.  In the end we had too many fields and too many refs show up for the game.  And, at the last minute, Cris and Rahbi came out of retirement to augment our side.

It was a nice cool fall night, perfect temperature for soccer.  Orangemen wore black and the Internationalze, decked out in their Brazilian National kits, with bright yellow shirts and bright blue shorts, all of a sudden began to resemble minions...coincidence?

At the end of the evening the score was 1 to 1...a tie.  It was the best around game we have played in a long time...this is how the side looked.

Rahbi and Dave Nanney starting up top

Cris, Mooch, Q, and George in the midfield augmented by Alfredo

Golden, Ned, Karl, and Maurico providing an almost impenetrable defense, with Steve H showing up to lend a solid hand.

Gene, of course, was in goal.

Internationalze brought their standard solid line-up.  They played fast and in control.  But we stayed with them.  We were able to bring pressure forward and control the ball in their half of the field to allow our defense a reprieve so when they did attack, we shut them down nicely, and didn’t grow tired.  Scott could be heard calling for the midfield to return to shore up the defense, and we did.  Had we not been willing to play defensively through the midfield, they might have had more breakthroughs.  Unfortunately, with so much defensive minded play, we didn’t create enough chances up top.  But we certainly created some chances..most, when we passed the ball with composure through the midfield.

Cris would lead off the attack, but gaining control of the ball, making a move to get out of trouble, and then completing a pass.  As always, it never works if that initial control then quick distribution does not occur.  

Our goal came on a free kick.  Rahbi took the kick from outside the box.  The ball looped in nicely and the keeper jumped to get his mitts on it.  It beat him but hit the crossbar and bounced down, it hit the ground, but big man Q was right in front of the keeper and was able to stop the ball with his body and then finish with ease into the top of the net.

We had to keep the pressure on to keep from losing as Internationale pressed hard in the remaining few minutes to score.  We kept our heads and kept the score a tie.  We have lost too many times in those last minutes this year.  This was a great turn of fortune and something we should strive for in the future.