Orangemen Play Langley AFB in Change of Command Game

The Orangemen traveled to Langley AFB, VA to play the an Air Force team on the celebration of our very on, Coach Pete, assuming command of the 1st Fighter Wing on 10 July 2015.

Rich P who has been playing soccer for years in the Tide Water area set up the match at Langley...he set up a very young team and we were a little intimidated to go down an play.

Orangemen vs FC Valpo May 2015

On a warm night the Orangemen faced off against FC Valpo at the South Run Complex.  After installing the nets, turning on the lights and paying the ref, it was time to get down to business.  Orangemen were wearing orange and FC Valpo were wearing light blue.

In goal for the Orangemen was Gene.  Karl, Greg, and John H were on-board as full-backs.  Coach was recently back from flight requalification at Tyndall.  With Tedd away, Mooch started Bryan in midfield.  Jose came as Bryan’s visitor.  Mauricio and Alfredo started in midfield, leaving Mooch and Wil to start up top.  Matt would come just at kick-offf and would have to wait a few before stepping on as a stopper.

Within minutes FC Valpo scored an amazingly soft goal...culminating in a run down the left side, a ball cross low and slow across the goalmouth, with Walter P running in from the right for a simple tap in.  Mooch has switched the defense to our two sweeper formation, one which we haven’t used in a while.

As the first half continued, it was clear that FC Valpo was getting the better of us...a severe lack of passing allowed Valpo to pressure in our end and take shot after shot..  A lack of passing up top and through the midfield inhibited us from putting any type of offense together.  We had several set pieces right in front of Valpos’ goal which all fell flat.

Valpo’s third goal came just minutes before the end of the first half, a ball with hit the post and as Gene closed for it, bounced off him and back into the net.  A very soft goal but one which sent the Orangemen to the locker room fairly dejected.

On Wil’s insistence, Mooch moved Bryan to striker with him and Mooch trading off and stepping into the holding midfield position.  Almost immediately Bryan was making an impact up top.  His speed enabled him to blast by the defenders with the ball.  Wil was constantly playing the ball over the top to Bryan who would run onto to it and then go one on one with the keeper.  His first goal game on his third run.  As the keeper came out Bryan easily chipped it over him into the far right side netting.  His second goal, however, he was on the right, and Mauricio played to ball up to him.  From outside side corner of the box, Bryan turned on the ball, and struck a rocket to the far left corner of the net.  The Orangemen had pulled two back.  Bryan’s hattrick game on just another break away run.  The Orangemen were even.  

Then a series of unfortunate events befell the Orangemen.  With only one Sub Mooch was trying to make sure we rotated through the positions to give everyone a breather…  However, an injury, or how should I say, a fantastic defensive block, by Coach, resulted in his removal from the pitch and the dry heaves behind the bleachers.  His challenge to shut down a Valop shot resulted in him receiving a line-drive directly to his family heirlooms dropping him to the deck like a lifeless g-suit discarded post flight and lying on the ops room floor.  The ref called for a stop in action and when Pete regained his feet to hobble off the pitch where he assumed the aforementioned dry heave position behind the bleachers.  Maurico stepped in to play stopper.  In the last 5 minutes of the game, John H came out of the back to break up a play just outside the box,  Unfortunately the ref judged John to have put more of his foot on the striker then the ball and awarded John a yellow card for breaking up the play.  With less than 5 minutes to go, John would have to sit the yellow card suspension and the rest of the game.  With no other subs Coach had to catch his breath an hobble back onto the field.  

With two minutes to go it looked like the Orangemen could hold the tie.  A ball came looping into the box and Karl ran onto it in the center of the box.  I assess Karl would but the outside of his right boot to the ball to clear it, but instead, believing Wil was close by him, let the ball bounce and run in behind.  Wil, who was behind him, was thinking more about the 8 ouch Heinichen's out in his cooler for after the game, then the danger.  A Valpo player sprinted in behind, collected the ball, drove into the box and scored.  Valop went up 3 to 4 and it looked like it was over.

The Orangemen had a surge of adrenaline as the kicked off.  The ball came forward and Mooch had a play on it.  He won the ball from a defender who was giving him fits, due to his speed all game… but lost the handle on it… The ball dropped back a yard and as Mooch turned for it he saw Alfredo charging in to take a shot.  Mooch stepped to the side and Alfredo struck the ball from 22 yards out toward the goal.  The keeper scrambled backward and the shot curled into to the tippy top right corner of the net.  Goooaaaaaall!  Alfredo had scored in the last 30 second of the game saving a well played second half and a 4 to 4 tie for the match.

Nice return to form Orangemen!  You always know you did well if Mooch is inspired enough on a Sunday morning to right down the notes!!  We then enjoyed the refreshments Wil brought for our post game enjoyment to talk about the game and Mooch's new ride (pictured top).  We also talked about what we are going to do with both Coach and John H, our entire central defending staff, leaving in about a month.

The Last Five Games...All In One!

The Last Five Games

I’m now thinking back at least 5 games but it’s hard to remember.  Sorry for the delay for my avid readership...

Away against Arlington

On April 18th we played Arlington in an early match at Virginia Highlands.  Jim Lister showed up to the match and Jim Landoll made a guest visit as a spectator all the way down from Leesburg.  We had a good day.  We crushed Arlington by a score of 9 to 4 and what was special on the day, at least for one Orangemen, was a hat-trick.   That individual will go nameless. But the recall is pretty clear in at least this writer's mind...it went something like this…  

First goal.  Alfredo crosses the ball in from the right, the scorer is coming in from the top of the box.  The cross drops short and a defender rises to head it clear.  The ball is too high, so it  skims off the top of his head, it continues across the top of the box into the path of the scorers run. He catches it with his left thigh and it drops majestically into  the path of his run.  He touches  it once forward, running straight through the defensive line into the box. He lowers his head, and gets his left knee over the ball, and strikes it hard, keeping it straight and low beating the diving keeper on his right.

Second goal.  The ball, again comes diagonally in from the right, low and on the ground to Alfredo. The striker screams for Alfredo to play it through to him.  Everyone closes on Alfredo but he doesn't touch the ball.  Instead he lets it roll straight through his legs to me.  The striker steps back as it rolls in with his left foot drawing it back from the defense about one yard.  He strikes it perfectly with his right boot, curling it up and across the box toward the upper right corner of the goal.  It follows the exact path of his strike, curling just above the gloves of the jumping keeper into the top corner.  The absolutely sweetest feeling when a ball behaves exactly like as he planned. 

Third goal.  Last minute of the game Dan beats the left fullback and carries the ball to the goal line.  The scorer come just behind him running into the center of the box screaming for him to touch it back to the 18.  He still has time to touch it back, but goes it alone to the keeper.  But the striker continues his run.  Dan strikes at goal, but shanks the ball.  He misses the goal and the keeper and the ball comes rolling across the goal heading for the end line behind the far post.  Since the striker continued his run, and everyone closed on Dan because he was clearly taking a shot, He is alone as he reaches the far post.  But by the time he is on the  ball it is wide of the post.  Instead of trying to strike it in with his left foot at a fairly impossible angle, he draws it backward with his left...opening up the angle...and as the hordes of defenders adjust and come charging at him he takes his time, making sure to hit it hard and low with his right foot, beating three defenders and the goalkeeper as they dive at his feet.  Hat Trick...

At home against Fairfax FC

The following week the favor was repaid as Fairfax FC crushed us by a similar score line...perhaps 3 for us and 9 for them.  Fairfax showed up with 9 players and we had 11 so we provided them one player to even out the sides and we played 10 v 10.  Mooch played first half with Fairfax and Alfredo played second half. Mauricio played keeper due to Gene vacation duties overseas.

Away against Braddock Road

The next week we played away and took on Braddock Road. Numbers were short but Braddock grabbed on player from Sterling and took us on with 10.  We were right at 11.  This time Bryan took his turn in goal with Gene being away.  Q also played his second game with us and did well.  I don’t remember the score but with Bryan’s speed coming out of the goal I think it was a pretty even game...not many goals were scored on either side.  I think the final was 1 to 1.  Braddock served up a cooler of beer after the game…Wil also made perhaps his final Orangemen appearance before returning to Boliva to raise his cattle.

Away against Springfield

Mooch did not attend and Tedd took care of managing the game.  He reports, “Decent game tonight, although we lost 5-4 or so.  Q gets honors with two goals.  John H, however kept us in the game with his usual unsung hero sweeping and Matt had a solid time at stopper.  The rest of us, Gene, Karl, Greg, Alfredo, Mauricio, Peter, Bryan, and Johnnie (second half guest that Peter recruited from their sideline).  Bryan owes Fairfax County $ for a rocket he hit square in the post - must have bent it!

And then from text Peter reported the following...slightly different take on the game…”I scored huge powerful upper right corner that even the ref gave me a high five...the shot was a game change to some degree...we were losing 3 to 1 (Q scored) then it was 3 to 2(i scored) then 3 to 3matt i think scored) then 4 to 3 (them) , then tied 4 to 4(they had a own goal).  Peter also gave a lot of credit to Q who he said played very well.

At Home Against Vienna Metros

Final score 2 to 4.  David (Metros Manager) played full game with us...and another one of their players, Karl in first have and Craig in second half, were necessary for us to field 11 on the pitch.  Not sure where Bryan and Mauricio we absent. Peter came in from Baltimore to play.  It was a very well played match...the score doesn’t quite reflect.  The Metros first goal was soft, as Gene thought it was over, and practically ducked his head to get out of the way, thinking it was going high.  It wasn’t, it went straight in.  There other three goals were fairly solid.  But we scored two and had some great pressure in their end most of the game.  Defensively with John H and Matt in the center we were really putting up a fight.  John H was sprinting after ball after ball and making the intercept.

Matt was charging forward with Josh coming out of central Midfield.  And David from the Metros was putting in a full shift.  Opportunities came from multiple corner kicks...but the goals game from a cross Alfredo up in that was headed off the line back to me where  I'm in the center of the box.  The ball is arching out from the left hand side of the goal line and drops right in front of me.  I swept it with my left foot, all cleats to a very open right side of the goal  Low towards the far right post.  My first thought is  I swept it wide but the gods were smiling and it caught the inside of the right post and slipped into the net.

Second goal came late in the game, the ball was played to David’s feet who controlled it and kept the defense to his back.  He turned and played to to Josh who was in the box and still on side.  He played it perfectly into the left post for number two.  

Although we only scored two we have numerous opportunities that had the gods been smiling on us, could easily have turned the game our way.  It was a fun match.

Orangemen vs Chantilly 4 April 2015

Great match last night Orangemen.  Even though we built the team from 7 visitors last night.  We held Chantilly to a draw final score 0 to 0.  The warm temperature throughout the day dipped into the forties but luckily the wind died down completely so if was  a very comfortable match.  Players last night included:

John H

Cheverz (Baltimore)

CJ (Chantilly)

Cesar (Open)

Tedd

Luke

Craig (Metros)

Zapata (Open)

Pete Z (open)

Karl

Carli (Orgre)

Mooch

Gene

Alfredo

In the first half, Luke played sweeper and our last minute arrival from the Metros (Craig) played stopper in front of him.  In the second half, Johnny H returned to sweep in his signature position.  However, the defense wouldn’t have been solid, without Gene having a very good night.  Gene had at least four saves, with one of them being a kick save as good as any NHL Hockey goalie, ala Dominik Hasek could have produced.

Although we had an all star offense last night, we failed to produce a single goal.  One more pass, in the final third, and I think we would have been there...I’ll resist going back to my mantra just based on last night, and the great job we did considering we were playing with a lot of different players last night...but...one more pass…

Special thanks to Tedd’s daughter Carli who played as much of the game as anyone and who did a tremendous job stepping into play, breaking up attacks, and moving the ball forward.  When she was in an attacking position on the left, and wide open, her dad, who collected the ball a the center circle, needed only to punch the ball through to her for a clear 1 v 1 run on goal.  Rather than trust the pass to his right leg, he poked the ball through to Ceasar who was making a crossing run on his left.  The pass was read by the defender and was easily picked off, leaving Carli to throw her hands skyward exclaiming to the soccer gods, why oh why didn’t my dad play me through?  She didn’t actually do that, but I’m sure Tedd heard about it on the way home.

Man of the match honors last night clearly go to Gene for keeping us in the match with his saves...

Awkward moment of the night honors go to Wil H, who we found moonlighting for another team in the White Division as we walked up to start the match!!

The End is Near: Total Futbol or the Apocalypse at Poplar Tree Park

So the Doomsday clock was moved  forward. It’s now three minutes from Armageddon. A friend of mine, with a knack for colorful descriptions, pointed out that the Doomsday Clock, which OBTW has been maintained by a group of ultra left leaning scientists for 50 years, is about a useful as a steamy pant load. Point taken, but all I have to do is look around for myself, and if it’s me reading the signs, I see major changes all around me.  Take for instance the price of gas.  I filled up at $1.99/gallon yesterday.  I almost caused an accident as I swooped into the parking lot, fixed and bewildered by the price showing on the sign.  As was the other guy.  At the pump, the friendliness of the customers was almost giddy.  Are criminals giddy?  We were all pumping gas like we were stealing together, chatting it up and wondering what we were gonna do with the extra cash in our pockets since we were getting free gas this month.  I had a big smile on my face but in the back of my mind, I was also thinking, this can’t be a good sign.  There is no silver lining here, or is there?

Last night, the Orangemen defeated the Uno Mas (the team formerly known as the Great Pretenders) by a score of 4 to 0.  Was that a fluke or has something disturbed the space-time continuum?  We played a marvelous game against a good side who were at full strength with with plenty of available substitutes.  

We had basically our standard squad, with the exception of Bryan arriving as a regular (he turned 30 just a few short days ago which I personally verified on his official government recognized ID).  And traveling Peter Z, who brought a quality friend to the match...Pete evened out Jamal's quality so it was a wash....

The line up included

Wil, B, Bryan, Dave N, with Jamal up top

Cris, Ted, Peter Z, Alfredo, Mooch in the midfield

Greg, Gene, Karl, Matt, Josh, Matt with a late arriving John H defending.

Christian playing keeper for the entire match

The difference in the game last night is that we played the stopper well into midfield.  Cris, when he was stopping, and Matt as well, stepped forward and had the speed to get back if overran, even before Josh had to step forward to clean up.  But Josh was as solid as a brick wall...he had the quality and control when the ball got to him early to stay composed and move the ball out of danger, and he also had to speed to run down a number of balls and had the wherewithal to play the ball back to Christian who was ready for the back pass.  Christian, playing the full game, made some great saves, but because of his speed coming out, and good hands on the ball, none of the shots that came in were exceptionally challenging...or he just made it it seem that way.

Playing with 3 strikers and 3 midfielders last night, with a stopper pushing up and actually adding to midfield, gave us enough pressure forward to control the ball and keep our defense from being over powered.  What was incredible about our play in their end was the number of passes we put together and our movement.  All six of us rotated forward and side to side, moving into open space, and receiving the pass and then passing again, and then running back to regroup behind the ball to start the process again.  It was the closest thing to total futbol that the Orangemen have ever played.  If the six players who are in those positions in the future, continue to play in that manner, it’s almost unnecessary to assign positions.

We scored 4 goals, three of which came from a series of passes.  The fourth goal was fabulous banana kick from Wil on a corner kick that curled right into the net.

The first goal was from Bryan who hit a fantastic strike with his left foot from the top of the box after a series of passes too numerous for Mooch to count.  B scored goal number 2 from inside the box in similar fashion.  I can’t remember who scored our third goal...I’m not used to counting that high.

Anyhow, something strange is going on.  Normally, strange anomalies come in threes...everyone should stay safe, not go out in a Thunderstorm for a few weeks, and definitely look both ways before you cross the street.

I’m going to split player of the match tonight between Josh and Christian.  Those two kept a clean sheet tonight and gave the 6 attacking players the confidence to keep the pressure on down the field allowing us to play total futbol on the eve of the apocalypse!

Orangemen in Vegas

Jose Smith and Scott Black in Las Vegas.  Jose is out there to play in an annual soccer tournament.

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!.