Orangemen vs U-18s

In a strange twist of events the team we played the weekend before Christmas was having a hard time fielding a team - we were to play long time  rivals Mt Vernon.  In fact they only had 5 confirmed going into the weekend.  Since the Orangemen held promise of having at least 15 or 16 at the show the Orangemen Manager convinced Jon (the Mt. Vernon manager)  not to cancel but instead show for the game and we would just combine the sides so we could all get out for a pre-Christmas run, and work of some of the meal calories ahead of time.  The twist came when only 2 players from Mt Vernon appeared and only 12 Orangemen...it’s pretty hard to make up two teams with 14 players.  A number of young players however were hanging out at Arrow Brook park as Jon and Mooch proceeded to ask a number of them if they would like to play.

As we started the game, Mt Vernon was at full strength, with 11 players, and the Orangemen were short handed at 10.  Mt. Vernon added 9 players to the roster which turns out, a number of them play for South Lakes High School.  We know this because a South Lakes Teacher plays with us, Mr. Palmer.  He was greeted with a “Hi Mr. Palmer” as he entered the pitch.  And in some weird transcending generational vortex, we found ourselves on a play ground among 16 year old kids showing us how the beautiful game is played.  Mr. Palmer, had to assume his roll as hall monitor instructing his kids to put their cell phones away.  That’s right, in the middle of the game at least two of these kids thought it was appropriate to pull their phones from the pockets and talk during the action...incredible for several reasons...however, the day is coming when this technology will be embedded bio-mechanically into our brains and we need never stop from the action to phone our wives our girl friends.

Turns out the Orangemen were  well outclassed by these kids -  these Sea-hawks from South Lakes, can’t give Mt Vernon too much credit for the score since there were only two of them, needless to say we lost by a healthy margin. But we passed well, kept out heads up, and had plenty of opportunity, we were just no match for the one thing they had in spades, speed.  Considering the game could have been a bust it was fun nonetheless that it all worked out.  Plus, since it was a home game, and with the exception of a few stragglers who made good on the cash, I collected enough to pay for the officials.  

 It was really fun playing with those young kids...and as it turns out those kids were playing when we got field and after the game and they continued to play.  Keep in mind it was pretty cold that night as well, and windy.  But they continued to play...no wonder they are so good.  I wish I could say that's the future of US Soccer...but still the best US athletes are not playing soccer and these kids don't stand a chance as the road forward is still for the elite who can afford to buy their way onto the prestigious traveling teams and building their playing resume in accordance with USSF.  After that, it gets very political , but this blog is to just report on the game.

Special thanks to Jon for not canx the game and managing the affairs of kids team so we could have this pre-Christmas match.

As small group went for pizza and beer at Bertucci’s after the match to relive some of the action...something I hope will catch on more following our home games.

UnReal Fun

When the Orangemen arrived at the pitch on the cool Saturday evening in mid December, the first thing they noticed was that a strange team, one they had never seen before, was slowly going through their pregame warm-ups  A few asked Mooch if this strange team, was in our league. The answer was, “They are not in the Coaches league, they are normally in the NVSL but as NVSL does not have a winter season so they are playing with with us”. They looked like pros and the only consolation was that although they play in NVSL, they play in the over 40 division. James, the UnReal Fairfax manager, revealed to Mooch that today they would have a few actually under 40 since it’s to the competitive season, and asked if that would be alright? Mooch said absolutely, not one to really take exception with how another team fields a starting 11. 

As it turns out UnReal would actually play a man down for the entire match. Upon hearing that UnReal Fairfax played in the over 40 league, one of the Orangemen laughed and said, yeah, and we’ve been playing in the over 40 division, for over over twenty years. And he would be correct as included in tonight's line-up would be many veterans of the squad including Jim L, Jim L Sr., Karl M, Dave N, Gene O, Bob A, Tedd O, and Jim M all safely past the age of 40, and then some. On average, this team was much older than the starting 11 we fielded for the humiliating defeat against our rivals the Vienna Metros the previous weekend. In fact, unless I’m not thinking clearly, our youngest starter tonight would be Greg Z, who is still cutting his teeth, this being his first year of organized soccer. Greg Z would start in defense, and come face to face with the UnReal Number 10, their star striker who was no doubt one of those players under 40 James was talking about. And who, quite frankly, has to be the most talented player we have faced in many years. So take a team loaded with talent, and over 40 experience, and add a striker who should be playing in MLS and we were in store for an interesting game. 

Before we started Gerard our duly assigned ref for the match, led us in a moment of silent reflection to remember the taking of innocent life at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut yesterday. As we stood at the center circle, each in our own thoughts, I wondered if our soccer brotherhood could bring some light to this dark time. For those assembled to play this beautiful game let's simply give thanks for our good health and these wonderful opportunities that are so easily taken for granted.

As expected, the Orangemen fell to UnReal, but not in the manner that was expected. Mooch was extremely pleased with how bravely the Orangemen played and how our senior experience came together. In fact mid-way through the first half, one of the UnReal players was overheard asking, how many players we had on the pitch, 14? Clearly a complement to how we were defending in mass in our end of the field. We left them very little space to work, however, they worked incredibly well and didn't need a whole lot more  space. Early on Chris H, made the statement that they played like an indoor team. They passed, passed, passed...many one and two touches with multiple combinations, it felt like being in a pinball machine, always leading to a through ball played to their number 10 who stated his run onto the ball, well in advance. They played incredibly well, and I think were having their own brand of fun, courtesy of us. Were it not for Maurico, interrupting play as stopper, and Jan using his speed to intervene on every ball, the score would have been a lot worse. As it was the score ended 7 to 2. Not bad against a team that could seemingly score at will. And a far better showing than last week.

What changed? Well for one, the midfield defended, along with the four full backs. Lacking more defensive players we switched back to the defensive formation of yore with Jan sweeping and Mauricio stopping. As always Karl M started as right back, with the rookie Gorrilla Greg Z playing left back. What Greg lacks in skill he makes up for in speed. Today however, we were giving Greg a little too much guidance. We would tell him to move forward to engage the off-sides trap, and then UnReal would sprint by, beating the trap by inches. We would tell him to move outside to cover the right wing, and they would attack through the center where we needed him. Late in the second half Greg got tangled with up with one of their wingers and using his speed to stay with him, accidentally gorilla'd him to the ground to earn a yellow card. Suffice is to say that Greg fared extremely well in the face of a team that could intimidate the most experienced players.

Our passing was far improved from the previous week. We always passed out of the back to the midfield, with Tedd, Mooch, Chris H and Jim L Sr. receiving passes from all full-backs. Jan, Maurico, Karl, and Greg all got their heads up and made quick passes the to midfield. Bob A, Jim Landoll, and Dave Nanney then lingered around midfield to receive a pass, while Emile made a run forward using his long legs to sprint at the UnReal Defense.  We had considerable options and used them all.   And we were not ineffective going forward.  With all those options we from the midfield we then played ball after ball foward with Emile running down most of them.  Chris H and Emile hooked up on numerous runs forward as well., with Tedd and Mooch running just behind in support. Later in the game Peter Z arrived and added to the attack. The only thing lacking was the final finishing touch...Emile, Chris, or Peter had opportunities to score on numerous occasions. Many shots went wide and the few that were on frame were collected by a keeper who could jump about 11 feet and defend above the rim. All three had one on one opportunities with the keeper and failed to come away with a goal, but there were plenty of opportunities to keep us in it and that made it exciting.

It’s hard to criticize all those opportunities other than to say our finishing was lacking. However, we had a number of other opportunities when another pass in final third would have resulted in a better percentage change to score. Mooch missed a big one to Tedd on his left, Emile missed one to three open Orangemen, on the right as he attacked through a crowd on the left, and Bob A frittered away another wonderful opportunity to put the ball back to Tedd’s famous left foot. I’m not saying to attack when the opportunity presents, but keep in mind the other options, and it helps to make the attacker know he has options...for most of us, when the attack is on, tunnel vision sets it, so a call from the other players is always helpful. I suggest a review of the following Orangemen vocabulary to help communicate passing in the attacking third.

SQUARE - you are directly even and would like a 90 degree pass to the left or right.

THROUGH - you are running forward passed the defense and would like a ball played into space between or over the defenders.

SUPPORT - you are behind the play but in an open position to receive the ball if necessary.

EIGHTEEN - play the ball back to the top of the box, you are open to attempt a shot.

Our breakthrough goal came in exactly this manner when the ball wasn't going forward, but when it was played to an on rushing Ogre at the top of the box. Played to Tedd’s left foot at the 18, the result was vintage Tedd. He buried it in the top left corner of the net with stinging pacce. A very well struck ball indeed.

A final goal came in the second half to cap off, despite the defeat, what was an extremely  fun game. Mooch, brought a poorly cleared bouncing midfield ball under control with shoulder and ran onto it. Half expecting to hear a whistle for a hand-ball (it hit the ball of his shoulder) he lifted his head knowing he had space, time, and options...he could play the ball left or right. He heard Chris H on the right side as well as a screaming Pete on the left, and he knew Tedd was in there as well. As he glance up to see which was the better option he looked forward and couldn't understand why the goal looked so big, even though it was far too distant to take a decent shot. Above the din he heard one voice...Bob A was screaming “Keepers Out”. And that was all it took. The ball was settling nicely as he ran onto it and fell perfectly for a right footed kick. He hit the ball square on the bounce and knew it was on target the moment it left his foot. It carried the defenders and Mooch could see the scrambling goalkeeper trying to make it back between the sticks. He was too late. Mooch had scored an easy late game consolation to compensate for all for the Orangemen’s hard work.

Part of the fun during the game, aside from UnReal playing very good soccer, was that they were having a lot of fun during the game as well. Not only were they talking to each other, and encouraging each other in a friendly way, they were also talking to us and encouraging us. When we did something good, they told us we did it well. It was a very friendly game between two sides who love to play the game...I hope we get to play this team again some other season.

It's Why a Soccer Ball is Round

Let’s start with the positive things...The winter soccer season has kicked off and the weather was spectacular. Collecting money for the game went seamlessly and turned out to be surprisingly easy. After the game, the group that went to Bertucci’s really enjoyed the beer (Draft Peroni) and the stone fired pizza. Every two weeks, when we play these home games, I intend to rally the team for Bertucci’s after the match. In fact we may also invite the other team.

With the positive things out of the way, now it’s on to the bad news. On Saturday evening, under the lights of Herndon’s spectacular Arrow-brook Park, we suffered one of our worst defeats in Orangemen history. The Orange was crushed to death by the Vienna Metros by a score of 10 to 0.  If this was indoor soccer they might have forced a forfeit of the match so we could have started drinking early. As it was we had to suffer through right until the end as the Metros never took their foot off the gas, wanting to relish in their goal scoring extravaganza right until the end.

What went wrong? First, I’ll take the easy road out of this and push the blame on the Metros. They have been playing with the same core teammates for at least a decade. Same faces, same names, same positions. Their team never changes. The Orangemen on the other hand have a much smaller core...and that core is never consistently at the match. This is a by product of the Orangemen Philosophy...as we are a fun organization as opposed to a competitive one. If you come to the match you will play, and you will play with considerable field time, no matter what your skill level. This can be frustrating, particularly during games like last nights, but to try to change our philosophy is to cease being the Orangemen. Currently we have 55 players on the roster, 34 of whom attend games during the season. Consistently we average about 14 at each match. That means we literally rotate 20 other players through our revolving door. I’m not about to change that because to reduce that number, would reduce the likelihood that we would have 11 at any given match. So we have to live with an inconsistent line-up with various amounts of fitness level, etc.  And we will adjust or positions and formation on the fly.

Second, the Metros, in case anyone didn’t notice, are a passing team. They pass the ball in the back, they pass the ball through the midfield, and the even pass the ball in the final third. Most of their goals coming off of crosses or simple passes to the open striker on the other side of the box. Yes, some of the Metros passing comes from their familiarity with their teammates. But more likely, they pass because their team approach is built on passing the ball, not unlike the winning teams such as Barcelona who have made the approach so successful. The Orangemen, on the other hand, have been moving backwards in their passing abilities. If we counted the number of passes made by the Metro’s last night, and the number of passes the Orangemen attempted, we would find a similar imbalance to the scoreline, quite possibly 10 to 1. The question is, how do we fix our passing deficit?

The Orangemen typically pass as a last resort, not as a tactic. We have a number of individuals with good individual skill, but we don’t have, in general, an always pass first mentality. Passing first requires individuals to set their ego’s aside and to get their heads up. It’s as easy as trapping the ball first, that’s the first touch, followed by the second touch that should be a pass. If we had time to practice two touch ball, we could have some fun. As it stands we don’t have the opportunity to practice unless individually you can do it during the week, etc. But two touch ball is hard, in fact the only thing harder than two touch ball, is one touch ball. And whereas you might see some pros doing one touch ball in training drills, they rarely do it during a match. Two touch ball is also, hard, even for the pros. About the only team that I’ve seen playing two touch ball has been Tottenham Hotspur during Champion’s League games under Harry Redknapp. Short of that, no team plays two touch ball. Even the kings of touch, Barcelona, don’t play two touch ball or even one touch during most of the game. They actually play three touch ball most of game. That doesn’t mean they don’t switch to one or two touch when they attack, they do, but it’s not how they play for the full 90 minutes. But that’s what you see in the highlights. No, for most of the game the Barcelona players, trap the ball with their first touch, make space for themselves with their second touch, and their third touch is always a pass. It’s helpful to emphasize this...their third touch is ALWAYS A PASS! Their magical play comes down to this very simple formula. And, is obviously far easier than one or two touches. One touch ball means your first touch is perfect, every time. Two touch also means your first touch has to be perfect every time, to set up your second touch to become a pass. Three touch means you can make minor errors on both your first and second touch, and still produce a decent pass.

So what does this mean for the Orangemen. It means I’m going to start getting vocal about passing. Fair notice, if you are trying to dribble through a crowd you are going to start hearing some criticism about getting your head up and releasing the ball to a teammate on your third touch. As it turns out, because a soccer ball is round, its pretty good at rolling across the turf to your awaiting teammates. Use them!

Passing alone would not have changed the outcome of the game last night...but it most definitely would have reduced the Metro’s possession and we would have created more chances for ourselves.  The winter season will be about passing.  Get ready.

Post Turkey-Day Scramble

Special thanks to all who provided commentary from the Orangemen Game on 24 Nov.

It was a cold windy night with 11 Orangemen and 8 opposition players at start time.  Bob noted that wind-chill put the temperature around 20.  Peter accepted duty to even out the numbers as an additional opponent arrived, but by a minute into the game Peter was back in Orange (well red actually) as the game settled at 11 Orangemen and 11 plus 1 sub on the other side.  

The give and go(s) need work…the first pass was good but when the other player  got the ball pass every time without looking and to the a terrible angle, so the ball never got back to the first player that pass the ball in the first ball in the first place. Each time the other team was able to read the play and intercepted the ball. 

The offensive attacks that get stuck in the corner of the field while dribbling needs to look as they are dribbling down the sideline for a teammate at the 20 yard line(top of the box)  to get the better shot on goal. A player shooting on goal from the goal line and near the corners can make a goal easier if they would pass the ball to a player that is open at the 12 yard to around the 20 yard line. 

As the first half proceeded we yielded two or three goals before mounting more frequent and penetrating counter attacks finally scored.  As with most of our scoring opportunities, their excellent keeper and backs stymied us on the initial shot and multiple rebound shots.  This brought us to 3-1 shortly followed by another score against us.  As time expired, Bob brought the score to 4-2 with a short range header on a Ben(?) cross/shot.  We were scoreless the remainder of the game, although with multiple opportunities, while we let in 2 more.

Noteworthy play was the endurance of Karl, playing with a bum back, Doug, Tyler O, and Jean repelled continuous assault, while Ben led multiple counter attacks, but failed attempts to finish (Tedd's legs seemed to never seemed to warm as shots went high, wide, or softly to the keeper) left us trailing the entire game.  Andres and Nate, bolstered the midfield running both ends for the full 90.

During an offensive attacks, any player controlling (providing there is enough time) the ball needs to look at both sides of the field to see which is the best  odds of progressing to score. If the midfielder has the ball and can reach the pass to the opposite where there is lack of other team players then make the switch. Instead of passing the ball on the side of the field where is a mismatch of skills or and overload of players.

We only had eleven guys, played against very talented team, but everyone of our guys played their hearts out. I for one am proud the way they played.We lost even though played maybe the best game of the season. Bob scored and that felt great.

Special thanks to Ben's sister who braved the elements to lead the cheering section.

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.