Yet another 8am start in Brooklyn.  This time the squad was greeted with a disjointed pick-up game on the field that inevitably fueled confusion among the interlopers of the concept of a “permit”.  Despite the fact that 8am kick-offs at McCarran are hardly unusual the riff-raff still had the audacity to argue over territorial rights as if this were a third world country where permits were more of a suggestion, similar to stopping at red lights or democratic rule.  Some Legends went the negotiating route while others weren’t particularly charitable at 8am on a Sunday morning.  Regardless, between Megas not being as organized as the Legends, the goalie net needing to be tended to and the referee on CLRST (Cosmopolitan League Referee Standard Time) it wasn’t until 8:15am that the game kicked off.

Very soon it was apparent that Megas Alexandros were second in the division for a reason.  They passed crisply, switched fields rapidly and were constantly looking to spring the offsides trap with #6 running in from deep and #14 constantly on the last shoulder of the defender.  The speed and guile of play was the best CPR had seen since their drubbing at the hands of the JC Eagles.  One such long ball lob in the 20^th minute put the Legends at a vast disadvantage.  #14 appeared to have a couple of steps on Resnik but miscontrolled the ball enough to allow him into the play, only for heavy contact to bring them both down.  The referee had no hesitation in proffering a straight red (although the crowd were slightly bemused as the red card appeared to be more of a neon orange, perhaps the league had gotten a good deal on orange cards).  Although the Legends are as vocal as most teams at the mere hint of bias against them it was hard to argue with the decision even if the tackle was more clumsy than cynical.

Nothing was to come from the free kick, but the attacks were coming in thick and fast.  Mark Kuhrt had a debut by fire in goal, but proved himself very worthy with a plethora of saves ranging from the mundane to the sublime.  With CPR now rearranged into a 4-4-1 and the opposition playing a high line, it looked like it was once again going to be a rearguard action with the occasional counterattack, one which agonizingly almost came to fruition right at the half time whistle.

Tactical adjustments were straightforward given the situation.  Pack the middle, stay defensive but have the lone front man ready to deliver to the wings for quick counterattacks notably from O’Connell & Pritchard.  A 0-0 draw with 10 men against this talented side would be eagerly grasped at this point.  Unfortunately the lob ball threatening the off sides trap paid dividends for Megas half way through the second half as two players ran through unopposed and even Kuhrt was unable to foil them this time.

The Legends were now forced to chase the game, which on the large field against a comfortable ball controlling side was a tall order.  However with the midfield now pushing up, the Legends surprisingly started gaining some possession and causing issues at the back for Megas, although clearcut opportunities were as rare as stroller free pavements in the surrounding Brooklyn neighbourhood.  During the twilight of the game, a golden glimmer did appear.  Pritchard found himself in a one on one situation on the left hand side but was cynically taken down.  Before the Legends could start revving up their vocal chords, the referee had already rushed over and brandished an orange card.  Although the challenge was professional one wonders whether the opponent would have been set off as speedily if it wasn’t for the first half transgression by CPR.  The Brazilian Willan stepped forward and teased a long shot that caught the crossbar and bounced back, but to Hodges’s eternal thanks the resulting miss from 4 yards was deemed offsides (claims that the miss was a result of hearing the referee call offsides were treated by stone faces by teammates).  Although now even at 10 a piece, a lot of energy had been expended chasing the game, and to add insult to injury Megas managed to take advantage of one of their myriad chances on the last kick of the game to end 2 goals to the good.

Two weeks off before the next game, the Legends can still cement themselves into third place by keeping consistent while continuing to learn the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, something that has already seen an improvement in overall play since 2012.

Competition: Megas Alexandros, League Opposition

Location: Mccarran Park, Brooklyn

Conditions: Mildly chilly morning

Fans: 2 = Pritchard’s missus and child

Result: 0-2 (0-0 at H/T)
Yellow Cards: Teran for a retaliatory foul after a poor non call against Pritchard.

Red Card: Resnik, the first Red in Legends history, slightly unfortunate thought it may have been

Mike D’s aka No Shows: None.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None.

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: The somewhat astonishing streak of non Old Man injuries continues, fatigue and fat notwithstanding.

Old Man of the Match: Many weeks there are arguments about the pros and cons of various players.  This week the award was sewn up in the first half as Mark Kuhrt debuted with several marvelous saves and a few lengthy punts that challenged Megas down the middle.

Old Man of the Bar: A relatively short session didn’t provide any candidates.

El Presidente (new award for Old Men who don’t make it to game but come to the bar): None.

Mr. “Bed, Bath & Beyond” (Season award for least appearances as a full time squad member):

Team Bar Showing: 6 out of 15 (40%)

Team Bar Night:  2.5 out of 5: 8am certainly makes it challenging at the bar when there are no distractions, and with it being spring and international weekend, there was nothing on the telly to keep the group enthralled beyond the usual few hours.

Team (No new profiles this week): Mark Kuhrt (GK), Panu Purhonen (DF), Kyle Sherwin (DF), Luciano Belizan, Steve Teesdale (DF), Mark Resnik (DF), Dan Ochoa, Steve O’Connell, John Hodges, Tony Vamvouris, Chris Muro, Manohar Venkataraman, Willan D’Andrea, Steve Pritchard, Ernesto Teran

The 1pm kick-off at relatively close Red Hook was welcome, although the scrambling regarding finding nets and the frigid air were not.  A few of the regulars were out so some scrambling still managed to bring in an optimal 16, soon changed to 14.5 with the late scratches of Teesdale (Work) & most of Resnik (Hungover).  SC Gjoa have been a Jekyll & Hyde team against CPR, losing away from home while somehow always pulling out a victory at their dreadful excuse of a home pitch at Dyker Beach.  This season it had been no different, with a 1-0 half time lead being torn away to a 3-2 loss. 

With everyone ready to go it was business as usual as both teams had to wait for the referee.  In this case the referee wasn’t late, he just inexplicably kept walking back to his car and despite being at the field 20 minutes before kickoff didn’t bother collecting paperwork until after the kickoff time.  Well known to CPR, he exhibited his usual proclivities of barely travelling past the center circle while calling fouls and offsides based on an internal random number generator.  The decisions resulted in both teams being irate, and although in negotiations success is defined by both sides being unhappy, it’s not so good at a sporting event.  Gjoa were convinced that CPR’s first goal was offsides, lofted in by Purhonen & flicked on by Venkataraman to Pritchard, however they had been let off previously by poor calls so should have taken the warning to heed.

	And…it’s a 7, so I’ll decide that the call is offsides, regardless of when the player passed the ball

Soon after it was the physical nature of the game that caused grief, a 50-50 ball to the keeper resulting in a challenge by Muro and goal by Pritchard that provoked an outsized response from Gjoa.  The Gjoan keeper should have been set off by the letter of the law, but at this level it was better for the game and both sides that he merely received a booking.  The temperature of the game was raised, but apart from some childish verbals from both sides the game fortunately did not get out of hand.

As a contest the game was absorbing. Gjoa’s long track record continued of being suspect defensively while dangerous on the attack, so CPR were very cognizant of getting that second goal while trying to stem the flood of attacks.  A half time score of 1-0 was exactly where it stood at the last game, so once again it was expressed that the team needed to come out hard and match their intensity at the start of the second half.  Muro & Ochoa certainly took that to heart, with some biting tackles and not letting the Gjoan midfielders slip into the box.  Meanwhile as they started pushing further forward gaps started opening that the Legends looked to exploit, although apart from a few scrambles in the box they couldn’t quite put the finishing touches on.

The second goal arrived as a huge relief, more scrambling up top resulted in a lovely cross by Ochoa that the keeper could only parry towards Pritchard who finished nicely into the empty goal.  A few minutes later another scramble resulted in Ochoa’s shot towards the empty net being blocked at the last minute, with Venkataraman showing Ochoa how it’s done with a scorching finish from the top of the box, a mirror image to the tepid penalty of the previous week.

Although surely the game was won at this point, the Gjoans hadn’t given up and continued to attack. Although always on the verge of sending too many players forward, CPR managed to curb their enthusiasm just enough to stymie any and all attacks.  Right as it  looked like they would close the books on a well deserved victory there was a last sting in the tail, the referee spotting mild contact and a player tripping and falling and deciding inconceivably to award a penalty.  Both teams appeared bemused, not sure what the referee was blowing his whistle for, and when the Gjoans finally believed what was going on it was a race to see who could take the penalty.  Despite diving the right way, Mejia was unable to save the well struck penalty and the Gjoans managed to take something from the game with the last kick, not entirely undeserved.

With a huge game and another grudge match against Megas Alexandros next week, another win would see the Legends vault into second place and into potential promotion.

Competition: SC Gjoa, League Opposition

Location: Red Hook Field #1, Brooklyn

Conditions: Very chilly afternoon

Fans: None, although Resnik came very close to qualifying

Result: 3-1 (1-0 at H/T)

1:0 Pritchard Assists Purnohen, Venkataraman (Assists Wikipedia was consulted, which explains the two assist goal and the generous assist for Ochoa’s blocked shot)

2:0 Pritchard Assist Ochoa
3:0 Venkataraman Assist Ochoa

Yellow Cards: None for CPR although there were some robust tackles being thrown around by  Muro & Ochoa.

Red Card: None.

Mike D’s aka No Shows: Teesdale had a late cancellation due to work.  No doubt he’d much rather be playing.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None.

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: Nobody hurt during the game, but Resnik was about as non functional as you could be.  RBV after midnight is generally a bad idea.

Old Man of the Match: Some vigorous discussion at the pub.  Common myths had to be dispelled regarding the awarding of man of the match to goal scorers (10 of the 12 awards this year have gone to non strikers).  Pritchard scored 2 and was a constant thorn in the Gjoa defence all day, yet both Muro & Ochoa provided steel to the spine in never letting Gjoa relax on the ball.  Ultimately it was guest goalie Mejia who took home the award (metaphorically as he was still playing and didn’t make it to the pub afterwards).  Some great saves prompted praise from the opposition manager, and he almost saved the absurdly awarded penalty at the end.

Old Man of the Bar: None, although once again Venkataraman & Faherty were there for a long St Paddy’s day session.  Nice cameo by Sherwin with some interesting alternating of RBV with Coors Light, vomit inducing as that might sound to most.

Reverse Old Man of the Bar (aka the Becker “Coffee is not for Closers” award): Resnik’s body is catching up to his age, with the ability to drink for endless hours no longer to be taken for granted.  Resnik appeared more like Champ Bailey in the Denver vs Baltimore game, repeatedly torched to the astonishment of all those who have taken his limitless alcohol capacity for granted.  It was a sobering sign of mortality (not sobering early enough though).

	In his 204th official game for Central Park Rangers, Mark Resnik showed up the most damaged he’s ever been, and that’s saying something reminiscing to the halcyon days of the Metroboyz

El Presidente (new award for Old Men who don’t make it to game but come to the bar): None, although honorary mentions to Gayle, Jean & Debs.

Team Bar Showing: 7 out of 15 (47%)

Team Bar Night:  3.5 out of 5: Although initially discombulated by all the NYU kids celebrating St Patrick’s day, Rosie did her best to provide suitable accommodations as always, and a slow start did gather some pace and laughter, mostly at Resnik’s expense.

Team (No new profiles this week): Dan Mejia (GK), Greg Wise (DF), Panu Purhonen (DF), Andrew Faherty (DF), John Hodges (DF), Kyle Sherwin, Dan Ochoa, Steve O’Connell, Tony Vamvouris, Chris Muro, Manohar Venkataraman, Milan Gupta, Willan D’Andrea, Steve Pritchard, Mark Resnik