Archive for: November, 2014

Results from Nov 23rd

Nov 24 2014 Published by under Club

Women’s Red had the weekend off

Women’s White beat Fuel FC 1-0

Men’s White were shutout by United FC, 0-5

Men’s White Reserves lost 0-3 at United FC

Men’s Red beat FC Gwardia PLNY 4-0 (match report)

Old Boys drew 3-3 with Manhattan Celtic Legends

The Grays beat BW Gottschee 5-1

The Legends fell 1-3 SC Gjoa (match report)

Comments are off for this post

Reds Close out Fall Season with 4-0 Toppling of Gwardia

Nov 24 2014 Published by under Reds

Reds took the field in a rematch of last week’s state cup game eager to get their revenge vs. the Gwardia team who came off victorious last week in penalties. Once again the Reds came out strong and had several opportunities to jump on the Gwardia defense. They broke thru with a 1-0 lead thanks to a delightful ball into Hendo DeRuiter, from the right wing, who nodded home a header past the Gwardia keeper. For the 2nd week in a row, a Reds defender went down early as Alberto Riego awkwardly sprained his leg challenging a tackle and was forced to sit the remainder of the match. Rookie Tim Lonergan was able to set up and hold down Riego’s position the rest of the game. The Reds battled the rest of the half, failing to generate a decisive second goal but their defense held strong and limited Gwardia to very few chances. Wing play from Eric Pierot and Johnny Williamson combined with strong CM play from Deco Heffernan and Felipe Lima as a pair proved to be a big advantage. The second CM duo of Chris Valentine and Lance Brune was just as lethal in the middle winning the majority of 50-50s. The half ended 1-o as it had the week prior.

The 2nd half started with Gwardia pumped up and playing very direct but once again the Reds defensive unit held strong, particularly in the air in the center mid and generated offense from there. Wing play by Matt Hatcher on the left and Felipe Lima and Johnny Williamson on the right generated several attacks and the Reds broke thru to get a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th goal in the second 45 thanks to strong finishes from Timur Mone and Lance Brune, and a nicely set up own goal off a corner kick from Deco Heffernan. Once again, a shoutout to the Reds defensive unit of Ian Nolan, Tim Lonergan, Sam Emsell, Blake Berg, and GK Andrew who were able to secure a shut out to close off the fall portion of the season.

The Reds conclude the fall season (10 games) atop the Metro 1 East Division at 26 pts (8-0-2) with a dominant goal differential of +41 (48 GF, 7 GA) and 4 shut outs.

Team Golden Boot leaders thus far stand at:

TIMUR — 11
DECO — 10
RICHIE — 8
JOHNNY — 5
HENDO — 3

Comments are off for this post

Shorthanded Legends give league leaders trouble

Nov 24 2014 Published by under Legends

Gallant effort by the 10 men who showed up. Legends played a somewhat boring but effective narrow and compact style, with a little possession and counter attacking mixed in. For first 15mins Gjoa had much of the ball, but were able to do nothing except launch hoping crosses or 23+ yd shots, none of which troubled the Legends defense or GK. In the 15th minute, Legends managed a nice counter, resulting in a direct free kick from the 20yd line. D’Andrea did not hit his best attempt for sure, but while without much pace, it was on target and the Gjoa GK just sort of flapped at it and knocked it to the ground where an on-rushing Klitz was the first Legend there to capitalize and slot it home into the empty net from the 3yd line. The rest of the half was much of the same. Weak Gjoa chances from outside the area, and hopeful crosses, while Legends did their best to possess a little in the middle third to make the game slightly more interesting and fun. Late in the first half the Gjoa equalizer came as the Legends compact defense was finally drawn apart leaving a Gjoa striker alone at the penalty spot to finish off a cross. 1-1 at halftime was a decent score line for the Legends who albeit were playing a fairly boring game, but had managed to get a small bit of possession, and generally prevent any good chances for Gjoa. 1-1 was actually probably fair at that point. Unfortunately, Gjoa came out in the second half with a much better game plan and some dangerous firepower up front, and fewer defenders in the back. While the Legends were able to make a few more counters and gain a little more possession in Gjoa’s half, without any of the regular strikers on hand and running out of gas, the chances in the final third resulted in nothing very dangerous. At the other end, at times Gjoa did much of what they had in the first half, but at other times were finally patient and willing to pass, earning many corners and requiring some last ditch defending, and nice saves from Vamvouris. About 65mins in Gjoa took what seemed to be just another hopeful shot from 23yds. But this one was struck well and aimed at the dead center of goal requiring the Legends to react. An unlucky deflection from the Legends backline took what was probably going to be another fine save for Vamvouris, and redirected the shot to the upper 90 and out of reach. Legends tried to pull back an equalizer in the last 20mins, but with only 10 old men the task was too big. Gjoa continued to press and ended the doubt with a goal much like the first to put the game to 3-1 in their favor in the 88th min. All in all, it was a pretty good effort by the Legends. Despite missing several key guys and playing a full 90min with 10 men, they held the league leading Gjoa to only a few good chances, and managed to possess the ball and cause some issues for Gjoa in the middle third. One can only hope that at the next meeting in the Spring the Legends will have some more firepower available, which will surely be very bad news for Gjoa if they don’t step up their game..

Competition: SC Gjoa, League Opposition
Location: Dyker Beach Park. Worst turf pitch in NYC area
Conditions: Cool Fall morning (9am) that turned very nice by mid-day
Fans: 0
Result: 1-3 (1-1 at H/T)
Goals: 1:0 Klitz Assist D’Andrea
Yellow Cards: ? maybe Roberts
Red Cards: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: Teesdale dropped less than 30min from kickoff. Cassidy was a Maybe as of Friday but never confirmed Yes/No.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None
”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: None. All 10 players played all 90mins

Old Man of the Match: Fantastic game by the Vamvouris twins. Honorable mention to the rest of the defense (Roberts, Lambert, Resnik) who played solid D despite the ball being in their half much of the game. Honorable mention also to Solinas who had a superb match on right wing and despite being outnumbered was able to help Legends relieve defensive pressure with some possession and attack.

Old Man of the Bar: Hodges, Pattison, and Resnik went and had a nice 2hr or so session

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

Statistic of the week: First time Legends ever turned up with less than 11.

Team Bar Showing: 3 out of 10 (30%)
Team Bar Night: 2 out of 5. Solid couple hours of beers, food, TV, and hanging with Grays.

Team (No new profiles this week): Telly Vamvouris (GK), Mark Resnik (DF), Olle Roberts (DF), Peter Lambert (DF), Tony Vamvouris (DF), Randall Klitz, John Hodges, Tom Pattison, Willian D’Andrea, Ugo Solinas

Comments are off for this post

Whites struggle but advance in the Cup

Nov 24 2014 Published by under Club

Both teams struggled at times but advanced to the quarter final of their respective cups.

Reserves faced a Croatia side which was happy to sit deep and defend in numbers. Compared to the league game earlier in the Fall, they were much better organized, but they were still short on quality. After some early attempts were lacking a proper finishing touch, we managed to score midway through the half when Alberto set up Norelli with a nice pass. Our intensity dropped towards the end of the half, and we were lucky not to concede. First Shane made a great save, and then Greg made an excellent sliding clearance as the ball was trickling towards goal. We improved in the 2nd half and got the insurance goal, Dylan opening his account for CPR from close range after Tyler’s flick. Croatia were deflated after the second, and we added two late goals to put a gloss on the scoreline. First Mike D unintentionally scored directly from a free kick, then Tomer somehow scored but with the first team getting ready to play I was obviously not paying attention so I can’t explain how that happened. Final score 4-0.

Firsts were a bit depleted with several guys missing and it showed in the first half. We had more possession but aside from a few minutes of pressure we were definitely not energetic enough. Our best move saw Ben H cut in from the right and feed George whose tidy finish was ruled out for offside. Stal created multiple chances of their own that just missed our posts. Second half was more of the same though aside from one big chance which Ben did well to parry, we were mostly in control. The game was won when in the 65th minute, an excellent cross from Kwesi was inexplicably headed by a Stal defender into his own net. With so many late goals conceded this season, we were a bit nervous, but saw the game out fairly comfortably to record our first shutout this season. Final score 1-0.

Comments are off for this post

Schedule for Nov 23rd

Nov 19 2014 Published by under Club

Women’s Red have the weekend off

Women’s White @ Fuel FC, 9am East 6th Street

Men’s White @ United FC, 4pm Randalls #75

Men’s White Reserves @ United FC, 2pm Randalls #75

Men’s Red @ FC Gwardia PLNY, 4pm Bushwick Inlet

Old Boys @ Manhattan Celtic Legends, 4pm Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 5

The Grays @ BW Gottschee, 10am Randalls #73

The Legends @ SC Gjoa, 9am Dyker Beach Park

…and then see you back at Percy’s

 

Comments are off for this post

Results from Nov 16th

Nov 19 2014 Published by under Club

Women’s Red lost 0-2 to NY Magic Reserves (State Cup)

Women’s White lost to NYC United on PK’s after a draw at the end of regulation (State Cup)

Men’s White beat Stal Mielec 1-0 (Manning Cup)

Men’s White Reserves beat NY Croatia Reserves 4-0 (D’Arpino Cup)

Men’s Red lost on PK’s after 1-1 in regulation to FC Gwardia (Strumpf Cup)

The Old Boys lost 2-3 to Manhattan Kickers Premier (Marth Cup)

The Grays had the weekend off

The Legends beat Barnstonworth Rovers 035s 4-3

 

Comments are off for this post

Whites short of results against the Greeks

Nov 19 2014 Published by under Club

The reserves only had 3 defenders available for the game, and with that in mind we changed the formation. The first half was an unpleasant mess as we struggled to understand the roles and connect passes together. The Greeks were somewhat better but not by much and we took the lead when Tyler was sharpest in the box. The Greeks equalized quickly when a player sneaked in at the near post and scored off a corner. Tied at half-time we switched back to our usual system but conceded within a minute of the restart after a weak pass was intercepted by a striker who was too fast to handle. From that point our performance improved and we should have equalized, Dylan coming particularly close. As soon as they were up, the Greeks were engaging in some of the most bizarre time-wasting we’ve seen in years at this level. Suffice to say that the keeper got a yellow in the 60th minute. They got their reward when another cheap giveaway was converted. We didn’t back down and reduced the deficit very quickly when Andi L, making his debut for CPR, showed persistence to get through multiple defenders and get a shot away. We piled the pressure and were very close to equalizing but couldn’t score and the Greeks killed the game in stoppage time with what looked like an offside goal. Final score: 2-4.

The first team played a hard-fought match against strong opposition. Our new (and secret!) formation proved to be very effective, and for the first 65 minutes we were very determined and matched the Greeks at every step. There were some limited opportunities on both sides, but overall the short periods of possession were not sufficient to sustain pressure for either team. The Greek game plan mainly consisted of direct long balls to their strikers which our center backs dealt with very comfortably. As the clock continued to tick down, we could not maintain the intensity in midfield, and only some desperate defending from Conor kept us level. Around the 80th minute the Greeks finally broke through, a quick move from midfield saw a striker run in behind on our left side and place a low shot in the opposite corner. We tried to respond and had a couple of half chances, but were also lucky not concede another. Final score: 0-1.

Comments are off for this post

Reds Lose Harsh Battle to Gwardia in 2nd Round of the State Cup – Referee Plays Major Role!

Nov 18 2014 Published by under Reds

The CPR Reds met their match on Sunday vs. FC Gwardia who is atop the other division in their league. It was a tough draw as it seemed like the top 2 teams in the cup were set up for battle only in the 2nd round and only one would continue through. The ref warned the Reds before the game that because the lines on the field were just about non-existent, he was going to struggle making calls. And so they were warned.

Reds started off the game strong with possession early and high defensive pressure leading to several chances. Luckily the Reds eventually cashed in on a goal off a seeking run up the wing from Eric Pierot. Deco Heffernan had a beauty blast towards the lower corner in which the Gwardia keeper came up big with a fully outstretched save shortly after that. Only minutes later, the Reds suffered a major set back when starting Yeti center back Eddie Walter went down with a pulled hammy. Gwardia threatened with several chances following the set back but the chances were either off frame or saved by their 3rd string GK. Starting keeper Andrew Snell is out for 3 months with a torn meniscus and sub goalkeeper Rochie was unavailable. The chances kept coming from set pieces and solid possession but the finishing in the attacking 1/3 wasn’t up to par. The half ended with the Reds up 1-0 but they knew a 1-0 lead vs. Gwardia wouldn’t last, they needed more goals.

The Reds once again started the half with some lethal attacks thru the center mid and the wingers leading to opportunities for goals that fell short. Timur Mone especially had two opportunities in a row where roasted the left back and went blowing down the wing only to see both his crosses come up inches short of a big opportunity for the Reds to capitalize. The Reds kept up the pressure and the Gwardia keeper made several saves, plucking a ball out of the top corner off a long distance shot and making a quick kick save on what looked to be the 2nd goal from the Reds off of a run down the middle of the Gwardia defense from Lance Brune. The Reds got a moment for a 2nd goal and were able to slot a shot that was initially saved by the Gwardia goal keeper and trickled into the side net. The Gwardia goalkeeper hugged the ball up against the backside of the post, (allegedly) hiding the ball position from the ref’s view, and the goal was not allowed and play continued as if nothing had happened despite the Reds players beginning to celebrate. Even the guys on the sideline were able to see the ball in the back of the net. No explanation from the ref as to what he did or didn’t see and the Reds were robbed of a 2nd goal. Like the ref mentioned before the match, he could not see the lines and unfortunately, it ended up costing the team a win.

The Gwardia defense was weak, but their GK was strong and they had 3-5 men attacking at all times which eventually led to a controversial breakthrough. Gwardia took a restart headed away by a  Reds defender towards the top of the box. The Gwardia player took the strike which deflected off of a Reds player and fell to the feet of an opposing player sitting 5 yards in an offsides position and he slot it away to equalize 1-1. The Reds questioned the ref only to hear an explanation that because the ball was deflected, it negated the fact that the Gwardia player was offsides. Clearly, this was an incorrect application of the offside rule.

The Reds were forced to battle and were able to keep the pressure up to try and get a last minute goal but they just couldn’t convert in the offensive 1/3 despite the opportunities. The game headed to penalties and with a 3rd string goalie vs. the Gwardia keeper who just played the game of his life, the Reds were unable to win on penalties. It was the first loss of the season and a brutal one at that. They will coincidentally get a rematch vs. the Gwardia team in the league schedule this coming Sunday which sure will be a great game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments are off for this post

Legends undo momentum with 1-1 wretched draw against Banatul

Nov 11 2014 Published by under Legends

For the second successive weekend the Legends struggled to cobble together a team with enough substitutes to prevent injury.  Unlike last week however, Banatul appeared to be a team the Legends should be equipped to handle.  Their squad appeared to be one of the only ones in the division to make the Legends appear youthful & mobile, but their tactics were smart enough to recognize their limitations and play to them.  From the start they stayed compact and narrow, patiently waiting for the Legends to irritably try some hero ball.  With an eternity of time the centerbacks initially lost patience and tried to force the ball long with the eagerly awaiting Banatul players strangling back possession, however after being admonished from the sidelines the ball started to be switched back and forth to the wings.  Recognizing the lack of ambition of the opposition the full backs started to creep further forward, pushing the outside midfielders further up.  The game was played almost entirely in Banatul’s half, but the passing in the last third lacked a plan to beat the congestion.  Balls were continually booted into the box with the wind taking them out and igniting counterattacks which usually fizzled at the halfway line.  What movement there was by the forwards was stifled by the lack of space, and it was a game that sorely cried out for the missing D’Andrea to lazily glide through a few tackles and create opportunities.

With almost all the possession it was somewhat galling to go into half time at 0-0 with no discernable chances.  Management reinforced the notion of continuing to switch the ball to the wings rather than seek out low percentage distance plays, but also urged the wide players to keep the ball on the ground and attack the back line while driving the ball hard into the area, a much more potent form of attack than lobbing balls in the air with little to no hope of success.  A higher tempo was also required as this would be one of the few games that the Legends would be able to outwork & outhustle their opponents.

The cavalry arrived in the form of the prolific Pritchard and the energetic Hahn, with Pritchard almost paying dividends from his first touch.  Discomforting the goalie he obtained the ball right in front of the goal but was only able to drive the ball directly at the keeper, a sign of things to come.  With the Legends continuing to play frenetically the breakthrough finally arrived, Pritchard’s havoc getting the ball out to Kovel for a nice finish and welcome relief.  Said relief barely lasted a couple of minutes before the unspeakable happened.  A ball cleared to midfield was mishandled, but from over 20 yards out the speculative shot managed to find the top right hand corner to the glee of Banatul & consternation of the Legends.  A team that hadn’t remotely looked like scoring had managed the tie the game up before gaps could develop in their search for an equalizer.  At this point the Legends threw caution to the winds and approached the situation almost like a Cup game, with the full backs moving further and further up the field.  Although gaps were exposed at the back Banatul did not seriously look like scoring.  Unfortunately, neither did the Legends.  Ball after ball was hit directly at the solid Banatul keeper including a hard hit shot from distance by Paul Vale.  Free kicks from outside the box managed to find their way to the keeper with the threat level between 0 and 2 out of 10.  Cunning Banatul continued to waste as much time as possible, an understandable strategy given their lack of offensive prowess coupled with a laconic referee who was in no danger of adding a single second more than the 45 minutes he had signed up for.  The closest the Legends came to scoring was when Morse went down from some contact inside the box.  The whistle blew to immediate rage from Banatul only for it to swiftly be mirrored by the Legends.  As oft happens in the Cosmopolitan League, the Referee had decided to come up with his own version of frontier justice.  Feeling the contact was strong enough for a foul but not wanting to change the game by awarding a penalty, the referee stepped several yards back and awarded a free kick outside the box as a bemused Morse sat down 5 yards inside the box where the foul had occurred.  As matched the rest of the game, the whipped cross managed to make it straight to the keeper a half second before anybody could get to it.

Just call the game by the rules, jackass!
As per usual, the referee altered the game by pretending it was the Wild West & making up his own rules

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the whistle blew Banatul exulted while the Legends were disconsolate. On the bleachers watching the Old Boyz battle the Grays tactical shifts were planned to wring out more goals, but the bottom line is the ball needs to be put into dangerous areas with players having the ability to make something happen inside the box.  Barnstonworth this weekend should provide a good test.

Competition: Banatul, League Opposition

Location: Randall’s Island #74, Randall’s Island

Conditions: Initially brisk, turning somewhat warmer as the sun started to set before the temperature dropped severely

Fans: None, with the early showing Old Boyz & Grays more focused on getting themselves ready for their derby

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

Goals:  1:0 Kovel, Assist Pritchard

Yellow Cards: None

Red Card: None

Mike D’s aka No Shows: Chris Williams thought he’d been able to avoid the vagaries of the Government’s Ebola protocol but it wasn’t to be this Sunday.

Conboy’s aka Reverse Mike D’s: None

”Mr. Glass” Fragility/Old Man Injury Award: While Venkataraman managed to gambol around daring his hamstring to act up, Tony Vamvouris had no such luck, aggravating his hamstring injury.

Old Man of the Match: The bitter disappointment after the game was palpable, with no attempt to try and paper it up by awarding anyone OmoM.

Old Man of the Bar: Morse has to be the Old Man of the Bar by not only bringing the cooler but then partially sacrificing himself to help manage the Old Boyz with Becker in goal.

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

Statistic of the week:.Pritchard’s cameo was enough to cause havoc at the front and show the Legends what they’d been missing.  The assist continued to increase his all time totals, the only player with double figures in both goals & assists.  With D’Andrea out Resnik took over sole possession of all time caps with 36.

Team Bar Showing: 11 out of 15 for at least a beer, easy grading this week (73%)

Team Bar Night: 3 out of 5: With the Over 30’s derby going on at the same field directly afterwards Morse again produced his cooler and allowed the group to enjoy and heckle the players.  The few stalwarts lasted the whole game but the increasingly chilly evening did not help. In a close game the Old Boyz outlasted the Grays 1-0.

Team (No new profiles this week): Telly Vamvouris (GK), Mark Resnik (DF), Andrew Faherty (DF), Paul Vale (DF),Tony Vamvouris, Manohar Venkataraman, Randall Klitz (DF), Steve Morse, Pete Hahn (DF), Steve Teesdale (DF), Milan Gupta, John Hodges, Mike Cassidy, David Kovel, Steve Pritchard

Another
It’s hard to resist the temptation to display another beautiful sunset with the Manhattan skyline silhouetted in the back.

Comments are off for this post

Schedule for Nov 16th

Nov 11 2014 Published by under Club

Women’s Red vs. NY Magic Reserves, 1pm East 6th Street

Women’s White @ NYC United, 11am East 6th Street

Men’s White vs Stal Mielec, 6pm McCarren Park (Manning Cup)

Men’s White Reserves vs NY Croatia Reserves, 4pm McCarren Park (D’Arpino Cup)

Men’s Red @ FC Gwardia, 4pm Bushwick Inlet (Strumpf Cup)

The Old Boys vs. Manhattan Kickers Premier, 12pm Randalls #74 (Marth Cup_

The Grays have the weekend off

The Legends @ Barnstonworth Rovers 035s, 10am Randalls #74

…and then see you back at Percy’s

Comments are off for this post

Older posts »