Archive for the 'Grays' category

Theft Among Friends is “Borrowing”

Oct 28 2014 Published by under Club, Grays

BACK TO WINNING

 

After the disappointment of being knocked out of the state cup the Grays sought to get back to their winning ways by taking the field against Branstonworth Rovers Premier. The game started off brightly enough with plenty of chances and a fairly even back and forth match. Grays had the better of the goal chances but the Barnstonworth goalie proved a class act and was able to get his hands on both shots and corners with Gray’s Keeper/Captain Dan Mejias only forced to make one save right before the break.

After getting more of the chances in the first half, and the prospect of playing with the wind in the second, the future looked bright for the Grays. So it was as new signing Stephen McNally hit a stinger off the crossbar. Adil and Bahaa were able to challenge the keeper on numerous occasion but he always found himself up to the task. With pressure mounting the Gray’s defense began pushing forward into the Barnstonworth half with outside back Chuck getting called for a hard foul on a Rovers midfielder. While Chuck was being reprimanded by the referee Barnstonworth sent a long pass to their forward line who were able to beat the Gray’s defense who were playing down a man. Astonishingly, the ref let the goal stand after much protestation by the CPR players (Captain Dan got a little heated but always referred to the referee as “Sir” so no offense was taken, DA Charlie vehemently objected and threatened to file a brief). The goal was to stand and the Grays found themselves down 1-0 with 15 minutes to go.

Continuing their dominance from throughout the second half the Grays piled on the pressure and truly put the Rovers against the wall.  With ten minutes remaining James Dolan (that’s non-Knick owning James Dolan) sent in a pass to Bahaa who was able to beat the Rover’s keeper with a clever chip. The goal put the score level but the Grays weren’t done yet. Five minutes from time Bahaa again found himself at the top of the box and beat his defender on the dribble; with the goalie coming out Bahaa curled a low shot to the net… which Marko Guzijan decided to tap in for good measure. Would it have gone on anyway? Absolutely. Did Marko have a goal stolen from him the same way last week? Definitely. Does that make it all even? Not until Bahaa steals a goal form Danny Azzo this coming Sunday. Stay tuned for the story of karma.

Some good times back at the pub where celebratory beers were had and plans of NYC bar domination planned (to be discussed later).

Final Score

CPR 2 – Rovers 1

Goals: Bahaa, Marko (sort of)

Assists: James, Bahaa (and whoever sent in the ball to Bahaa in the first place but I don’t remember their name)

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The Stupid State Cup

Oct 27 2014 Published by under Club, Grays

Sate Cup Match Report

 

In recent years the grays have found some league success but not a single state cup game has ever gone their way. That record would not be broken in sunny Jamaica Queens against a skillful Integral team. Integral seemed happy to keep possession in their half with the Grays keeping drawing a highline and watching the outside backs one touch passes amongst themselves. Finally, pressure by Mike Sevchek lead to a turnover and break away for Adil which the Integral goalie was able to save with a dive to his right. The Integral defense decided that perhaps getting across the half line would be a good idea; it was not. As Integral opened up play the Grays were able to win the ball and counterattack often. Mike Sevchek came closest with a header that went over the bar before Adil continued his run of good form and was able to finish on a breakaway off a nice setup from Sevchek. The goal seemed to set off the team with the Grays controlling the play and tempo consistently attacking the Integral defense. Before halftime Jan sent in a trademark corner which Marko found at the far corner of the six yard box. Marko hit the ball towards the corner of the goal only for Danny Azzo to steal chest it across the line. Against the run of play Integral were able to grab a goal right before the halftime whistle.

Going into half 2-1 up with the majority of play and very few Integral chances the Gray’s might have been a bit over confident. The second half started with some sloppy play and Integral were able to get the tying goal before the 50th minute mark. With the tying goal scored the Grays found themselves up against a wall. Not being able to hold onto the ball as they did in the first half and the Integral midfielders gaining in confidence it wasn’t a total shock when Integral hit a third goal to take a 3-2 lead. So it seemed the state cup games go for the Grays and valiant efforts were either saved by the Integral keeper or sent agonizingly wide. In the last minute of the match the Gray’s had a final chance off another corner. With Jan again sending in a trademark cross; Marko decided to bypass Danny Azzo and just hit it in the goal himself. Cheers and jubilation as the game was tied 3-3. Immediately after kickoff the whistle blew and off to PKs we went.

Grays lost in penalties.  Nothing more to be said. Now move along.

 

Goals: Adil, Danny Azzo, Marko

Assists: Sevchek, Marko/Jan, Jan

 

Stay tuned for next week where Marko steals a goal for himself.

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Happy Hour Match Report (3 for 1)

Oct 01 2014 Published by under Club, Grays

To recap the first three games for the Grays:

 

Grays 2 – Megas 1

 

The season started off brightly enough for the Grays with a hard fought win over Megas Alexandros. Dominating much of the possession from the start the Grays couldn’t seem to find the net. Finally, the Grays took the lead in the first half with a nice goal from Rich on an assist from Barry. Having finally broken through it would seem the walls would come crumbling down and goals would come in waves. Unfortunately, no one told the Megas goalie that goals should come and he proceeded to block everything coming his way. A counterattack by Megas before the end of the half resulted I a 1-1 halftime score line.

The second half started with more pressure by the Grays offense and limited looks on goal by the Megas players. Still a combination of wayward finishing and the Megas goalie playing Jorge Campos meant a tie seemed in the future. That is until UK Matt used his massive thighs to muscle the ball off a Megas defender before beating another Megas player to the end line and firing a waist high pass across the Megas 6 yard line. Unfortunately, no offensive Gray’s player was anywhere near the 6 yard line. Fortunately, a defender was and outside back Marko Guzijan was able to volley in the game winning goal in the dying minutes of the game.  Grays took the 3 points and headed back to the bar.

An 8am kickoff meant morning drinking for the Grays but due to liquor laws (that Charlie couldn’t get excused) the Grays were forced to drink in an alleyway from the kitchen staff’s kegerator.  Good times had by all.

 

Gotta love a bar with a kegerator in the kitchen!

 

Grays 2 – Megas 1

 

The second game of the season saw the Grays take on last year’s regular season champion Manhattan Celtic. The large pitch at Brooklyn Bridge Park meant that fitness would come into play if the game was close. Luckily, that wasn’t going to happen with the Grays jumping to a halftime lead of 2-0 off of a first half brace from Kareem (assisted by Bahaa and Danny). At 1-0 the game could have been tied after a harsh PK call but the soccer gods saw to it that the PK was denied (Dan Meijas had a little part to play in that with an outstretched save to his left). At halftime the Grays knew that Manhattan Celtic were going to come out strong and press; they proceeded to throw everything they had at the Grays in hopes of cutting into the score line. A few saves from Dan Meijas and a couple of saves from the goal post made sure Celtic stayed off the score sheet. After 15 minutes of playing with their backs against the wall a defender (sprightly Jack Hartman) decided to put the icing on the cake and become the second defender in a week to score a goal; he met a well taken corner by Jan with his head to put the score at 3-0 and seemingly out of reach.  Celtic not content to leave the field down 3-0 continued to play on though and kept pressing the Gray defense. Keeper/Captain Dan Meijas annoyed with his field players inability to hold onto the ball decided to take matters it his own hands and sent a 70 yard punt down field to the waiting feet of new forward Bahaa. Bahaa opened his Gray scoring account after calmly trapping the ball beating one defender and chipping it over the Celtic goalie. Quite pleased with himself Dan decided to do it again 10 minutes later and got himself his second assist of the day on another 70 yard punt this time to the other new Gray forward Adil. The game seemingly out of reach the ref blew the whistle 8 minutes early allowing the team to explore the soccer friendly bars of BK.

Grays 5 – Manhattan Celtic 0

 

Finally:

As a defender you are taught at a fairly young age to watch the forward’s hips when dribbling to determine which way the player will cut or to watch a midfielder’s eyes to anticipate a pass. This works well until you are up against a player completely unskilled who views the fundamentals as a hindrance with the basic foot eye coordination of a new born deer on ice. This guy isn’t any good. He’ll never be any good. But sure enough that guy is going to score on you. Last Sunday the Gray’s played the cosmopolitan league team version of that guy.

Now, in truth FC Dinamo had plenty of talent on the field. They had fast skillful players who could tackle, trap, and pass a ball with ease. The issue was they played a formation and style of a bunch of hung-over college kids in a Saturday morning pickup game (also known as the last 30 minutes of a CPR Monday night training session); i.e. 6 forwards – 4 defenders – don’t worry about the midfield.

The sooner this game is forgotten the better. Dinamo went up by 3. Adil scored a consolation goal at the end of the second half (off an assist from Danny). Grays missed chances. Dinamo scored on 4 v 2s and 6 v 4s. They showed up 15 minutes late with a sub who was at least 62 years old. All in all… a tough day out.

Grays 1 – Dinamo 3

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Grays Lose 3-2 After Linehan Duffs Equaliser

Nov 04 2013 Published by under Club, Grays

We are the best

In the last twenty minutes.

Too little, too late.

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Another 1-nil Loss, But Grays’ Goal Differential Ain’t Bad

Oct 08 2013 Published by under Club, Grays

Rovers score early;

Our strikes thwarted. Once again,

Three points elude us.

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Perreira Goal Lifts Grays Over Barnstonworth 030 For First Win In Top Division

Sep 23 2013 Published by under Club, Grays

A Fall morning in Red Hook,

Linehan back in the side:

Three points! (Just sayin’.)

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Match Report: CPR Grays 2 – Hoboken FC 1

Nov 20 2012 Published by under Grays

The pre-match preparations begun in typical style with players crammed four across in the back of one car, and another ride somehow ending up at La Guardia instead of Randall’s Island. Going into the match the Grays knew it would be a battle, with several key players missing due to injury and travel. Unbeknownst to him, Marko was slated to make a glorious return to center back. The team swears he was told of this last week at the pub, but a string of ‘just one more’ erased this from his memory.

On to the game – the Grays fielded Harvard in goal, Joachim and Yuval on the defensive flanks, with Marko and Alex in the center back. Danny and UK started in the middle with Charlie and Jack on the wings. Tex and Ugo took the reins up front, with latecomers Cheese and Kareem starting on the sidelines, recalibrating their GPS. The game started with Hoboken strong in possession, but CPR finding chances on the break. The introduction of Cheese to the front opened space up, with Cheese and Ugo combining well. Ugo finally found space inside the box with a defender misjudging a bouncer. In slow motion Ugo looked to the right, then the left, then the right again, then deftly hit a low shot to the left which the keeper could only helplessly palm into the goal. 1-0 CPR.

After the goal Hoboken pressed forward in search of an equalizer. Strong service from a corner saw a powered header aimed at the bottom right corner. Harvard sprung to make the save, throwing his body across the goal and palming the ball off of the line. The ref claimed to be “completely on top of the play” from a solid 25 yards out, and judged the ball to have crossed the line. Good sports as they are Hoboken consoled our defense, admitting that the ball was only on the line. The half ended 1-1 with the only other notable event being Marko taking an elbow to the face, snapping his rec-specs in half. Luckily CPR MacGuyvers successfully poindextered them back together during the break with tape, bubble gum, spare shoe laces, a paperclip, and a ball pump.

The second half started as an even affair, with CPR compact in the back and finding room on the counterattack. Both teams were fairly even when CPR was brought down to 10 by a classic Angry Jack tackle. It may have been the weakest, slide from the side/behind, studs somewhat up but yet still barely grazing the player type of tackle to ever earn a red card, but Angry Jack did it.

Down a man, CPR doubled down on defensive organization. It began to look like even spoils was all there was to fight for, but Kareem and UK had something else in mind. Kareem crafted a delicately lobbed through ball which found the perfect bounce off the turf. UK was through on goal, with CPR outnumbering 3-1 on the break. Cheese and Tex flailed their arms across the goal, in acres of space, but UK had too good of a ball to pass up, and took a trademark clutch UK blast to the lower left corner, leaving the goalie sprawled out on the pitch in disbelief. 2-1 Grays.

Now with a precious lead to defend, the Grays fought hard until the end. Danny barked orders and actually held a defensive position. Charlie flew in with the tackles. The whole team rallied to secure all three points in front of their new top of the table rivals, the Old Boys, whose presence only served to inspire. All in all it was a classic Grays performance, built upon well coordinated defending, smash and grab scoring, and a solid team effort.

-Tex

Man of the Match – Tie. UK for the beautiful clutch goal, and the back four for their many heroics. One new face Jaochim who impressed, one out of position Marko who couldn’t even head the ball in the second half due to his glasses, Alex for shutting down their point man, and Yuval for having perfected kicking the ball over his own goal from 5 feet for a clearance.

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CPR Grays 2 – Troy 1

Nov 14 2012 Published by under Grays

The one where the referee stopped the game… again!

For the second time in the Fall 2012 season, the referee called the game before time. This time, it was Troy’s threats and insults to the referee that resulted in Grays being awarded the full three points before time.

The unseasonably warm November morning saw CPR start the game with Enticott and Mazzi (sic) starting as strikers, Stig, Azzo, Texas and Linehan in the midfield, Marko, Yuval, Toks and Kratz in defense and Mejias in goal with Solinas, Kareem, Roberts and UK on the bench. CPR were a tad lethargic and surprisingly tame when it came to challenging for possession. The lack of urgency in the first half resulted in few shots attempted on Troy’s distinctly non-athletic keeper. Towards the end of the uninspired first half, Troy went ahead after Mejias thoroughly clattered their striker with a late but robust tackle in the box and the ref had no choice but to award a penalty.

The second half was much better but CPR struggled to get level. The difference was the potent force running box-to-box on the left flank in the second half by one Charles Linehan, speed merchant and lady killer. Stig’s impressive outing came to an end shortly after the restart when he pulled a hamstring on a break. With Stig and his deeply disturbing mustache roaming the sidelines, the ladies team assembling for the game following ours quickly dispersed. CPR started to threaten more insistently and were it not for saves from the Troy keeper that were actually instinctive reactions to protect his face from the ball, CPR would have wrapped up the points quickly.

Kareem started to find space and time with the ball and UK came in to provide a robust attacking threat on the left flank. A nifty through ball down the middle by Azzo found Kareem face to face with the keeper before getting dragged down from behind by the beaten center back before he could take a shot. Red card and penalty awarded to CPR. Kareem took the penalty and then took it again after UK was adjudged guilty of encroachment. Tie game.

With a man down, Troy was running out of gas and CPR went ahead after a corner kick was was pinged around a scrum of players before Solinas took charge and put it in net with about 12 minutes remaining in the contest. Troy protested, had another player sent off and eventually shouted enough abuse at the ref who then crossed the field to Mejias in goal and informed him that, by law, he had to protect him. Game over and CPR go joint top of the table.

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Grays try to play football but a hockey games breaks out

Sep 25 2012 Published by under Grays

CPR lined up with Dan in goal, Marko, Steve, Toks and Yuval at the back, Jack, Stig, Kareem and Texas Mike in midfield, and Rich and Ugo leading the charge up top. Charlie, UK, Chris and Eduardo were subs.

UK reminded the squad to ignore the Partizano histrionics. 3 games into the CSL season, and they are already famous for their overall unpleasantness. We started quick and disciplined and following some nifty passing from the back through midfield, Stig hooked a shot from outside the penalty area that dipped into the far right of the goal for 1-0 start. Soon after and out of nowhere, Partizani #9 struck a bouncing ball a few yards past midfield that caught Dan off his line and leveled the score. A few minutes later, Jack sent in a corner that found Stig in the middle of the box and he hammered home for a well deserved 2-1 lead. There were some handbags in the first half that saw the entire Partizani bench, fans and traveling dogs invade the pitch which proved to be a harbinger of things to come.

In the second half, CPR did not deal with a hopeful run by their forward who managed to get a foot on the ball in front of the defender and sent it past Dan for 2-2. CPR started to move the ball again and apply more pressure when Jack and a Partizani player (it is hard to keep track of all the a-holes in their side) got into a tackle that soon degenerated into a scrum where Jack was punched and kicked by some of the Partizani scumbags. The ref stopped the game and quickly went home, ending the game at 2-2 with 20 minutes to play. Before we left the field, a bushy-topped Partizani ambled to our sideline to remind everyone just why they are all a-holes by promising to remember Jack and the rest of us in the return fixture. Partizani are a disgrace and lucky the ref ended the game with the score tied.

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Grays v Troy

Dec 14 2011 Published by under Grays

A top of the table clash represented a chance for CPR to gain a measure of revenge against the only team to beat them in the league.  Considering the game was to kick-off at 8:15 in the AM in a field deeeeeeep in the heart of Queens, it was not immediately clear some of the more Manhattan-centric men of the Grays would find the venue in time.  The fear of lining up short was misplaced in large part to the organizational qualities of Messrs Shapiro and Linehan who corraled everyone into cars and trains to guarantee a full squad.  Kudos to the gaffers!

LINEUP:

G- Harvard

D- Jack, Alex, Roberts, Yuval

M- Charlie, Stig, Danny, UK, Allessandro

F- Cheez
Subs: Toks, Mazzi, Andres, Chris 
With Danny’s newly acquired fatherhood status and Cheez coming back from his honeymoon, CPR had some questions to answer. 

The first half proved to be an evenly matched affair where mid-field combination of Danny and Stig controlled the proceedings and nullified Troy before they could get their attack going.  Harvard spent large parts of the first half peacefully digesting the eggs, ham and cheese he wolfed down minutes before taking the field while the defense snuffed just about every ball played to Troy’s attackers.

 

UK continued his recovery from injury by finding different ways to miss one-on-one opportunities versus the keeper.  His first attempt on a breakaway went closer to the corner flag than the goal post (difficult to do as he was closer to the goal post) and on his second, almost identical opportunity a few minutes later, he mixed things up by trying to slot a low ball to the far corner but his shot was, eh, a bit weak and easily saved.  We eventually got a goal from Cheez (he should get married more often) in the first half and continued to make things harder for us by missing good chances.

 

Troy came out for the second half hell-bent on equalizing and went with 3 strikers up top and a mental patient at center back.  Neither move proved decisive and CPR held on to give Troy it’s first league defeat and move to within 5 points with a game in hand.

 

Final Score: CPR Grays 1 – Troy 0

Scorer: Cheez

MOTM: Cheez

Honorable Mention:  Stig

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