Sunday, September 28, 2008

MATCH REPORT: Bridgeport 2 Madison1

Madison slump to shock Defeat!

Any neutral observer of this game will wonder at its final outcome. Having dominated large segments of the match, and out shooting the opposition by an embarrassing margin, Madison still contrived to lose the game. Bridgeport's record going into this match would have given the visitors every reason to believe that this would be an easy stroll in the park. Even with key players missing from the line up Madison got the game off to a strong start forcing several corners and free kicks at the Bridgeport end of the field. It was therefore somewhat of a surprise when a Bridgeport striker managed a solitary break away into the Madison penalty box brushing aside the final defender with a very dubious elbow and shoulder charge before crashing the ball high into the top left hand corner of the Madison net. One nil down and very much against the run of play. To their credit Madison responded vigorously with a series of well constructed attacks that always ended with either a narrow miss or a courageous save by the opposition goalkeeper. However, with around 10 minutes left in the half a tackle won by Carlos in midfield allowed him to quickly pass out to Eric on the left wing who out ran the Bridgeport defence before sending in an inch perfect pass for Ronnie to knock the ball into the net for a well deserved equalizer. Being tied at half time was not what the Madison team had planned, or deserved, for their first half efforts but the second half offered hope that Madison's clear superiority would shine through.


The second half started very much as the first half had ended with the Madison team sending in wave after wave of attack. Yours truly missed several gilt edged chances to score the go ahead goal but either headed over from short range or blasted high and wide. Unluckily for Madison I was not the only player being profligate in front of goal. Shots by Carlos, Eric, Scott and Ronnie all threatened the lives of some passing seagulls as they sailed high and wide over the bar. When Madison did manage to get shots on target the opposition goalkeeper was up for the task, pulling out a series of fingertip saves. As Hurricane Kyle plowed past Connecticut on its way to Canada, the skies darkened and the light eventually went out for Madison. After dominating at least 90% of the possession in the second half Bridgeport broke through the defence and after a save by Behrooz they were alert enough to follow up to score what would be the eventual winner. Even late chances to equalize for Madison were squandered and, as time ran out, both sets of teams seemed to accept the inevitable outcome to this game. The referees whistle to end the game was met with huge cheers by the Bridgeport team as they celebrated as if they had won the cup. No such party for the Madison players as they were left to rue the many missed chances in a game they will want to quickly forget.

Friday, September 26, 2008

NEXT GAME; Sunday Sept 28th, Bridgeport!

This Sunday we have an away game against Bridgeport and here is a message from our coach:

" This Sunday we will have an Away game against Bridgeport. The game is at the Seaside Park in Bridgeport and you can get directions from the carsl.org website. Please be there at 9:30 am.
For this game, we will be missing Jacques and Jody.
We will be carpooling from Guilford off of Exit 58 and please be there at 8:30 am. Ron K. please coordinate with Stuart please
Eric will try to bring Beer for the team!"

I've played against various Bridgeport teams over the years and sometimes they have been good and sometimes they have been really bad. In fact it's hard to tell which team is likely to turn up.
Looking at their results so far tells us that they got beat 7-3 by Woodbridge and 3-2 by Haddam so i would think we have a good chance of beating them!

Only a few days left for the Fitness Challenge! I'll post the current scores on Saturday.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

PLAYER FOCUS on.... Ron 'The Toe' Barbinho !

From all accounts Ron has started the Fall season in blistering form, finally living up to his Brazilian name...Barbinho Santos! But do we know much about this player? He started as a defender, then a goalkeeper and then a defender again...all the time showing us that his fine soccer skills were all picked up playing American Football. Recently he has picked up "man marking" as a new skill and is now a core feature of the defence. So, in traditional soccer magazine fashion I have been able to gain an exclusive interview with Ron "The Toe" Barbinho to get an insight into his great soccer brain:

Best Movie watched? Victory w/ Sylvester Stallone and Pele' (close tie to Pennies from Heaven)


Best Band? Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters


Favorite Soccer Player? Now soccer is the round Ball, right?


Favorite Team? Ti Babalonia and Scott Hamilton mixed couples ice skating


Britney or Christina? Both are really bad names for boys


Dream Car? One with a wet bar


Motto for life? Revenge is a dish that is best served cold (old Klingon proverb)


Thanks for the interview Ron! An inside look at the genius that is... "The Toe".


Look out for more exciting interviews to come as we really get to know our team mates....be afraid....be very afraid!

Monday, September 22, 2008

MATCH REPORT;Woodbridge 2 Madison 2

Madison blow it with late mistake but remain undefeated!

If you were not playing or watching yesterdays game with Woodbridge then you missed a good game! I of course was dealing with my Disney cold, i know it's a Small World after all, but i don't like viruses....or bacteria and i guess there are a lot of them living on the various "rides" at Disney. Anyway, enough of my excuses, what excuses did the team have after the game? Well we have two great accounts of the game! I'm again grateful to the following incisive narrative provided by Jody the midfield journalist;

" We completely dominated the game....up2-0 at the half, and should have been up by five.....Rohan played well, scoring both goals with several close misses. Behrooz played solidly in goal....he even came out the goal on a couple occasions.......so far out at one point that the net was left wide open and the opposition couldn't score only due to a dribble-crazy forward who couldn't find his shot. They scored on a breakaway and on an own goal header by Hamid with less 10 minutes to the end. He said, "If John can do it, I can to it too!" In the end we came away tied at 2-2......very disappointing given the level of dominance we enjoyed. Next week, Bridgeport away. I'll be out next week, as will Jacques"

And this one from our midfield typist Tom;

"Yesterday was a beautiful day and a perfect soccer day. Woodbridge has a really nice field, it's flat with no holes. We started with only 11 players until Tom P. showed up 15 minutes into the game (at least he turned up! Ed). We played this game without John, Carlos, Ron B., Jorge, and Eric. We played really well during the first half with strong defensive play, good passing. The mid-field also played well and kept attacking. The first goal was a shot deflected off one of the Woodbridge's players. We had many chances to score more but we kept missing the shots. We started off the second half pretty well and early into the second half, Rohan scored a beautiful goal off a counter attack. After that, Woodbridge kept pressing hard and on a counter attack, one of their strikers passed the defense on the right side and scored their first goal. At this point, we were not consistent, our passing was off and we were making more mistakes in mid-field and this gave them opportunity to control the ball and keep attacking. The score was 2-1 until 5 minutes before the end of the game until a long high cross into our 18 yards box ended with Hamid scoring a beautiful header into our net! At this point, everyone was in shock and that was the final score. This was the second game that we could have won but we ended up tieing the game instead"

Thanks for the reports guys!

I will be back next week and hopefully so will Scott! Bridgeport were always a tough team in the past but not sure what they are like now.

Looks like Tom is trying to organize a midweek game for us against Milford. I'm all for that....if the professionals can do it why can't we? Yes, ....i know why....we are unfit. Which brings me to the great fitness challenge. After a superb first week it looks like there is only Rob and me left in the "challenge"! I could be wrong but no one else has provided me with their points..... one last call for exercise scores and if none appear then it will be down to a nail biting contest between me and Rob.....very exciting!

Friday, September 19, 2008

NEXT GAME: Sunday Sept 21st, Woodbridge!

A note from our coach:
"This Sunday we will be playing against Woodbridge and this is an AWAY game for us. The field is at 160 Pease Road in Woodbridge and is just pass New Haven off of route 114. You can google it or get the directions from the website.
The game is at 10:00 am and please be there at 9:30 am.
We can also carpool from Guilford at Commuter Parking off of Exit 58."

This will be a tough game, Woodbridge are a good team and will give us a hard game. Sounds like our newly rejuvenated defence with "Ron The Toe" is in great form and keeping this going will be essential to winning the game. Of course, scoring a couple of goals would also help!
I'm almost done with the Mickey and Minnie experience, so should be ready to compete for a starting position. My extra big ears will also help to keep the ball out of the penalty box.


Monday, September 15, 2008

MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 New Fairfield 1

Hi everyone...having fun with Donald and Mickey and it sounds like the game was fun too. My able assistant editor, Jody has supplied this weeks match report below. See you soon!

We tied New Fairfield yesterday 1-1....Jorge scored in the first half and they came back and headed one in off a corner in the second....and then ramped up the pressure on us. To be fair though, we should've scored about 3 or 4 more goals...wide open in front of the net with only the goalie (or in one case, a wide open net that Carlos went wide on).....we had at least 3 golden opportunities from close range and went high every time. Conditions were sloppy as it had rained heavily through the night, but the rain ceased before the game...we played at the Madison High School practice field...not bad.....never would've played on our usual home field.Next week Woodbridge....away. Hope to see you all then!

Friday, September 12, 2008

NEXT GAME; Sunday Sept 14th, New Fairfield!


A reminder from our coach:
" This Sunday we are going to start the Fall season with another challenging game against New Fairfield team. Our Spring record was 1-1 against this team and we should definitely play hard in order to have a better overall record than last season and we don't want to lose the first Home game opener. Hope everyone is in a relatively good shape for this Sunday.

This is a Home game and we are supposed to be playing at Madison High School. I am waiting to hear the final verdict within a day or two. The High school is located off exit 61 of 95 south or North....at the bottom of the ramp, go north on route 79 for about 1.5M and left at the traffic light onto Green Hill Road. Go for about 2 miles and the high school is on the left....the Soccer fields are in the back"
As Tom says this will be a tough game. They gave us a hiding when we met them for the first time early this year but we got our revenge on home soil in the last game of the summer season.
Hopefully we will have a full squad for the game and for those guys who have been doing the fitness challenge we will have great stamina, energy and strength..... ha ha... i know it's funny.
As I mentioned before I will be missing the game so we should be ok at the back. Someone take notes so i can post their version of the match report.
I'm sure Tom will confirm the venue sometime today!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Best Summer Players are Revealed!

Midfielder!
Goalkeeper!
Defender!
Striker!

Yes, the polls are closed and once again democracy is the victor! We have finished our line up of the best players of the summer season. Jody, Behrooz, Jorge and, by acclamation, Jim, wins our votes. I won't comment about vote rigging but I'm sure all their friends and family know about the blog. As for the rest of us there is always the Fall season to show them what we are capable of!~

Glad to see Scotland getting off the mark in World cup qualification tonight with an away victory against Iceland! However, even I have to be impressed with England's 4-1 demolition of Croatia away from home. I do have to be impressed ....don't I?

More to come on our opponents for this weekend New Fairfield, who will be out to exact revenge for their horrible end of season defeat to the mighty Madison Celtic. Unfortunately, I will be missing for this game as i will be on vacation in the land of Mickey and Minnie........

Monday, September 8, 2008

Fitness Challenge Update: Week 1

All right, calm down, calm down.... the storm is over and it's time for the first update on the fitness challenge. OK, so huge numbers of you joined up for the challenge.....? Well, a few of you.... I have some points to share starting with myself! Only missed one day of exercise, when i was travelling, and couldn't be bothered to do anything when i got home so, my points total for the week is..... 49!!

Other points scored this first week: Rob H....49 pts, Ron K....35 pts, Behrooz....46 pts, Jody....38 pts and our current leader after week 1.....Ron B with....95 points!!

I'm sure the rest of the team have been doing the challenge but are just too shy to share their scores..... You could disguise yourself? Nobody but me will know...... go on. If late scores come in I'll add them in.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Breaking news! Hanna Cancels Game


As expected the heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Hanna has forced the cancellation of tomorrows league opener against Milford Magic. Looks like our "bad weather" luck from last season is following us into this one. Hopefully we will be in the clear for next week.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

NEXT GAME; Sunday Sept 7th, Milford Magic!

Unless Tropical storm Hanna hangs around longer than expected we should be making our first appearance of the Fall season against Milford Magic this Sunday. Milford are a good team and our recent record against them has been mixed. We played them twice in the summer season losing away 3-1 and winning at home 4-1. As you all know we finished the last league season in 6th place having played 8 games, winning 4, losing 3 and drawing once. Of course, we played 2 to 3 games less than every other team in the league, with eventual league winners Falcons playing 11 games on the way to accumulating 24 points compared to our 13. To do better this season we have to play more games!....and win a few more. Now even though Milford Magic played 3 more games than Madison over the season we still finished above them in the league! Let's get off to a flyer on Sunday with a win!

Nothing to report on injuries. At the end of the summer season Mark, Tom J, Stuart and Behrooz were all carrying knocks but I'm not sure how they are doing now. Guys, if you are reading this maybe you can send in a fitness report?

The fitness competition has started with a number of the team rising to the challenge. Don't forget to send me your points on Sunday or Monday morning.


World Cup qualification games for the 2010 tournament start this weekend and I'm hoping for Scotland to get off to a winning start against Macedonia and Iceland!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

A Message From Our Coach!

Gentlemen,

Our first game starts this coming Sunday against Milford at Fred wolf Park in Milford at 10:00 am.

This is the same field that we played before in Milford. For directions, go to https://eportal.bms.com/,DanaInfo=www.carsl.org+ You have to go to Men's division and find the Milford team under B division.

Some of us will meet in Guilford and carpool from Commuter Parking, exit 58 off 95 South.

Jorge, Carlos, Rohan, Mark, Jody, Behrooz, Rob, Ron B., John, Jim, Tom and Robert please meet us in Guilford at 8:30 Sharp. You are welcome to go to the field directly if you choose to but please let me know ahead of time...otherwise I will see you in Guilford

Please respond to my email before Friday that we know who is playing. Please don't email me after 5pm on Friday and you have to call me after that on my cell.

Thanks

Tom
Madison Celtic

.....and a few comments from me.....


Hope you have all started your fitness campaigns. As i commented earlier i have got off to a flying start with 6 points on Monday and 11 points today! Remember to send me your points for the week on Sunday night or Monday morning! More to come on our weekend opponents later this week. Poll has closed and looks like we voted for Madison to win the league! Wow, that is a surprise...although a few more votes for other teams than i would have guessed.
It could not wait any longer....so i have now added the Defender of the Summer season poll.....yes The Big One!!