Another tough double header night in the indoor soccer arena was rewarded with two great wins for the Madison Celts. The first game, against Madison Crisis, was a close 4-3 win supplemented by two sumptuous goals by yours truly with additional goals by Fribeka and Carlito. The second game against Branford was, in the end, an easier looking score of 5-3 but was a difficult game throughout. Good goals by La Boca, Carlito, a few others and me sealed the win. A tough shift but a nice ending. One more week of indoor left before the "real stuff" starts in earnest. Mid April marks the start of the 2009 outdoor season and let's hope we can get off to a flying start, unlike last year when we stumbled from one game to another trying to find form and fitness. We have a number of crocked players so we will have to have a fit squad and maybe some new players to start the season. Tom the Coach is thinking about getting a scrimmage game together before our first actual game.
The fitness challenge has 2 more weeks to run. I'll provide a summary shortly but El Gutso has been way ahead of all other challengers!
See you Thursday!
From previous post:
ReplyDeleteOur current "active" squad:
no goalie ( Kevinho?)
Tom
Danny
The toe
El Gutso
El gato
Me
Jodinho
Fribeka
Roniildo
Jerry
Carlos
Jorge
Ro Ro
Scotty
Enrique
tPink
Tom Judge
Any others?
Crocked players include; Eric, Mark, Stuart, Jim
MIA: Hamid
I do not think Tom Judge is coming back.
ReplyDeleteIs Enrique going to play with us or is still on Clinton'e roster?
ReplyDeleteAlso you can add me to the injured list. Besides my shoulder which is getting better now. my back gave up on me and I have a inflamation of disk. I am going to theropy three times a week and hoping to be back on the 19th but nothing more than a casual sub to support the defense.
Sorry about the injuries...age is a terrible thing!
ReplyDeleteI thought Tom The Coach said Tom the Judge was going to play for us.....and Enrique? We should tie down the squad as soon as possible
ScheduleName Date Sort Time Week Division Venue Home Away
ReplyDeleteCARSLB 04/19/09 10:00 AM 1 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Woodbridge
CARSLB 04/26/09 10:00 AM 2 Men - B Division Pease Rd Field Woodbridge Yellow Jackets Madison Celtic
CARSLB 05/03/09 10:00 AM 3 Men - B Division Recreation Park - Southington Southington United Madison Celtic
CARSLB 05/10/09 10:00 AM 4 Men - B Division New Fairfield High School New Fairfield Madison Celtic
CARSLB 05/17/09 10:00 AM 5 Men - B Division Indian River Rec Area Clinton Madison Celtic
05/31/09 10:00 AM 6 Men - B Division Indian Ledge Park Trumbull Wolves Madison Celtic
CARSLB 06/07/09 10:00 AM 7 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Milford Magic
CARSLB 06/21/09 10:00 AM 9 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Bye Week
CARSLB 06/28/09 10:00 AM 10 Men - B Division Seaside Park - Bridgeport Bridgeport United - B Madison Celtic
CARSLB 07/12/09 10:00 AM 11 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Haddam-Killingworth
CARSLB 07/19/09 10:00 AM 12 Men - B Division Pease Rd Field Madison Celtic Woodbridge
CARSLB 08/02/09 10:00 AM 14 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Southington United
CARSLB 08/09/09 10:00 AM 15 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic New Fairfield
CARSLB 08/16/09 10:00 AM 16 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Clinton
CARSLB 08/23/09 10:00 AM 17 Men - B Division Exchange Field Madison Celtic Trumbull Wolves
CARSLB 08/30/09 10:00 AM 18 Men - B Division Fred Wolfe Park - Orange Milford Magic Madison Celtic
An interesting concept sent on by Behrooz:
ReplyDeleteGentlemen:
I wanted to follow up on this morning's men's-side meeting, and particularly the realignment discussion, which I confess took me a bit by surprise (after all, it wasn't really on the agenda, and I'm sure it didn't receive the discussion it deserves). I'd like us to consider an alternative to the realignment that evolved this morning, if you don't mind bearing with me just a bit.
I'm still not entirely sure how my group (sans last year's goalie and a couple others, and which finished fifth in points earned per game played (albeit fourth in points, since we played an extra game or so) and was on a significant downslide as the year progressed ) managed to be one of the three teams promoted to the A division, but I have some real concerns about our ability to compete at that level (for example, we took quite a few 5-1 and 6-0 pastings from the fellow 'promotees" Falcon and New Fairfield) and, more significantly, the effect that might have. I suppose if things don't go well and we really are committed to regular relegation and promotion, it might sort itself out in the space of a year anyway, but I'm not sure we actually committed firmly to relegation / promotion, and how many teams it would affect.
(Permit me to note here that Tom Abbasi of the not-promoted Madison group does not share my competitive concerns with respect to his squad - nor should he-- but rather is concerned about travel distances from Madison; although from Madison's travel perspective the new proposal principally substitutes Southbury for New Fairfield, not that big a change, really).
I think what most of the fellows want most at least within the B Division, is to participate in competitive games, and not necessarily to win. If I'm right about that, and I think I am, given the talent groupings in our constellation of teams, might we not be better off concentrating the majority of matches (certainly not all of them) within the existing talent bands? [So, here's my proposal for an alternative ->] We now have 17 teams. What if we broke them up on a 6 - 6 - 5 basis based on last year's results, and had the teams play each team in their division 3 times (maybe the group of five plays four times), with a total of 4-6 'crossover games" (say 2-3 against teams in each of the other two divisions; we're scheduling crossovers now anyway, so no revolutionary concept there) . Zak tells me that scheduling is a relative breeze using programs available on D-4, so putting the schedule together shouldn't be a big impediment (and, more importantly, a burden on George).
If we did something like that, we'd likely have fewer uncompetitive games, and we could still have 2 or so teams promoted /relegated each year to mix things up
Just for kicks, the current array might look something like this (although the 6/6/5 break up can be just as easily 6/5/6 or 5/6/6, and any new team could round out the array):
Group A: Bridgeport United / Prospect / Southington FC / Guilford / Newtown / Falcon FC
Group B: Southbury / Trumbull / New Fairfield / Woodbridge Yellow Jackets / Madison / H-K
Group C: Milford / Clinton / Bridgeport B / Southington United / Woodbridge
I'd very much appreciate it if we could at least consider something like this alternative proposal. Thanks.
Regards,
Jim Graham
Gentlemen,
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I attended our annual league meeting and wanted to give you an update of what is going on for the upcoming season.
Due to team relegation/promotion, some of the B division teams are moving up to the A division and we were asked to move up to the A division. The main reason for the change is that there are only 6 teams in the A and 11 teams in the B division and they are trying to make it an even number of teams in each division.
List of proposed teams in each division:
A division B Division
Bridgeport A Bridgeport B
Prospect Trumbull
Southington FC Woodbridge
Guilford Hawks Woodbridge yallow jacket
Newtown HK
Falcon FC Clinton
Madison Celtic Southington
New Fairfield Milford
Southbury
I have said to the league that I have to check with my players and would get back to them quickly that they can change the game schedules.
Here is my reaction: obviously the games would be a lot more competative and challenging than if we dicide to stay with the B teams. As far as distance of traveling, we had New Fairfield before and now Newtown has been added to the list and the rest of the teams are in the relative close vicinity. If we stay on the B side, the games are obviously less competative and the only far distance team is Southbury just like New Fairfield that we had to travel to last season.
Please give me your feedback and I need a Yes or No vote to move up to A division.
Thanks
I have no problem moving up although it will be tougher and we will need all our players available to play…..if we stay in the second division it will be a lot easier. What about Jim Graham's idea of 3 divisions with crossover games?
ReplyDeleteHis idea is fine....but that would require another meeting and I don't think they would vote on that and make a decision by email only
ReplyDeleteah…. I’m all for DIV 1 but I'm worried about the strength of the squad…… we would probably win Div 2….. But if we had 2-3 new strong players we might do quite well in Div 1
ReplyDeleteI'd rather see the 3 divisions/cross-over plan going in effect. I have no problem moving up in the A division, but given the competition, if we start losing I believe that there will be anarchy on our team (we shout at each other even when we win), and that could be the end of a good squad. We do have a good roster to compete, if everybody are really back. It would be great if Enrique could come back to the team - that Berhooz could be healthy to go back in goal - and that we could find a good tall defender to specifically challenge most of the big strikers on the A teams - Damir???? :o)
ReplyDeleteBehrooz is out for at least several months.....we need a strong goalie that can play every game to have a chance of competing in Div 1
ReplyDeleteI go with the majority who actually play most of the games. However, since we do not have a solid goalie (unless Kevin joins) and we hardly get 11 players per game it would be tough in the A division.
ReplyDeleteFor everyone's information. Tom Judge and Enrique are back plus we will have few new players and their first names are, Tim, Safet and possibly Bill. I think Rob Mentioned to me that he has another player but I am still waiting to get his info.
ReplyDeleteTom also there was a player that Zac mentioned is looking for a team and is from Hampton. Hopefully he has two legs. :-)
ReplyDeletewe need some 3 legged players.....
ReplyDeleteGood news Tom!
ReplyDeleteAs for the new players, are they going to have new uniforms? John , you know where I'm going with this - (Large - #5), and maybe a goalie jersey for Kevinho, if he decide to join us.
Let's go to "A"!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletewe need a goalie
I'll be more than happy to share my goalie jerseys with Kevin. Maybe that would be a motivation for him using my old rag Jerseys.
ReplyDeleteyour old rags will be in the Hall of Fame one day!!
ReplyDeleteScott mentioned that he got the new Celtic shirt direct from the Nike web page….was only $48 For those of you thinking about different size shirts etc this may be the way to go
ReplyDeletehttp://store.nike.com/index.jsp?country=US&cp=USNS_KW_0611081618&lang_locale=en_US#l=shop,pdp,cid-100701/pid-172049
Thanks John and Scott. I am buying my new uniform direct from Nike…..it is an excellent deal.
ReplyDeleteTom,
What's your source for numbering the uniforms?
Ron
Roniildo
ReplyDeletethe numbering system we have been using on our shirts is based on ancient Hindu/Arabic numerology systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu-Arabic_numerals
;o)
At Killingworth Sporting Good located on Route 80 just before the circle on the right hand side
ReplyDelete…..we should watch out for this tactic during the new season…….
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7984554.stm
Guys:
ReplyDeleteForgive me for imposing, and I hope this doesn't come off too much like whining, but I really must appeal to the better angels of your nature to reconsider my team's surprise 'promotion' to the A Division.
First, on procedural grounds, I, and we (I include here guys who were signing up to be in our team), had no idea that we were even being considered for such a move. It certainly wasn't on the agenda, and I don't even know what the actual policy the league adopted as to who gets promoted and who drops down (I would like to know that, though), but I'm reasonably certain that it doesn't say that the team that finishes fourth in the B Division (fifth if you go by points earned per game played) moves up to the next division.
More importantly, I have some very practical concerns here. First, we too (not unlike Trumbull, which as you know finished well ahead of us and is not being promoted) had some trauma in birthing this squad (the majority of which averages well over 50) and, in the break with Faisal, lost some key players (including our goalie). The guys who signed up were not aware that they would, or could, end up in an A Division, and I have some real fear that we'll lose some folks, especially if we start getting drubbed right off the bat (yes, George, we had some nice wins early last year, but we are very thin and as soon as we started getting players nicked up, as is inevitably the case, we started losing regularly and badly to the Falcon FC's (6-0, 5-1) and the New Fairfield's (5-1) of the world, as well as to struggling teams like Bridgeport B and Clinton. And Zak, although we played your guys a close informal friendly once last summer, you may recall that you were missing some attackers and we had a couple of non-roster players helping us out). The bottom line here is that we are not yet an A Division team, we lack the competitive impetus that distinguishes the A Division, and, in all candor (and though it pains me to say this), we will not be competitive in the A Division this year. More significantly, to my lights anyway, if we are thrust up into that situation before we have had a chance to 'gel' as a new, post-Faisal team, I frankly fear we will face real problems making it through. Look, if we do get our stuff together and are competitively successful this year, I would have no reservations about moving up next year should our record warrant; I just know this is an awful time to try to force that to happen well before we are ready. And particularly so in surprise circumstances (as well as in circumstances which probably diverge from whatever promotion/ relegation policy was actually in place). [And aside even from all that, I'm not sure I understand Tommy Abbasi's -- whose Madison team is much stronger than us and, according to Tommy as late as yesterday, could in fact compete effectively in the A group -- travel argument all that much; if Madison were put into the new A Division, the principal 'travel trade' would be Southbury for New Fairfield; what's the big deal there? Certainly I might have tried to make that, and other, points had I had some notice that this was going to be a topic of discussion, but, alas, that was not the case]
So, here I am, a mendicant, asking you please (and irrespective of my alternative "3 division proposal" from yesterday afternoon) to reverse this realignment decision.
Thanks for hearing me out. Please do let me know what you think as soon as is convenient, as I know we have to act soon to get these kinds of things buttoned down.
Best regards,
Jim Graham
Woodbridge
It is difficult for me to keep up with this discussion for a number of otherwise irrlevant reasons.
ReplyDeleteLet me just add that I think the same reason we passed over Trumbull to get to Woodbridge (i.e. - they lost so many players that they are not the same team that put up the cord that they did), applies to Woodbridge because of the split up of the team. This gets us to Madison and HK. There are requests pending for both HK and Madison to "volunteer" to move up. I certainly hope they agree, but it needs to be done with ASAP. We are less than two weeks from the season, and our schedule is not finalized yet. I've copied HK and Madison on this email. If they agree to move up, then we can leave Woodbridge down in the B Division, for now.
Pat (and Chris) and Tom. C'mon, just do it. It'll be fun and good for the league.
Zac
2nd Vice President
CARSL
Let's go to A....Woodbridge and Trumbull seem like empty shells.
ReplyDeleteLet's step up. If we show up with 13 players each week, we should be able to compete
ReplyDeleteMadison should move up to "A"
ReplyDeleteI vote for 12 people. Madison is officially in A division you have 30 seconds to object.
ReplyDeletelet's go for it!!
ReplyDeleteBut...........we need a goalie!
ReplyDeleteI'm for moving up to A.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I get solid confirmation of my new recruit this week, I'll pass along his contact info.
Guys,
ReplyDeleteLast game of Indoor games. Our game is at 7:00 against Branford SC again on Field 3. Hope is a rainy day that Kevin can join us. Please be there at 6:40 the latest.
Thanks
When do we find out if all these comments worked and we are actually in "A" division.
ReplyDeletegood question!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGuys,
ReplyDeletePlease check out the www.veteranscup.us website for a tournamant in Mass. in July 7-12. Last year that had 150 teams play in this tournament coming from all over the US and they have different divisions of Men and Women teams. Let me know if we are interested to register and can participate in this tournament. I have to warn you that we need to be committed as a team to participate, otherwise it won't work.
Let me know what you think please
i'm for it....sounds like fun...bad result for Liverpool tonight!
ReplyDeleteDid we get promoted to Div 1 after all?
I haven't given them the final answer yet and I have told them that I will get back to them by Friday morning. We will talk more tomorrow night
ReplyDeleteHorrible!
ReplyDeleteI was happy with ManU's 2-2 draw at home, but this is a worse result.
They looked awful! Exhausted would be an excuse, but I don't know. Chelsea beat them all over, but I think it started with them controlling midfield. Why the heck was Lucas starting? He is out of his league at this level. Better to keep Gerrard/Alonso together to stabilize the midfield and give Torres/Kuyt/Babel/ Benayoun the responsibility to score. Chelsea are too good to field Lucas in mid. esp. with Mascherano out. They ripped LFC apart.
I don't see 3 goals happening at Chelesa. And now LFC has to play very open to get some offense going from the start. Expect another 3-1 result for Chelsea.
I agree....odd team choice by Rafa. Chelsea played this one like a premiership game and snuffed out Gerard...... 3 without reply next week? Tough one......
ReplyDelete