Green Hawks Down Celts

A Madison team shorn of its main strike force were put to the sword by a very effective Guilford Hawks team who scored at will in the first half. No Jorge or Carlos meant Madison had a very defensive set up at the beginning of the game. However, the hesitation to attack Guilford or compete for the ball proved to be a fatal error as the Hawks slammed in 6 goals in the first half with only one in reply from the Celts. Almost every attack and shot on goal by the Hawks seemed to find its way to the back of the net. Unerring accuracy or hapless defending? Who knows, but the end result was the same with abject humiliation on the line as Madison took to the field for the second half. That fear drove Madison to play so much better in the next 30 minutes with 3 great goals closing Guilfords lead to 6-4. Tom A was breaking up most of their attacks and also was having some great shots on goal. Alas, the Celts could not close the gap any further and Guilford wrapped up the game with another goal to finish deserved 7-4 winners.

That ended the first session of indoor. The next one start this Thursday. I will post time and team as soon as i find out!

Last Game of the First Session of Indoor

This Thursday night at 8pm will be the last game of our first session of indoor soccer. We play our great rivals Guilford Hawks and this will provide a great opportunity to get back into some good form. Most of the games we have played in this first session we could have won very easily. The few games we have lost have been down to some bad luck and frankly some bad form. As we know the Hawks always give us a great game but we should be good enough to round off this first indoor session with a resounding victory!

The second session will start immediately the following week.

Roniildo is still collecting fees for the second indoor session, the new Spring season and the 2010-2011 SASL season. Thanks to those that have already paid up.

Don't forget to ask Roniildo about our 'pay to play' scheme which may help with the payment schedule.

The 7 Deadly Sins of BOR!

Madison Celtic slumped to a 9-7 defeat against a Club Napoli "select" that drew players from multiple teams in the Branford dome. The fact that an international team had to be constructed before the game does not detract from the fact that they probably deserved the victory after so many attacking misses and defensive errors by the Madison team. One thing is for sure, this game will not go down in the key soccer memento book of BOR as he forlornly moved from one position to the next on the field trying to find that elusive form that he normally brings to games. He must have missed 4 or 5 gilt edged chances to score in the first 30 minutes of the game before switching to the defence and seeing 1 or 2 awful shots go by him. Not that he was the only player having troubles....Johnaldo did not have one of his best games either although he was thankful that BOR was taking the heat! 3-1 up at half time was probably a fair reflection for the control Madison had on the game at that time but in the second half Napoli came at them hard. Goals were traded one after the other until at 5-5 Napoli managed to score 4 on the trot and break the coordination of the Madison team. Some of the goals they scored where from crazy angles and from very simple pass and go moves. Madison got back into the groove late in the game and scored two more goals and where looking good for more when they ran out of time.

Last game of this indoor session is next week against our old foes Guilford Hawks at 8pm

DON'T FORGET TO BRING OR SEND IN YOUR FEES!!

Miracle Required for Celtic

I have tried to avoid giving an update on how Glasgow Celtic have been doing in the SPL this season in the hope that things would improve, but they haven't. In fact, things have gone from bad to worse! This year was always going to be a tough one for Celtic with a new manager and backroom staff coming in. However, Celtic's biggest rivals Rangers have not been at their strongest and are going through some real financial struggles that have forced them to sell players with no back filling. The season and the championship were clearly there for the taking but Celtic have failed miserably to rise to the challenge and with only 13 games left they sit precariously in second position a full ten points behind a weakened and bankrupt Rangers team. When Tony Mowbray took over at Celtic I must admit I was a bit nervous, because his experience as a manager had been limited. He coached a Hibs side to become a reasonably competitive SPL side and then took WBA up to the EPL playing an attractive style of football. But in the EPL they were found out and came straight back down again. When Mowbray then joined Celtic, he said he wanted to build an attacking Celtic side that fans would love to watch. Well, there have been moments that have hinted at that vision but the season has been pockmarked by some awful results; early elimination from the Champions league, a poor performance in the Europa League, a shock knockout from the League cup and 21 points dropped out of a potential 75 in the league. Hope was raised again in the January transfer window when Celtic brought in players of the quality of Robbie Keane from Spurs, Braafheid from Bayern, Kamara from Fulham and several others. Celtic certainly started to score more goals but their defence has been leaking goals like the proverbial sieve. The last straw for me was the recent away game against Aberdeen when Celtic managed to get 4-2 up with only 15 minutes left in the game......and yes....they lost two goals to draw 4-4 and effectively handed the league to Rangers. I do like to believe in miracles but for Celtic to win the league now they would have to put Lazarus into the "whatever" category.

All I hope is that the new players in the team start to gel and at least they make the final section of the league season as competitive as it can be. Beating Rangers twice before the end of the season would at least be some sort of consolation for such an awful campaign.

As for the other Celts, well they are in action again tomorrow night against Club Napoli, 7pm.

See you there

Happy Lobster Day From Jorge!

I think that's what he said, or was it Happy Lovers Day?........Oh well, Happy Valentines Day to all of our partners and significant others who have to put up with our bizarre, age defying obsession for running around in little shorts chasing a ball. We appreciate your support!

Have a great Day....don't forget the flowers guys!

See you all on Thursday, 7pm , field 4 for our game against Club Napoli!

Don't forget to bring the fees that Roniildo has mentioned!!

We are Joining a New League!!

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM OUR CFO; Roniildo!

Guys, as you all know we are going to join a new league starting in August. We will have one final Spring season with our current league CARLS then we will move to the SASL for league season 2010-2011 . Their season will start in August. However, crunch time has arrived for us to be eligible to join the new league this year. I know that everyone is excited about the move to the new league, so the purpose of this post is to remind all of us what we need to do now in order for Madison Celtic FC to participate in the new league. Our deadline for payment of March 1st is fast approaching, (see note below in red from Marco Violo), so it is critical to collect from each of you no later than Thursday 25th February. If you can't make the indoor game that evening, please mail the money to me. I will send you my address in a separate e-mail. If I don't hear from you by then, I will assume you don't want to play!! If you are on the roster below, and shouldn't be, please let us know ASAP, because I need the correct numbers to calculate what each of us will pay to play. John, Behrooz, and myself will be attending the mandatory SASL annual general meeting on March 20th at Marriott Hotel in Cromwell, when we are required to pay the remainder of the fees. If we don't attend or pay, we will not be accepted into the league, hence the reason I am asking everyone to pay now. If you know players who don't regularly check the blog or e-mail, please contact them directly with this important information, or alternatively, send me their home/work addresses and I will mail this note directly to them tomorrow. If possible, please bring your $125 to the next game .

Thanks to all for making this work,

Best regards,

Ron

Madison Celtic FC 2010 Roster;

Kevin

Tom A

Behrooz

Ilhon

Jorge

Halil

Jacques

Danny

Robert

John

Tim

Telat

Ronald

Scott

Thomas P

Hamid

Jody

Carlos

Dejan

Drew

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING 2010/2011 LEAGUE REGISTRATION -FEE DEADLINE DATES

Thank you to all the Teams who have already submitted your check for registering for SASL 2010/2011 Season and congratulations on having taken advantage of the $25 Registration Credit.

For those few teams who have not send in their checks yet, please send a check for $325 before March 1st if you want to be considered for the 2010/2011 season. After March 1st, the team will be removed from the scheduling process for the next season.


Marco Viola (SASL Executive Board)

Arrested Development

The Celts turned on the style in the second half of the game against Cardiac Arrest to run up a strong 6-2 victory. Great defensive play by Tom A and Carlos was the bedrock for the victory as the opposition initially kept pace with Madison, peppering their goal with shots that narrowly missed, hit the bar or were saved by El Gato. Nonetheless, Madison were deserving of their 3-2 lead as they entered the second half. Three great goals by Halil, Jorge and a "Rooneyesqe" goal by Roniildo had set the scene for an even stronger performance in the second half that really blew away the opposition. Strong running by Drew, having his best game for the Celts, and the constant menace of Jorge and Halil kept the Cardiac team on the defensive. But when the goals started to flow they crumbled. Great goals by Jorge and others finished off the opposition early in the second half with the whistle signalling a comprehensive 6-2 victory for the Celts!

We now have a week off before our next game which will be on Thursday 18th Feb against Club Napoli!

See you all then

Oh, and welcome to Celtic Robbie!

Who will win the EPL?

It's February and time to check in with your views on who will win the EPL. The last time I asked at the beginning of the season, the run away winner in the poll was Chelsea.....Liverpool were nowhere in the vote which has proved to be prescient! So with 2/3rds of the season gone it's very close at the top and maybe 3 teams going for the top spot and another 4 going for the final Champions leagues spot. Who do you think will win out? Still Chelsea? Are Man Utd going to do there usual end of the season drive? Can Arsenal keep their form going? Not if this weekends game against Man U is any indicator. They were blown away by the Red Devils! Will Man City's explosion of money edge them into 4th place or higher? Can the wily Martin O'Neill push Villa into contention? Can Liverpool be as bad in the last part of the season as they have been? .......probably!

Have a vote!


See you this Thursday for the game against Cardiac Arrest 7 pm!