MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 Norwalk SC 2

REPORT BY RONIILDO Our 5th game of the season was against Norwalk Sports Colombia was an early 9AM KO, which predictably led to a lot of latecomers, with little warm-up time. In complete contrast, the Colombian SC players were all at the Surf Club when I arrived at 8:30AM going through a series of yoga, formation jogging and push-up interval training……now that’s what you call a connected team…pretty funny to watch, since never seen that before in this league. If it was intended to intimidate us, I think it worked, particularly on Jodingo!! J After the match was underway, it was clear that Norwalk meant business, and the majority of their players were fast and skillful, so we knew we were in for a struggle, or so it seemed. They dominated possession in the first 10 mins, and after pressing hard, they had us stuck in our own penalty box, desperately trying to clear the ball. Eventually after a number of waves of attack, we failed to get rid of the ball from 3 yards out, decided to pass to the Norwalk center forward instead, who slammed past the helpless and faultless Hulk from 2 yards to go one up. Predictably loosing the early goal, led to the bad old habits of guys yelling at one and other….got pretty ugly for a while. Needless to say the melt down didn’t help our focus or concentration, and after possession was lost in the middle from a sloppy pass, the Norwalk left winger gathered the ball, sprinted down the left side (he didn’t need to because nobody was chasing him) beat one defender lobbed in a beautiful cross into the box an onto the head of the on rushing attacker and we were 2 down. At that point you would have predicted a good hiding for the Celts, but during the half-time pep talk, there was a lot of good team building stuff, particularly from JohnB, who really summed it up in a nut shell…none of us mean to make mistakes, so crucifying each other when we make them is just unacceptable!!! We all agreed to go out and have some fun, and quit the belly aching. The Celts kicked off the 2nd half like a transformed team, and started to play like we are capable of…good one touch passing, and building from defense through the midfield, instead of playing the big long ball, and giving possession away. Our new approach and good attitude paid off in the first 10 mins, and for the first time in the match we had the yoga gurus from Norwalk on their back feet. Relentless attacks driven by great work in the middle from Ruggero and JB allowed us to pummel their goal with shot after shot, and after a powerful drive from JB was cleared odd the line Ruggerro was perfectly positioned on the top of the box to slam home an absolute cracker… we were definitely on top at that point. Minutes later, awesome link-up play between JB and Roniildo down the right side, allowed a cut back to Tano on the 6 yard line, but was just not to be as the shot slammed right between the two posts (the rugby post behind the goal J…no worries Tano, we’ve all done that many times……As much as we persevered and pressured the Norwalk boys, we were just unable to get our equalizer, and so we were just piped at the post this time. Need to give them a lot of credit too, easily the most skillful and fit team we have played so far, and 3 or 4 of their players were standouts. By a clear distance, MAN OF THE MATCH was Rugginho, not only for his superb goal, but for his intelligent link-up play with the midfield players, and his positioning when we were on the attack Well done Rugginho, and hope it is the first of many! Big thanks to all who ignored the confusing exchanges on the blog regarding the picnic, and brought a bounty of delicious dishes and beers…see y’all after Memorial Day weekend for the next match…….