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.

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.

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!

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!