Pumas Vs Madison Game Cancelled

Guys, we have forfeited this Sundays game against Greenwich Pumas because we could not field a full team. In fact we were way off a full team. This is really disappointing and puts us in a hole  in the league very early in the season, with only 1 point out of  a potential 9. I understand you all have commitments and family calls to make so it's not an issue if you cant make  a game (although I hope this is not the pattern for all away games this season). But, the lack of communication from some of you when asked the simple question 'are you playing?' is becoming ridiculous. We can't run the team properly if you don't tell me, as early as you can, if you can or cannot play.
We are all playing football because its fun....don't make it a pain for me!

Our next game will be an AWAY game against Orange with an 830 AM kick off.... I hope you tell me as soon as you can if you can make it!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 Albanian Eagles 3

If someone had been randomly walking past the game on Sunday at various times, and had been asked who is winning they would have said " the team in green, they must be!" Yes, it was one of those games. I know we don't do Opta stats for this level of soccer but i would place a bet that the Celts must have had greater than 75% possession during the game and maybe closer to 100% over the last 15. But the stat that is measured, recorded and really matter is the result, and that result shows that Madison fell to a shock 3-1 defeat against the newly promoted Eagles. It was all so different after just one minute of the game when Tano burst out to the right side of the field, saw that the opposition goalie was off his line and lobbed an audacious shot from over 30 yards over his head and into the net for the go ahead goal. At that point the Eagles were rattled and could have succumbed to a beating but amazingly the Celts threw it all away. A rushed throw out, a hassled defender and a clunky tackle allowed the ref to give the visitors a dubious penalty, and the equalizer, after only 6 minutes. After that whirlwind start the game settled down into a game of poor passing and rushed shots. Every pass seemed to hit the back, the neck or any body part that was not the feet as the ball ricocheted around the field like a drunken bullet in a bar. Even though the Celts had most of the ball they didn't know what to do to get past the opposition defense and really couldn't make the killer pass. After the half time break the game followed the same path with the Celtic midfield probing and pushing and the Eagles trying to hit the ball on the break. And it was the latter strategy that eventually worked. A long ball into the Celtic half looked to be easily mopped up by Edmilson but he then passed blindly to his left and didn't see the onrushing Eagles forward who still had some work to do to get into the box. But  he did, and slammed the ball past the Hulk for the lead. Although the Celts heads went down they still had most of the ball and  shots peppered the opposition goal hitting the bar and narrowly going past the post on several occasions. It was strangely unsurprising though when another break away ball allowed the Eagles to again sprint past the last line of defense and coolly slot the ball past the onrushing Hulk. A barely believable 3-1 score was made all the more unbelievable by the amount of possession the Celts had for the last 15 minutes of the game. They pounded forward in wave after wave of attack with a crazy number of chances going their way with no success.  The whistle went and the first defeat of the season was on the board.  The good news is that the team took the defeat with some good balanced comments and not the crazy finger pointing and shouting that has sometimes happened int he past.

Man of the Match; Some good play by Jodingo!! and Roniildo in the first half was added to by some strong play by Johnny B and Alex in the second half. But for his tenacious dribbling and never give up attitude the MOM goes to Johnny B

NEXT GAME; Sunday April 21st vs Albanian Eagles!

Our first home game of the season is against our old rivals from Div 3, the Albanian Eagles. It's a 10 am kick off at Exchange field.  We played the Eagles four times two years ago with each game resulting in a high scoring draw ( 2-2, 5-5, 4-4, 2-2 ) They are a tough team to play with good attackers but  with a fairly poor  defense. They started their season off with a home defeat to Guilford Bell Curve so they will be looking to get back on track.  Tano and the Hulk are bringing the booze, bring any snacks you want for after the game!

Lets have some fun!

MATCH REPORT; Cheshire Inter 2 Madison Celtic 2

Madison Celtic started off the new season with a gutsy performance that claimed a well earned point in a four goal thriller. Celtic started the game against newly promoted Cheshire Inter with only 11 players available for the 90 minutes. They knew it was going to be an uphill fitness battle against an Inter team that had copious numbers of subs available to them and so it proved. But the opening 15 minutes of the game were all Madison with some great possession and superb passing. Johnny B and Rob Bz were in great form right from the get go and the Celts looked the most likely to get the opening goal. So it was no surprise when a ball passed to Tano was trapped between his chest and chin and then laid off to Johnny B who swerved an unstoppable shot from outside the box for a fabulous go ahead goal. If the Celts looked primed to take advantage of that lead then they failed to do so as their fitness wheels came off the bus. A bit more huffing and puffing encouraged Inter to get more into the game and a few on target shots and headers could have erased the lead, and more, if it had not been for the great saves by the Hulk. But even with these great interventions you could tell an equalizer was coming and it happened after another great save by Hulk as he stretched his fingertips out to push the ball off to the side .But the ball was not cleared from the penalty box and Inter were able to lob the ball back in and over the heads of the defense and into the net for the equalizer. The rest of the half was still largely dominated by the Celts and by the half they could argue that they were unlucky to be tied. The second half again started brightly for Madison but became a war of attrition as the 45 minutes ticked down. Madison had a burst of energy as the half started with some great runs by Ruggerho and Rob Bz but it was a run up to the edge of the opposition box by Johnny B that released Rob to run free and coolly slot the ball past the goalie for another go ahead goal. After that, the zero Madison subs and the ability of Cheshire to sub players in and out as frequently as they wanted, really took its toll. A break away run from the halfway line by an Inter forward  finally sprung the tight  Madison offside trap, allowing him to run unhindered into the box and slot the ball past the Hulk for the equalizer. With only fifteen minutes left in the game the Celts were fading fast and holding on for dear life. If it wasn't for some superb last minute tackles by La Boca and Edmilson combined by some fantastic shot stopping by Hulk, the Celts would have surely crashed to defeat. But the team sucked it up and held out for  a great draw. The first point claimed at the start of what hopefully will be a fun season!

MAN OF THE MATCH; Some of the great play by Johnny B and Rob was notable. Also, the superb tackling by Edmilson and the solo up front job by Tano were also worthy of praise. But the stand out performance of the day was from The Hulk for his superb array of saves keeping the Celts in the game!

NEXT GAME; Sunday April 14th, VS Cheshire Inter

The new season is here!! Our first game of the 2013 SASL Div 2 championship will be an away game against Cheshire Inter with a 9am kick off.  The game will be played at Quinnipiac Park in Cheshire. The directions are below;

QUINNIPIAC RECREATION FIELDS: 1-91 to Exit 15 to Route 68 West, go about 6-8 miles to 3 way traffic light intersection and take Route 70 East. Go

about 2 miles, bear left at fork to Cheshire Street Fields about 1⁄2 mile on left.
Route 10 to Cheshire Center. At the three-way traffic light turn onto Route 68 / 70 East. Go through first traffic light and continue on Route 70 East. Follow above directions.
I-84 take I-691 to Exit 3 (Cheshire), end of exit ramp turn right to traffic light, turn left onto East Johnson Avenue. Go about 1-2 miles to stop sign, turn right onto Cheshire Street, go about 1-2 miles to entrance of Quinnipiac on right.

I don't know about you but I'm excited about the new season starting and even though the second half of last year was a tough experience I think we learned a lot. We have a leaner squad this year ( well leaner in numbers, not so sure about the BMI's )so everyone should get plenty of playing time.

Let's have fun this year.... it's great to still be playing at our advanced years so lets make the most of it!

We have played Inter once before in a friendly and we demolished them but they were just about to be relegated from Div 2 and we were just about to be promoted to div2. Roles reversed to a certain degree this time but it should be a close game.

See you on Sunday bright and early!

Friendly Game; Sunday April 7th, vs Madison Over 30's

Guys, our scrimmage game is this Sunday at 9am at the Exchange field against Madison Over 30's.
We have 8 players on the roll call for Sundays game. Three more needed for a team!

Roll call for April 7th Warm up game;

Roniildo
La Boca
Tano
TomA
Ruggerho
John B
TomP
Jorge