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