A Prize For the Guys!

A great end of season prize giving night was had by all at Saray's Turkish restaurant last night. Great food, great prizes and great company!

Each team member of the CARSL 2010 winning season received a Championship medal! Player of the season awards were also given to The Hulk ( Defender of the Season ), Roniildo and Halil ( Midfielders of the season ) and Tano ( Forward of the season ). The other Defender of the season award for Goggs and Goalscorer of the year award for Jorge will be given out during the indoor season in January.

Every member of the Championship winning team has a medal waiting for them when I see them next. And finally a special "unsung Hero" award was given to El Gato for all his hard work during the season! And thanks again to El Gato for organizing the event last night which should become an annual event in our calendar!

We Are The Champions!

We never really took the time to celebrate our winning of the CARSL Div B championship this Summer. We won it by one point from Bridgeport with 3 games to spare! Only one defeat and two draws in a strong season of ten wins! For those of you turning up on Friday night at the Turkish restaurant there will be some prizes given out! We are now voting for the Striker of the season during this Spring/Summer. The most goals were scored by Jorge but maybe you look for other things in your strikers like most assists, best goal, most laughs.... go ahead and vote.

I also made a little end of season video to celebrate, it's on Madison Celtic TV and right here;

http://www.youtube.com/user/MadisonCeltic

ENJOY!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 5 Woodbridge 2

Sadly, all good things come to an end. But what a sweet end to Madison Celtic's campaign in the CARSL. A superb 5-2 win against close rivals Woodbridge cemented the Celts claim to be the best team in the league.

Madison started the game in a strangely subdued fashion allowing the visitors to make most of the early play. The opposition no 19 showed that he was in good form with some strong early running and shots. Madison could not get into top gear and their passing was woefully short of the standards of recent games. The Madison defence, which as a unit, has been incredibly strong this season was getting caught out on a regular basis with high balls being lobbed over the final defender and allowing opposition players to run onto the ball. Having suffered and survived such a maneuver several times in the opening twenty minutes the Celts finally succumbed to the tactic when the speedy no 19 latched onto a lofted ball and raced into the Madison box trailing two defenders in his wake and cracked a superb tightly angled shot past The Hulk from about 10 yards out. Although, this was their first shot on target it was a richly deserved goal for the effort Woodbridge had been putting into the game. Madison were stung into action after this set back although they still could not get their passing into the groove. Some decent attacks from the home team always seemed to break down and dissipate around the penalty box and clearly this was beginning to frustrate the Celtic forwards. Madison were also still prone to the lobbed ball over the defence tactic. In fact the home team were lucky to not go two down with only minutes left in the first half when another breakaway ball saw a Woodbridge striker racing at the goal with only the goalie to beat. But what a goalie! The Hulk spurted out of his area like a rampaging bull, taking out two players in the move ( including Gogglito!) as he chested the ball down and tried to kick the ball up field. Unluckily, it went to an opposition player on the wing but undaunted The Hulk raced after him tackling him out on the line. Unfortunately, the ball broke to yet another attacker who swept the ball towards the now empty net but because of The Hulks heroics the defence had got back in numbers and Johnaldo swept the ball up field. The ball eventually landed at the feet of Carlos out on the Madison right wing who then lofted an outrageous shot from fully 35 yards out over the opposition goalie and into the net for the equalizer! A dramatic last five minutes to the half that could have saw Madison two down but instead they were right back in the game.

Some smart tactical switches at the halftime break saw Gogglito fall back to being the sweeper and the two backs close in on the center. Johnaldo was tasked with man marking the no 19 and Tano asked to keep in the opposition box as much as he could. These changes would prove to be most effective in the second half as the Woodbridge No 19 dropped out of the game and Tano pounced twice in the box to score. His first goal was a work of art. BOR started the move way back in defence by running up the left wing, he passed to Carlito who returned the ball with a sweet back heel, BOR then passed to Safet on the edge of the box who also back heeled it to the still rushing BOR. At this point BOR had run the entire length of the field and was almost at the opposition bye line but he still had enough energy and composure to send over a beautiful cross that was met by the hip, thigh and feet of Tano as he slammed the ball into the net for the go ahead goal for Madison. The quality of the move and the goal seemed to suck the fight out of the Woodbridge team and they were under constant pressure from that point on. Another move on the right saw Carlos once again in space well outside the opposition box and unbelievably he again lofted the ball over the goalie from distance to score his second and Madison's third of the game. It was now only a question of how many Madison would score as they had their tails up and were playing some great football. So it was no great surprise when another swift move down the Madison left saw a killer ball sent in from Safet that was neatly nipped into the net by the predatory Tano. Maybe not surprisingly, after this fourth goal the Celts took their foot of the gas and allowed Woodbridge a bit more of the ball. And they certainly took advantage of that when a short corner was swept over menacingly into the Madison box. Bruce stretched to tip the ball onto the bar but the opposition striker manged to bundle the ball into the net with his gut. Ugly, but still a goal. Madison had a bit of their pride dented by this goal and they swept back into attack and with only a minute left on the clock, man of the match Carlos, showed that not only can lightening strike twice in the same place sometimes it does it three times! The ball came to him on the left side of the field and with not many options available to him he chose the spectacular by crafting a high arcing ball from a good 35 yards out which sailed over the despairing grasp of the opposition goalie to nestle in the net and round off a truly superb 5-2 win for Madison.


MAN OF THE MATCH; CARLOS. What a fantastic three goal , hat trick performance from Carlos and every one of them a goal of the season! Having said that, i think the actual goal of the season was also scored in this game by Tano after an unbelievable assist by BOR! Great play by Gogglito, The Hulk and Telat during the game and the midfield really hustled in the second half.


So, that's all folks! With only two games left on their CARSL schedule Madison will be joining the SASL Div 3 starting on Aug 15th for the start of the 2010/2011 season. This means that even though Madison Celtic are several points ahead of teams like Woodbridge and, at the time of writing Bridgeport, it will be unlikely that they will remain there when these teams play their extra games and we forfeit our last two. Having said that, it has been a truly fantastic 13 game campaign, winning 10 games drawing twice and losing only once. The stand out feature of the campaign has been a defense that is clearly the best in the league losing only 8 goals through the whole season and completing 8 shut out games of the 13! Of course, as with any winning team it has been the team spirit that has moved the team forward and made them so competitive, so difficult to beat and long may it continue into the new league! Another champions performance from a truly champion team!


You can see all the season stats on the stats page or if you are lazy you can see them here;


http://madisonceltic.blogspot.com/p/season-statistics.html


Team meeting at Augers in Guilford this Monday night 6.30 pm!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 8th August, Woodbridge!

After nearly 9 years in the CARSL divisions the time has come to say goodbye and play our last game in that league. Unless we end playing make up games, which i doubt, this will be the end of our campaign and our association with the league. I have played for every Madison team in the Division since Tom, Behrooz and I ( sole survivors) left Clinton to form the Madison team. We have had some great years ( this being one of them ) and some bad ones but it has almost always been fun.

The challenge of joining SASL will be significant one because we think it will be a better run league with better competition but I'm sure we will rise to the challenge!

But, first some business has to be done and that is to win our last CARSL league game against one of the top teams, Woodbridge. They have kept close to our tail even after we beat them at their home ground 3-0. Match Report here;

http://madisonceltic.blogspot.com/2010/05/match-report-woodbridge-0-madison-3.html

If we win on Sunday we will put 8 points between them and us in the league although they will have 3 more games to play to catch up. Let's make it as tough as possible for them to do that.

Our current league standings look like this;

TEAM P W L D F A GD PTS

Madison Celtic 12 9 1 2 32 6 26 29
Bridgeport 12 9 2 1 38 33 5 28
Woodbridge 12 8 3 1 34 20 14 25

Bridgeport will have 2 more games left in the season after this Sunday so it would take a small miracle for us to win the league after forfeiting our two last game. But what a great run!

Let's go out in style by winning.....we need a strong squad for Sunday with hopefully more than just ne sub. And of course, the really important question is..... who is the beer boy for Sunday??

See you at Town Campus field!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 7 Woodbridge YJ 0

Madison Celtic responded to last weeks first defeat of the season in the best way possible with a resounding victory. A seven goal mauling of Woodbridge was the punishment deemed necessary to banish the depressed feelings from last week. Surprisingly, for a score like this, the first forty five minutes of the game were relatively competitive and even. With returning stars such as La Boca and El Flaco back in the line up, Madison had got off to a great start with an early goal from Roniildo when he headed in a great corner from Fribeka. But rather than signalling an onslaught on the opposition goal Madison sat back and allowed Woodbridge to play some decent passing football. Their pacy forward was having some luck getting into good positions and in one passage of play he broke through hitting a superb shot on target that was superbly tipped over the bar by the legendary El Gato. As the first half wore on the teams exchanged midfield possession and some clear chances to extend the Celts lead came and went. However, just as the half was coming to an end a ball was swung into the opposition box eluding the YJ goalie and glancing of La Boca's "side". He quickly controlled the ball went past the stranded goalkeeper and slammed the ball into the net for a 2 0 lead at half time. Again some superb defending by Gogglito, a great save by El Gato and some strong midfield play by Fribeka, Jodingo!! and Roniildo were the highlight performances of the first half

If the first half was a reasonably contested match the second turned into a bit of a procession for Madison as they turned up a few gears. More assertive midfield play and an impenetrable defence were making life tough for Woodbridge as they tried to get a foothold in the game. Strong running by the midfield made it nearly impossible for the opposition to hold onto the ball for any significant period of time. Any chance of a Woodbridge fight back was effectively ended when Ilhan scored a great header off a superb cross in by Tom for the teams third. After this it looked like the Celts could score at will...and mostly they did. Another great cross over from the Madison right by Telat was headed down by Ilhan and slammed into the net by Tano, quickly followed by number five when Roniildo trundled a loose ball in from outside the box. But Madison were not finished yet as Roniildo rounded off a great personal display by tapping in for his hat trick and Madison's 6th goal of the day. It took the current leading goalscorer nearly to the end of the match before making his mark when, as he often does, Jorge rounded off the days proceedings with the 7th goal of the game, a simple tap in past the hapless Woodbridge goalkeeper. A truly superb performance by Madison as they restated why they are the league leaders!

MAN OF THE MATCH; Roniildo for his hat trick performance and assist in a compelling midfield performance. Some close runners up with Gogglito again in impressive form and Carlito showing why he has been missed. The picnic was great fun too! More pics coming from that in the next posting! Thanks to Amy for the photos!

MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 Southbury 2

Yeah, losing sucks......

If last weeks game was like playing in a Swedish sauna then this time it felt like we were in Dante's inferno. Unfortunately saturating heat and a blinding Sun were only minor problems compared to our real issues with this game. Last minute injuries to Tom A and Ronilldo meant that the team had only 11 players on the day..... on a day that subbing would be critical. On top of that Tano and El Gato had to play the whole 90 minutes while carrying bad injuries. OK, so that's all the excuses out the way and from that you can tell that these are excuses for a rare Madison defeat. Yes, the 12 game undefeated run came to an end as Madison went down fighting against a very well organized and committed Southbury team.

The game got off to the worst of starts with a great goal by Southbury after a midfield/defensive bungle. Southbury caught Madison completely cold in the first 20 minutes of the game, which is quite ironic considering the amount of heat available. Southbury were also subbing out their 16 man squad from very early in the match and had a real game plan to keep there players hydrated and fresh. Madison fought hard to get into the game and to their credit really kept Southbury in their own half or outside the Madison box. Great defending and courageous tackling by Gogglito really shored up the defence at this point in the game as it edge to half time.
Madison had their chances to equalize none more so when Safet raced into the box and tipped the ball wide of the net when it looked easier to score.

After some much needed rest and water at half time Madison started the second half well and had a number of chances to score. Eventually, after one such attack, Safet broke clear again in the opposition box and made up for his earlier miss by slamming in the equalizer. At this point of the game Madison were looking the stronger team and the more likely to go on and win. However, as the half wore on the chances came and went and the heat really began to take it's toll on the Celts. However, it was still a bit of a shock at how easily Southbury scored their winning goal. A ball lost in the midfield was swept out to the Madison left finding an opposition player clear in the box and with minimal challenge he stroked the ball past the stranded Bruce.

The final whistle ended the Madison winning run, Jorge's goalscoring streak and put a bit of a dent on the Celts' defensive record......But, Madison remain on top of the table and this performance shows how strong a team Madison are. Fighting the elements, injuries and up against a fast subbing team they showed true grit and determination. It would have been easy to find an excuse to give up but the team kept going and showed the winning characteristics that have brought them on so far this season.

MAN OF THE MATCH; Gogglito...very brave and consistent defending kept the team in the hunt throughout thew whole
game. Great performances overall by the team considering the challenges

NEXT GAME; Sunday 25th July, Southbury!

Next game on the docket is a home game (Town Campus Field or Exchange field......Tom will tell us! ) against Southbury Boomers!

We had a good competitive game against them earlier in the season which ended in a 1-1 draw after they scored a cruel equalizer with almost the last kick of the ball.

Match Report for that game is here;

http://madisonceltic.blogspot.com/2010/05/match-report-southbury-1-madison-1.html

Nice little video of that game is here; http://www.youtube.com/user/MadisonCeltic#p/u/7/I3ssvkXG4uY

We are still top of the league after 10 games, we have won 6 games in a row!.... although the league tables have not been updated yet.... well, its only 5 days after the game...give them a chance!

Not sure if we are having a picnic or not....but if we do it will be a mini one. And the beer guy is??

MATCH REPORT; Madison 4 Southington 0

When you play Summer soccer in Connecticut it can feel that you have been placed in a Swedish Sauna on full blast wearing a fur coat. Today was such a day, with the unrelenting beat of the Sun and the oppressive, saturating heat one felt completely drained of energy and that was after only five minutes of the warm up! It is a credit to both teams that they managed to put on such a good display of controlled possession and running throughout most of the game. Having said that, Southington looked to be the team that had more effectively and quickly adapted to the sweltering conditions. Madison looked sluggish, disconnected and "lacking in alacrity" over the first 30 minutes or so of the game. Nonetheless, Madison still had the best opportunities to score with chances falling to Jorge and Halil as well as Safet. For most of the first half the Madison defence was barely disturbed allowing Bruce to top up his tan while playing with a beach ball and drinking a margarita! The half was clearly a stale mate with the best moves coming from the Madison right side as Telat swept up and down the wing. At half time the talk was all about shorter passes, simple moves and taking shots on sight.

The message must have sunk in because within 5 minutes of the restart the Celts were one nil up after a great run down the Madison right by The Judge and a superb cross was met by Jorge for a simple tap in. This raised the Madison game considerably and really crushed the fight from the visitors. The second goal was delivered very quickly after the first when another great move down the right wing, this time by Roniildo, ended with a superb cross come shot that was crashed over the line by the head of Jorge for his and Madisons' second of the game. Roniildo may have felt the ball would have crept into the net without Jorge's final help but the scorers instinct made certain. By this time Madison were cruising and some very good creative passing was appearing all over the field. Halil and Ilhan were in great form with some good interchanges and Arniesto was playing a great center forward role up front. It was one of the best moves of the game that led to the third goal for Madison as a nice ball was played through the Southington defence allowing Halil to time his run to perfection beating the offside trap and coolly slotting the ball past the stranded goalkeeper. At this point in the game Madison were well worth their 3 goal lead and were pressing for more. Another great move by the Madison forwards was halted by a crude tackle on the edge of the box giving the Celts another chance to score from a set piece. Tom A stepped up and sent a beautiful shot over the wall and past the despairing dive of the goalie to send the Celts four up. Madison eased off after the goal allowing Southington back into the game and even letting some shots on goal. Bruce was alert to the danger and pulled of a great save near the end of the game to keep his clean sheet intact. Only one last cameo performance by Johnaldo was of note as he took control of the ball just inside the opposition half and went on a mazy run past 3 Southington players right into the penalty box laying off a superb pass for Jorge who only had the goalie to beat for his hat trick. Alas, it was not to be, as Jorge decided to try and dribble the ball past the goalkeeper then pass to the clearly offside Arniesto. Johnaldo denied an assist but this did not spoil a great victory for the Celts as they strengthened their position at the top of the table.

Man Of The Match Telat, for his tireless running, crunching tackles and great crosses

NEXT GAME; Sunday 18th July, Southington SC

Another game on the march to the league championship! This weekend we have a home game, at Town Campus Field, against Southington SC. They are currently sitting second bottom of the league having won 2, tied 1 and lost 6 games in their league campaign so far. We beat this Southington team 2-0 away from home earlier in the season with goals from Carlos and Bambi on his debut! .....match report is here;

http://madisonceltic.blogspot.com/2010/05/match-report-southington-sc-0-madison-2.html

....and there is a nice video of the game on Madison Celtic TV!

http://www.youtube.com/user/MadisonCeltic#p/u/2/VMMuviaTe4A

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO BE COMPLACENT! Our league record so far is excellent and you have to go back to the 8th of November 2009 for the last time Madison Celtic were beaten in a game!

11 GAMES IN A ROW WITHOUT DEFEAT!

The leagues have also been announced for the SASL 2010/2011 season;

http://saslsoccer.com/2010-2011/format.html

We are in the Third Division with the following teams!

1 Albanian Eagles

2 Madison Celtic FC

3 East Haven SC

4 Guilford Bell Curve

5 Hamden United

6 North Branford SC

7 Orange SC

8 Wallingford Morelia

Should be very exciting! But let's focus on winning the CARSL league first!

Who is the beer guy? ARNIESTO!!

MATCH REPORT; Bridgeport 0 Madison 3

Finally, the match report has arrived! Looks like it was a rough and tumble sort of game with some bad tackles aimed at our star players.....but the team rose above it and stuffed Bridgeport to take our rightful spot at the top of the table!

Report By Roniildo

Bridgeport Bruisers Buried by Magic Celtic

It was with considerable trepidation that Celtic headed south to the Bridgeport Seaside early on an exceptionally hot and humid Sunday Morning! With a slew of key players out with injury or business (in Hawaii, which I don’t think really counts as business), we knew at the outset it was going to be a huge challenge to keep the streak intact against the boys from Bridgeport. Hell, it was difficult enough just to reach the field because the police and city had sectioned off the Seaside area playing fields to accommodate the Bridgeport summer fest. After driving around in circles for a while, most of the players and ref eventually showed up and the match got underway half an hour late, and what a match it turned out to be!

Other than Telat, our tour de defense was MIA on Sunday for one reason or another, so we decided on a strategic defensive approach, with Jodingo!!, Tom, El Gato, Brucey and Telat stepping up with massive performances at the back. They completely dominated Bridgeport with outstanding controlled possession football which completely frustrated the Bridgeportonians for the entire match. I think we were inspired or possessed by the Spanish tactics throughout the World Cup, and it was with the clear mind set of keeping possession, and then counter attacking that we set out, and boy did the strategy pay off big time for the green and white hoops.

Our fist goal was a masterpiece engineered from the midfield through slick one-two passing to find Safet who very coolly buried the ball in the back of the net. The Bs were definitely rattled and started to unravel emotionally after the first goal. Tano could have had 2 or 3, with balls rattling off the post and bar, but he finally tapped in for goal #2 after great passing from midfield.

Needless to say the match had no shortage of nasty incidents, as is the norm against Bridgeport. After the second went in, they really brought out the rough stuff, just like the Dutch on Sunday. Win by fear and intimidation I believe is their motto. Anyway, we were having none of it, and the Celts did really well to remain cool after many harsh and reckless challenges from Mr. English and Co. Although on second thoughts, I’m not sure that Tano punching their goalie in retaliation after he had vindictively kicked Tano in the head five seconds after the ball was gone can reasonably be described as cool calm and collected, but you get the general idea. In the last few minutes, following excellent possession down the right flank, Telat earned a corner, which he whipped over to the back post to the waiting Jorge who leapt and headed an absolute corker beyond the helpless keeper to make it three nil Celtic.

All in all a fabulous, and well deserved result. Everyone played a great strategic game, and it was eerily quiet on our side, which is one reason in my mind why we did so well. Communication was outstanding, and the only yells from our lads were when Safet, Tano and then Jorge hit the back of the net.

MAN OF THE MATCH; Almost impossible to single out the MOM, but I have to, so this week’s honor goes to Brucey for his great play and bravery and producing yet another shut out…..great stuff boys

Happy Birthday Blog!

No, this is not the match report!.....Yes, the blog is 2 years old today, thank you for asking!

Roniildo will send me the report on the 3-0 demolition of Bridgeport in his own sweet time. In the meantime as we wait to find out how Jorge, Tano and Safet slammed in the goals against the pretenders to our throne I thought we could celebrate the two years of blogging about all things MadCelts!

We have generated some great statistics over the first two years of its existence! The blog has had over 12,000 visitors since it started! Those visitors have looked at well over 40,000 pages of information about the team! Visitors from all over the World have viewed the blog, from South America, Asia Europe, Australia and a whole bunch from the USA! Hopefully they have been entertained following the ins and outs of "personalities" such as El Gato, Fribeka, Jodingo!!, La Boca, Roniildo and BOR! Not forgetting the witty comments of TANO and Jorge that spice up the blog! Celebrity fans like Susan Boyle are always welcome and of course checking out how we all look on Madison Celtic TV is always a very special experience..... And I have to say that the rumors that Jodingo!! has been using the blog as a dating agency are just not true........ I think.

So, thanks for using the blog and please keep coming back for more! Especially for the match report which I'm sure I will get soon! Won't I Roniildo? It's not Shakespeare you know....

NEXT GAME; Sunday July 11th, Bridgeport!

It's the big one this weekend! No, not the World Cup Final.......It's the top of the league clash against Bridgeport! They, like us, have been going strong and are 1 point ahead of us having played the same number of games. We have had some tough clashes with both Bridgeport A and B teams over the years and this game will be no different. Looks like our challengers have scored a lot of goals so far this season (31) but they sure have lost a lot (17 ). Looks like their strike force will be a real test for the impressively stingy Madison defence ( 4 ) and maybe a huge opportunity for our forwards to bang in a lot more goals to add to their season tally (17 ). Their average score over the season so far is to win 4-2 and ours is to win 2-0 so it should be a very interesting game. Let's hope we have our full squad available for the game......there will be plenty of time to play the game, have a beer and get home for the World Cup final!

I think the steamy heat wave should be a bit milder by Sunday but don't forget to bring lots of water!

Go Madison! Go Oranje!!........

MATCH REPORT; Madison 1 Southington FC 0

Madison ground out a narrow 1-0 victory over Southington FC today under humid , sweltering conditions at the Town Campus field. The Celts started the game on fire with nice crisp passing and incisive forward plays. An impressive number of shots peppered the Southington goal in the opening 15 minutes, as the gulf in the respective league positions looked all too visible. Great midfield play by Jodingo!! and Halil in the middle and Fribeka out on the right stifled any chance of Southington getting on the ball. Southington did have some moments in attack when they managed to get the ball out to their fast wingers but the frugal Madison defense gobbled up every stray ball. Just as it was beginning to look like the kind of game when Madison have all the possession but can't score....they scored! A great ball by Fribeka was flicked on by Ronilldo and then slammed into the net by the ubiquitous and free scoring Jorge for a well deserved lead. The goal was Jorge's 5th goal of the season and the 4th game in a row where he has scored!

The game was set for Madison to push on and rattle in a few more goals against the team at the bottom of the league but instead Southington really became a competitive force in the match.

The visitors started to penetrate into the Madison defence with very direct balls through the middle and on one occasion a fantastic shot was tipped onto the bar by Bruce making a great save. Shortly after that another break away was only stopped by a great sliding foot save by Bruce who was having his busiest period of the game. Possession was more in Southingtons favor than the host team at this point and it would have been no surprise if they had managed to engineer an equalizer. However, Madison kept their composure and made it to the half still in the lead. The second half was more of the same as a fairly even game meandered through 30 minutes. Most of the action was in midfield but every so often there would be break aways at both ends of the field that would result in near misses. Madison had a particularly lucky break when a stray backward header by Tom A needed an outstanding save off the post by Bruce to keep the lead intact. The heat was beginning to tell on both teams as the game slowed to a walking pace. Madison kept possession reasonably well as the game came to a close and it looked unlikely that either team would round of the day with another goal. The final whistle signalled another victory for the Celts , their 4th in a row and they now remain unbeaten over the first 8 games of the season.

Man Of The Match; Bruce. For some outstanding reflex saves that kept the proud Madison defensive record intact Bruce was the clear MOM. Some great work by Fribeka, Halil and Jodingo!! are also worth a mention

NEXT GAME; Sunday 27th June, Southington FC

What a great week for the USA in the World Cup! Some really exciting games and great goals and now it's our turn to show what we can do on the field of play! We have a home game this Sunday against Southington FC at the Town Campus field. Looks like we have about 12 confirmed players so far but still to hear from a few.

This is another important game for us. While we were sitting relaxing last Sunday both of our closest rivals, Woodbridge and Bridgeport, won their games to push us into third place in the league. Woodbridge have 18 pts after 8 games, Bridgeport 18 points after 7 games and we have 17 points after 7 games. Very tight at the top! The good news is that Woodbridge and Bridgeport play each other this weekend so one or both of these teams will lose points. We are up against Southington FC. Both Southington teams are struggling a bit this year but this particular team will be out for revenge after their season opening home defeat to us. Let's take the game very seriously. No points ( or pints! ) are won until the end of the game , and the match against New Fairfield told us that being near the bottom of the league does not mean they can't hurt us!

We still need a beer volunteer for the game! Also, USA are playing against Ghana on Saturday so it would be fun to meet up and watch it together. Maybe a better bar than the last one?

MATCH REPORT; Madison 3 New Fairfield 0

It was probably tempting fate by pointing out New Fairfield's losing league record before we played them. No game is easy and no win is ever just handed to you on a plate. And it took the whole 90 minutes for the league leaders Madison to subdue a feisty and combative New Fairfield team. For the first half hour of the game Madison looked like they were the visitors to the Exchange field. Re-acquainting ourselves to our cabbage patch of a pitch clearly took some time as the Celts were disjointed, out of sorts and lucky not to lose a goal in those opening minutes.

If it were not for the strong tackling and disruptive play by Halil in those opening minutes then the game may have taken a very different direction. For some reason Madison could not emulate the flowing fast passing style of play that they used to destroy Milford in their last match. As the first half progressed Madison were increasingly random in their ball distribution and lacked a cutting edge. Although Bruce was being kept on his toes ( no tapestry this week! ) during most of the half very few incisive chances were being made by New Fairfield either.
Midway through the first half Madison started to calm down and the introduction of Carlos and Jorge really started to change things to the positive. More possession and better passing started to become evident.

With only five minutes left in the half Madison finally got the breakthrough they had being trying so hard to achieve. A ball into the New Fairfield box was worked over twice by Tano and Carlos before Jorge latched on to a loose ball to slam it into the net. A wave of relief swept through the team which took them through to the half time break and a good discussion on positions and subbing!


The second half was a much better performance by Madison although never easy. Many more chances came to Carlos, Tano and Safet but nothing would hit the back of the net. Then a great move by Madison really put them into the driving seat for the rest of the game.

A fabulous ball was swept over from the Madison right field by Carlos right into the box were it was met full on by the in rushing Jorge who crashed the ball into the net with a beautiful header. Two goals for him and a second for Madison. To their credit, New Fairfield never gave up and pushed hard in a way that belied their lowly league status. Their effective use of the offside trap was immensely frustrating for the Madison forwards and it looked like this was going to end up being a two goal game until Carlos burst onto the scene again.

In fact the third goal for Madison was all Carlos. After latching onto a loose ball he swept into the opposition box, tricked the goalie once then twice before slamming the ball into the net for an anxiety easing third for Madison. Several chances came and went for Madison after this including a 'sitter' of a miss by The Judge. Tano also had several golden opportunities to score through the game but was unlucky, especially in the very last minute of the game when he was on a break that would surely have given Madison their fourth only for the ref to blow the final whistle! A tough game but Madison ground out the victory in the end and remain top of the pile.


MAN OF THE MATCH; Halil. Although their were some great performances today by Carlos and of course, Jorge the MOM goes to Halil for his constant work rate and probing. An industrious style of play that helped Madison regain the ball when they most needed it

COOK OF THE MATCH; Ilhan! Some great fun in the post match BarB Q! Superb food and great company. Let's do it again soon!

Action photos by Jodingo!!

GAME IS ON!

El Gato just did a field inspection and he says there is no standing water and no announcements about the field being closed so we should be good to go! See you at the field!

NEXT GAME; Sunday June 13th, New Fairfield "B"

I can't believe it, can you?! 6 games in, we are top of the league!, we are undefeated!, we have the best defensive record around! and we get to have our first home game!! Yes it's time to break out the hot dogs and Bubba burgers as we head to the Madison town beach for our first home game of the season against New Fairfield "B". They are a new team to the league and although we have played their "A" team many times this will be our first go at them. So, let's consolidate our place at the top of the table with a resounding win! Then we can head off to the beach for a nice post match celebration.

The list of menu activities will be in the comments section below as will the current role call. Please keep adding to both!

Also, Friday is the start of the World Cup! Arniestio supplied a nice graphic tracker for you to follow.... i will put this on a special Pages section above;

http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html

Some of us will also be out at a bar on Saturday to watch the USA play England....come along and join us. I think it's either the Moorings in Guilford or Eli's in Branford.....we can settle on which in the comments section below....... see you all soon!

MATCH REPORT; Milford 1 Madison 4

MAGICAL MADISON BLOW MILFORD AWAY

Madison went top of the league today with a scintillating display of controlled, assertive possession and superb clinical finishing. Milford Magic were easily blown off their perch at the top of the table with a season best performance from the Celts. Madison started the game on fire and held over 90% of the possession for most of the first 30 minutes of the game. The undefeated league leaders Milford did not know what had hit them and looked devastated as the ball became a total stranger to them. This was easily the best performance of the season so far from Madison. Almost every player on the field was up for the game and playing to their best form. La Boca started in an advanced midfield position allowing a slightly injured El Flaco to play at the back. A new player called Safet also had his debut today and what a game he had! Celtic dominated the opening skirmishes of the game with some great interplay between midfield and the strike force. Halil and Roniildo held possession well, as did La Boca, feeding the ball to Tano and Safet. Jorge playing in a slightly deeper forward role was also playing some great one touch passing and overall Milford Magic could do nothing in the opening half hour to get the ball out of their half. The unoccupied Madison goalie, Bruce, was so bored he was seen in the distance finishing a detailed tapestry depicting the last Red Sox World series win! But, Madison have been in this position before dominating possession and losing a sucker goal and failing to take their own chances. Not this time, not this game. The first goal for Madison came from the golden boot of Jorge after he found himself in a position outside the Milford box. It did not look like there was any chance for him to do what he did which was to curl the ball over and past the despairing dive of the Milford goalie to nestle the ball in the corner of the net. A well deserved opener for the Celts, and as they kept pressing a second was not to be denied them. This time a great ball out to Bambi on the right side of the field allowed him to sweep the ball into the box where Tano was their to crunch the ball into the net for the Celts second of the match. At this point in the game Madison could have scored 4 or 5 more but maybe were trying a bit too hard and were leaving some gaps at the back. Against the run of play the lone Milford striker went on a fast break trailing Carlos and Roniildo in his wake. When he got to the Celtic penalty box he did not hesitate to slot the ball past Bruce to cut the Celts lead in half. The goal clearly shook the Madison team out of their slight lethargy and set up a swift response with a fantastic move that swept the ball up the right side of the field this time to La Boca who sent a sweet, inch perfect ball into the box that was met by Safet who tucked it into the net for his debut goal and Madison's third of the game. The half finished with Madison in total control of the game and some superb first half performances by almost all of the team.

The second half started with Madison still exerting significant possession and showing some really creative play. Not surprisingly Milford where getting more of the ball this half as the Celts tired but whenever they got a shot on target Bruce was there to meet the challenge. However, the game was effectively finished as a contest when debut bhoy Safet scored his second and Madison's 4th of the game after only ten minutes of the second half. The rest of the half was a much more even game compared to the first half but the Celts were never in any real danger of losing another goal and eventually ran out well deserved winners and new league leaders.

Man of the Match; There were many contenders today as most of the midfield and strike force played so well but it would be churlish not to give the MOM to debut player Safet for his two great goals!

NEXT GAME; Sunday 6th June, Milford!

Our next game will be a top of the league match against Milford Magic. Milford sit proudly at the top of the CARLS League after 5 games having won 4 and drawn 1. Madison Celtic are only 2 points behind the leaders in third place. The stats show that Madison have the best defence in the league losing only 3 goals so far. Milford are not far behind with a loss of only 5 goals which implies the game could be won in a low scoring 1-0 or 2-1 type of game. But maybe the historic stats tell us something different? We have played the Magic many times of the last few years and they have always been good competitive games. Since the Fall 2007 season our record against them has been the following;

Played 6, Won 3, Lost 2, Drawn 1, Scored 17, Against 13

These stats would imply that we should win this game 3-2!!

Here is another interesting stat to consider; if you take the last two games of the Fall 2009 season and the first 5 games of this season we now have gone 7 games undefeated! 5 wins and 2 draws.....no pressure guys!

A top of the league clash, with an undefeated run on the line!

We may need some beers after this one.....who is doing that?

Roll call will continue in the comments section below.

Match Report; Woodbridge 0 Madison 3

I missed the game but it looks, and reads, like it was a great one! Thanks again to Annie for the photos and Roniildo for this weeks match report!

Woodbridge No Match For Magnificant Madison!

It was on a misty morning in Woodbridge that we returned to the crime scene from last week’s match, but this time Madison marched away with a thoroughly deserved and comprehensive 3-0 beating of the “other” Woodies. This was very much the Woodbridge team line-up and performance predicted earlier in the week by Arniesto, who, despite a late week hamstring pull, showed on Sunday to deliver another stellar performance in the strike line.
Although Woodbridge had 2 or 3 fast and fit players in the middle and upfront, they were no match for the Celtic midfield of Fribeka, Halil and Carlos, and on the very rare occasion they managed to get forward, the back 4 of Telat, Goggellitto, LaBoca & BOR easily snuffed out any threat whatsoever from the Woodbridge offense, including the number 13 (which in the end proved to be his unlucky day). Wave after wave of impressive Madison attacks down the left and right, spearheaded by Fribeka, Halil and Carlos produced a cornucopia of chances for the Celts. From the outside today there was an air of confidence/slight arrogance about Madison (probably because it was LaBoca’s birthday J and we knew there was tons of beer waiting because Roniildo forgot Ilhon already volunteered for beer duty and also brought a cooler full).
Anyway, back to the story! Following a patient build-up involving 6 or 7 of the guys, Bambi delivered another fine ball into the path of Tano in the box, who was just pulverized into the turf by the left back! Penalty to Madison, which Tano (when he regained consciousness) calmly stepped up and smashed it beyond the futile attempt of the Woodie keeper to break his duck for the Celts. WTG Tano, and I’m sure this will be the first of many for you in the green and white hoops!!
After the onslaught of pressure and the opening goal, the Woodies organization was rattled, and once again, as predicted by Arniesto, a lot of internal strife and bad blood weakened the Woodbridge resolve even more. Even at this early stage, it was like shooting fish in a barrel for Madison, who could easily have netted 7 or 8 today. Similar to a couple of weeks ago, Bruce could have got the deck chair and Sunday Times out again (sorry Johnaldo…liked that line a lot, so I repurposed it for you).
Inexplicably, a few minutes later, Madison underwent an unanticipated reorganizational change (and I’ll just leave it at that for blog purposes!) with Carlos coming back to sweep, and LaBoca moving into the attack undoubtedly hoping to net himself a birthday goal, if not many. After more great passing and forward pressure on the Woodbridge defense, the ball fell sweetly to LaBoca on the 18 yard line, who nailed it into the roof, leaving the keeper diving helplessly in despair (2-0 Madison)!After yet another piercing run down the left flank from Fribeka he earned a corner that was floated perfectly onto the towering noggin of the Judge, whose devastating downward header was met by golden boot of the prodigal Jorge giving the Woodie keeper absolutely no chance (3-0 Madison)! A lot of internal Woodbridge drama on the sideline at the end of the game, but hopefully none of the two guys involved ended in the Yale emergency room.

MAN OF THE MATCH; Halil: Superb tackling and relentless running in the midfield throughout the match made Halil the stand out for MOM (You need to sign more of us for the boot camp!). Coach of the Match goes to Dejan, who should be in the running for the Real Madrid job if Mourinho’s negotiations fall through. He managed the team and substitutions like a Swiss watch and played team psychologist to boot. Well done Dejan, and hope to see you back on the field too next week!!!

.....and many thanks to Annie for the great photo's!