Sunday, April 5, 2009

Gotham Argo vs. VV Niuew Amsterdam

Gotham Argo 1 - 2 VV Niuew Amsterdam
9pm PIER 40 Courtyard East

------ match report by James Whiteley


The dark night .....but a brighter dawn ahead!

A beautiful spring day in Manhattan led to a perfect evening for soccer on Pier 40’s turf pitch as Gotham Argo gave VV Niuew Amsterdam (NA), the league leaders, a mighty scare but ultimately ended up losing when they should have got something from this game....aka Aston Villa and Fulham in the EPL against loftier placed opponents.

The pre-match talk from the Gaffer (Dana P. Dimon) was all about competing for every ball and ensuring we started early as our opponents we also come out of the blocks firing. Argo did not disappoint! Our opponents looked shocked as Argo attacked well down both flanks, assisted by Sam Ray and Momo Diop dominating the centre of midfield. Argo had the ball in the net as early as the fifth minute only for the referee to rule it out as the decision had been to award an indirect free kick ....the Argo bench looked perplexed (or was it wind?!?!) Still the Gotham boys poured forward and their endeavours were eventually rewarded when a quick free kick resulted in RICARDO Cuesta scoring after some good work by GASPER Epstein who provided the killer pass.

After the goal Argo sat back allowing NA to gain a foothold in the game. NA started to up the tempo as you would expect from a team top of the league, they also upped the aggression levels yet the Gotham defence stood firm ably assisted by two spectacular saves from Mr Reliable, Jeremy Newton.

Half Time – Gotham Argo 1v0 VV Niuew Amsterdam

The half time talk centred around holding the ball, slowing down the play a little as the pace was far to frenetic and could not be maintained ....these turned out to be prophetic words!

Unlike the first half Argo started slowly, giving the ball away cheaply in key areas resulting in NA getting a string of corner kicks and throw ins - which felt like corners - (was that Stoke City’s finest Rory Delap launching those missiles?!?) and it was from one of these throws that Argo finally conceded after a brave header from the NA centre forward. Ryan Gemmell was injured trying to defend the throw which resulted in the defence being jigged around again which didn’t help but by this stage NA were rampant and the Argo legs were heavy. The second goal came from a long ball over the top which caught the defence napping, Jeremy made a brave save at the attackers feet only for the ball to break to a NA player who made no mistake with an unguarded goal in front of him. It shows how much NA wanted to win this game and how much of a scare the Argo boys had given them by the way they celebrated the goal with their large vocal support ...you would have thought they just won the world cup!

Argo tried in vain to claw their way back into the game. Sammy Sneed had a spectacular overhead kick well saved but alas it was not to be and NA were grateful when the final whistle was blown. Final Score – Gotham Argo 1v2 VV Niuew Amsterdam. Argo really gave everything in this game and, having played so well for a large part of the game, can feel aggrieved losing. But this is soccer ...we will play worse this season and win! Argo can take many positives forward to the next game after the Easter break ...please dont eat too many eggs lads!!

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