Metropolitan Oval
Time: 11am
On a chilly Sunday afternoon, a mixed squad comprised of both Gotham Argo players and their Argo Silver kin came out to Ward’s Island to take on a tough Barnstonworth Rovers team. The Argonauts had their work cut out for them from the get-go due to a lack of subs.
The Rovers took charge of the game early by surprising the Argonauts with a fairly well-organized attack. This being said, Argo’s backline of Pete Hahn (left back), James Whiteley (sweeper), Luciano Belizan (stopper), and Jon Furie (right back) stood their ground and turned away each Rover attack.
Argo’s midfielders (Tim Olson, Momo Diop, Jim Beck, and Kevin Gordon) took a few minutes to get their rhythm going as they had to focus primarily on their defensive duties throughout the first 10 minutes of the game. Nevertheless, they soon got some nice passes off to one another and managed to feed strikers Jeremy “Schroeder” Newton and Gaspar Epstein on several occasions. Despite the fact that the Rovers controlled the ball throughout the majority of the first half, none of their shots were able to get past Argo’s monster keeper, Elliot Gilmore.
First blood would be drawn by the Argonauts when Kevin carried the ball down the right flank and threaded a beautiful cross right inside the 18 to Jim, who slotted the ball into the lower left corner of the net. Times were good as the Argonauts closed out the half with a surprising 1-0 lead.
That lead, however, was to evaporate within the first 10 minutes of the second half when the Rovers scored on what was a chaotic scene in the box, which was created shortly after a free kick outside of the box.
Later in the half, Elliot made an absolutely breath-taking, diving save up into the upper right corner of the net to keep the score even. Unfortunately, the Rovers were able to take advantage of a tiring Argo squad and continued to their attack. Their persistence was rewarded when they netted a second goal roughly half way through the second half.
The Argonauts, however, were not to be denied so easily. In the remaining minutes of the game, James was sent up to strike alongside Jeremy. This dangerous tandem created several scoring chances and induced many corner kicks that helped give the Argonauts a fighting chance. Right towards the end of the game, James let off a blistering shot, which the Rover’s goalie somehow managed to block. Alas, the game ended in a 2-1 defeat, but the Argonauts came off the field with their head’s held high!
THE SWEET SONG OF VICTORY
A day after the sixty-fourth anniversary of the end of the second World War, the Gotham fans gathered together on a beautiful New York evening to watch their beloved Argonauts take on the feared and uber German SC Eintracht. Drawing its origins from the Bundesrepublic, the Queens-based Eintracht brings machine-like precision and horde-like aggression. It was going to be a vicious match-up, and the Argonauts knew they would have their hands full, trying to reign in the aptly nicknamed Mercedes-Benz of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League. As the night unfolded, the Gotham fans got exactly what they desired - a battle of grit and gristle, an instant classic.
The Argonauts arrived early, and their focus immediately permeated the locker room like the heavy smell of Bengay. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the players got down to business. They warmed up and went over the last minute strategery briefings from their esteemed manager, Dana P. Dimon. Soon after the formalities were over, the starting line-up was given and the teams took the field. The Argonauts fielded an experienced squad with Schroeder in goal, Troy Strike and Jon Furie on the outside, Wonder Will Henderson as stopper and James the Samurai anchoring the defense, Uri the Dart and Ryan the Riot on the midfield flanks, Momo and Gaspar strafing the middle, and Rocket Sam and Bruno the Beast gunning for goal.
The opening minutes saw the teams test each other out, like a pair of experienced boxers in the first round of a prize bout. The Argonauts looked sharp and their confidence grew with every minute. The team's hard work paid off as Troy found the back of the net when he collected a loose ball at the top of the box and one timed a well-directed volley into the upper right corner. The Argonauts were up a goal and did not look back for the rest of the half - the team continued its onslaught of the struggling Queens side and the game looked to be all but over.
The second half saw a revitalized Eintracht squad, however. The Trachteans, having learned from their mistakes of the first half, were determined to give the Argonauts a good fight. Their aggressiveness, though, almost cost them a goal as an over-zealous defender forgot he was playing soccer and not his native game of handball, and handled the ball inside the box. The ref whistled for a penalty, and Rocket Sam arrived at the penalty spot accompanied by a panoply of vile curses emanating from the Eintracht goal line, like the fountains of the Bellagio. But the celebration was not to be, as Sam's shot bounced off the right post and was cleared away by the dutiful Trachtean defense. The game took a turn for the worse, as the typically tepid-tempered Troy, flashed back to his beloved judo days, and performed a textbook takedown of a Trachtean forward inside the box. The penalty shot went left, Schroeder dove right, and the game was tied.
Yet the fun was just beginning. The Argonauts caught on to the vaunted German long ball kickaroo, and were quickly back in control of the action. Having worked the ball down the sideline, Troy was once again involved in the play, this time as a victim of a nasty Trachtean ankle hack. After Uri curled a wicked free kick across the face of the goal, Kevin missed a flying bicycle volley sending the ball across the box and ensuing confusion inside the 18 yard line. In for the injured French Beast, Risque Ricardo showed off his nose for the goal by splitting the Queens D, like a knife through a warm butter, and nailing the ball into the lower right corner of the goal. The Eintracht goalie went on yet another expletive-filled tirade and the Argonauts were up again. The advantage did not last long as the Queens side soon managed to break away from the speedy Gotham defenders and put another ball past the diving Schroeder.
A serene calm took over the Gotham side. The Argonauts were at a crossroads: they could either fold and take the tie, and quite possibly a loss seeing that Eintracht had found its second wind, or they could gather what energy they had left and rip the victory out of fate's white-knuckle-tight grip. To the fans' sonorous elation, the team chose the second, more honorable path. The Samurai, having just returned from training his young apprentice, Christiano Ronaldo, sparked the victory run with a gravity defying superblast from inside his own half, sending the ball at incredible pace, through the diving Queens goalkeeper's hands and just under the crossbar, into the back of the unguarded net. The proverbial gauntlet had been flung across Eintracht's battered face, but the Queens side failed to answer the challenge.
As the game wound down, Eintracht continued its futile attempts at the Gotham goal, as Schroeder buoyed the defense and together they formed an impermeable wall around the Argo net. The Argonauts sealed their fate as the Dart intercepted an errand pass and delivered the ball to Rocket Sam, who blew past a defender and buried a shot, past the diving pottymouth Eintracht goalkeeper, into the lower right corner of the goal. The game was over and the Argonauts celebrated their third consecutive win of the season. The tired warriors victoriously returned to their side amid the thunderous applause of the stadium. How sweet it is, oh victory song.
game roster for gotham argo 5.10.2009:
GOAL * Jeremy "Schroeder" Newton
DEFENSE * Troy Strike, Jon "the fury" Furie, "Wonder" Will Henderson,
.............James "the samurai" Whiteley, James Coppack
MIDFIELD * Uri "the dart" Itkin, Ryan "the riot" Gemmell, Mouhamadou "Momo" Diop,
.............Gaspar Epstein, Kevin Gordon
STRIKERS * Sammy "Rocket Sam" Sneed, Bruno "the beast" Dupont,
............."Risque" Ricardo Cuesta
GOALS: Troy Strike (15th minute), Ricardo Cuesta (68th minute), James Whiteley (76th minute), Sammy Sneed (88th minute)
It was a sunny, very windy morning at Randall's Island field number 74.
Argo Silver was playing as the away team against the Tesoro FC.
The starting team was,
***********************************[Elliot Gilmore]***********************************
****************Peter Hahn * Rob Tsai * Jim Beck * Tim Olson****************
**Victor Alamo-Bethencourt * Ian Palmer * Daniel Clemente * Carlos Wesley**
******************Simon Wheeldon * "Brooklyn" Rob McCarthy******************
Bench : Ryan Kampe and Luciano Belizan
The game started with no clear dominant team we both were not playing in the middle to much, it was more of a defense to forward football, Simon was managing to bring down most of the balls cleared by Elliot but our second pass was not the best. Then Argo had a very clear chance that Rob could not materialize on a break away, Simon made him a pass to the open field and Rob could not curve the ball enough to the goal when the goalie was all ready beaten, bad luck.Tesoro did manage to take a little more control of the ball toward the end of the first half, but they did not have any clear chances, there forwards could not manage to pass the Argo's very fast defense and the fast Elliot that came out of the penalty area twice to end there threats. That's how the First half ended.The second half started with Tesoro controlling more of the ball with 2 counter attacks that were saved one by Jim and the second one by Elliot on a cross from the right side that there forward could not finish.On the 10th minute Argo had the chance to go ahead on the score on a ball headed down by Simon inside the area and Ryan could not manage to put it in ( I do think it was offside).
Then on the 15th minute Tesoro managed to beat Elliot on a corner kick well place in the middle of the penalty area in which one of there tall players got a very good header that went in between Elliot and Peter that was marking the post, bad luck. After that goal Argo tried to make a few counter attacks on there goal and we did manage to put a scare on Tesoro specially on a run made by Victor that crossed the small goal area and neither Ryan or Carlos could reach it to push it in.
On the 41 minute Tesoro had a hand throw in next to the goal post that one of their players manage to put it on the small area and again helped by their height one of Tesoro's players managed to put it in with another header. And then the referee on the 44th minute of the game called it finish, and did not let Argo score the 2 goals that we needed to tie.
Players of the game.
Very good: Jim
Good: Luciano on defense.
the rest, we tried
By the way I think we should win by forfeit because every time I came next to where their bench players were I could smell Lot's of doping substances that are still not legal in the USA.
At 8:45 pm, the argos were ready and impatient to build upon the large victory of the previous week. At 9:00 pm, you could read disappointment on most of the argo warriors faces as the Rocklanders were nowhere to be found. Around 9:15ish, here they are finally. Let the fun begin.....
Starting Gotham Argo line up:
------------------------- [Jeremy] ---------------------------
--------Jon Furie * James Whiteley * Troy Strike --------
----------------------- Will Henderson -----------------------
Kevin Gordon * Momo Diop * Sam Ray * James Coppack
-------------- Sammy Sneed * Gaspar Epstein --------------
subs: Carlos Garcia, Abhik Malik
Rocklanders line up: Don't know
After having tested the Rocklanders defense for the first few minutes of the game, making them run left and right, Sam Sneed decided to open his account for the night around the 15th-ish minute of the game with a beautiful shot on the left corner after a nice play from the midfield (1-0).Then.... Some of us lost the count. Sam would soon double, triple before giving a caviar to ... who else, another Sam (Ray) to reward his nice run from the midfield. Even James Whiteley invited himself to the goal party, sending a strong shot into the nets after an ill-negotiated corner from the Rocklanders defense.
Half time Argo: 5 - Rocklanders: 0
Second half: Many of us thought the game done when starting the second half although we have been warned by coach Dana P. Dimon that the Rocklanders would come really hard in the second half. It did not take long to realize that as they score 2 quick goals early in the second half (5-2). That was a needed wake up call as the argos decided to toughen up and stop what was looking like a historic come back for UR. Then the frustration started building up among the Rocklanders: insults, nasty plays, nonsensical complaints to the ref etc.... They even scared the whole team, sending the strong Jamo out with a nasty injury on the ankle: ohhh my... we lost the "samurai" for the season... (nickname he got from our last week's opponent for shouting non stop) But that's not really knowing who the man is. 5 minutes from the end of the game, Dana called out Momo Diop (for poor performance??) for who: Jamo Whiteley.. yes... himself... who would find the time and luxury to score a beautiful goal from an individual action to finally bury the Rocklanders (6-2).
Final score: Gotham Argo: 6- United Rocklanders: 2
Scorers
Argo: Sam (3), Sam Ray (1), James Whiteley (2)
Rocklanders: Number 17 (2)
Bedecked in the latest Personal Portable SaunaTM from Japan, GK Andi Hargrave expected a busy day with only nine Sirens available to face a fully staffed Fuel FC. The sun was sweltering, although there was a slight breeze off the river. A long ball up the middle sprung a breakaway goal for Fuel shortly after the opening whistle. But in no time, the scoreline was level again as Leslie Jucovics sent a long, high ball towards the Fuel goal. The bounce was misjudged by the ‘keeper and the scrambling Fuel defenders were unable to keep the ball out of the net. It was a great bit of luck for the violet shirts that seemed to take the wind out of their opponent for the remainder of the first half. The short-sided Sirens caught another break when both game balls were cleared over the riverside construction fence, resulting in a several minute breather while they were retrieved. Both teams had several opportunities each from corner kicks, but no scoring came of it, and the teams went into halftime tied 1-1.
The Sirens arrived on the sidelines red-faced but confident in their first half play. After a drawn out break, the teams re-took the field and Fuel resumed their long-ball assault. Before long, Fuel came up with another breakaway goal. A two-on-one resulted in yet another. But the chances for Fuel dried up after that. With only nine players, the Sirens were able to dominate in possession and scoring chances for the remainder of the game, but sadly, no more goals would come. Even the sending off of a foul-mouthed Fuel forward proved to be too little, too late.
Final score: Sirens 1 Fuel 3.
We were outclassed all over the pitch as our opponents pressed hard and won nearly all the 50/50 balls. They showed control and teamwork as they worked the ball through midfield while we were unable to maintain possession. All three of their goals came from central through balls where the defense was overwhelmed by unmarked runs. Keeper, Elliot Gilmore, injured, came out to sweep up at least another two breakaways and the score should have been worse. For our part, Simon Wheeldon had a long range blast careen off the crossbar, but other than that, we had almost no shots on goal. Terry Harcott got his body in front of a straight freekick to direct the ball into the net for a consolation goal.
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!!
When the Sirens came to play the Astoria Dragonflies on Sunday night, the air was electric - not only with everyone’s competitive spirit and drive to win, but with lightning. So as we waited to hear whether or not the game would be played, the anticipation built up. And lucky for us, the game was on.
From the start, the Sirens were dominant. The defensive team of Leslie, Nikki, Christine and Gracie contained the few breaks Astoria found, and continually put the ball back into the offensive mix, providing goal keeper, Andi, with a relatively uneventful game. Jordyn and Jessica controlled the mid field, and with about 20 minutes remaining in the first half, Jordyn had an open look at the goal and sent one flying past the keeper to start the Siren’s scoring. With the center of the field in control, Marina and Jenn controlled the outside, getting great opportunities to move the ball up the outside, and before the end of the first half, Marina had her first goal of the season as well. (Good move Elliot getting her out of the sweeper position).
Coming out of halftime, the Sirens were ready to up the score, and the forward line of Dana and Emily were going to be stars of the show. With Elliot’s halftime coaching revving us up and Jeremy’s cheering, we came out playing hard.
About 20 minutes in, (Coach Elliot adds: With some clever footwork out wide, Jen passed the ball back to either Christine or Leslie who sent it in to the penalty box from out wide. A flick on from Jordyn landed then at Dana's feet in the left corner of the box. Angling her right foot she sent the ball high into the air and goal bound.....GOAL!!! she actually lobbed the goalkeeper from 8 yards out, even though the keeper was on the line. Unbelievable.)
back to Leslie: And the Sirens weren’t done yet. The backfield started pushing through and making offensive runs and Astoria was under pressure. To finish off the scoring later in the second half, Dana sent a perfect pass to Emily, whose shot went right past the keeper to make the score 4-0. When the final whistle blew, the Sirens had continued their undefeated streak and were ready for the next team. Bring ‘em on.