Location: Pier 40
Time: 9pm
----- match report by Uri Itkin
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)
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