That may be a bit harsh but that’s how I felt yesterday. In case you haven’t figured it out by now…I hate to fucking lose. But I can accept a loss where we played hard and came up short. I can accept losing like we did in the semi-finals last season. We fought our asses off and came up short. This team wasn’t as good as that team but you wouldn’t know by the score line. We dominated this game, lost focus and served it up on a silver platter.

Those of you who are new may not realize this…but those who know me by now know I am going to stop way more PK’s then I am going to let go in. The fact that I did it again yesterday and you all stood at the line while the shooter got the rebound and scored their first goal shows your head wasn’t in it. He may still have gotten it but none of you were near it. You were all taught since you were five…crash the net and clear a rebound.

Goal #2 was on the next play because we hung our heads after dominating the whole game to that point. Their guy just walked through three of us then I did enough to stop his progress but no help came and he had all the time to gather the ball back and put it in. That was a result of not regaining focus after the last play. Way to stay with it guys!

Goal# 3 was the worst. We had too many people up and out of position. By now their whole game was centered on counter attacking and the same guy on my left came down, led the 3 on 2, crossed it to a wide open man in the center who crossed it to the wide open man on my right who shot and…oh wait…I stopped that one too…but most of us were still watching the play so they got the rebound and scored again.

All our time in their half eventually paid off in a nice chip by Saul. Hopefully that earned you more time on the pitch bro.

Goal #4 This was the old Dinamo we don’t give a shit anymore play. Nobody did much to stop their progress, mark a man or clear the ball. So it left a guy with a clear, unchallenged shot from about 7 feet out that a brick wall wouldn’t have stopped. Top corner.

They were a team and we were a bunch of individuals masquerading as a team. Now I am not here to say that we need to run together, stretch together and warm up together or all speak the same foreign language like they do, but we need to play as a team. Realize that what you do on that pitch is not for your own glory but for the good of the team.

If you are a center back. For Gd sakes stop trying to dribble the ball all the way up to the front like you are a midfielder. Then when you lose the ball (which you always do) get the fuck back to the back line faster than the guy with the ball because that is why we are always outnumbered on a counter.

If you are in the back line…get on line with the last man. Too often wing backs are up too much without knowledge of what is behind them…then when they lose the ball somebody from the other team ends up with it.

If you are in the back line…and somebody from the other team happens to have skills and goes around you…don’t foul on purpose to get the ball back…especially in the box. Then attempt to do the same thing a few more times all over the pitch in the same game. That is selfish AND caused the momentum to completely swing the other way.

If we have two center mids….and the other team has the ball, they should probably NOT both be on that side while the middle is wide open…and all mids GET THE FUCK BACK ON DEFENSE.

Can we stop just launching the ball and hope our strikers end up on the end of it and hope they end up with a good shop and hope we score? Take a note from the other team – very patient and once they had possession made the most of it. They all knew their roles and acted accordingly. Pass the damn ball, move into space. Strikers need to play off each other. Check to the ball, lay it to your partner and run into space. Not difficult.

Samir tried to blame himself. Very valiant. Not true. Without that guy we are nowhere..much of the time he was playing D all by himself. I heard talk of the formation being the problem. Um…so a different formation would have changed the team attitude?

Guys I play on Thurs for Spartak…Sat for Red Star…and have played for every other team in this club at one time or another (well…Turbine hasn’t asked yet). This is the team I look forward to playing with. This is the team that is going somewhere. This team will be in the playoffs and will make a showing. Now get your collective heads out of your asses and show up like a damn team. This division is still right there for us and we should win it. I don’t want to hear that we moved up a division so we aren’t going to dominate blah blah blah. Have we played a team we couldn’t beat yet? Continue to beat the teams we have already beaten. Beat the Roma team with that chick and beat these guys next time and it’s all ours. Stop worrying about calls, refs, kicking the shit out of players on the other team and play fucking soccer.

Peter get your ass back to the pitch.

But more on that later….

So it feels like summer officially began yesterday….and with it returned the normal Zenit score line vs inferior competition. We started out kind of lazy. Our stalwart defense anchored by Samir and shored up by Zach and Ryan (with great supplemental help from Sou and Phil later on) was tasked with having to build the attack. Although he again gave a great dribbling exhibition, Olman showed why he was Zenit’s defensive anchor over the past few seasons. The midfield certainly controlled the game but didn’t really hit the boosters until about 20 mins in. The strikers checked in and out and waited patiently for their opportunity.

After several near misses, Yossi finally snuck one in. Saul followed up with another sure fire hit (as nervous as it made Scott). Up 2-0 half way and it seemed like it would be enough as it could’ve been much more.  2 goals later – including Yossi’s PK (was it hard to select yourself for that shot Yossi?) we were comfortably up 4-0.

So, less than 24 hours being in goal for a hotly contested Red Star match I found myself comfortably admiring the weather. It was Sunday and I was wondering if I was flying out that day, was thinking about my NY girl and wondering how to break it off with the LA girl, getting hungry and wondering where I would go for lunch later. Were the Lakers playing later? Then I saw a ball floating in my direction. I thought, “Hey…I should go get that huh?” So I moved towards it. “Should I let it bounce? Nah, I should catch it on the fly. Ok…I’ll it bounce.” Well the ball bounced, hit off me, went over me and one of their very excited guys scored. Sonofabitch! Way to blow a clean sheet moron. All I can say is if we blow this thing by one Goal Against I humbly apologize.

Well…Now I was focused. We scored two more to put it away. They somehow broke through the defense and now that I was alert, gave my salute to the NHL playoffs kick save and proved my worth somewhat. Those of you that know me feel safe I’m sure that no ball will eat me alive like their goal did in a close game.

Alex was dominant in the middle for 90 minutes. Our strikers were havoc up top. Fernando showed why he is so dangerous on the wing. Souh and Olman were tough all game. If you are not mentioned somewhere in here it may be only because I do not know your name yet. We are really coming into our own guys and your goalie will remain awake for 90 mins going forward.

Boy this was a weird one…as weird as the turf was, I hate this field…:(

We got one in very quick which was very much anticipated, and as I was talking to our Injured Berlin Wall Samir about how is this a good game for him to recover…boy, didn’t know what’s coming.

Yesterday, for a long period of time we played like 10 individuals. No chemistry, no more than 2 passing we just wanted to score. That is why we were offside, never get a chance to really score and got VERY frustrated.

But, it was a good game for us to learn, as we did. And, once we did, things happened in a more creative way, less offside’s, and opportunities we can convert.

We have a VERY solid defense, and even a better mid field, we MUST work  out our attack from defense to Mid then to our strikers, long balls are good for a field that you can measure it, and ONLY when we are playing together for a while.

We have a lot of talent on this team but yesterday showed that no matter how much of that you have, if you don’t play smart and disciplined- you NOT going to win. Period.

We are going to face stronger teams, that will punish us when we make mistakes like yesterday, so next game we continue from this and not regress.

Unfortunately, no games next week (leagues off) so we meet again 5/1 to continue our new ways!!!

We had a better team and outnumbered them for the first half. They pretty much posed no threat as Souhleil, Olman and Phil held down the back line while Samir cleaned up any mess that came his way. Meanwhile we could not get out of our own way from our midfield to our top line. We either dribbled too much, passed way too much at the back and never started a successful attack. We can blame the refs and the flopping Romans but truth be told we lost the game in the first 30 mins.

Halfway through the first half we found ourselves out of position in the back and we gifted them an own goal. It happens…but can we make sure it doesn’t happen again? My stats and I appreciate it. We finally made some headway at the top…Saul blasted a few shots, Fernando then broke a few ankles but was snuffed on the shot. Lo and behold, He Who Shall Not Be Named (Yossi) found himself in front of the net, one on one with the goal post and missed. It might help to open your eyes next time bro.

Finally we played it out to the wings first. It looked like Glen drove in from the wing, played a nice ball into Scott who placed it perfectly. 1-1. There was no doubt we would cash in a few more and bring this home.

The only thing stopping us would be to lose a player or two. Right?

First their skinny flopping striker with the mop for a head showed up for the 2nd half. She was amazingly brittle and pretty much fell down if she was near any one of us. About 10 mins into the half Saul had the ball in their box and was brought down hard. No call. Not 2 mins later Yossi breathed wrong near mop head, she went down and Yossi got his 2nd yellow. Soon after that Olman hit a long ball into the box and then cursed at his own teammates for not getting on the end of it…and got a yellow. That was bullshit but then Olman said something equally not so nice to the ref who was apparently playing go fish and played the next card…it happened to be red.

Now we were down a player. We held them off for most of the 2nd half. They had a free kick outside the box and I finally got to make a save. It’s always nice to show up and feel a part of things. I got to take down mop head in the box and blame it on her. Unfortunately she got on the end of a one on one again and although I got a chunk of the ball I could not misdirect it and we have our final score.

Dudes….we know better. Every year we have to say the same thing. Do not let the refs or the other team get into our heads. We lost focus and lost the game. Every year we waste an effort just for this reason. Like I said…we were the better team and blew our chances in the first half but gifted them the game in the 2nd. Shut the fuck up and play! That goes for all of us (me included).

We have a lot of new faces. We will gel and the goals will come. Our defense is already strong. But we can’t continue our string of strong seasons and post season appearances if we shoot ourselves in the foot.

Get it together dudes.

There was some back n forth early then we wound up with a set play deep in enemy territory. Olman fooled everyone by keep the kick low and on the ground to a waiting Alejandro who effortlessly slid it by their unsuspecting keeper. Good start.

We were in command until golden boots (#2) came down the right side and hit a perfect cross that caught everyone ball watching while their smallest player got to the back post and headed it just under the cross bar. 1-1.

Spirits were still pretty high at the half. That will be the last time I joke about PK’s though. I promise.

Lots of back n forth in the 2nd half. Golden Boots got loose and launched a shot. As I moved to my left it took a deflection and went to my right. Terra got a great shot of me twisting back to somehow get to it.

Our defense held strong – Ryan, Olman, JP and the sorely missed Nick took care of business. While up top Peter was getting killed time and time again when he tried to shake loose. The ref actually called a foul at some point. And Zenit (apparently the set play kings) had a free kick just outside the box. Pete absolutely drilled a shot through the wall that the keeper somehow blocked. Thank God for “right place, right time” Phil – rebound & goal. 2-1.

Well MRL came with everything they had. Our defense was game for the attack…except for that one wittle, itty, bitty time we just could not seem to clear the ball. Golden Boots blocked a clearance and shuffled a pass past our line. Their guy barely touched it by me as I slammed into him. Nick, apparently out of practice on goal line clearances, arrived a tad late to this one. 2-2.

So this war of attrition – inevitably it seems – made it’s way to PK’s. While I lacked the Grey Goose, wet NY street and drunken Irish shooter – I was confident.

Shooter #1 walked up placed the ball and…get this…smiled at me. Based on ball placement and where he lined up I knew he was going to me left, but he still made a show of looking at both corners as he ran up. Whatever, he never had a chance. Pete slammed his home. 1-0.

I wasn’t going to stop the next one even if I went the right way. Top left corner. That’s ok. Olman was next. This guy takes PK’s on me prior to every game and picks now to do his Dejan impression and launch one on to the tennis courts. I knew shooter #3 was going to my right and he hit it perfect just out of my reach. I think Nick was next and he put it away.

Golden Boots walked up. Placed the ball and from his position could only go to my left. He was going to try and bend it close to the post but as the pic shows I was way ahead of the ball. Julio was next but a well timed shout from the MRL faithful distracted him into a shot saved by the GK. #5 took their best shot to my right by the post. Alejandro, as he does in warm up, made his look easy and as their GK walked by me, said “now it get’s interesting.”

Well…you guys made it interesting but it was time to go home. The next guy peeked to my right but lined up a kick to my left. The picture will show you I was diving left prior to the ball even entering the picture. Then One legged Yossi ended it.

Zenit to the Semi’s.

Despite the reporting it was a team effort all around. EVERYBODY had a hand in this one. Whether you played 1 min or 90. We will need you all again next week as it only gets tougher.

Fernando…we held the fort down buddy. Get back soon.

JP…we are going to miss your grit and determination back right. Always cool under pressure I never had to worry about my right. I know it would be quite the commute to get up from SD but my commute is still longer.

Anyway…

Great 50 mins of footie guys. Just when it seemed like we showed up for nothing Arsenal showed up 20 mins late. And were so happy they did as Alejandro, Pete and Dac put us up 3-0 and I was able to get some e-mailing done at the back.

Just to make sure I got in the books somehow I launched a punt from the back that Fernando got on the end of and finished. 4-0 – assist to the GK and obviously the play of the season.

Give me a minute…

Had to pay for my 3rd Bloody Mary. Where was I? Oh yeah. Play of the season but my foot hurts again.

Then Dejan bricked a PK. Go right or left Dejan…not up!

We started the second as we did the first. Added 4 more. Including Dejan’s makeup. It was a nice finish so we forgive you.

We then introduced a new strategy. How to stop playing and make the other team feel good about itself.

Guys. There is no reason I…er, we should not have a clean sheet after yesterday’s game. Everybody on our squad seemingly jumped in the fray, trying to get a goal and Arsenal, to their credit never stopped. So we gave up 2 at the end. The teams arriving for the next game thought we lost. I don’t blame Yossi for leaving and he did not have nice things to say about it last night.

Mids…I’m going to call you out. You have a hard enough time getting back when we are playing hard. You gotta get back on D. And Defense if you jump in the attack, turn around and get the fuck back. There was no need for anybody to walk back yesterday after our attack…the game was only 70 mins!!!

There will be no Arsenal, Celtic or Jalisco in the playoffs. The first game will be against somebody out for revenge and we need to be on our toes. There was some talk about getting together for a practice prior to the next game and I say we make that happen!!

The good news is we can beat anybody…ANYBODY…in this division. It’s a 3 game tourney now guys. Let’s play a tough 270 mins and bring home the trophy.

Once JP was done with his visit to the zoo and ran on to the field a few minutes after the start we had 11 to play against the offensive juggernaut that is Cementeros who were also one place above us in the standings.

It was no secret we were missing many of our playmakers and guys were lined up in unfamiliar roles – many were about to play a full 90 when they were not used to. We were scrambling around for most of the first half, their guys were wide open, unchallenged and for the most part spending a lot of time on our end of the field. Mohawk boy cracked one from just beyond the 18. It was a pretty shot that I saw late and he fairly beat me top right as I got nothing more than a finger tip on it.

We switched up our defensive strategy towards the end of the first half, played a higher line and it worked better. I don’t always see how offensive plays develop from my end of the field, but somehow Pete ended up with time on the ball in front of their goal. Pete + ball +time + front of their goal = Goal 4 Zenit. 1-1.

The second half of the game we were mostly under siege from their attack on our side. Our defensive line did plenty of bending but would not break. Midway through the second, JP was trying to make something happen in their end and unfortunately suffered an injury for it. He had to be helped off the field and we were down to 10 men. Cementeros kept coming.

Shortly after they got away with a pass back to the keeper, our fearless leader Yossi went down hard with an injury. A bad one as it looks like he may have wrecked his knee for a 3rd time and he barely got off the field with help. We were down to 9 men and Cementeros kept coming.

The way the game was going, I was hoping we would escape with a tie. Let’s just limp out of here with a point, lick our wounds and stay alive for the playoffs. I even though I shattered my foot on a goal kick! There is no give on JF 5 anymore as there is no grass. The only place to really set the ball is near a sprinkler, well they paint the 6 yd box over the sprinkler and I could not tell one was sitting up a bit and I got all sprinkler on the kick. Shit that hurt.

I digress…. While I was limping around, Yossi and JP were nursing their injuries and our back 8 were scrambling around….

Lightning struck

We got the ball over the top of their high back line. Pete got on the end of it with room to move (see math above). With a head of steam, he absolutely blasted it by their keeper. Holy shit we were actually up 2-1. Pete…I don’t know where the hell we’d be without you.

It was an honor to take the field with 11 guys that do not know the meaning of quit. There were certainly moments where fatigue or frustration set in but we never gave up and when we went down to 9 with seemingly an eternity left in the game…the resolve in our guys was something to see. Fernando coming all the way back to play a stopper role, Dac humbly taking on the role of right half, David always seemed to get a foot in or a last minute clearance when we needed it. I don’t think the left side of the defense was ever threatened as Edgardo was a wall over there. Olman always calm in the storm and always in charge at the back stifled nearly every attack. Before he got hurt…JP inspired with words and example of tough play.

This space is reserved for two guys that turned in two of the grittiest Dinamo performances to date. Phil was called into action at center back, a position I have never seen him play in all the years he’s been a teammate and he was a rock out there. He didn’t back down from any challenges, took on all comers, mixed it up with their toughest and well earned the first booking I have ever seen given to him. Meanwhile, Lucas again earned the blue collar award for the game. This guy is always going 100 miles an hour and I have yet to see him EVER give up on a play. All heart and determination, he’ll be the first to tell you I am constantly calling out the men he needs to mark and repositioning him but he makes more plays out of nowhere and saves the day game in and game out. Without these two guys leading the way today I don’t think we win.

WELL earned victory today over a quality opponent. Daryl – that one was for you! Let’s wreck the Gunners next week and go into the playoffs on a high note.

Heal up JP and Yossi.

First of all…to those of you who showed up (Yossi, Phil, Dejan, Olman, Peter, Alejandro, Dac and Marten) you played your collective asses off. Running around shorthanded in the hot afternoon sun, on a pitch of sand (with a pond in the center) masquerading as grass, avoiding a swarm of bees and trying to play with a lopsided ball half the time. A tall order for a complete 11 but for 8 (1/2) it was twice as hard.

MVP goes to Marten. I wasn’t even supposed to be there and Marten was looking forward to a stint between the pipes…but because we were only 8 Marten toughed out a full 90 in the sun playing defense/midfield. I know what that is like for a keeper who hasn’t played in the field in a decade. I’d rather shove toothpicks in my eyes. Good on ya Marten…you are more of a man than many on this squad.

To sum up really quick. Our 8+ were equal to their 11 in the first half and they did not threaten too much. We played a solid enough D and finally Alejandro broke out in the final minute and did not waste his opportunity – we were up 1-0. We all knew one more would have ended it and added 3 points. We were clearly the better squad and strung together numerous attacks only to be one player short each time in front of the goal. Halfway through the second half they lobbed the ball over the top and created an outmanned attack on our shorthanded defense and scored. I actually had to make a tough save on the lopsided ball that twisting in mid-air just to save a freaking tie!

Fuckin’ ridiculous for a team like ours, in a club like ours to be represented by 8 players. How embarrassing to think of ourselves as one of the elite teams in the division only to show up with 8 guys to play the team on the bottom of the table. This was a game designed to give us 3 points and put us up another rung on the ladder while securing a playoff spot. Way to go boys! Nice Pride! I cannot wait to hear somebody cry about minutes.

I get people have to work or have important commitments or are hurt. That is why we have such a large squad in the first place. Because 3-4 guys may not make it. Not so over half of the fucking team can wake up, see that is a pretty day and blow us off to go to the freaking beach. Yossi is attempting to build a squad of guys that love to play, that will sacrifice for the team and who want to win. We want to win this division get promoted to the next and be the model squad in the club someday.

I left a family gathering where we honored the one year anniversary of my step-father’s death to be there on time in case Yossi was late. Peter has two kids, a wife and deals with law school all week and gives up his Sunday – think of where we’d be without him. We heard Old Man Yossi’s tale earlier.

Well here’s mine – When I am in New York I need to be there on Monday morning, the easiest thing to do would be leave during the day on Sunday so I can get to my hotel and be fresh on Mon but I fly at night, after the game and am a zombie on Mon. I’m pushing 40 and at some point soon should stop voluntarily diving on the ground – so I show up to every game possible because I won’t have the luxury of doing this soon. In recent years I broke my ankle, broke my hand in three places and have a degenerative hip that will cause career ending surgery soon enough – and if I am out there busting my ass to keep you all in the game I would expect that we could field 11 for fuck’s sake!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ask Dayle about my commitment, I kill myself on Tuesdays for Loko and show up to every game when I am in town because I love to play and will support my team even though we are outclassed by much better teams just about every Tuesday and much of the time get buried. But I show up on Sundays because I love playing for this team and with you guys. Last season and this have given me a new appreciation for this game and playing for a team. I remembered I can actually still play!

In a big game before ours with playoff implications Xyience showed up with 18 guys and kicked the shit out of Cementeros. MRL (a team we beat) I bet had at least 11 when they beat HKS (those crazy Asians). We are so much better than Zenit of last year and should be higher up than we are. But we lack the consistency to be champions like last season’s squad. It’s never too late to start living up to potential. You may think this is just a knock around recreation league but the guy next to you on the line wants to fucking win. There are guys on this team that look forward to each Sunday like it’s the end zone or finish line at the end of another fucked up week. Don’t let those guys down.

We have two games left as the playoffs are not a lock. Next week is Cementeros, a team ahead of us. Show up with pride and ready to win – it’s at 8 so you can have the rest of the day to fuck around with if you are worried about wasting your Sunday on us.

Mission accomplished.

The offense was on fire. Great passing. Good teamwork. The back line was somewhat shaky but solid nonetheless.

We gave the ball away at the back near the end of the first half and we got caught in a 2 on 1 and they capitalized by getting 1. I thought it was funny how we all left the pitch pissed off with a 6-1 lead.

While Peter had 2 or 3 or 4 goals (couldn’t keep track – the guy had 6!) and Dac had a clean finish – the highlight of the first half was Fernando’s Messiesque clinic of going around 3 or 4 dudes untouched and burying his goal after Dejan switched the ball on the fly to him.

They scored first in the 2nd on a set piece just outside the box to the right. I made the save but they were afforded two straight clean headers, the first hit the crossbar and the second was just out of my reach. Ryan did his best to defend the 2nd and according to Olman they were offside. For some reason nobody was in the mood to argue. Weird huh?

Anyway I digress….

Yossi had great touches on 9 toes, Edgardo was money down the right side in the 2nd, JP stuffed I don’t know how many attacks at the back, Ryan controlled the middle, Phil was making great runs all the way from the back, Alejandro was money and the catalyst of most of our attack – great goal in the 2nd and if you had more than one the other one was nice too, Fabio was a true leader in the middle all game long with the great touch on the ball he is known for and strong shots as well. Dejan’s beautiful switch of field to Fernando I mentioned…

Did I mention everyone?

Oh yeah…..Olman. A great show of commitment at center back AND center mid. The centerpiece of our defense and attack, bro when you took out that dude with a clean tackle at the end of the game like we were only up by a goal…mad respect is all I can say and you earned that PK you buried. Your effort is why you are not allowed a card my brother!

Great game by all and while we did not have to make up the goal differential in one game…why not right?

Ok. Heading back to the bar. Yossi, my previous engagement is at 11 on Sun so I will see you all then.

Let’s top this week with another 9 goal differential and a clean sheet!!