Sunday's game will be at 5:00 p.m.

All the details of our next game are set:

5:00 p.m.
George Mason High School in Falls Church
versus DC Divided, winner of the regular season

Sunday schedule still unknown

We will play our next match on Sunday afternoon or evening at George Mason HS in Falls Church.  The game time still hasn't been set. Based upon the feedback I got, we requested a 7:00 p.m. match, while also indicating a preference against the 3:00 p.m.  The scheduler reports that the 7:00 p.m. could be filled by another team.  So basically, we have no idea what time the game will be.  It will be 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, or 9:00.

Stay tuned.

Weather report

The early weather report for our game on Sunday is showing decent playing conditions.  The forecast calls for partly-cloudy conditions, 80 degrees, with only a 10% chance of rain.

Summer league is happening

As you may have seen, De has us registered for Summer League.  We are playing 11 v 11 on Saturdays and Sundays in Northwest DC.  The roster is more or less complete.  My guess is that we'll have trouble fielding enough players for certain games so, if you're not on the roster now, we may be in touch. 

Summer league is purely for fun; very relaxed from an attendance perspective.

Games are expected to start in two weeks - the weekend of June 23rd.

Far Post is Next Up

Your captains were on edge yesterday because we were missing a lot of pieces.  In fact, for the first time in a few seasons, it was clear before game time that we would not have a full squad for the entire match.  We started and finished with 10.

Unfortuantely for our opponent, Two Left Feet, they started with nine!  We were equal strength, 10 v 10, for most of the game, but 2LF went back to nine in the last 15 minutes.

Our quarterfinal matchup turned into a rout.  Two Left Feet didn't have an aggressive posture and they had their third and fourth-string goalies in net.  The result was 7 goals against.

We didn't get on the board for a while, but then scored two nice goals at about the 30' mark.  The first goal was the kind of scrappy goal-line battle that we have been losing.  The tide is finally turning and things are going our way.  Ermy and Jon put it over the line.  The second goal - Anna's fast cross to Ermy for an emphatic one-touch finish, set the tone.

The goals got better after that.  Ermy had two more; Griz showed some confidence with a hard shot off his right foot that froze the keeper; Anna finished nicely; Nate was there.  And who am I forgetting?

Oh yeah, George.  George is now in competition with Adrian for goal of the year.  Adrian scored on a set piece.  Harder angle but no one chasing him.  George scored from the two and half yard line in the corner.  Bender into the net.  He's a goalkeeper.  Where or where did that come from?  There were some kids up on the hill.  They were hooting after that goal.  Gollllllllllllllllll.

That game was penance for our loss to Far Post.  They got to sit home and watch the Euro while we played a quarterfinal game.  But now we're through to meet Far Post again.  They are motivated to advance too and will want to prove that their win last time was deserved.

Notes: 7-1 win versus Two Left Feet on 6/10/12 at George Mason HS.  Goals by Ermy, Ermy, Ermy, Anna, Nate, Griz, George.  GKs: George (1 GA), Peter (no GA, entered 75').  Assists to be updated later.

Semi-final scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Trinity

Far Post had submitted a schedule request in advance of our game - looks like we're playing them at 4:00 p.m. at Trinity on Sunday. 

That works great...unless there is rain of course, in which case we'll be playing during the week at night.

Mark it down and look for emails later today.

I will be doing RSVPs because Nap is going on vacation.

USA vs Portugal was a classic

According to Steven Goff's blog, it's the 10th anniversary of the USA vs Portugal match.  Check out the highlights below.  To me, this is still the most exciting soccer game every played, perhaps one of the best sports matches I've ever seen.  It's not a pure thriller.  But I had recently become a die-hard US fan, and we never expected to make it out of the group.  Portugal was one of the best teams in the tournament, or so it seemed.  And we led the entire game!  Many of the US players were under 25 years old - it was a really young squad.  John O'Brien, Claudio Reyna and Brad Friedel were at their peaks - O'Brien would never play at a high level again because of injuries.

Carlos and I watched this game together at 3:00 a.m. in the morning at Summer's.

Check out Agoos' own goal.  It's an owngolazo.

Final standings for Spring 2012

Here are the Third Division standings:

CCSL>Third Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		DC Divided	7	1	0	8	21	38	11	27	3.4
2		Far Post	5	2	1	8	16	13	13	0	0.0
3		Goleros	5	3	0	8	15	23	13	10	1.3
4		Gang Green	4	1	3	8	15	22	17	5	0.6
5		DC Thunder	4	3	1	8	13	18	16	2	0.3
6		Two Left Feet	3	4	1	8	10	12	14	-2	-0.3
7		Unathletic DC	2	5	1	8	7	14	23	-9	-1.1
8		Red Devils	1	5	2	8	5	17	30	-13	-1.6
9		Funky Town	0	7	1	8	1	8	28	-20	-2.5

DCD wins - oh man, we really let them get by us easily.  Far Post did what they needed to do when they needed to do it.  Funky Town really underperformed.  As we saw in our game against them, they can play as a team and do quite well.

Goleros finish third.

Surprises in the second division

Here are the standings from the Second Division:

CCSL>Second Division>
Rank	Team		W	L	T	GP	PTS	GF	GA	GD	GDA
1		Geezers	6	1	1	8	19	24	10	14	1.8
1		Little Urban Achievers	6	1	1	8	19	19	5	14	1.8
2		Lost Tourists	5	2	1	8	16	21	10	11	1.4
3		The Diplomats	4	2	2	8	14	12	9	3	0.4
4		Our Kicks Dont Lie	3	3	2	8	11	17	15	2	0.3
5		Prism	3	4	1	8	10	17	21	-4	-0.5
6		FC Arlington	3	5	0	8	9	14	15	-1	-0.1
7		Celtic	1	7	0	8	3	5	25	-20	-2.5
8		Tsunami Naranja	0	6	2	8	2	7	26	-19	-2.4

There are several surprises.  I can't believe Tsunami finished last.  They must have had one of those seasons like we did last year in which nothing went their way.  But to show you how unlucky we were, I believe we had 2 wins, while they had 0.  Celtic will be coming down too.  They had a nice run in second division.  They regularly go up and down.  Look for them to be highly competitive in Third Division when they're here.

FC Arlington finally woke up and pulled out of the Relegation Zone.  Our Kicks Don't Lie, which didn't have 2nd division chops going in, rose to the competition and finished in a playoff position.  That's what competition does for many teams.  You get better - because you have to be.

I didn't check out any details, but I think that Little Urban Achievers finished first despite what this table says.  They probably have a head to head win over Geezers.  They coasted through the last few games, not even needing any goals to secure a top position.

Mission Accomplished

Thanks to our team, Carlos has reached his fundraising goal for the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure. Well done team, we did it!  It's nice to give back to the Silver Fox, who has given us so much on the field.

Playoff schedule still TBD

We start the single-elimination tournament next Sunday, June 10th.  We don't have a game time or field yet.  I have requested a late start in case people are returning from out of town.  If we advance, we would play on successive Sundays.