Pick-up this weekend?

Are we getting together for a little pick-up action this weekend? A
little four-on-four, better yet a little five-on-five or even perhaps a
six-on-six?

n

Solo out, Scurry in!

Wow, it's one of those shocking coaching moves in sports. In the penultimate round of the WWC, US coach Greg Ryan has decided to start Briana Scurry for the Brazil match, which will be aired in the US on Thursday morning. Read about it here and apparently in tomorrow's sports pages. Scurry has precious few starts in the past few years but is admired for her quickness, athleticism, and experience versus Brazil. Solo is the starting keeper, the only US keeper to play in this WWC, and she has performed well, although not amazingly. She has recorded three shut-outs, however!

Is this a good idea?

U.S. vs Brazil

Hey, is anyone watching the WWC?

The US women steamrolled England last weekend by a score of 3-0. This puts them in the semifinals tomorrow against Brazil. There are only 4 teams left in the tournament: USA, Brazil, Norway, and Germany. Each are playing really well so there are no automatic wins. The US women have raised their game from the average performances they turned in the opening round. Coach Ryan showed some coaching acumen in taking England's outstanding player, Kelly Smith, out of the mix. But Marta (pictured above) is on fire, and will be hard to mark. The Brazilians - who get precious little support at home - play with heart, if not structure. If they are able to maintain possession of the ball, watch out.

What are your thoughts on the US team this year?

The game is at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow on ESPN2. Here's to a win and yet another chance to take the WWC title.

Bye week

As you guys can see from the website, we have a bye this week so no game. The next game is at 11:00 Sunday Oct. 7th. After that, we'll have two night games in a row.

We picked up a point

Today, at Trinity, we picked up a point versus Capital Crew in a 2-2 tie.

Since we gave up a goal in the final minutes to concede a tie, it feels like a loss to many of us. But Your Captain is satisfied. We have to settle the ship somehow. Let's take the point and build upon it in October. Also, I think we had a better performance than last week, which isn't saying much but is still satisfying (remember, we integrated two more new players today). There were some positives: we possessed the ball almost half the time versus like 25% in our game against the Red Devils. Also, we had some nice build ups in the attack, and a more communicative defense (at times).

In the first half, we started off shaky, yielding some shots in the first few minutes. We eventually settled the game down and slowly began to play more in the attacking end of the field. Finally, Jackie made a great pass to Adrian, who possessed in the box and picked his shot to the far post. It was a very good goal. Not too long later, however, we gave up a goal on a cross.

In the second half, things got a little rough. The Crew's goalkeeper made an illegal slide into Katya, who I must say rebounded pretty nicely from a vicious hit. From my vantage point on defense, the slide was an excessive attempt to clear the ball. Later the same goalie would literally grab Kristin's ankle on the 3' and prevent her from making an assist. It was a PK that was not to be and an unsportmanlike play. But the game continued without incident. We kept our cool. As the half wore on, we applied good pressure in the box and got our second goal when Ally recovered an errant clearance and punched in a shot from the 5'. From here, the defense changed formation a few times and failed to lock down. We gave up a goal in the final minutes, but it was a good goal off a bad bounce. No big deal.

Good game everyone, it's something to build on.

Notes: 2-2 tie versus Capital Crew, Trinity, Sept. 23, 2007. Goals: Adrian (Jackie), Ally (unnassisted). GK: Liam.

Be good

I don't know about you, but I feel rehabilitated and ready to re-join society.

This weekend's game is our last on "probation." If we can get through this game with Capital Crew without incident, that whole affair in the league finals will be over. Incidents would include forfeits, dissent, red cards, etc., etc. And don't forget the special rules at Trinity - no peeing at the field or swearing!

This will be a test. Our games versus the Crew are usually uppity and tense. Everyone should be on their best behavior. We will exhibit our usual sportsmanship towards the Crew, and also towards the refs, whose calls and non-calls shouldn't concern us much. As DCU Coach Tom Soehn likes to say, it all evens out over the season anyway, so don't sweat it.

However, this is not a special game. It's just one of our regular season games. We have always been sportsmanlike and we will continue to be well after this game.

Let's have fun and try to get a win!

DC United tickets available

DCU/MLS Cup Tickets (another message from the league)

CCSL has established a partnership with DC United to obtain discounted tickets for members of our league. Instead of going through ticketmaster with the other riff-raff, please use the link below to purchase tickets for any remaining DC United Regular Season games and you’ll be hooked up with some pretty solid discounts.

https://secure.mlsnet.com/t103 /tickets/2007/groups/season /index.jsp?code=ccsl SectionMezzanine (Covered Box Seating)Discounted Price$35 (Reg. $45)VIP (Midfield)$27 (Reg. $35) Premium (Sidelines)$20 (Reg. $26) Spectator (Corners)$15 (Reg. $18)

Also, be on the lookout for an imminent email from our DCU liaison regarding newly available tickets to the MLS cup in November. As you may or may not know, the MLS championship is in DC this year and its looking pretty solid for United to make a run to be there. The email will have a direct link to order tickets in a special CCSL section they have set aside for us. Should be fun to have a big section to ourselves. Its not often to be able to attend a Championship game like this, so I urge you all to forward to your teams and to take full advantage of the opportunity. Its likely to be a sold out event, so act quickly, quantities are limited. Operators are standing by…

Message from the league, brought to you by me

From Commissioner Sanjay Nayar:

Show up on time

We’re all adults here, but I want to reiterate to you all to make sure you arrive to the field and are ready to roll by the scheduled start times per the official season schedule. For a number of the fields, we have very tight schedules, and our referees will be starting the game clock on time – ready or not. Otherwise, we find ourselves with a domino effect of pushing start times back all day which not only is unfair to the late game teams, but also we push against dusk time and risk running out of light. Its your time that’s potentially being wasted, so please urge your teams to arrive and be ready to go by planned kick-off time.

Superwoman goes it alone

The U.S. women are into the elimination rounds of the WWC. They face England tomorrow at 7:55 a.m. on ESPN2. Watch it!

The U.S. team is looking good, but not the unstoppable machine that it was a few years ago. There are lots of good players, but the team survives on the dominance of Abby Wambach. God forbid she get hurt. Wambach is physical and strong. She rips shots like crazy!

Commentary: it's annoying to see this WWC receive so little attention. The overall interest level around the country could not be closer to zero. It's a fraction of the interest in the men's tournament, which is already low enough. The Washington Post keeps printing things daily probably because their main soccer reporter is over there and they've already made the investment! It's not even leading the soccer news on many websites. Where did everyone go? What happened to support the team and the female athletes? This is the biggest event in the women's game. It's kind of hard to believe in equal opportunity if no one is willing to walk the walk.

The devils wear prada

We dropped a game to Red Devils last weekend.

It was a sad comeback to our 3-0 shutout of them last season. It was clearly more of a loss on our part than it was a win by the Devils. Goal 1 - own goal. Goal 2 - essentially own goal on defensive miscue. Goal 3 - PK on a questionable call. The rest of the match was a competitive 2-2 result. But oh well. It was nice to see Chris sink a goal in the first half, and for Chip to finish a deflection in the second.

The story of the game is the Red Devil women, or at least the three that play up top. Each contributed to the offense in a major way, and each was underestimated by our team. That won't happen again, so Red Devils, enjoy your victory! We hope to see you in the playoffs.

Note: 5-2 loss to Red Devils, Sept 16, 2007, St. John's HS, Goals by Chris (NK), Chip (deflection). GK: Liam.

POTDs 2

Here's a few more. These are a few shots of Xinjiang. We stayed in the capital of Urumqi, which is interesting but mainly Han (the majority ethnicity of China). The rest of the region is largely Uighur, who are mostly muslim. It's the largest province-level region in China, and it's incredibly geographically diverse. There are large deserts, tall mountains, and to my surprise, lush valleys. The infamous Karakoram range is on the southern border. We traveled for a day to the Uighur traditional areas. They were at once desertified but also fertile. It's a large wine producing area.

Photo 1 - Me and my friend Sandeep at Heaven Lake in Xinjiang

Photo 2 - Me, my colleague Kamal, and some Uighur folks making mutton shish-ka-bobs. I had many during my time there!

Photo 3 - A Uighur girl at a little tourist show place. I ended up being the guy who had to dance with her. Apparently we got married in a little traditional ceremony. She's very pretty, possibly a little young, but I don't have her contact information so this marriage is going nowhere.

Photo 4 - A stopping place in the desert. There were lots of camels there. If you pay your 10 RMB, you can ride one. China is very touristy, even in the middle of nowhere.

POTDs 1

Hey, did you wonder why I was out of touch for the month of August? Well, I had a marathon business trip to China. With a few of my colleagues, I visited 3 regions in 2 weeks: Beijing, Xinjiang Autonomous Region in the far Northwest of China bordering Kazahkstan, Russia, and Mongolia, and Shanghai. I did a brief extension on my personal time to the town of Wuzhen in Zhejiang Province, which is close to Shanghai. Our days in Xinjiang were special, because it is not easily reached and because it represents a minority region of China. It was incredible opportunity and a fascinating and productive visit.

Here's a few photos - I'm sharing in case anyone is interested.

Photo 1 - Gate to the Forbidden City in Beijing. This giant structure separates giant Tiananment Square from the Forbidden City.

Photo 2 - Boy flying a kite in Tiananmen Square

Photo 3 - Shanghai skyline from the Jinmao Tower (in the Grand Hyatt lounge). You can see the initial blocks of Pudong before the river. On the other side is the older part of Shanghai - it's skyscrapers as far as the eye can see.

Photo 4 - Wuzhen, which is a preserved city in Zhejiang Province near Shanghai.

What to watch this weekend

The Soccer Insider is req'd reading for soccer fans in the DC area. One of my fellow CCSL captains - in fact, the captain of Far Post (that lucky team that got to face a 7-person Goleros squad last weekend) - is the soccer editor for the WP. Here's his post from today:

Posted at 2:30 PM ET, 09/14/2007
W2W4TW, non-WWC*
Hey there, Jon
DeNunzio here. Just thought I'd run through a few thoughts on the weekend in
soccer, outside of the Women's World Cup (four matches Saturday morning on
ESPN/ESPN2, btw).
- Fox Soccer Channel has
the North London
Derby at 8:30 am Saturday. Spurs have not been good, but they may
play Aaron Lennon in this game ... - FSC also has Chelsea-Blackburn at noon,
after West Ham-Middlesborough. Worth watching to root against Mourinho,
IMO.- GolTV has a
Bundesliga/La Liga mix on Saturday morning/early afternoon ... as Goffer would
say, zzzzzzzzz (I have at least one friend who would be upset I said that about
La Liga. Don't think I know anyone who watches the Bundesliga). - MLS: FSC has
Fire-Red Bulls at 8:30 pm Saturday. If you get HDNet, they have Crew-Wizards at
8 pm Saturday. And Telefutura has Chivas-Rapids at 3 pm Sunday.- Speaking of
Sunday, FSC has the black-and-white-stripes Italian derby, with Juventus-Udinese
at 9 am. Who plays for Udinese? How about Antonio di Natale, who had two goals vs. the Ukraine in
Euro 2008 qualifying Wednesday.
Also worth mentioning -- the 19th-ranked
Virginia Tech men's soccer team makes its first-ever TV appearance Friday night
at 8 pm on Fox Soccer, playing
No. 23 Tulsa.
I'm sure I missed something here -- what are you gonna be
watching this weekend?
(* - What To Watch For This Weekend, non-Women's World
Cup)
Posted by Jon DeNunzio Permalink
Comments
(45) Other Blogs' Comments: Technorati

Announcement on dues is coming soon

I'm afraid there's no good news when it comes to dues. The league raised our fees in order to pay for the premium fields that we've been getting.

I'm projecting dues of $92 per person, which is a very small raise over last season and still higher than what I'd like to be charging players. On top of this, we will continue our tradition of seeking optional contributions for our charity program. It's just a few dollars, please consider it. Also, I've promised the new recruits that we will pro-rate their dues, and we will. I'll get with you individually.

As usual, I keep our finances on a google spreadsheet that is available to all who want to see it. I'm sure you can all imagine that even with these dues I don't come out ahead in the pocketbook. But keeping dues to a minimum is important to me and to everyone.

When the formal announcement is made, you will have 1 week to pay up, so please be ready.

New recruits are on the way

Last week's shorthanded outing made it crystal clear that we need some more bodies to keep the team in good shape. So we launched a recruiting blitz. We've seen some results already, and it's not over yet!

We've been in contact with several interesting and experienced players. We've actually had several new "signings" as well - a few women and a guy. I haven't warned most of them that I would post their first names here and formally welcome them, so we'll leave that for later.

Anyway, welcome new recruits! I forgot to mention a key commitment of joining this team. We're like the army. You have to commit to two-a-day practices and run a minimum of 5 miles a day to stay on the team. Well, not exactly...

Next up: Sweden

Tomorrow, at 5:00 a.m., the U.S. women play their second first-round match versus a familiar opponent Sweden.

According to the Washington Post, we're 14-3-5 versus the mighty ladies of Sweden. They're one of the best teams in the world, so they are to be taken seriously every time. After what looked like a muscled but uninspired performance versus North Korea (2-2 tie), the U.S. women ought to be worried. No Abby Wambach, no win. Sweden is more physical and technical and just might out-class our young players if they're not careful. It's a pivotal game. A win and they look good to advance. A loss and they look bad - perhaps leaving their fate in the hands of others. This is a very difficult group.

Oct. 7th game moved

Folks, the league isn't playing at GCCA this season, which you know as the field in Temple Hills, MD. Games have been moved to Kenmore Middle School in Arlington. Our game on Oct. 7th is affected. The Kenmore field is right at Route 50 and Carlin Springs Road. It's pretty close to Ballston, but not really metro accessible. Great close-in location, though.

The schedule on this site has been updated.

Wedding bells

Yet another chapter in the Goleros Book of Love has been written.

This chapter is all about Courtney and Scott. Courtney, of course, is our versatile teammate who can play lots of roles on the field, but is ideally suited to a classic fullback role where she can be unleashed for runs along the wing to support the attack. We haven't seen much of her lately due to a nagging injury and a serious travel schedule at the new job. But she'll hopefully return to the fold soon.

And now for the love. Court and Scott are engaged to be married. It's great news - I think we all know how lucky Scott is. It's no big deal for me, 'cause I already know a Courtney and Scott who got engaged and then married. And they live in DC too. But there is only one Goleros Courtney and Scott.

We don't know Scott well, but he must be pretty awesome given Court's standards. He has contributed to our team though - I believe he took our team photo on the Mall last Spring.

Congratulations and best wishes!

****Schedule change for this week****

Please note: our game is now at 3:40 p.m. at St. John's High School in DC. I've never been there, but it's up on Military road in far Northwest.

Be there! We need and will have a strong showing this week.

Prinz does not mess around

The Women's World Cup is underway in several cities in China. World league women's soccer is good stuff, and I recommend you watch some of the games. There isn't much parity among the teams, however. You've got your Germany, USA, Sweden, China, and a few other contenders and up-and-comers like Brazil and North Korea. This lack of parity is exemplified in the opening match of the 2007 WWC, which was today in Shanghai. Germany sliced and diced Argentina by a score of 11-0! Read the early accounts here. Birgit Prinz of Germany had 3 goals. She may be the best female player in the world. Yikes, I'd like to sign her to our team some day.

The US women are grouped with Sweden, North Korea, and Nigeria - that's a group of death alright. We face the evil regime of North Korea tomorrow. It won't be easy clearing the group. There is a lot of mystery surrounding the secretive yet hyped-up North Koreans. Read about it on the Insider. We have a good team, but coach Greg Ryan has introduced so many new players it's hard for me to follow. However, just like the men's team, when it comes time for the WC squad, we end up with a lot of familiar faces. Keep an eye on the established leaders: Wambach, Tarpley, Lilly, O'Reilly, Boxx, Markgraf, Solo, and others. The US women have an incredible win-streak going - try three years without a loss!

Game time at 5am tomorrow morning - I'm tivo-ing the game.

Perfect storm

It was not Tropical Storm Gabrielle, but it was a perfect storm for Goleros. Anything and everything affected our players and led to only 7 people showing for the game.

First and foremost, let's give Kara the credit she deserves. As a faithful alternate, she took my 7:15 a.m. call and rushed to the field. Her presence gave us the minimum number of players and saved us all the unthinkable $200 fine that is assessed by the league for forfeits. Thank you Kara, we owe you - BIG TIME.

The game was fun but the result wasn't peachy. We took a 4-0 loss to Far Post, a full-strength-plus team who we had beaten by a combined score of 8-0 in two previous meetings. Don't get me wrong, we like Far Post a lot. But it's disappointing to hand them a win.

In the first half, we played keep away and did a great job early on of stopping their attack and using our wings. In about the 15', Far Post scored off a cross that was clearly offside. That took some wind out of our sails, but at the same time, it also freed us of any fantasy of winning. Therefore, we just played good possession soccer. With 7 players, however, it is quite challenging to make good passes into the opponent's half. Far Post wore us down and scored a few more time. Tim, one of their strikers, had a nice chip off of a fast break. I consider that the winning goal.

In the second half, we were tired and I believe we gave up another goal. By the end of the game, some Far Post players joined our side and we went on the attack actually. We had a few chances but nothing too threatening.

Props to those Goleros who played: Pete, Megan, Liam, Nathan, Kara, Chris, Jer. Liam in particular played great. Imagine joining a new team as goalie and starting your second game with only 6 players in front of you! But he made save after save, coming off his line and distributing well.

Notes: 4-0 loss versus Far Post at Trinity on 9/9/07, only 7 players. GK: Liam.

Game report: first week

As you know, I wasn't there for our first game versus Quicksilver. However, it resulted in a forfeit in our favor, which means a 3-0 win. I understand during the ensuing scrimmage that goals were scored on both sides, resulting in something like a 4-3 win. Anyway, I'm glad we had enough people to play.

Fall schedule

Here's your fall schedule in one post - although check the space above for updated information. A few thoughts. Notice that we have two night games toward the end of the season. Also, we have a new team in the division: Two Left Feet. We otherwise have the usual cast of characters. We'll have to be sharp to beat them and come out on top. We already handicapped ourselves by taking a near-forfeit loss versus Far Post, something that will definitely come back to haunt us.

Date	Time	Event	Type	Field
		Sun, Sep 9	8:00a -9:35a	vs Far Post (h)	Game	Washington, Trinity
				no dogs/no peeing in the woods
		Sun, Sep 16	3:40p -5:20p	vs Red Devils (h)	Game	Washington, St. John's
		Sun, Sep 23	8:30a -10:10a	(h) vs Capital Crew	Game	Washington, Trinity
				no dogs/no peeing in the woods
		Sun, Oct 7	11:00a -1:00p	vs Celtic (h)	Game	Temple Hills, GCCA
		Sun, Oct 14	8:30p -10:30p	vs Red Tape (h)	Game	Falls Church, George
		Sun, Oct 21	8:30p -10:30p	vs Two Left Feet (h)	Game	Falls Church, George
		Sun, Oct 28	2:00p -4:00p	vs Tsunami Naranja (h)	Game	Washington, St. John's

Slide tackles!

The league posted this information about slide tackles. Get to know the rule. Basically, don't do it!

Slide Tackles

To address some questions regarding the interpretation of the slide tackle rule for CCSL, Carm has provided the following language to clarify things:
Slide tackles are not allowed in CCSL. If a player commits a slide tackle – it is considered a “Dangerous Play” and an Indirect Free Kick will be awarded. At the referee's discretion, a player committing a dangerous play (and in particular a slide tackle) may be sanctioned with a yellow card, but is not required. If the slide tackle results in a FIFA recognized foul then the referee will make the proper re-start based upon the foul committed (trip, violent tackle from behind etc). Like any dangerous play foul, you can allow play to continue if there is advantage but the referee can still elect to blow the whistle after the play and award a yellow car if needed.

A slide tackle involves a slide PLUS a tackle. CCSL referees have the final discretion on identifying a slide tackle as distinct from a slide, a lunge, a clumsy fall or a player tripping over a blade of grass. The distinction is not black and white and referees are instructed to put player safety first when making a CCSL Slide Tackle call.

Spring 2007 results

This post is for posterity and ease of searching on the website. Here were our results in the Spring 2007. We were one goal from promotion, and one questionable call from going to PKs in the championship match. Aside from bad taste of the last game, it was an outstanding season.

Results

• 4-2-2 regular season (.625)
• --------------------
• Mar. 25th - 2-0 Win vs Far Post
• April 1st - 2-2 tie vs Quicksilver FC
• April 22nd - 1-0 loss to Tsunami Naranja
• April 29th - 2-1 Win vs Capital Crew
• May 13th - 3-2 loss to Team X
• May 20th - 3-0 Win vs Red Devils
• June 3rd - 2-2 tie vs Celtic
• June 10th - 5-1 win vs Red Tape
• ---------------------
• June 23rd - QUARTERS - 6-0 win vs Red Tape
• June 24th - SEMIS - 2-0 win vs Tsunami Naranja
• July 2nd - FINALS - 3-2 loss vs Team X