This weekend ACDC welcomed the return of a number of key veterans including Chris Lominska, Matt White, and goalkeeper George Todd. Together with Alex and Jeff, they gave one of the better defensive performances of the year especially when compared with the previous match.
In addition to our beloved trio, we were unfortunately greeted by hurricane Macondo - a mix of thunder, lightning, monsoon like rain, and slide tackles from every angle.
We started off the first half strong. The defense conceded almost no opportunities but unfortunetly the offense could not capitalize on any of our numerous attempts with Peter striking the post and myself missing some shots I would like to have back...but of course we can always blame it on the weather. We finished the half all knotted up 0.
Coming out of the break, with a strong possibility of the game being called at any time, we knew we needed to score quickly. However, we really wanted a challenge so we spotted Macondo a goal. They scored off a once in a lifetime strike (that guy should retire now) from 40 yards out which also happened to be half field on this pitch.
Despite the elements and the 1 goal deficit, ACDC pulled everything together and dominated the rest of the second half. George made a spectacular save to keep the score at 1-0, Imi peppered the goal with shots, and the defense held strong. Chris and Evan played the enforcers against the hacks (Macondo) whose main goal was to break our ankles with repeated slide tackles. At one point, Laura said they tried to tackle her and she was just watching the game!!!
Finally came our big break with an indirect on about the 8 yard line. Paul deserves all the credit for spotting the only open spot between the wall and goalie, floating the ball right in the upper 90. When I say float...the ball literally was floating 2 mph...calculated brilliantly. That goal proved to be the result and kept us in the running for the top spot in the league.
All in all, it was a great come back. In past seasons, we would have let the first goal break us. We proved we are a different team and were truthfully one phantom offsides call away from getting the win.
Shout out to George for bring his A game!!Shout out to Parham for the Sunday hat trick!! (What hat trick....read on)
--written by Justin
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday Afternoon Report (co-ed): October 26 - The Farid Clinic
The weather gods changed their minds in the course of less than 24 hours as the cold and soaking wet grass of Saturday men’s league match gave way to a crisp and sunny morning on field turf at Dunbar for our Co-Ed side.
Despite the early morning game, and the Marine Corp Marathon blocking several roads, ACDC was able to field a full squad and people arrived on time (awesome job guys & gals). The same could not be said for our opponent who started a short.
The first half was a solid one for ACDC as we moved the ball around the pitch well, used drop passes, dominated possession, took numerous shots on goal, and prevented any real dangerous attacks on defense. Parham had a goal toward the tail end of the first half to put us up 1-0. At half time, there were no pissing on the snake analogies, rather a “if you prevent any goals, you will win” talk….which brought up some comical responses from our chipper group.
The second half was morbid defensively as we (I speak as a player of ACDC and as a defenseman) allowed too many shots on goal, and when we had opportunities to clear the ball, did not clear the ball strongly enough out of play or up field. It wasn’t long before they found themselves fumbling in our 6-yard box and Georgie pulling a “Robbie” and sweeping the feet out from underneath an opposing striker. The official swiftly issued a penalty kick, but no booking, and we were looking at a draw when their PK dropped in the net.
Dr Farhid came to the rescue yet again to put us up 2-1 and taking some steam away from our opponent. Then again, defensively we allowed them to ricochet the ball around in the box and poke a ball into the back of the onion bag to tie it up, 2-2 with few minutes left in the game. As if two goals we not enough for El Mastero, Dr. Farhid slammed a 3rd and final goal into the oppositions net for us to take the lead 3-2 and go into the whistle with a win.
I’m sure we’ll here more comments on what needs to be done better from Penguin. “And that’s the way it is, ACDC news; good night.” – The Late Walter Cronkite
Despite the early morning game, and the Marine Corp Marathon blocking several roads, ACDC was able to field a full squad and people arrived on time (awesome job guys & gals). The same could not be said for our opponent who started a short.
The first half was a solid one for ACDC as we moved the ball around the pitch well, used drop passes, dominated possession, took numerous shots on goal, and prevented any real dangerous attacks on defense. Parham had a goal toward the tail end of the first half to put us up 1-0. At half time, there were no pissing on the snake analogies, rather a “if you prevent any goals, you will win” talk….which brought up some comical responses from our chipper group.
The second half was morbid defensively as we (I speak as a player of ACDC and as a defenseman) allowed too many shots on goal, and when we had opportunities to clear the ball, did not clear the ball strongly enough out of play or up field. It wasn’t long before they found themselves fumbling in our 6-yard box and Georgie pulling a “Robbie” and sweeping the feet out from underneath an opposing striker. The official swiftly issued a penalty kick, but no booking, and we were looking at a draw when their PK dropped in the net.
Dr Farhid came to the rescue yet again to put us up 2-1 and taking some steam away from our opponent. Then again, defensively we allowed them to ricochet the ball around in the box and poke a ball into the back of the onion bag to tie it up, 2-2 with few minutes left in the game. As if two goals we not enough for El Mastero, Dr. Farhid slammed a 3rd and final goal into the oppositions net for us to take the lead 3-2 and go into the whistle with a win.
I’m sure we’ll here more comments on what needs to be done better from Penguin. “And that’s the way it is, ACDC news; good night.” – The Late Walter Cronkite
Manager's comments
The picture you see here is circa May 2005. Ben Nelson is to my right and Jon Lachman to my left. My hair had bronze highlights. More on this later.
When I woke up Sunday morning, I smelt blood in the water. I was ready for a scrap in our co-ed game, and as a result, I have a bruised shoulder and a high ankle sprain. To be honest, my secret aim was a get a yellow card, and I didn't care what I had to do and to whom. Ah, all that pent up anger, no wonder I have to learn how to shoot guns! Luis called me out after the game, and legitimately so, cause I should have scored twice: once on that half volley in the box and the other on the header from Parham's cross. Lack of game minutes....timing off.
With Justin and Matthew taking the game reports this week, it frees me to talk about other stuff. But first, I'd like to highlight certain aspects of the games we played. Saturday's men's game clearly shows that football is a cruel sport. A mistake can undo a lot of good work. What kind of risks we take is clearly linked to how likely mistakes will happen, and perhaps we can become a bit more savvy about when to be aggressive, and when conservative.
Paul's goal was outstanding, and that salvaged a point for us on Saturday. Just as brilliant was Parham's hat-trick on Sunday. The tenacity we showed on Sunday to pull off the win is very encouraging.
Onto the explanation of the picture above. From Wednesday to Saturday last week, I shared dinner consecutively with Justin, Matthew, Ben Nelson, and Jon Lachman, all of whom at one time or another wore the armband for AC D.C. As most of you know, the latter two are the only players for whom our team has retired their numbers. Without those two, AC D.C. wouldn't exist. And so for the first time in our history, we un-retired a number on Sunday. We have a #9 again! Sir Loxly has decided to re-join the team and gradually work up his fitness level. That's a great thing for us: another attacking option.
Meanwhile, Lord Nelson, "Minister of Defense," made some wild claim on Friday night that he might still be the best defender AC D.C. has had. Pppppfffffffttttt. This, at his decrepit age and with his bionic knee. Jeff and I spent the ensuing afternoon, debating who the AC D.C. Dream XI would be. If you think I'm stupid enough to tell you....well I'm not that dumb. The truth is, of course, that there is no such thing as AC D.C.'s Dream XI. Every player, captain, manager, would have a different version of that list, and then you get into the technicalities of: are you talking about so-and-so before the injury? before age 28? now?
To sum up the weekend: disappointed about the draw on Saturday, but very excited about the win on Sunday. The way we fought back from our opponents' equalizers, again, and again showed quite a bit of fight in us. March on!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday Morning Report: Alarm Clocks for Everyone!
You know how we have the "Farid Unit" that measures the distance by which our strikers are offsides? Well, we have a new unit now in AC D.C. It's called the "Peabody-Curtin Unit" and it measures how much time after kickoff our player wakes up from deep, nearly-comatose, often alcohol-soaked, slumber. Last week, Mumbs was 1 Peabody-Curtin unit late waking up, defined as 30" after kickoff. This week, Lindsay was 3 Peabody-Curtin units late, but swears she "didn't even go out last night." :)
I have determined that we are giving out alarm clocks this Christmas to all of our problem children. But seriously, it's frustrating for your captains and me to spend a week constructing a roster, and then have that roster compromised because players can't wake up. We cannot create the weekly roster, wondering whether so-and-so would be 4 Peabody-Curtin units late, so we had better call on someone else!
Now, on to the game. Sunday's conditions were difficult. Wet pitch, cold day. It was difficult to wake up on the pitch too, and we started the game quite lethargic. We've had problems with the Juggernauts before, as we lost to them twice last season. So, it was indeed fortunate that they were more lethargic than we were, and didn't get their subs to the pitch until well into the second half.
Our first goal was created by Morgan, who had her best game with AC D.C. today. Down the right she went, and planted a beautiful cross on the ground across the goal mouth. Brian, coming out of the left wing, tapped it in. After that, we had numerous chances, some of which (Peter! Paul!) were absolute sitters. Shankappotamus! Our finishing really failed us today.
The excuse I was given, was that the pitch was wet, and the ball was bouncing "funny." Boy, strikers can come up with some crazy excuses, can't they? At the interval, I used a phrase we often hear at work, "If you're going to piss on a snake, you'd better drown it." The implication is, of course, that the snake, if still alive, will come up and bite you in the arse. I had a feeling that our opponent was about to "wake up," and so we had better finish them off before they get the chance to hurt us.
In the second half, our senior striker, the master of the "Farid unit" himself, had several chances to add to the tally, but chose the most difficult opportunity to produce a goal. The ball was played through from the midfield and bounced awkwardly in front of Parham. Yet he was able to connect with it and put it in the net. With that, the game was won, and our defense locked it down.
We don't do "player of the match," but shout outs must be given to some stand-out performances: Anna for handling some scary back passes, Luis and Jen who played a great tandem, Morgan who had her best game, and Toussaint who was sober.
Next week, our men's squad will resume its season on Saturday in Germantown. AC D.C.'s first regular captain, Ben Nelson, will be in town for the weekend, and schedule permitting, may visit the men's game. The co-ed game on Sunday is WAY WAY WAY early. Money on someone (hm...who?) having alarm troubles again.
Now, on to the game. Sunday's conditions were difficult. Wet pitch, cold day. It was difficult to wake up on the pitch too, and we started the game quite lethargic. We've had problems with the Juggernauts before, as we lost to them twice last season. So, it was indeed fortunate that they were more lethargic than we were, and didn't get their subs to the pitch until well into the second half.
Our first goal was created by Morgan, who had her best game with AC D.C. today. Down the right she went, and planted a beautiful cross on the ground across the goal mouth. Brian, coming out of the left wing, tapped it in. After that, we had numerous chances, some of which (Peter! Paul!) were absolute sitters. Shankappotamus! Our finishing really failed us today.
The excuse I was given, was that the pitch was wet, and the ball was bouncing "funny." Boy, strikers can come up with some crazy excuses, can't they? At the interval, I used a phrase we often hear at work, "If you're going to piss on a snake, you'd better drown it." The implication is, of course, that the snake, if still alive, will come up and bite you in the arse. I had a feeling that our opponent was about to "wake up," and so we had better finish them off before they get the chance to hurt us.
In the second half, our senior striker, the master of the "Farid unit" himself, had several chances to add to the tally, but chose the most difficult opportunity to produce a goal. The ball was played through from the midfield and bounced awkwardly in front of Parham. Yet he was able to connect with it and put it in the net. With that, the game was won, and our defense locked it down.
We don't do "player of the match," but shout outs must be given to some stand-out performances: Anna for handling some scary back passes, Luis and Jen who played a great tandem, Morgan who had her best game, and Toussaint who was sober.
Next week, our men's squad will resume its season on Saturday in Germantown. AC D.C.'s first regular captain, Ben Nelson, will be in town for the weekend, and schedule permitting, may visit the men's game. The co-ed game on Sunday is WAY WAY WAY early. Money on someone (hm...who?) having alarm troubles again
Monday, October 12, 2009
Manager's comments: And a contest
A word about the personnel issue: we had a late pull-out Saturday night and then, as Matt already mentioned, we had some "complications" on Sunday. If you ever need to leave the game early, please let us know ahead of time. Thanks.
I want to highlight what a gutsy performance that was yesterday. Everyone (all 10!) put everything on the pitch and it was a great, superb team effort. Kudos especially for Nicoles trap-turn-&-shoot. Just outrageous. A funny fact: out of our 8 men, 7 are defenders. Jeff playing striker was hilarious, so I think our women-attackers really carried the team.
A contest:
Who is this foxy lady in this picture? A former or current AC D.C. player, I assure you. The tenth responder gets a prize. I'll keep deleting responses so you won't know which number responder you are, but the tenth one.....you're lucky!
Monday Morning Report: October 12 - The Devils go down
ACDC was “back in black” for a chilly early morning start this week, starting a man short (but an extra woman on). 26 people were invited to play, 10 declined, and 16 were on the “yes” list. We ended up playing with one sub in the first half and a man down in the second half (due to two early departures – one management was aware of, the second management was un-aware of). As the co-ed captain, it’s frustrating thinking you have numbers and then barely having enough to squeak by. Enough of the personnel issues…
We played a much weaker side on a damp field which made for some fast played balls and helped us to pummel their goal early in the game. Unfortunately, despite their sub-par goalie, most shots were not on frame and those that were, were easily stopped by their goalie. A near goal came from a cross that connected with Opus’s head and was just a foot shy of the back of the old onion bag. A break game mid-way in the first half as one of our players sent a cross into the box from the left side of the pitch which deflected off one of their own players and into the net and allowed us to go up 1-0. The crosses were an effective way for us to dump the ball into their goal box and threaten them and we did a good job with this. (read, more shots on FRAME).
Later that half, two much more skilled strikers who had arrived late, checked into the match for our opposition. A ball was played over the top to our right side and a foot race ensued…. their new striker was able to one-touch the ball with the outside of his right boot and tuck the ball into the side netting (quite a shot I must add, but to be out-done by ACDC in the second half).
The second half found us a man down but similarly controlling the tempo of the game with ACDC dominating with several shots on goal. Nicole was played the ball on a center from the outside right wing. She spun on the ball to drop the defender and then popped the ball into the back of the net for our go ahead goal. Quite a goal it was.
A couple scares the second half for us on several corner kick opportunities by our opposition but we kept a clean sheet in the second half. All in all, a good game for ACDC co-ed but we have to get numbers to these games, especially if people commit.
We played a much weaker side on a damp field which made for some fast played balls and helped us to pummel their goal early in the game. Unfortunately, despite their sub-par goalie, most shots were not on frame and those that were, were easily stopped by their goalie. A near goal came from a cross that connected with Opus’s head and was just a foot shy of the back of the old onion bag. A break game mid-way in the first half as one of our players sent a cross into the box from the left side of the pitch which deflected off one of their own players and into the net and allowed us to go up 1-0. The crosses were an effective way for us to dump the ball into their goal box and threaten them and we did a good job with this. (read, more shots on FRAME).
Later that half, two much more skilled strikers who had arrived late, checked into the match for our opposition. A ball was played over the top to our right side and a foot race ensued…. their new striker was able to one-touch the ball with the outside of his right boot and tuck the ball into the side netting (quite a shot I must add, but to be out-done by ACDC in the second half).
The second half found us a man down but similarly controlling the tempo of the game with ACDC dominating with several shots on goal. Nicole was played the ball on a center from the outside right wing. She spun on the ball to drop the defender and then popped the ball into the back of the net for our go ahead goal. Quite a goal it was.
A couple scares the second half for us on several corner kick opportunities by our opposition but we kept a clean sheet in the second half. All in all, a good game for ACDC co-ed but we have to get numbers to these games, especially if people commit.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Monday Morning Report: A tale of two games
Mirror images....
In our men's game this weekend, we went up 1 nil in the first minute and then, were up 2-1 on our opponent within 15". In the Arsenal game on Sunday, they were down 1-nil early from a fluke goal and then 2-1 in the first half. How is it, that we would let in 7 goals in the end, and Arsenal can put in 6 goals to win their game?
I suppose the absolute measurement of how great a team is is in how many trophies it wins. Short of that, greatness can be measured in how well a team plays under adversity, be it pitch conditions, weather issues, injuries or an unexpected scoreline. Our defender slips on the turf and lets a striker through the back-line. That can happen. It happens. But a great team dusts off the grime and dirt, and keeps playing the game.
Losing our head, and doing crazy things to get a red card is counter-productive.
The pitch was crazy fast at Bretton woods. We did not expect that. Our defending was absolutely abysmal. We were slow to react to their speedy forwards and unable to make tactical adjustments "on the fly" to react to their game plan. Effort alone is sometimes not enough. We need to play intelligently and keep our heads in the game. To win trophies, to be champions, to be a great team, we must learn to do that, and keep our composure. A big part of that is trust. You have to believe that we can come back from a deficit. You have to trust each other to keep playing the game.
The men's side will have two weeks to forget about the loss and "get back on the horse." We'll have to believe that we can still win the division. That's all I have to say about the weekend, other than that fact that 6 goals by Arsenal from 6 scorers really really really help ease the pain from Saturday: Vermaelen, van Persie, Arshavin, Fabregas, Walcott, Bendtner.... what a team!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Saturday Night report October 3
I know this isn't the usual time, but I wanted to record the raw, unfiltered emotions.
The men's squad suffered its first loss of the season today, and in a season in which we are 3-1-1, the loss itself is not the end of the world. The way in which we lost, however, leaves me in pain, confused, and befuddled. And I guess I have myself to blame for most of these feelings. I spend hours-upon-hours during the week thinking of the perfect scheme, whether we have the right personel, preparing for all mishaps. And when we are beaten by the unforeseen (because these factors are unforeseeable), I feel really really horrible.....like I do now.
We were beaten by a very fast pitch and several very fast strikers. And we reverted to some of our old habits, losing composure when we fall behind, even though our offense is clicking just fine. They broke through twice in the middle of our defense and twice on the flanks. When they went up 3-2, we suddenly played like the world had collapsed on us. Needless to say that made things worse.
Well, there's no point going further right now to try to fix things for future games. I'm just going to marinade in this horrible, horrible sensation of confusion this evening, and hope that I break out of it soon. I applaud everyone's effort today. I'll take the blame for not having foreseen the pitch conditions.
Georgie? Where's my beer, dammit!
The men's squad suffered its first loss of the season today, and in a season in which we are 3-1-1, the loss itself is not the end of the world. The way in which we lost, however, leaves me in pain, confused, and befuddled. And I guess I have myself to blame for most of these feelings. I spend hours-upon-hours during the week thinking of the perfect scheme, whether we have the right personel, preparing for all mishaps. And when we are beaten by the unforeseen (because these factors are unforeseeable), I feel really really horrible.....like I do now.
We were beaten by a very fast pitch and several very fast strikers. And we reverted to some of our old habits, losing composure when we fall behind, even though our offense is clicking just fine. They broke through twice in the middle of our defense and twice on the flanks. When they went up 3-2, we suddenly played like the world had collapsed on us. Needless to say that made things worse.
Well, there's no point going further right now to try to fix things for future games. I'm just going to marinade in this horrible, horrible sensation of confusion this evening, and hope that I break out of it soon. I applaud everyone's effort today. I'll take the blame for not having foreseen the pitch conditions.
Georgie? Where's my beer, dammit!
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