M Black's News

CPR Black's first season 2010-2011

Chuck Calcagni — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:31:00 GMT

CPR Black’s began its first season 2010-2011 in Metro 2 Division in Cosmopolitan League. After an undefeated spring leg and overall record of 10-4-2, CPR Black’s gained promotion to Metro 1 Division finishing in 2^nd place.

2010-2011 individual awards:

MVP: Chris Valentine

Golden Boot: Ben Krief

Heart of Team: Jesse Phillips

Looking ahead to 2011-2012 campaign in Metro 1 Division, CPR Black’s coaches are recruiting over the current summer break. If you feel you can be competitive on the field, please contact CPR Black's Captain.

Soggy Blowout

PolishPaul — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:09:00 GMT

CPR v Maverick United (Newton HS, Queens) - December 13, 2009

The match between CPR Black and Maverick United proved to be such a joke that it does not warrant a full match report. As the referees organized the sides to start play, CPR looked across the pitch to see a depressing sight: only 7 opponents. Having thrashed a full-squad Maverick in the previous encounter, CPR were left to wonder why so many had bothered to come out to Queens in the rain for this.

Needless to say the match resulted in a total and utter thrashing with goals and assists too many to count. The only entertainment value from the affair came from the goalkeepers at each end of the pitch. On the Maverick side, their keeper played with the focus and determination of a league cup final, despite the farcical nature of the encounter and lopsided scoreline. He celebrated each save as if was a match-clincher and tried to rally his defense despite them leaking more attacks than a torn paper cup. On the CPR side, the blowout prompted a revolving-door approach to goal-keeping in the second half. Phillips produced a notable non-save, watching a just-above-head-high shot sail in just over him without even bothering to raise his hands. He immediately substituted himself out of goal and Verdoux took his place, who subsequently managed to produce a self-nutmeg goal for Maverick.

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The true suspense from the day came in the match which followed. As of kickoff time at 12:30, top-of-table Juniper Park had a meager squad of 6, insufficient to start under league rules. CPR questioned the officials for league forfeit policy and were informed that Juniper would have a grace period of 30 minutes to field a minimum squad of 7 to play against league-bottom Destroyers, who had 9 players on sight and were dutifully warming up in the rain. With the time on the clock showing 12:59pm, CPR luck ran out as a car with 3 Juniper players arrived to boost the squad above the minimum. Juniper went on to win 6-2, keeping first place by 1 point over CPR with 1 match left to play.

Final Score: 11-4

Goals: Phillips (3), Gudkov (3), Greicius, Hollins, Calcagni, Verdoux, Unknown (1)

Assists: Gudkov (2), Ault, Engler, Phillips, Unknown (?)

Man of the Match: none; the stats were big but the game so one-sided that none had any opportunity to stand out

Team: Ault, Calcagni, Engler, Greicius, Gudkov, Hollins, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Stern, Verdoux

Team Bar Showing: Unknown (presumed 0)

Special Thanks: Serge's friend who played in goal (who managed to twice stop breakaways with blatant handballs outside the box and managed to not get sent off for either)

Shooting Blanks

PolishPaul — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:26:00 GMT

CPR v Juniper Park (Newton HS, Queens) - December 6, 2009

The entire CPR Black season effectively boiled down to one game. With CPR Black 2 points clear in the standings against their opponents Juniper Park, a win would nearly seal the title while a draw would keep them clear with 2 games remaining. Conversely, a loss would put CPR 1 point behind with Juniper facing the bottom 2 squads in the league for their final 2 matches.

Given there was so much on the line, the call went out to the squad to make sure proper numbers were on hand, perhaps generally free and clear of hangover symptoms. From the Juniper Park side, their call seemed to go out much more broadly as a squad of players bearing no resemblence to any which had played any previous matches in the Metro League were called to action. One thing was clear - both squads had full squads and benches a full 15 minutes before kickoff, meaning the match would be contested from start to finish with two full-strength sides (a rarity this season).

From the opening whistle, it was clear that the talent and fitness level of the Juniper "reserves" was high. CPR Black, having faced such token opposition for the majority of the season, struggled initially to adapt to a match in which virtually each touch was contested. As a result, CPR squandered early possession to Juniper who through their crafty central midfielder began to probe for weaknesses in the CPR Black back line. Though there were moments of tension, Juniper failed to generate any substantive threats at the CPR goal.

Somewhat against the run of play, CPR drew a foul near the left corner of the Juniper penalty area. Levy stepped forward and had a solid crack on goal, drawing a decent save from the Juniper keeper. His deflection felt straight to Verdoux at the far post, granting CPR the first clear-cut chance of the game. Verdoux took a touch to settle but the Juniper keeper reacted quickly to close down the angle and force Verdoux's shot from a tight angle to miss just wide of the near post.

Just minutes later, a hand ball drew another free kick CPR free kick from nearly the identical spot. This time Bustamante stepped forward and took a crack on goal. Again called into action, the Juniper goalie managed to just get a deflection on the ball, which this time fell to Levy. Similarly, he was unable convert CPR's second quality chance.

Gaining confidence from their back to back opportunities, CPR began playing themselves into the match and evening out the possession battle. Smith in particular began to marshal the midfield and Phillips won ever aerial duel he entered. However, having twice failed to convert golden opportunities to take an early lead, fate was called in to punish CPR. In the dying minutes of the half, a brief moment hesitation in the back allowed for a speedy Juniper forward to be played through a high CPR line and earn a 1on1 against stand-in keeper Becker. Juniper converted their opportunity and headed into halftime with a 0-1 lead.

The team talk was generally positive given the progress CPR had made throughout the half. One tactical shift was made, bring Philips forward into the midfield to take away some of the space being given to the Juniper playmakers.

The second half resumed just as the first had left off. CPR were holding their own against Juniper and, if anything, seemed to generate just slightly better opportunities. However, again slight mistake in the back put a Juniper striker through and again they were able to convert, increasing their lead to 0-2.

Meanwhile, at the other end, the near-misses continued for CPR. Gudkov, Bustamante and Greicius all found shots miss narrowly wide. Levy was played in and, despite heavy pressure from a Juniper defender, got a shot off on target which grazed the outside of the post. And the final measure of CPR's futility on the day came a few minutes from full time as Phillips saw his header off a CPR corner skip off the top of the bar.

Therefore, despite a fairly heavy advantage in scoring opportunities, CPR saw themselves on the wrong side of a 0-2 scoreline in the key match of the season, placing their chances of taking home the league hardware at serious risk. With two games left to play, CPR can still go out and take care of their own business and hope for a Juniper slip, however unlikely it is.

Final Score: 0-2

Man of the Match: Smith and Phillips (again)

Team: Ault, Bustamante, Calcagni, E Engler, Fetzer, Goertzen, Greicius, Gudkov, Levy, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Smith, Verdoux

Fans: 1 (Engler's English friend)

Team Bar Showing: 31% (Calcagni, E Engler, Lukaszewski, Phillips)

Special Thanks: Becker, for helping to fill in between the posts

Short-Handed Benito Crushed Again

PolishPaul — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:22:00 GMT

CPR Black vs Benito Camelas (Newon HS, Queens) - November 22, 2009

The run of good luck with weather this fall continued as the late November Sunday again offered sunny skies and mild temperatures in the high 50s. Unfortunately, the swine-flu (or Mike D) bug struck CPR with a fury, and a squad of 14 was suddenly diminished to a mere 11 with 3 no-shows on the day. Perhaps they were intimiated by CPR Blacks' +23 goal difference or near-perfect 5 win / 1 draw record, but for whatever reason, this marked the second time this season that Benito failed to have anything resembling a team on hand to face CPR. After some heavy recruitting of players from the previous match, Benito got their numbers up to 8 at kickoff.

Seeing such scant opposition on the opposite side of the pitch, it was no surprise the CPR Black opened the encounter without much urgency or intensity. Space was so plentiful that CPR would often hold the ball longer than normal, leading to play being fairly disjointed. Fortunately, CPR were fairly quick to recognize the weakness in their play in a sluggish first 10 minutes, and word was quickly sent to take advantage of their opponents by spreading out the pitch and making quick passes across the pitch to spread the defense. The tactical adjustment began paying dividends almost instantly as wingers Rice and Gudkov began carving apart Benito's back line.

Grecius opened CPRs tally with a blast from 25 yards. He picked up a lose ball 10 yards outside the top of the area, and after one quick touch launched a swerving shot which eluded the keeper. Otherwise, CPR proved somewhat tentative in the finishing third for the rest of the half and the 1-0 lead stood till halftime.

As the 2nd half began, Benito continued to reinforce their numbers with early-arriving players for the mext match, bringing their squad up to a full 11 early in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, by this point, Fetzer had continued his scoring hot-streak. Within minutes of the restart, a CPR corner was half-cleared towards Fetzer at right back. Without hesititation, and arguably without much aim either, Fetzer first-timed a hopeful ball back into the box from over 40 yards out. To everyone's surprise, most notably Fetzer's, Benito's keeper caught out too far forward and the hopeful ball found its way into the back of net.

Fetzer then went on to equal Verdoux's stat line from last week as he became the 2nd player this season to record a goal and save in the same match when he relieved Rice in net after tweaking a hamstring during his goal celebration. Despite wearing a highly-visible yellow jersey and gloves, Fetzer created some unnecessary excitement in the back when he forgot he could use his hands as goalkeeper. After the match, it was announced that FIFA investigators would look into curious betting activity before the game after rumors arose that it was all a ruse for Fetzer to ensure his statistical acheivement.

After the brief diversion, Greicius and Phillips combined in midfield to carve up Benito yet again, with Phillips supplying the final layoff to Greicius who increased the CPR Black lead to 3-0, placing the outcome beyond uncertainty.

Taking claim to full A-Rod status for CPR Black, Levy provided a late-brace to pad his season stats with the encounter effectively over at 3-0. Bustamante first played Levy in to provide CPR Black's only goal scored from within the penalty area. Levy then receive a pass from Engler about 10 yards outside the box and saw his speculative shot deflect up off a defender to lob the Benito goalkeeper, bringing the final CPR tally to 5 for the day.

The day's comedic moments both came courtesy of new-guy Goertzen, who is quickly becoming the bruiser of the Newton league. The laws of physics are pretty clear as to what happens when a 220lb, 6' 2" Goertzen goes shoulder-to-shoulder with a diminutive 5'9" 140lb striker. They were in fact so clear that the referee informed Goertzen that because he is so much larger and stronger than his opponents, he is not permitted to go shoulder-to-shoulder with them. The same striker, on a similar challenge down the sideline minutes later (coincidently with a similar result, namely him ending up on the ground as Goertzen cleared the ball) called out "referee - that's retaliation!", to which several CPR players chuckled and asked "retaliation for what - did you commit a foul?" In true metroleague fashion, no whistles were blown and play continued.

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Final Score: 5-0

Goals: Greicius 2 (assist Phillips), Levy 2 (assists Bustamante, Engler), Fetzer

Man of the Match: Greicius

Team: Bustamante, Calcagni, E Engler, Fetzer, Goertzen, Greicius, Gudkov, Levy, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Rice

Mike D's (no-shows): Ault, Joella, Stern (FYI - a text in the morning which says you're too hungover to make it is appreciated, but it's still a Mike D).

Team Bar Attendance: unknown (presumed 0)

Fans: 1 (Bev, who managed to cheer while doing her speedwork on the track)

Making History

PolishPaul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:01:00 GMT

CPR vs Destroyers (Newton HS, Queens NY)

November 15, 2009

Editor's Note - This week marks an unprecedented event in the history of the Central Park Rangers football club: 2 match reports have been written for the same match. Both follow below.

Match Report - by B. Fetzer

The match against the winless Destroyers began with little fanfare despite the energizing sight of Lukaszewski playing up top (note - with regular GK Penrod absent, the manager concluded that for each half a volunteer played in goal, he would have his choice of where to play on the pitch for the other half of the match)

Solid defensive play in front of Serge “Fabian” Verdoux in net soon translated to chances. Smith opened the sheet off a nice cross from Bustamante. The lack of pace from the opposition was evident allowing the oldest man on the pitch to test the woodwork from outside the box. Lukaszewski’s form was soon known as he Manny-ed a sitter into the adjacent tennis court. No I didn’t know there was a tennis court over there either. Smith took matters into his own hands and tallied his second goal of the match with a screamer through the hands of a helpless keeper.

The third goal of the match can only be described as sublime. Phillips controlled the ball through a handful of defenders and fed a fleeting Fetzer who effortlessly placed the ball in the back of the net.

Smith must have taken some offense to this beautiful goal and quickly added his trifecta served up by Gudkov from the left wing.

The half ended 4-0 and Verdoux took his hard earned spot up top for the second half. Less than a minute in he ripped one off the crossbar from what seemed forty yards out. Phillips maintained pressure on goal throughout the half with numerous near misses.

Given the new found consistency of service on corners it was only a matter of time before Ault found the net to open the second half scoring. Verdoux didn’t take long to cap off the complete day with a goal of his own. The first man this season to tally an equal number of saves and goals in the same match. Bustamante finished the scoring after controlling the front for the better part of the match. Poetic justice.

Lukaszewski finished off the clean sheet and CPR Black took home a 7-0 victory.

7-0 win, The Smith Show & The Paul Lukaszewski-phenomenon - by P. Bustamante

Sunday’s game lasted for 10 minutes after that it could hardly be called a game. It reminded me of one of those College Football games (the American kind), when a top rank school like Florida plays an unranked team. It can only end one way, but the game still has to be played and the entire spectacle around it still has to be made.

Nevertheless, there were moments of pure magic during the 90 minutes that are worth mentioning. Moments when the fans forgot about the score and admired the perfection in CPR’s football, moments of exquisite movement of the ball that not even the pitching mounds could destroy (only in the USA!).

The game ended 7-0, a positive result for CPR. Looking at the score with American eyes, it was good for the stats. Looking at it with European eyes, it was just another day at the office and 3 more points in the bag. 10 minutes into the game, the “Smith show” began. Coming from midfield, he lost his marker and scored with a close-range half-volley. A nice cross from striker Bustamante created the opportunity that led to the goal. 5 minutes after, the incredible happened, “The Lukaszewski-phenomenon”, I’ll discuss this in further detail later in report.

Smith added another one to his account after releasing a bullet from 25 yards. The keeper never saw it, and to be honest he is probably happy that he is still alive. In a matter of 10 minutes CPR killed the game by scoring two more goals. Fetzer assisted by Phillips and Smith completed his hattrick assisted by Gudkov with a beautiful cross from the left.

The second half started with French winger Verdoux introducing himself for the day by hitting the post with a tremendous blast. Verdoux, probably the best versatility player in the league, played the first half in goal, and in the second half he was back to his normal position as left winger. Verdoux, often compared to his countryman Cantona for his skills and his extreme passion for football, ended the game with an elegant chip over the goalkeeper. Before that, Bustamante finally found the net and Oceania showed that they’re talented even outside the rugby field. Former Aussie international D. Ault showed his superior understanding of the game when he stepped up from his central defender position, stopped the attack and started the counter-attack. He found Kiwi Jesse Phillips, who turned on a nickel and put a perfect through-ball behind the last four to a running Ault that finished this magic moment with a clinical touch. The game ended 7-0 but why was everybody talking about Paul Lukaszewski?

This incident has not only been debated on ESPN and Fox Soccer channel but even “The Mythbusters” on the Discovery channel have tried to explain the unexplainable. 6 feet from the goal line, Paul Lukaszewski found himself unmarked to take care of a rebound, the ball barely in motion, anything else than a goal would be against the laws of physics. Somehow the ball rises over the bar and ends up almost 100 yards away in some distant tennis court. It wasn’t a goal, but it was a perfect homerun. It didn’t count in soccer field but it would have been a 50 yard field goal in Giant Stadium.

The Lukaszewski-phenomenon has kept me sleepless for days and as an investigating journalist I couldn’t let it go. The only explanation that I found was; that in that specific moment he must have thought he was in Croke Park, Dublin playing GAELIC FOOTBALL, there is no other explanation!!!

(Please visit the site to view this media)

PS. Fastforward to 1.38 and listen to the comment about the goal.

Final Score: 7-0

Goals: Smith (3, assists Bustamante, Gudkov), Fetzer (assist Phillips), Ault (assist Phillips), Verdoux, Bustamante

Man of the Match: Smith (2nd week running)

Team: Ault, Bustamante, Calcagni, Fetzer, Goertzen, Gudkov, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Smith, Stern, Verdoux

Mike Ds (no-shows): Greicius

Special Thanks: Andy

Fans: 5 (Bev, the Fetzer Clan, Ault Sr)

Team Bar Attendance: unknown

Editor's Note - The author of this blog accepts responsibilty for the glaring miss, but would like to point out that he technically missed wide, and believes this may be a reasonable approximation for the situation referenced above (just envision shooting wide, from more of an angle, instead of hitting the bar)

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Maverick? Did Your Parents Not Like You Or Something?

PolishPaul — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:25:00 GMT

CPR v Maverick United - November 8, 2009 (Newton HS, Queens)

With the team's designated match report writer back in attendance, all were relieved that there would in fact be a proper documentation of the day's events. With an absolutely glorious fall day, CPR Black players arrived surprisingly early for their next Metro League fixture. The initially thin-looking roster was boosted by Phillips and his friend Andy, late saturday additions to the squad. Verdoux also made an unexpected cameo after realizing he had the kits, earning his (and CPR Black's) first Conboy (note, for those not familiar with CPR stats, a Conboy is an appearance made by a player who either does not respond to the evite or responds as a no).

With Penrod out for spousal birthday duties and other backup keepers unavailable, Verdoux initially started in net. Unfortunately, as the opponents were outfitted in a bright puke-green colored kit, the CPR Black keeper was asked by the referee to change out of the the #1 day-glo green kit.

Play was initially disjointed, with CPR appearing to be the stronger side yet failing to generate much in the way of real danger or scoring opportunities. As play wore on, CPR's fitness advantage began to shine through despite their opponents ample substitute bench. Stern, Levy and Greicius began to combining to probe increasingly deeper into the Maverick defense. Stern fired the first warning shot of CPR intent as he sliced his way through the Maverick line only to see his shot beat the keeper but fail to beat the far post. E Engler opened the CPR scoring by pouncing off a rebound from a Levy shot and slamming home past the prone Maverick keeper.

Maverick did have a chance to draw level as the half was winding down. A free kick found their center striker unmarked in the center of the area, but he was unable to control the ball to put his shot on target. Phillips then nearly doubled the CPR lead, heading just over the bar off a corner.

The second half saw Levy unleash his inner Ronaldinho. He quickly tallied 2 for CPR Black with the first coming off a clever turn in the center of the area and his second off a rebound.

With the 3-0 lead, CPR felt they were cruising to victory and let their foot off the proverbial gas pedal. Maverick's lumbering midfielder found himself played through with only Phillips to beat for a 1v1 against Lukaszewski, but Phillips cleverly grabbed hold of his, um - manhood, to ensure he could not break free for a clean scoring opportunity. The two got tangled together leaving Lukaszewski to scoop up the ball. Maverick calls for a penalty fell on deaf ears.

Felt aggrieved to have not been awarded a penalty for Phillips's foul play, Maverick were granted a make-up call minutes later after a shot was driven into Calcagni's arm. Though he had no chance to turn away, the referee awarded Maverick the spot kick. The resulting penalty was comical, with neither quality pace or placement, and ranks as the worst penalty taken in the metro league since the last penalty that was taken in the metro league. Inexplicably, despite having a full palm on the ball, Lukaszewski somehow failed to prevent the effort from trickling in to his right corner, which resulted in temporarily tightened the score line to 3-1.

Levy responded almost immediately to seal his 2nd half hat trick by latching on to a pass from Gudkov and slotting home past the keeper. The goal completely deflated the Maverick balloon, ending any thoughts of mounting a comeback.

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Final Score: 4-1

Goals: Levy (3), E Engler

Assists: Gudkov (1)

Team: Calcagni, E Engler, Gudkov, Greicius, Hollins, Levy, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Smith, Stern, Verdoux

Man of the Match: Levy (for the 2nd half hat trick) and Phillips (for doing anything to win, and for winning every single header near him while thoroughly dominating play)

Mike Ds (no-shows): Ault

Conboys (unexpected shows): Verdoux

Team Bar Showing: 3 (27%) - Calcagni, Hollins, Lukaszewski

Special Thanks: Andy and Andy, who helped fill out a short-handed squad

If A Soccer Game Is Played But No One Remembers, Was It Really Played?

PolishPaul — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:49:00 GMT

CPR v Juniper Park - November 1, 2009 (Newton HS, Queens)

The author of this match report was unable to attend the game due to his participation in the ING New York Marathon (3:33:36, a new personal best). The league website says the final score was 3-3. Unfortunately, no one who was there seems to remember any details - like who played, who scored or what else happened. All that adds up to the shortest CPR Black match report of the season.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Final Score: 3-3

Goals: Unknown

Assists: Unknown

Man of the Match: Unknown

Team: Unknown

Team Bar Attendance: Unknown

A Real Game, For Once

PolishPaul — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:32:00 GMT

CPR Black v CEFC - October 25, 2009 (Newton HS)

To call the first to matches in the new 11-a-side MetroLeague cakewalks would be offensive to cakes. Seeing their prior opponents struggle to field 7 players together minutes before kickoff, CPR Black were well relieved to see what looked to be a capable and full-sized squad of opponents gathering at the Newton field on this glorious Sunday morning. CPR Black welcomed to the fold three 8-a-side team regulars to their 11s league debut, with Aaron Smith coming of a hiatus, Matt Engler coming off elbow surgery and Penrod having cleared his month-long streak of weddings. New-player Rice also made his squad debut.

CPR were sluggish out of the gates and saw CEFC control a lot of early possession. Particularly threatening was a mullet-sporting midfielder who possessed quickness and good touch, and was eager to take on his opponents. Despite their early advantage, CEFC failed to really generate any clear-cut chances. Midway through the opening half, CEFC had one of their midfielders limp off the pitch with an injury. With a squad of only 11, this loss put them down a man against a CPR Black squad which was shaking off the early cobwebs and beginning to assert more control over the match.

As CEFC began to tire, particularly in midfield, CPR began to have greater spells of possession and began to carve open the increasingly exposed CEFC back line. The best opportunity of the half fell to Verdoux who found himself played clean through into the penalty area 1v1 against the keeper. The CEFC stopper proved quite capable and closed down Verdoux quickly and forced a shot straight at him which he parried to safety. Bustamante was played in and again found the keeper alert and quickly off his line. With options limited, he went for the cheeky chip and saw his effort miss narrowly wide of the far post, taking the teams into halftime at 0-0.

After the interval, Bustamante was again played in on goal, this time with more time and space with which to set up the CEFC keeper. He patiently ran into the center of the area and finished clinically into the far corner to give CPR Black a well-deserved 1-0 lead.

Refusing to bow their heads, the goal inspired CEFC to launch a few attacks to try to level the score. With the Black back line living on the edge and playing a high line for most of the half, they tempted fate which on two occasions nearly cost them. First, the talented CEFC midfielder found himself played in, but he rushed his show and missed wide, failing to threaten Penrod. In the second instance, he benefited from a lucky deflection which fell to him in the right channel. As he juked his way around Ault, Ault lunged in and made faint contact with his trailing leg. Surprisingly, though advantage was clearly with CEFC as their player maintained possession and found himself clean in on Penrod in goal, the ref blew the whistle and awarded a penalty to CEFC. It was an officiating decision which can only occur in the MetroLeague, one which Vlad himself would have been proud of.

Wanting all the glory for himself, the CEFC midfielder picked up the ball and headed for the spot. Penrod immediately began playing mind games by significantly shading one side of the net, tempting the CEFC shooter to aim to his right. If only the penalty effort half lived up to the pre-shot suspense - unfortunately the effort was possibly one of the most pathetic witnessed by this writer in many years. Penrod comfortably dealt with the feeble shot which deflated CEFC of any hope of salvaging a point, and left CPR with a perfect record and top of league table.

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Final Score: 1-0

Goals: Bustamante (assist Smith)

Man of the Match: Penrod

Team: Ault, Bustamante, E Engler, M Engler, Gudkov, Hollins, Levy, Lukaszewski, Penrod, Phillips, Rice, Smith, Verdoux

Guest appearance: Swedish Peter

Team Bar Attendance: 64% (Bustamante, E Engler, M Engler, Hollins, Penrod, Phillips, Smith, Swedish Peter, Verdoux)

Benito Who?

PolishPaul — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:45:00 GMT

October 11, 2009 - CPR v Benito Camelas (Newton HS - Queens)

Back in action after a 3 week layoff (league scheduling conflicts with local schools), CPR Black were looking to maintain the momentum from their week 1 win. With a full side plus reserves assembled prior to kickoff, concern spread as CPR saw their opponents had only mustered to bring 3 players to the pitch and were quickly scrambling to get their tally to 7 to avoid an automatic forefeit. With some success recruiting a few stragglers plus a few late arrivals coming just prior to the whistle, Benito got to 8 as the whistle blew.

From the first touch, the outcome was never in doubt. Frankly, the greater concern was whether or not CPR would maintain enough focus and commitment or play down to their competition. Unfortunately, for the majority of the encounter, it was the latter. CPR also used their numerical advantage to test a more attacking minded 3-4-3 formation, going with the 3-headed monster of Bustamante, Levy and Stern in the attack.

Greicius opened the scoring with a clinical header after Levy had worked free down the right wing and delivered a perfect cross. Stern added the second from the spot after being hauled down in the box as he worked is way in along the goal line from the left corner. A few comical protests of "the foul was outside the box" were heard, but they made little sway on the referees given how obvious the infraction was.

As halftime approached, Benito briefly got their numbers up to a full 11, though were then brought back to 10 when one of their initial starters hobbled off with a hamstring injury. CPR Black went into the interval with a disappointing 2-0 lead given their numerical and skill advantage on the pitch. The halftime team talk tried to get the squad to take advantage of their numbers by doing a better job of maintaining possession and probing for openings rather than launching speculative balls forward.

CPR Black complacency was punished shortly after the restart when a hopeful ball forward pinballed its way between Calcagni, Ault and 2 Benito attackers and eventually squirted out behind the CPR back line. Benito's crafty striker took full advantage and slotted home past CPR Black stand-in keeper Tim, to bring the scoreline to 2-1.

Shortly thereafter, CPR Black made a tactical shift to return to their standard 4-4-2 formation, and the move almost immediately paid dividends. Creating more space up front for strikers and wingers to play into put immediate pressure on the Benito back line. Bustamante was played in by Greicius and held off his defender while slotting home for 3-1. Bustamante was again involved minutes later. His blocked shot rebounded to Engler to tapped into an empty net.

CPR Black's 5th and final goal marked the low-point for Benito. Verdoux, in acres of space on the left wing, teed up a cross into an empty penalty box. Not wanting to see such a wonderful ball wasted, one of the Benito failed to rise high enough to clear and instead flicked his header past his own keeper for the final 5-1 scoreline.

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Final: 5-1

Goals: Greicius (assist Levy), Stern (PK), Bustamante (assist Greicius), Engler, OG (assist Verdoux)

Team: Ault, Bustamante, Calcagni, Engler, Fetzer, Greicius, Gudkov, Hollins, Joella, Levy, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Stern, Verdoux

Team Bar Showing: 50% (Ault, Bustamante, Calcagni, Engler, Hollins, Lukaszewski, Phillips)

Fans: 2* (Stern's friends)

Special Thanks: Tim, for stand-in goalkeeping

*Not sure exactly how much they were paying attention

Welcome Back to 11s

PolishPaul — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:23:00 GMT

September 20, 2009 - CPR Black v Destroyers (Newton HS - Queens)

CPR Black (formerly known as the Metro8s, the spinoff of the original MetroBoyz) market their return to 11-a-side footie with a 8-0 demolishing of Detroyers. Two new additions to the side, Bustamante and Stern, both made their debuts and, more importantly, both avoided pulling a Forlan and made their impacts on the score sheet.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Goals: Bustamante (2), Phillips (2), Stern (2), Greicius, Gudkov

Assists: Bustamante (3), Stern (2), Hollins

Man of the Match: Bustamante

Team: Bustamante, Calcagni, Engler (injured - manager duty), Greicius, Gudkov, Hollins, Joella, Lukaszewski, Phillips, Stern, Verdoux

Team Bar Showing: 60% (Bustamante, Engler, Hollins, Lukaszewski, Stern, Verdoux)

Fans: 1 (Bev, the super-fan)

Special Thanks: Constantine, for fill-in goalkeeping

Match Reports for MetroBoyz from 2000-2007, and Metro 8's for 2007-08 & 2008-09

MarkResnik — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:28:00 GMT

Click here for the older match reports from the MetroBoyz and Metro 8's teams.