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Week 3 (November 19th & 20th)
Chelsea came into this match as an underdog to the
highly regarded PSV Eindhoven team. Chelsea got the better
of the early play led by strong runs by Conner Wilson. Eindhoven
not willing to surrender early, found their rhythm and were
ignited by two goals by Derek Visek who was able to accomplish
the feat even with his shoe untied. The Chelsea boys would
not go away easily and gained confidence with their own scoring
chances later in the first half. The second half proved to
be exciting as both teams showed great skills that lead to
many shots on goal, but in the end PSV Eindhoven's more fluid
ball movement proved too much for Chelsea. However, this less
experienced Chelsea Club proved it can play with the elite
and team management feels very optimistic about Chelsea's
future."Chelsea was very dangerous at times," stated
Eindhoven Coach Kruse. "A few of their players have shown
great improvement this year and they gave us some trouble.
In the end, I was very proud of our boys because they kept
fighting hard even when the ball wasn't bouncing our way."
(Taken from the Real Madrid Web Site and the Manchester Press)
Gordan Banks - England. Fabien Barthez - France. Peter Bonetti
- Chelsea. Tim Howard - Manchester United. Oliver Kahn - Germany.
Peter Schmeichel - Denmark. Alex Durbin - Real Madrid. Alex
Durbin for Real Madrid? That's right..playing in front of
Real's home crowd at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Real Madrid
players, coaches and fans were treated to a historic display
of Futsal goalkeeping. In one of most highly anticipated matches
in the Futsal Champions League, Real Madrid was up against
an experienced, well-coached team. How did Real Madrid handle
the pressure of the legendary Red Devils? They played good
Futsal as a team, worked hard and a few upper ninety and horizontal
diving saves from their keeper didn't hurt them either. Using
the energy and excitement created by their keeper, the Real
Madrid players really stepped up their game on the field.
Every Real Madrid player contributed to this victory with
their individual skills, their hustle and their ability to
stay focused. Real Madrid was helped in the win with 2 goals
coming from Charlie Landen. Hunter Gorby continued to play
well demonstrating proficient footskills and composure even
under the intense pressure from the Red Devils' players. It
was a very fast, skilled and well played game. One spectator
was overheard saying they thought this might have been one
of the best Futsal matches they've been to. Hats off to Old
Trafford as they battled hard with no subs for much of the
first half. Real Madrid can't celebrate this victory too long
as they must now turn around and play the Highbury Gunners.
If history has anything to say about this upcoming match-up,
it should be a very good game with the likes of Eric Winkler
on their squad. Good Luck Real Madrid!
- Manchester Press
Madrid, Spain (AP) Old Trafford came up short against Real
Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, losing 4-2. The Red Devils
could not figure out a way to get past the Real goalkeeper
Alex Durbin. "That's what the Champions League is all
about," head coach from Old T said,"He brought his
A game and left it all on the field, he was amazing. "The
play of Durbin over shadowed the great play of Red Devil John
Grinstead, who scored twice in the match. Grinstead scored
both goals on the left-wing, receiving through balls from
Ameer Pinto. Garrett Andrews offered his services in the net
in the first half. He proves to be a team player every week.
The Red Devils were missing some players due to call ups by
the National teams for their qualifying rounds of the World
Cup. Old Trafford will travel to Holland to play a hot PSV
Eindhoven on Friday at 7:00pm.
Playing in Argentina, River Plate scored first with AS Monaco
getting the equalizer before half. In the second half AS Monaco
proved to be too much for the River Plate squad. A steady
defense with stellar play from their goalie led to numerous
key stops of the powerful Argentineans. Monaco's transition
play from the back led to quick scoring opportunities that
found their mark. AS Monaco goals came from Ashley W., Lauren
K., and Emily E. with 3.
- London Times - This was a great match-up between England's
finest and one of Italy's elite clubs. Juventus scored in
the first half off a goal by Abby Larson and was content to
take that lead into halftime with the score 1 - 0. For the
second week in a row the Highbury Gunners found themselves
behind starting the second half. Last week the Highbury Gunners
had a scoring spree with 7 goals in the second half and this
week seemed to be more of the same. Jonathan Grinstead found
the back of the net in the 21st minute to tie the score 1
- 1. Juventus took the lead back a few minutes later when
Abby Larson scored her second goal of the match. In the 31st
minute Ameer Pinto found himself in front of the net all alone
with the ball and tied the match. Mitchell Ferris made a magical
run from defensive half of the field, received a pass from
Scott Kleymann, and ripped a shot into the back of the net
to take the lead in the 34th minute. Ferris and Kleymann hooked
up again on a beautiful executed corner kick in the 36th minute.
Kleymann played the ball to Ferris who timed his run perfect
for a one touch left footed bomb to end the scoring at 4-2.
Max Willis and Josh Christensen both minded the net for half
the game with numerous amounts of saves to preserve the victory
for the Gunners.
In the press conference after the game the coach for the
Highbury Gunners was asked by a BBC reporter "What's
the difference between your team in the first half than the
second half?" Gunner's coach replied "I wish I knew
that answer but as soon as I figure that out you will be the
first to know after I tell my team." Well, the Gunners
better figure it out soon with Real Madrid coming to town
next week. Juventus coach McConnell said "We played a
really great first half against a great U-12 boys team. Abby
had a great game with two goals." Juventus takes on the
undefeated Inter Milan squad this Saturday at home.
(Royal Blue Web Site) Schalke 04 suffered their first loss
to a physical Charlton team. The team played with a lot of
heart and Courtney scored a beautiful goal beating a defender
one v one before putting it past the keeper. Summer answered
with another goal assisted by Gigi. Summer fought through
the pack in front of the goal to finish. The girls shook off
their first defeat and are already looking forward to our
after Thanksgiving doubleheader against boys.
-London Times- Charlton Athletic crossed the channel to face
German host Schalke 04 in a battle of unbeatens. The game
was close and hard fought through its entirety. Charlton drew
first blood as Kiki was able to convert a pass from Brianna
into a goal. Alex found a corner to put the Addicks up by
two at the half. Michaela scored against her sister's team
to go up by three, but woke a sleeping giant. The Royal Blues
ferociously answered with back to back goals as they clearly
had the better of the play and looked to equalize. Charlton
were able to reorganize and regain some breathing space with
a final tally by Brianna. The game was well played on both
sides and Schalke certainly gained the respect of their older
opponents.
- U.K. Times- What a game! It started off with a FIFA official
alerting the Tottenham management that they were to comply
with recently created (that afternoon) rule changes- no scoring
inside the arc, etc. Furthermore, in a last minute trade,
Tottenham lost its starting goalkeeper to the opposition,
though nobody complained about the replacement. What a gem.
Despite this unorthodox pre-game maneuvering, game time quickly
approached and both teams were ready to take to the field.
It was at this point that several players (no names mentioned-
Andy, Chandler, Devin) experienced gender-identity issues
and defected to the all-girls team. The final result was a
fair one. It was a good game, lots of showmanship, friendly
fouls, a marked improvement in confidence and ability on the
part of Ajax (brilliant dispossession of Mike and a goal by
Olivia in the closing moments). Well done ladies!!!!!!!!!!!
Tottenham Goals:
Keating (4)- good thing he showed up.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands (AP) What a game exactly! Not
since Billy Jean King played Bobby Riggs in 1973 has there
been such an anticipated battle between the sexes. Although
both teams were represented by both genders, it was essentially
girls vs boys in this grudge match between the Germans and
the English. Ajax was led by Caroline and Valerie, two girls
who definitely brought their A-game. Keating, whose goals
are still being talked about around the water cooler, was
one of the bright spots for the Hotspurs. One other was the
return of last week's MVP Alex "the Flying Squirrel"
Durbin. His counterpart in goal, who ironically is his older
brother, is now officially the oldest goalie to play in a
televised Futsal match. Scott "you're never too old to
break a finger" Durbin played magnificently for Ajax.
With his knowledge of this game as well as the first football
game ever played (which he was there to watch)was able to
help the girls play a very good match. The fans were treated
to brilliant soccer from both sides. As this reporter worked
the crowd, several comments were made regarding how well the
three "long-haired" women played for Tottenham.
To my recollection, there were only two, but sources close
to the team are now reporting the third "long haired
woman" is none other than Mike "Eurosport"
Dean. With such a free-flowing game and hair, it's no wonder
he has been revered for so long in this league. Well done
Mike! It was also spreading quickly through out the stadium
that there were wagers on whether or not Keating would strike
a ball with his right foot. This reporter isn't sure how that
one turned out, but I can say one of the hundreds of fans
in attendance was overheard saying "Wow! Keating has
a brilliant and lethal left foot, but I wonder if he ever
uses his right foot for anything besides carrying his extra
shoe." Well, no matter what, right foot or not, his left
foot definitely kept this match tight. As hard as Keating
tried, Tottenham could never catch back up thanks to the play
of Olivia in the final moments of the game. Great play from
all involved and a rematch could make for some very competitive
and wonderful futsal.
With flares and songs coming from the Dutch home crowd, this
was a game full of emotion and desire from both teams. River
Plate broke on top first with a brilliant goal. Feyenoord
Rotterdam's Elle came back and scored their first goal off
a great pass from Phoebe. Elle continued her dominance as
she scored again for Feyenoord off a quick kick in. River
Plate's Chase Ohde set up Trevor Goetzinger for the game tying
goal as time was elapsing. It was a great game all around
with evenly matched teams. Feyenoord coach Larson was extremely
pleased by the fine goalie play of Lindsee, Miranda, Dana
and Elle.
BAYERN MUNICH
7 VALENCIA
2
In this epic battle, the score does
not reflect the closeness of the game. Both teams came out
and played hard every minute of the match. Bayern's Kelly
led the way with her first hat trick of this Champions League.
Olivia also had two tallies for Bayern and Caroline and Shannon
each had one goal apiece. Scoring for Valencia were Mackenzie
and Rachel. Valencia's coach said after the game, "We
tried to control the ball and did with some success but Bayern
came with a lot of pressure and we made too many mistakes."
Bayern's coach continues to go MIA. Reports say he might be
lost in the woods of Northeast Nebraska hunting buffalo. (or
birds of some kind)
Hannoover, Germany (AP) The starting Hannover 96 goalkeeper
is still on injured reserve, but back-up goalkeeper, Kyle,
did a commendable job. Unfortunately, he couldn't turn away
enough of the shots to make 7 goals hold up for Hannover.
Rookie, Alex got two goals as he continued to contribute nicely
to the Hannover attack.
-BBC Report - In the first half of this Champions League
match Hannover 96 looked like the team to beat with their
striker # 10 jumping all over the Newcastle defense. At half
time the great coach that he is Sir Bobby Robson had a convincing
talk with the magpies and they came out a different team.
Newcastle forwards Alex Leatherbury and the young Irishman
Ryan Theilan took it to Hannover's defense with some brilliant
shots on goal eventually taking Hannover 96 by 10 goals to
7. "This looks like the two top teams that will meet
in the final for the trophy." Newcastle's coach said
in the press conference.."But we have to keep our eyes
on that great London team - Totthnam Hotspurs."
With the referee falling asleep on the
field for 4 minutes (he must have been out late) this final
score was contested by both teams. Liverpool claimed a tie,
while Waterford thought they had earned the victory. This
week's sportsmanship award goes to the entire Liverpool team
and coaching staff for their withdrawn protest. "It's
not about the score, it's how the boys play the game"
said Liverpool coach Shriver. "I'm very proud of their
play this week!" Liverpool found its rhythm and
produced four goals (from 4 different players) against a tough
Waterford United defense. After a shaky start for Liverpool,
Erik Stanislav helped stabilize the situation with some key
defensive stops which lead to some scoring opportunities for
Liverpool. At times, both teams showed great ball handling
skills and exciting stops from the keepers. The fans who braved
the early cold weather last Saturday morning certainly got
what every soccer fan wants, a well played & exciting
game full of highlights. Ron Beernink coached Waterford to
victory as Coach Kyle Anderson had been called up for his
duties with the Irish National side this week.
Tottenham entered the match a little banged up as starting
GK James Dean sustained a sprained ankle after while making
a sudden escape from Taco Bell and subsequently getting his
leg stuck in the drive-thru window. In spite of having only
one useful peg, Dean had a phenomenal match only allowing
two goals through the five hole.
Celtic fought hard and did break down the Tottenham defense
four times. Mgr. Phil Wright may have been more focused on
the match if Newcastle hadn't been renegotiating Alan Shearer's
contract that morning.
Due to construction of their new stadium for the 2006 World
Cup this match was moved to the world famous All Seasons Stadium
in Omaha Nebraska. This low scoring match was one of the most
exciting ever witnessed by the standing only crowd. As both
teams played extremely hard to the finish Inter prevailed
in the end. Wolfsburgs's goalkeepers did a fantastic job making
some highlight real saves that were watched over and over
on televisions throughout the country.
(No game report submitted by Inter Milan)
(Olympique Press Release
from coach Link)The team did a good job with several aspects
of the game that we have been working on. The key aspect was
passing the ball to the open player. We managed to do this
several times and as a result had several excellent shots
on goal. Their keeper just managed to keep us from scoring.
We played a good game but they managed to get find the net
more than we did.
(Boca Juniors Press Release from coach Mcvay)
A tough game against the Olympique Lyon team resulted in a
6-2 victory for the Boca Juniors last Saturday. Sean Doyle
was the MVP of the match for the Bocas in recording his first
hat trick only three weeks into the season. "I saw a
couple of openings and was lucky enough to get some good shots
off." said Doyle, "However, this was really a great
effort by the whole team." Clay Fisher was close behind
with two goals and Russell George got one. George and Liam
Townley were each credited with an assist. The Boca defense
continued to be frugal in allowing only two goals on a number
of excellent runs by Olympique. Andrew McVay displayed the
hustle of the Boca team in running the length of the field
and managing to deflect a shot by an Olympique attacker as
the kick was taken. Overall, the effort by the entire Boca
squad was outstanding.
JUVENTUS 2
AC MILAN 10
Due to violence from concession workers about the
increased cost of Kool Aid and cotton candy, FIFA ordered
this match played on a deserted island in the South Pacific.
With no official game report (we are lucky that this score
leaked out from a fishing boat on its way to Japan) this is
all the information we could get.
(In actuality- no report submitted by AC Milan and Juventus
said basically "we lost big".)
CRYSTAL PALACE 5
CELTIC 10
As the London team took the field you could here the chants
from the equally split crowd. Crystal palace didn't go down
without a strong fight. Coach Sir Bobby had said before the
game he was worried about the strong Crystal Palace counter
attack and fast breaks. He was right... as Crystal Palace
striker Jacq came up with her first hat trick of the Champions
League. Kelly McCann and Anna Shimerda also tallied one apiece
for the women. Katie Williams, Jacq, and Carolyn Corn all
played great in goal for the Crystal side. Even with superb
combination play, Celtic was too much as Alex Newlin and the
great Scott put ball in the back of the net. With the crowd
going wild it was all over when the young midfielder Conner
Gorby came on and finished the game for celtic with his speed
and great passing.
RANGERS 5 FC
BARCELONA 0
These two teams had met during the regular outdoor soccer
season, with the Rangers winning that contest. You knew that
FC Barcelona was ready to even the score and they played a
great game. This match was barely underway and the Rangers
had a shot on goal. But the skills of the Barcelona keeper
kept it from being 1-0. In the end the tenacious defense of
the Rangers proved to be to be too much for Barcelona. The
Rangers were able to post their second shutout of this young
season. The Rangers may have found a new keeper in Blair Archer.
She came up with some big second half saves. When it was all
over the players shook hands and proved that the game is truly
about sportsmanship.
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