FC BrewHaHa 2006
June 25th, 2006 vs. Tornados
1-2 Loss


Brian: A hot day in Palo Alto. Fortunately Greer seem to know how to keep their fields in good shape. Tornadoes - what can I say? They always give us a tough game, and we've had some moments. But don't look for any conflicts here; today's game was clean.

So just a word to the wise: Writing summaries is tough: You have to remember a lot, and make sure that DiCarlo gets credit for all his goals. Well DiCarlo was away so a bit easier today.

We started out pretty strong. I'm pleased to see that we've recruited Kate and Carmen, and Donna is back. Great play from all of you. Jayson and Kate moved the ball up the wing, and we did have a few good opportunities.

But let's focus on defense. Daniel, clearly had his mind on the Portugal game, but was solid. Another fine recruit, Matt, made play after play to stop their offense. And Gael had some *fantastic* saves.

Back to offense - we had a "great hustle" play where Matt forced their defender to make a bad pass that Brian got to Thomas, who passed to Jayson. Jayson passed quickly back to Thomas, through the defender's legs. Thomas buried the shot to make it 1-0. Not the last time a ball would go through someone's legs en route to a goal...

But they came back. Charles, their annoyingly persistent player got the ball in deep and crossed it through a crowd. It somehow got to one of their players and she put it in. Unlucky. Later on, Charles had a shot from far out that "eluded" Gael. Too bad - just unlucky again.

So you see where we're headed: Our goals are amazing while theirs are just unlucky for us... We did have several more good chances in the first half. Not too much to say about that.

Halftime: The main points to note were regarding Gael and his family. First, Gael has tremendous faith in is wife who slept soundly through most of the game. Fortunately Heather and Juniper were there to watch Killian.

The second half was pretty uneventful - clearly both teams were tired, and not a lot happened. We did have some good chances - Kate, Mike, Jayson, but didn't quite put it in.

At any rate, the main thing on most of our minds is that after 6 years of organizing FC BrewHaHa (Mike: 6.25), this was Mike's last game for a while, as they are off to San Diego. Of course we'll miss Mike's presence on the field, and off. But let's hope we can convince him to come up for the tournament in August, and in the mean time wish them both well in San Diego.

No game next weekend as we celebrate the long weekend in honour of Canada Day.


Mike: This is a truly momentous occasion - we have two full game summaries! So with no further ado...


Jayson: It's summer so I have nothing to write except a german translation... this was much more fun. Use it if you don't have time to write one. Don't ask me to translate for tomas.

It was bad news the second I personally showed up for the game. In the past six days I've been on a serious losing streak. Within a week the USA gets routed from the Cup, and then my son's Sweden and my mother's Mexico lose on the same day in terrible ways; one team not showing up, the other losing a heartbreaker in extra time after an own goal and a brilliant Argentinean strike. FYI, I rooted against England and Portugal, and for South Korea. Good thing I live in Menlo Park and not Vegas. (Mike: Cry me a river - try being Canadian and finding something to cheer about for soccer!)

So no surprise things turned out the way they did. I had a terrible week, topped off by a terrible touch the first minute of the match. Mike was there to boost my morale. He encouragingly shouted from the side line, "great touch, Jayson," after I awkwardly dribbled the ball right to the man with the gloves. Things picked up, however. About halfway through the half, our all around athlete Brian got all laces on a ball outside the eighteen. After rattling around the box, the ball ended up on my big toe. A quick flick through an unsuspecting Volcano set of legs and Thomas, efficient as ever, took a strike and the ball knuckled towards the lumbering keeper; the next things we know the Brew HaHa bench and the net are shaking, 1-0.

Gail kept us in the game with several great stops. He swatted and saved line-drive rips, extending in mid-air to make two-hand catches on some attempts, punching others off their intended trajectory. For another ten minutes he looked like a bear knocking down flies with his large paws. Volcanoes (Mike: I just figured it out - Tornados) couldn't score because Gail couldn't miss.

The Jayson losing-curse caught up with us before the break, however, and Volcanos were on the board. The curse gained momentum after a Volcano won a 50-50 ball at midfield. Kate told me after the game that he had settled the ball with a hand. It was, as far as I understood, only one hand so nothing really to complain about. He did, though, get full boot on a ball that took a tough "in-between" bounce then bounced between our goalie's wickets. 2-1. Damn those new PACSL 2006 Summer Co-ed balls, all the goalies are complaining about how they dip because of the new weird lacing.

Brew HaHa showed some intensity the second half but our structure stifled us. Erin had some huge and precise tosses from the side-line which found HaHa feet but the Volcanoes had settled in defensively. Carmen cut short some swift Volcano attacks before initiating Brew counter-attacks. Julie made a truly fantastic pass to Tomas in the area who nearly finished on a tough angle. Matt, Arthur, and Daniel dependent as ever defended and defended keeping us in the game and keeping up our hope. Erin played a fantastic match on the right wing suffocating the space of the talented Volcano who tried to stretch the field; Bea kept our sprits high from the sidelines but we needed her shot more than her shout at the end of the day.

Kate and Brian took good hard shots in the second half that sailed over keeper. Other than that I think the rest of the game we watched the goalie hold the ball in his box. He learned that courageous strategy from his forwards who refused to chase balls before corners. I think they learned such strategic genius from the Italian national team. Anyway, in total I think the clock ticked twenty-minutes total the second half during actual "play."

The refs were busy reciting Wordsworth and watching the dandelions grow. They never wet their lips to whistle the keeper to release the ball. They didn't whistle in the middle of the match after I took three-studs to the back of the leg (for which I was put in a very bad mood). They did, however, whistle for a mysterious shirt pull by our left back Carmen. Curious call because on the play precisely before the lone whistle, Mike charged through the midfield with a chasing Volcano reaching, grabbing, and slapping at him. For twenty yards the defender swiped and tugged before nearly tackling Mike to the turf. Though he couldn't take our 210 pound striker down, he slowed him enough to keep him out of dangerous space. Shortly after we earned our first foul of the summer for supposed similar behavior. OUR FIRST FOUL! Good work!

To close, I want to remind all the Brewers that Mike is leaving next weekend. I encourage all of you to send guilt ridden emails throughout the season encouraging him and Juniper to return, at least for the tournament. I have already annoyed him by twice mentioning that I have cut my summer courses abroad short by two days, just in time for the tourney (that is three times now).

Scoring Summary:

  1. Thomas from Jayson and Brian