SWRSL – L5 scores and standings

As of today, Monday June 8th, 2009…

Game	Date	Home			Away
901	14/May/09	Kitchener Spirit “B”	5	0	FEDS
902	19/May/09	Guelph Royals “B”	0	3	Waterloo Panthers
903	21/May/09	Stratford Strikers	3	3	Guelph Royals
904	21/May/09	Kitchener Spirit “B”	3	1	Waterloo Panthers
900	23/May/09	Owen Sound Thunderbirds	1	0	Stratford Strikers
906	28/May/09	Stratford Strikers	1	3	FEDS
905	01/Jun/09	FEDS	0	4	Owen Sound Thunderbirds
910	04/Jun/09	FEDS	1	14	Kitchener Spirit “B”

Current standings:

Team	GP	W	T	L	GS	GA	Diff	Pts
Kitchener Spirit “B”	3	3	0	0	22	2	20	9
Owen Sound Thunderbirds	2	2	0	0	5	0	5	6
Waterloo Panthers	2	1	0	1	4	3	1	3
FEDS	4	1	0	3	4	24	-20	3
Stratford Strikers	3	0	1	2	4	7	-3	1
Guelph Royals “B”	2	0	1	1	3	6	-3	1

Please stay tuned, as more updates are coming to this website, which include:

• Commentary on the Kitchener “B” 3 – Waterloo Panthers 1 game
• Videos from the Sarnia Tournament (I have all four goals against Byron Blast: Santi (2), Chris and Johnny, plus another goal Santi scored and was disallowed, who knows why)
• Commentary on every game of the Middlesex United Tournament
• Videos from that tournament (including Aaron’s awesome slide tackle and Stu’s PK save)
• Lots of pictures from Strathroy (most of them from Ron Krech, I will send the link to them today)
• Commentary on the FEDS – Waterloo Panthers game (I know it’s on Thursday, but do you really think I will be done with the rest by then?

Players, if you’re interested in writing here, let me know, and I will send you a link!

Guelph Royals 0 vs Waterloo Panthers 3 – Off to a good start

I will discuss this game with the authority that has been tacitly conferred to me, since I wasn’t there…

Based on what I heard from the parents, players and coaches:

• A good display by our Panthers, who should have probably won by a bigger margin.
• Good performance by our defense.
• Strong up front, in spite of Santi’s bad evening (I was told he missed a couple of really good opportunities).
• Two goals by Daniel (picked as MVP after I tallied the votes), another one awarded to Jordan.
• Jordan, Aaron and Tyler took the VIP award home (same source as above).
• The field was as good as I remembered it.
• The insightful comments and excellent sense of humour of some assistant coach/manager/webmaster/secretary/GPS were sorely missed by parents, players and coaches alike. Even the referee made a comment.

Our starting lineup consisted of (or so I think):

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris     08 – Jordan   13 – Aaron

04 – Nik    02 – Tyler   18 – Josh    19 – Cam

05 – Santi   10 – Michael   07 – Daniel

Chris, Johnny, Robbie and Isaac also played. Ganesha is still nursing his injury…

Postcards from Sarnia

Pep talk… or Santi’s intervention? “You must stop taking dives!” :-)

The Board of Directors of the Waterloo Panthers met at an undisclosed location that weekend

Juan Almada, Director of Fundraising and Development

Exclusive! Chris’ first goal as a Panther (there are many to come!)

Waiting for the final game…

A Panther licks his wounds…

TROPHY PRESENTATION

GO PANTHERS!!!

The Chronicles of Sarnia V – Waterloo Panthers 0 vs Erin Mills “B” 3

I’m proud. I’m angry, and wished we had played the whole game like the first half, but I’m very proud of our guys.

We knew we had an uphill battle against one of the strongest teams in the province, but we still went on to present battle. Erin Mills proved to be too strong for us, but they didn’t run over us like they probably expected. This might explain all the lack of a sportsmanship conduct some of the players exhibited, but as the great Scottish philosopher Frederick Treacy would say, “you can also be a sore winner”.

 

Some of our guys were hurt after four tough games, one of them (Nik) wasn’t even able to play at all. Others, like Michael, Dan, Isaac or Harris, were definitely in pain, but still went on and gave 110%. That’s why I say I was very proud. But please let me single out two players that I think taught everybody a lesson out there: they were Santi and Jordan. It was just moving –at least to me– seeing them run, fighting for every ball like it was the last, when we were 0-3 already and there were 2 minutes left to play. When nobody else could move a toe, these guys kept on running, pushing, jumping, heading and being kicked. Santi was in tears on the way back home, as he couldn’t walk, so many kicks he received.

This doesn’t mean that the rest didn’t give everything they had. I said it myself just one paragraph ago, even those who could barely walk fought until they just couldn’t anymore. But Jordan and Santi resembled true warriors out there. I won’t forget one particular play, with just five minutes to go. There was a corner kick for Erin Mills, and Santi came down to defend. The ball came and Santi headed it out, then ran as fast as he could to block the shot from the EM player who had gotten the rebound, which he did. Nobody else (ours or theirs) had even moved yet! At the very end of the game, he made another one of those runs, coming all the way from the front to Harris’ position to clear another ball going hard on the ground. At the end of the game, Abe (Johnny’s father) would say to me:

- You were right about his energy…

 

Of course Jordan (who had an outstanding tournament) and Santi take the MVP award, but I want to give the VIP to the rest of the team, because this was a historic day for the Panthers. After all these seasons, and so many times in which we fell in semi-finals, we finally made it to a final game, and came back with the trophy we deserved!

Another mention to our good sense of sportsmanship. Almost all of us clapped as every Erin Mills player received their trophy. Did you hear anything while we were picking up ours? Again, I quote Dr. Treacy…

This achievement didn’t go unnoticed. You can see how we were named “Team of the Week” on the Waterloo Minor Soccer website (here) and also how our performance was published on The Record on the following Wednesday…

What else? Oh, yes, the starting lineup! Here it is:

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris   08 – Jordan   13 – Aaron

17 - Robbie  02 – Tyler  18 – Josh   19 – Cam

14 – Chris   10 – Michael   05 – Santi

Daniel, Isaac and Johnny also played (though the first two did it briefly). Nik couldn’t play, as I said before, and Ganesha is still injured.

GO PANTHERS!!!!

The Chronicles of Sarnia IV – Waterloo Panthers 1 vs Southwest Starmail 0

And the Panthers are in their first final game ever!!! Playing bad at times but never giving up, our guys finally went the extra mail and earned their spot in this afternoon’s final game against Erin Mills B (who beat the surprisingly strong Kitchener Spirit by 1-0 in the other semi).

We had seven (no, eight) clear shots on net, but couldn’t score; their keeper was very good, but it was mostly our own lack of accuracy and why not, energy. This doesn’t mean that we were struggling in the back, because Harris, Jordan and Aaron were as strong as ever and Stuart barely touched the ball. But still, every time Southwest got closer to our end, we were in fear because, let’s face it, we have a history of losing games we should have won! :-)

Warming up before the game… Picture by Rob Krech

But then in the second half, a good play by Santi, he gets in the box and is taken down (ahem!) by a defender. A penalty kick that Jordan exchanges for our winning goal. Sure we should have won by a bigger margin, but we won anyway. Again, we used to lose these matches before!

Santi, Tyler, Isaac, Harris… and the referee. Picture by Rob Krech

You know about my rule regarding referees… I will break it today. This was, by far, the worst referee I’ve ever seen in my life. Jordan was about to take a free kick from just outside the box, when a Southwest guy came and try to tackle him!!! And the referee just watched!!! It was so outrageous that it was funny, and it reminded me of this (honest, I do remember this even though I was 7 at the time):

It’s OK to laugh…

So, another win for our team, and we now advance to the final game!!! Our very first one. I know it’s tough but Erin Mills is not invincible. Go Panthers!!!

My MVP award goes to Jordan, not only because of his game winning goal, but also because of a very strong performance. Also very strong today, and hence recipients of the VIP award, are Santi and Aaron. There are a few more who did quite a good job, but these three have been consistently good throughout the tournament.

Our starting lineup today:

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris 08 – Jordan 13 – Aaron

17 – Robbie 02 – Tyler 18 – Josh 19 – Cam

07 – Daniel 05 – Santi 10 – Michael

Johnny, Chris and Isaac also played. Nik is hurt and could not play, and Ganesha is still in our IL…

The Chronicles of Sarnia III – Byron Blast 0 vs Waterloo Panthers 4

Well, we made it to the semifinals. Playing really well at times, and not that well some other times, we finally earned a shutout and advanced in the tournament. Once again, putting a more aggressive lineup from the beginning really paid of, as Santi scored two early goals (the second one a beautiful shot from way outside the box). Chris then put things 3-0 and fooled all of us (I had said I thought he was going to faint, and Steve thought he was going to pull his shirt off or something, but… nothing). :-)

We gave some of the guys who play more often a well deserved break, which became a nice opportunity for our newer guys to get on the field and enjoy some more time. John scored a ‘dirty’ goal after challenging a ball that everybody else thought the keeper had, and we had a couple of disallowed goals as well (Michael and Santi), so overall I would say we did really well up front (we had more than 10 shots on net against 2 from Byron).

I’m giving Santi the coveted “MVP” award not only for scoring two goals again, but also for his generous effort playing both in the middle and up front. The “VIP” award goes to Chris and Stuart. Chris is making a lot of progress and had a fine game today, and Stuart earned a shutout in one of those games that are terrible for keepers; you don’t see a lot of action, so it’s easy for you to lose your concentration…

We’re now waiting until 14:45 to play our semifinals, probably against St. Thomas. Final game is at 17:15, and the most likely rival seems to be Erin Mills B, though Chatham or even Kitchener B could give them a run for their money.

Go PANTHERS!

Our starting lineup today:

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris    08 – Jordan   13 – Aaron

02 - Tyler   12 – Isaac   18 – Josh   19 – Cam

07 – Daniel   05 – Santi   10 – Michael

Chris, Robbie, John and Nik also played. Ganesha is coming back soon!

The Chronicles of Sarnia II – Sarnia Fury B 1 vs Waterloo Panthers 4

We got a win, in a game that showed about six minutes of pure brilliance. Only problem is, the game was 50 minutes long…

We put a more aggressive starting lineup for today’s second game, because we knew a win was the only way for us to remain with chances of advancing to the semifinals. Santi moved from the inside midfield position to his old centre forward role, surrounded by Michael and Dan, and Isaac and Josh took on the inside midfield positions, to ensure not only that we would get the ball back, but also that we would know how to distribute it.

The first five minutes of the game, however, showed our Panthers unable to make a pass, hold a position or win a ball. It was just unbelievable, some of the worse soccer we had seen in a long while. Then, suddenly, Michael captures a ball and sends a beautiful assist for Santi to score. Immediately after that, it’s Josh who wins a big one in the middle and moves up to then send a perfect assist to our forwards; Santi taps, and Michael scores the second. Just a minute later, another long pass and Santi scores again. Three chances, three goals, and we were only 9 minutes into the game. We thought we were going to have an historic win!

And then it happened. The same problem that had affected us in previous seasons came back to haunt us: we got cocky. Suddenly, everybody felt like they could score a goal, and everybody wanted to dribble past the entire defence. The consequences? We stopped talking, we stopped making passes, and in the end, we stopped playing soccer altogether. The rest of the game was just painful to watch, our guys had lost all concentration. Aside for a sporadic run by John (one of which translated into Mike’s second goal of the game), we really didn’t see a lot. Still, Josh managed to give us another monumental performance, being the best player on the field easily. He was as dominant in the midfield as Thomas had been last season in his best games. That was something we thought it was going to take time to develop and we have it already, so we’re really happy.

The game ended 4-1, and we have a good chance of making it to the semi-finals if we beat Byron Blast tomorrow at 8:00 AM. So, it’s almost midnight, so you better be all sleeping already!!! Let’s keep up the good work and GO PANTHERS!

MVP Award goes, as I said, to Josh. VIP will be shared by Santi and Michael, who scored two goals each.

Our starting lineup:

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris    08 – Jordan    13 – Aaron

02 – Tyler   12 – Isaac   18 – Josh    04 – Nik

07 – Daniel   05 – Santi   10 – Michael

Chris, Johnny, Cam and Robbie also played. Ganesha is still injured (broken wrist).

The Chronicles of Sarnia I – Waterloo Panthers 1 vs Chatham Attack 3

Boy, we got wet!!! It really rained a lot this morning, to the point we thought our game was going to be rescheduled. But just around 9:00, the rain stopped and the sun made a more than welcomed entrance.

We started off showing a few signs of rust :-). Some of our most reliable guys were unrecognizably slow and some other were having troubles finding their positions. Luckily, they’re big boys now, so it took little time for our team to adjust and get better, and they actually played a good first half against a team that plays really good soccer. Unfortunately, Chatham scored a lucky goal and we went to half time with a score of 0-1.

Our Panthers played much better in the second half, moving the ball around and setting up good plays. It was as a result of a corner kick that Tyler scored the equalizer, and since we were playing really well at that time, we even started to think about our chances of winning this match. Unfortunately, a lapse in our concentration in the last 10 minutes cost us a couple of goals and we ended losing 3-1. It was a pity to lose our first game of the season, but our chances of getting into the semifinals are still alive; all we have to do is to win our next two games, and we’re in. Let’s just keep up the good work!

I think Jordan had a really good game, so he deserved to be the recipient of my coveted “MVP” (Most Valuable Panther") Award. The “VIP” (Very Important Panther) trophy goes to Josh and Aaron, who had a really strong game as well. But the good news is, nobody seemed to have played below expectations. We do not mind you guys having a bad day, as long as you give us everything you’ve got!

Our starting lineup was:

01 – Stuart

06 – Harris         08 – Jordan        18 – Josh

12 – Isaac      02 – Tyler      05  - Santi      17 – Robbie

07 – Daniel        10 – Michael        19 – Cam

Chris, Nik, Johnny and Aaron also played. Ganesha is still in our Injured List.

We’re off to the field again to play Sarnia. GO PANTHERS!!!

IMPORTANT – Bluewater Earlybird Tournament info

Hello, everybody

I have just talked to the people organizing the tournament in Sarnia, and I found out that our division has 12 teams! This means, three groups of four and a total of 18 games in round #1. So, I’m pretty sure we will have a Sunday game (I will have received the schedule by the time you read this, so I will follow up with an e-mail). Curious as I am, I asked which teams are playing, and the lady on the phone was kind enough to share that information with me. Off the top of my head (let’s see if I can remember all of the teams!):

1. Bluewater
2. Sarnia “A”
3. Sarnia “B”
4. Norwest Storm (“B”)
5. Southend United “B”
6. Byron Blast
7. St. Thomas
8. Chatham Attack (yay! I love playing these guys, and I look forward to seeing Martin again)
9. Kitchener “B”
10. Waterloo Panthers
11. Erin Mills “B”
12. …I knew it, I can’t remember the last one! :-(

Now here’s the info about hotels. I have blocked 18 rooms at the Holiday Inn. You guys have to call this number as soon as possible to make your reservations. Best time to call is between 7AM and 3 PM. We only have until Friday!

 

Holiday Inn – Sarnia / Point Edward  - (519) 336-4130 ext. 602

 

There are 6 rooms with queen size beds and a pullout, and 13 with double beds. The rate is $115.00 plus taxes ($126.50 total) per night. PLEASE, let me know once you’ve called! I have to fax a list of all the rooms and the people staying there.

Tournament info (including schedules) can be found here. Schedule will be published on Thursday, April 30th. I would wait until then to book your reservations, unless you’re planning to stay both nights no matter what.

--Gabriel

Placement (bad) news

Well, it’s done. Months have passed, and no matter how hard we’ve worked, we never got to be heard by our club, the LDYSL or the WOYSL, so we’re back where we started –and feared: playing in the SRSL Level 5 league this upcoming season.

 

To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement, since I have been trying to pique the interest of our own club since late November of 2008, but well, we have been shut down and now we have to figure out how to carry on.

 

The SRSL website offers little to no information right now. If you try to go to the Outdoor season area, you only find 2008 there, and even that one produces an error. Still, there’s placement document there, from where I obtained the information about which teams are in our league. They are:

1. Kitchener Spirit “B”
2. Guelph Royals “B”
3. Owen Sound Thunderbirds
4. Stratford Strikers
5. FEDS U14 Boys (Fergus – Elora)
6. Waterloo Panthers

Yes, six teams, which is the same that happens to LDYSL Level 5 due to this league tug-of-war. This means we will play 15 rounds, facing each team three times. In some cases, like with Guelph, we will have two home games and one away; in others, like Owen Sound, it will be exactly the opposite.

 

Yesterday, I received a couple of e-mails from the manager of the Owen Sound team (which I couldn’t reply because I was flying back from Kansas), in which they were asking me to reschedule some games already. Me and Steve were scratching our heads saying “how come they know when they play, when nothing has been sent to us yet?”. Not a good start if we’re ignored by this league too! :-)

 

So I went back to the SRSL website (they need to hire Ty’s Extreme Makeover team) and found this PDF document hidden. In there, I finally found our tentative schedule. Here it is (and remember, this will change… a lot):

 

Date	Home team	Away team
14/May/2009	Guelph	Waterloo
21/May/2009	Kitchener	Waterloo
04/Jun/2009	Waterloo	Guelph
06/Jun/2009	Owen Sound	Waterloo
11/Jun/2009	FEDS	Waterloo
18/Jun/2009	Waterloo	Stratford
25/Jun/2009	Waterloo	FEDS
02/Jul/2009	Waterloo	Stratford
09/Jul/2009	Waterloo	Guelph
16/Jul/2009	FEDS	Waterloo
23/Jul/2009	Stratford	Waterloo
30/Jul/2009	Kitchener	Waterloo
13/Aug/2009	Waterloo	Kitchener
22/Aug/2009	Owen Sound	Waterloo
05/Sep/2009	Waterloo	Owen Sound

 

As I mentioned above, this is not definitive at all, as we have to measure in all of our tournaments, holidays, etc. We're even trying to change our game day for home games from Thursday to Monday (and move away from having almost all of our away games falling on Saturday). We will keep you informed of all this.

 

I hope you understand I mean absolutely no disrespect to the other teams in this league, we know that we will have some fun games. My beef is with the way this came to be, and especially with having worked very hard for our team, producing statistical and historical information by request, approaching several members of different committees, only to feel that nobody ever went to bat for us.

 

This is -of course- my own personal opinion, and I'm not looking to speak on behalf of the entire coaching team right now.

 

--Gabriel

IMPORTANT: Rep Fees and Sponsorship

Hello, everybody! I think the site is easier to read now, right?

I have some important information to pass along.

1. First of all, Rep fees are now due. It’s going to be $300 this year, and that will cover all costs for the outdoor season, between May and September. Remember we still have to pay for the indoor time (February to April). I have a good idea of how many practices we have left in Bechtel, and how many we will have at St. David (Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:00 PM starting on April 1st or 8th, depending on what the office tells us). Please write a cheque (made to Waterloo Minor Soccer) to cover the Rep Fees. You can either drop it at the office or bring it to the practice on Sunday. Thank you!
2. Second item today, sponsorship. We’re looking for a main sponsor for our soccer jerseys ($600 for the season) and also for other sponsors that could be used for the back, track suits, back pack, canopy, etc. Please let me know –as soon as possible- if you know of somebody (Terry?) :-). You can download the sponsorship forms here.
3. Last item for today, Tax Receipts are available for you to pick up. You have to go to RIM Park, room 107, to get them.

Stay tuned for more news, I will be sending information on League placement, tournaments and some other stuff soon. Plus, the first “Player Profile” is coming up!

 

 

Ouch!

Referee courses

Interested in making a few extra bucks this summer?

You might want to sign up for the Mini Soccer Referee Course that is being hosted by Waterloo Minor Soccer.

In order to qualify, you must still be 13 years old as of March 21st, 2009 (unfortunately, the course for 14 years old is already full).

 

Santi has already signed up, as he’s planning to start refereeing this summer (good, so now he will have players complaining to him) :-)

How much do you make, you ask? Well, if you ref a Squirt match, you make $9.00 per game (50 min), then $10.00 for Atom and $12.00 for U11. So if you coach three games per week, you’d be making some $120.00 a month. Not bad for three hours a week of light running!

 

In order to register, please download the Mini Soccer Referee Course Registration Form (MS Word or PDF format) and take it to the WMS office.

Dates are:

Saturday, March 21st from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM at Room 104 – RIM Park

OR

Saturday, April 4th from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM at Room 104 – RIM Park.

 

More info here. Hurry, there aren’t many spots left!

 

This is a real referee from the Brazilian first division!

We’re back!

Welcome to the 2009 season! We have had a very busy tryouts phase and for the first time in three seasons, we are going to carry 16 players instead of our normal 15.

 

A few of our players have left after the 2008 season, some moving to the “A” team (Thomas and Louie) and some just stopped playing (Nick, NK and Matthew). We thank them all and wish them the best!

 

We also have two returning players: Santi, after a season playing for the “A” team, and Tyler, who played for us in 2006 and is coming back after two seasons with Kitchener “B”.

 

Finally, we have a bunch of new players, like John, Chris, Nik and Aaron. Welcome to the team!

 

I will be updating this website almost daily from now on, with news, stats, videos and some other stuff.

 

Stay tuned!

 

Remember this one? It’s one of our first goals of the season, scored by Jordan after a great play by Harris

We beat Sarnia 4-0 that day. I still don’t know why Jordan wouldn’t celebrate. It’s not that he played for Sarnia before! :-)

WOYSL L3 and L4 leagues - Final standings

WOYSL-L3 Boys U13

Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Diff	Pts
1. London City White (1)	16	15	0	1	100	7	93	45
2. Kitchener Spirit A (1)	16	12	2	2	58	13	45	38
3. Waterloo Warriors	16	11	1	4	41	27	14	34
4. Norwest Hurricane	16	7	5	4	47	26	21	26
5. Windsor FC Nationals	16	7	2	7	36	41	-5	23
6. Southend Dynamos	16	5	2	9	48	69	-21	17
7. Sault Ste Marie Civics	16	4	1	11	25	69	-44	13
8. Guelph Royals (2)	16	3	1	12	17	60	-43	10
9. London City Red (2)	16	0	2	14	13	73	-60	2

WOYSL-L4 Boys U13

Team	GP	W	T	L	GF	GA	Diff	Pts
1. Tillsonburg Titans (3)	16	12	1	3	58	23	35	37
2. Orangeville Storm (3)	16	11	3	2	30	11	19	36
3. Cambridge United (3)	16	10	0	6	48	24	24	30
4. Chatham Attack	16	9	1	6	38	35	3	28
5. Windsor Caboto Strikers	16	7	1	8	37	34	3	22
6. Sarnia Fury	16	7	1	8	35	46	-11	22
7. London City Arsenal Black	16	5	2	9	27	34	-7	17
8. Waterloo Panthers (4)	16	2	4	10	28	54	-26	10
9. Kitchener Spirit B (4)	16	2	1	13	30	70	-40	7

 

(1): Team promoted to OYSL - Level 1

(2): Team relegated to WOYSL - Level 4

(3): Team promoted to WOYSL - Level 3

(4): Team relegated to LDYSL / SRSL - Level 5

Tomorrow - Sarnia Fury vs Waterloo Panthers @ Dante Club

Well, this is it! We have our last game of the season tomorrow, and we need to close it with a bang. Unfortunately, we are in a position in which we need a win in order avoid relegation, but we also need London to lose to Kitchener. This is the time when we regret those points we lost on our way here, like the ties at home to London and Kitchener, and especially last Saturday's game.

 

Our game is at Dante Club in Sarnia (is it the same place where we played last year?). For those who carry GPS in your cars, the address is 1330 London Rd, Sarnia - N7S 1P7).

 

The game is originally scheduled for 18:45, but you all saw that e-mail about moving the games 15 minutes earlier, so aim at being there at 18:00. I know, this means we will probably have to leave by 15:45 or 16:00. It's a pain on a weeknight, I know, but remember, this is the best we could get without having to play during the long weekend...

 

Here's the map...

View Larger Map

Any problems, please call me on my cell phone. I won't put it here, but I will send the number by e-mail to all of you, just in case...

 

See you all at the practice tonight (at RIM #6)

Double header in Chatham - Report

Our guys played two very tough games in Chatham on Saturday. It's not secret anymore that Chatham is -by far- my favourite team to play against, and they have the nicest coach we will ever meet (well, except us, of course!). Martin is a gentleman, and did things for us and our team that are way beyond what we can expect from any of our hosts. It's not just the popsicles at the end of the first game, but also the different times in which he approached and encouraged out players (even before we went to play against his own team!).

The first game was as even as the one we had to drop on Monday. Chatham once again took the lead, and once again it was the product of a miscommunication in the back, so we went to half-time with a score of 0-1. We surely surprised some with what we had in store for the second half, as Michael and Braden were playing up front. And that surely paid off! After having a couple of really good chances, Mike scored a scrappy goal (a 'Santi' goal, we used to call them) for the 1-1 and then he put on Barcelona's #10 jersey and gave us a Messi-like run for the 2-1, after a great pass from (I believe) Ganesha (no, was it Jordan? I don't remember anymore!).

Soon afterwards, Braden was taken down in the box so we got awarded a penalty kick. Jordan was sitting on the bench at that moment, so I asked Isaac to take it. Some might have thought "Why Isaac? Didn't he miss the last time?". Yes, and so did Jordan; still, both  of them are excellent at taking PK's, and we won't take that away from them just because of one miss... And Isaac clearly showed why we had chosen him to do this, because I don't remember a better executed penalty kick than that one.

Unfortunately, Chatham found the 2-3 with just six minutes to go, and in the most unfortunate play of the season (for us), they scored and tied the game, with a shot from about 35 metres in what would become the last play of the match. We went from being outside of the relegation zone to being back just one point behind London. SIGH!

Our guys were really tired, after such a big effort (and such a consistent game they had played), so they were no rival to Chatham in the second game. Interestingly enough, Chatham scored four goals in 25 minutes, all of them from about 25 metres and almost all of them aided by the strong wind. But we also scored two goals during those 25 minutes (Nick and Michael again), so the game was 4-2 with just six shots on target overall. I had never seen something like that before. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the wind in our favour in the second half, and ended allowing two late goals (those that show that our players are tired), for a final 2-6.

So now we have to go to Sarnia and win, and then hope for London to lose or tie to Kitchener. It's not easy, but we can do it.

Let's go, Panthers! One more time!!! :-)

Thanks Mark Richardson for the pictures. The last two are just perfect (though I hate seeing a goal against our team)

Cruyff, Maradona, Messi

Me and Fred were talking to the kids about these players during last Wednesday's practice. Fred mentioned Johann Cruyff as the example of a all-terrain player, and talked about his incredible performance (along with the whole Dutch team) during the World Cup in Germany '74.

We then talk about the keep-ups and how it could affect the extraordinary control that some players seem to show over the ball. We recommended our players to watch videos by all these players which we consider among the best ever, along with Pelé, Di Stefano, Platini and Puskas.

Here are a few samples!

JOHANN CRUYFF

 
Taking a penalty kick in an unconventional way

Playing for the Dutch National team in Germany '74

DIEGO MARADONA

 

LIONEL MESSI

Amazing keep-up skills!!!

Bonus: Here are the two goals that Maradona scored against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup. Watch the insane dribbling in the second goal! Nobody could ever take him down...

 

Commentary for this one is in Spanish... fun to listen to the Argentine radio guy!

 

Hope you like them!

Tomorrow - Double header in Chatham

Hi, all! After last Monday's cancellation due to lightning, we're going to Chatham to make up the game at 11:00 AM, and then play the one that was already scheduled at 3:00 PM.

 

Please aim to be there -ready to go- 30 minutes before kick off time. This means 10:30 AM for the first game, and 2:30 PM for the second game. Both games are at the same place, the morning one (we're the home team) is on field #2, and the second one is on field #1.

Here's the map. See you guys there, we need -at least- one win!

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Indoor 2008/09 Registration

(From Waterloo Minor Soccer's website)

Registration for the 2008-09 Indoor season will be held Sept. 3rd and 4th at Conestoga Mall, from 5:30pm - 9:00pm.  Programme information will be mailed out to all those who participated in the last two sessions, towards the middle of August.

A tentative schedule is available now (on this website in the House League section). The final schedule and the the KICKS newsletter with programme information will be posted in August once the days and time have been confirmed.

Note from Gabriel: Even if you're not planning to play house league, you have to register your son in case he wants to try out for the competitive teams. Remember there's a chance we will take part of an indoor rep league.

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FutSal Soccer (5-a-side)

** All dates and times subject to change, depending on registration numbers **

Program	Year	Cost	Days	Time	Season	Location
U12 Boys	1997-98	$120	Tuesday	6-9 PM	21/Oct to 10/Mar	Bechtel
U14 Boys	1995-96	$120	Monday	6-9 PM	21/Oct to 10/Mar	RIM Park

 

Family rate: $293 (3 or more children in the same family)

Fee Assistance: Available through the City of Waterloo (Waterloo residents only)

Tomorrow - Double header at Mic Mac Park in Windsor

I'm so mad! My laptop gave up on my today. It's 9:30 PM and I just brought it back to life (though I can't see my e-mails yet). Hopefully, somebody will see and benefit from this.

Here's the map to Mic Mac Park. Our kick-off times are 12:00 PM and 04:00 PM, so please make sure you're there ready to go 30 minutes in advance. If you know you're going to be late, please tell your kid to get dressed in the car.

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London City Arsenal Black 4 vs Waterloo Panthers 0 - Report

It's so hard to comment on this game! We played a more than acceptable first half, in spite of the absences of Harris, Josh and Matthew (I think that not having them for a couple of games really made most of us appreciate the hard work they do, with 11 goals against in just three matches). As I was saying, we were passing the ball around very well, with Louis capturing balls and then feeding our wings (or outside mids). All of them, especially Cam and Niall had really good balls sent across that unfortunately didn't find anybody in the middle to connect.

Nathan with the ball, while Cam is making a run for the pass

Thomas was working very hard in the defence, and between him, Ganesha, Michael and Ben were able to neutralize the few chances that London had in the first half. Our opponents had no subs, so they were getting tired faster than our players, so things were definitely looking up by halftime.

But then something happened. It looked like most of our players ran out of steam at the same time. London, with fewer players (they got one sub who came in late, but then lost a player due to injury) and an improvised keeper, pretty much ran over the panthers in the second half. We have discussed our current struggles and needs ad nauseam already, so I won't go there again here. But it's quite obvious that most of our players cannot play the entire game. Some (most?) get tired and are unable to run and pass well even after having taken breaks in the bench.

Stuart taking a goal kick

London kept coming and coming, and they capitalized on a couple of mistakes to score a quick 2-0. Our guys felt the impact and started to play harder, but that only lasted until we ran out of fuel again. London was passing the ball around and winning every single ball while our guys watched. At one moment, somebody on the bench said "You would think that they're playing with three more guys"...

Louis sending a ball up

A third goal came soon, and then a fourth out of a PK right before the game ended. We left the field with a very bad sensation; it was a game in which we had everything in favour to win, and we ended losing it, and playing some of the worst 40 minutes I've seen in a while. Congratulations to London Black are in order, because they played really well; they wanted this win bad.

Thomas and Michael after the third goal

After 8 games, we're in a ridiculous second to last position. We need to get back to where we were last year, when only NorWest (who ended moving two divisions and is now in third place in the L3 league) could beat us twice. We were a strong, committed, hard working team. We played a few games with just one or two subs, and we still won; our guys were exhausted after the games, because they had given everything they had. We had forgotten about things even now we're still doing on every practice, like overlapping. I saw a play last night in which Jordan was carrying the ball and went past three guys; our three forwards quickly ran towards the net, getting away from the action, instead of overlapping or going wide looking for a pass that of course never got there. Our midfields do the same to our defence. Again, we practice things like this every week, but it's like everything has to be rushed during the games... Jordan played a very good game, by the way, probably his best so far this season.

This is not over, as we still have 10 more games. I wish I could have added "...and some of those 10 are accessible", but we don't know anymore. We need to come back ready to give 110% of our energy, and start playing as a team again; I want our guys to talk (I could clearly hear Niall last night), so we don't have two or three going towards the same ball only to collide with each other and lose it. I want our guys to push back when they're pushed, like Louis does every time. Most of all, I want our guys to remember who we are and how well they can play; remember those two games against Orangeville? That's the kind of team we are!

We now have three practices (Sunday, Tuesday (not Wednesday) and Sunday again) and then we play at home again, this time against Cambridge. What better way to start our comeback than by beating the team that caused us our first loss of the season?

Our lineup last night:

01 - Stuart

10 - Michael 09 - Thomas 15 - Ganesha

03 - Nick 04 - Louie 12 - Isaac 19 - Cam

07 - Daniel 08 - Jordan 13 - Nathan

Robbie, Ben and Niall also played.

Notes:

• Thanks to Ben & Niall, by the way for having joined us on this game. Ben, along with Ganesha and Thomas had to deal with the strongest part of the London side, and he responded very well. Niall had a very promising performance playing up front.
• Thomas and Cam have been called up by Frank and Steve to play for the "A" team this weekend. In case you're interested, they will be playing against Southend Dynamos at 7:00 PM on Saturday (Bechtel #6) and then against Sault Ste. Marie Civics at 1:00 PM on Sunday (RIM #12). Congrats to both!
• Other scores last night: Chatham 2 - Sarnia 0 and Kitchener B 2 - Tillsonburg 7.
• Thanks to Ed Fowler for the pictures that illustrate this post.