Div 2 [VMSL Division 2] Predictions, Results & Banter, September, 2007

[too young to retire yet...]

DPR 3, Kosova 0
Much to our surprise, Kosova had 13 players and were decent. As is typical of most DPR games we played down to the level of our opposition but maintained control of most of the game, with our right half scoring from about 25 yards out over their keeper. 1-0 at half. DPR had the majority of chances and possession on the 2nd half, scoring one on a free kick around the wall from 25 yards and a cheeky goal from the touch line on a chip over the goalie...

 

[steve a.]

Kokanee :

"Heineken Box" refers to the name given to the cooler we were drinking out of not the fact we drank a box of heineken. Our team enjoys the good stuff and although canadian does taste good HEINEKEN tastes that much better. I do appreciate the concern though given we would not want anyone on this site to think that we would like to overindulge in large amounts of alcohol.
cheers , the rattler

 

[Oggy]

Cliff Ave. Cobra 0-2 Lap-dog totin' latte lovers

Definitely our ugliest game of the season. At least our defense brought their A-game, and Cobra didn't have a sniff at goal all match. Things up front were a bit more worrying, despite a lot of possession, but the final touch was lacking on a very slick Burnaby Lake field. Went into the break goalless, and an hour had been played before our striker finally managed to squeeze one in off a low cross. Shortly after, CAC's limited attack was rendered completely impotent when their number 7 was concentrating too much on how he should elbow our center back, and not enough on where he was landing, and ended up twisting or pulling something. Injuries are always unfortunate, but he is one of the cheaper players I've seen in the league, and there was a bit of karmic justice in the incident since he was yet again trying to injure on of our guys on the play. The rest of the team were quite alright, but would do better if they didn't beak at each other constantly as soon as something goes wrong for them.
In any case, job done, and we'll have some things to work on before next week's match.

 

[Teelay]

Squamish 2 - PG Rangers 1

0-0 at the half with chances at both ends. Squamish had best chance on a breakaway, but didn't convert.

Early in the 2nd, Squamish scored a nice goal on a chip over the goalie on a nice through ball. We tied it about 15 minutes later on a free kick into the box and our guys just wanting the ball more. Then in the 90+ minute, Squamish scores a goal that can pretty much be attributed to their better fitness as one of their guys beat 2 of our defenders and made a nice pass to an open striker who had an easy goal. Heartbreaking loss in a game that could have gone either way, but that probably deserved to be a tie. It was a physical game that saw the ref botch a number of calls (both ways). With 11 guys to Squamish's 16+, we just didn't have the gas to close out the game as at least 2 of our guys played the last 15-20 minutes with injuries that should have seen them on the sidelines.

Squamish is a young squad - probably kids in their early 20s who are well coached and they have some decent skill, especially their 2 centre midfielders who work hard and see the field well. Their forwards a pretty good, but nothing too special. We hammered a couple of them early and it seemed to work a bit, but they are a reasonably physical team that also has some fitness. Definitely will see them near the top of 2B for most of the year.

Not sure how much longer that field that they play on will last though. Very soft and with the rain/snow in Squamish, I don't know what will happen November-February there.

 

[BallKicker]

Kokanee :

"Heineken Box" refers to the name given to the cooler we were drinking out of not the fact we drank a box of heineken. Our team enjoys the good stuff and although canadian does taste good HEINEKEN tastes that much better. I do appreciate the concern though given we would not want anyone on this site to think that we would like to overindulge in large amounts of alcohol.
cheers , the rattler

If you think that Heiny is 'that much better' than Canadian, Kokanee, Blue, etc., you've been buying into the marketing a little too much. They're all pretty much the same.

 

[Yomama!]

NK 1 - 0 UBC

NK scored 5 minutes in on a partial break away. Scrappy game the rest of the contest with NK back on its heels trying to protect the lead. Nk had some more opportunities to score but the two best chances fell to UBC who both times just missed wide of the post to even things up. A couple of real solid players on UBC and their conditioning reflects their age. Just ask Dapotayto and Biscotti about that. The ref was great imo. Bonefish was right to predict a 1-0 win for NK but wrong about the effort needed. We didn't play well at all, but good enough to walk out with 3 points.

 

[Oggy]

If you think that Heiny is 'that much better' than Canadian, Kokanee, Blue, etc., you've been buying into the marketing a little too much. They're all pretty much the same.

True 'nuff. If you're gonna drink piss, you might as well be drinking Vitamin P.

Nothing in our cooler but Cristal, Peruvian marching powder, and some beluga caviar for our little dogs.

 

[watcher]

NK started the game with one sub while the youngsters from UBC had more than five. At least three of NK's missing were starters. So all in all we are happy with result and expect to do better the next time we face them. The Watcher can definately see UBC taking points from others in this group all year long. Onto Arayana and another three points followed by maybe a poem or two.
Choo Choo.....................

 

[BallKicker]

NK started the game with one sub while the youngsters from UBC had more than five. At least three of NK's missing were starters. So all in all we are happy with result and expect to do better the next time we face them. The Watcher can definately see UBC taking points from others in this group all year long. Onto Arayana and another three points followed by maybe a poem or two.
Choo Choo.....................

Good excuses, especially given that you won your game..... I'm looking forward to your posts when you manage to drop some points....

 

[Teelay]

Ummm - he doesn't post when they lose, so we don't have the luxury of reading about any excuses.

 

[watcher]

Please both of you hold your breath waiting for that loss. Watcher tells it like it is whether you like the truth or not.

Never played Arayana
Not expecting alot
Just another 3 points
So how bout we stir the pot

4-0 most likely
Barring a disaster
Then its on to Bosna
A team we always master

That will bring the count
To a tasty 5-0
And off to a friday night showdown
The Locomotive will then go

They might take the Knight Street Bridge
Or maybe the East West Connector
But no matter how they get there
Pray for their receptor

 

[bonefish]

Norvan 0 - Rangers 1: On a very slick night it was the JB's who should'a, would'a could'a. Multiple missed opportunities in the final 3rd of the field cost us this game. I think the Rangers would have been happy with a tie but were counting their blessings(read our very poor decisions/skill around goal). It was a frustrating game but as the result shows, we still have some work to do. It looked like the Rangers were missing a couple of their regulars but had a full bench for the game. We actually matched a season high with 2 subs on the sideline. For the most part it was a clean game with just a handful of tackles that needed to be addressed. We came unbuttoned for 15 minutes in the beginning of the 2nd half as we were down a goal but began doing better later on. Near the end the Rangers did what they had to do and closed us out in the final minutes. The good news is that we still get one more game against Blaze and crew to settle the score.

 

[BlazeArmy]

Norvan 0 - Rangers 1: On a very slick night it was the JB's who should'a, would'a could'a. Multiple missed opportunities in the final 3rd of the field cost us this game. I think the Rangers would have been happy with a tie but were counting their blessings(read our very poor decisions/skill around goal). It was a frustrating game but as the result shows, we still have some work to do. It looked like the Rangers were missing a couple of their regulars but had a full bench for the game. We actually matched a season high with 2 subs on the sideline. For the most part it was a clean game with just a handful of tackles that needed to be addressed. We came unbuttoned for 15 minutes in the beginning of the 2nd half as we were down a goal but began doing better later on. Near the end the Rangers did what they had to do and closed us out in the final minutes. The good news is that we still get one more game against Blaze and crew to settle the score.

I thought we were fair value for the result as both teams had some bed shitting in the 18 yard boxes. We missed 3 open headers in the second half and had a bunch of scrambles in the box where we managed to hit one of our own o miss the net. The JB's seem to forget what to do with the ball in the last 1/3 of the field and it was comical at times to watch both teams misplay pass after pass of the field due to the slick conditions.

Our backup keepr had a solid game but with the guys we had missing it really killed off our possession game and everything seemed to lead to through ball after through ball to the corners. The JB"s seemed to want to playeverything through the middle of the field and that in the end i think was the main difference as it was easier to defend the balls through the middle then the ones that went down the wide channels. Looked a bit like a track meet for the outside mids and both of ours were spent midway through the 2nd half. Our 2 forwards worked there bag off chasing balls down and getting back to cover guys and it seemed that the JB's ran out of steam in the second half until they caught their second wind.

Looking forward to the rematch at Holly which will hopefully be played on a better night than last year as i still have stuff that hasn't dried since then.
At some point hopefully someone can convince Delta to let changerooms be built as the clubs have offered to pay for it themselves. Mind you, we rarely hang out at a home game as the Landing and some free pitchers are always calling our name.

 

[BlazeArmy]

Boney F,

Did you guys used to have 9pm starts or was i just hallucinating last night. If so, the 8pm start is way more friendly to the away teams.

 

[bonefish]

Blaze, You gotta lay off the peyote!! 8pm has always been our night game kickoff time.

Re: The game...Rangers did have opportunities but the breakaways and half breaks were well in our favor.

If the weather is like last year, my vote is that we flip a coing and take advantage of some of those free pints early. My hair has not recovered from those 70km gusts from last year.

 

[bonefish]

Looked a bit like a track meet for the outside mids and both of ours were spent midway through the 2nd half.

Ya Think. As probably one of the older lads on the pitch, the running was relentless. I remember your outside right-mid complaining to your defense about marking and picking up. The scrambly 15-20min period we had after your first goal was a bit of tiredness but also the fact that our team is so new and needs to get some confidence in each other.

 

[bonefish]

New Month New Thread....
http://www.takethepiss.com/forums/vmsl-div-2/13262-%5Bvancouver-metro-soccer-league-division-2%5D-predictions-results-banter-october-2007-a.html#post223918