Friday, March 25, 2011

Joga Bonito vs YMCA 2 game review




El Periodico del Futbol
Chicago and Evanston
Monday March 14, 2010

Joga Bonito vs YMCA 2 game review

Hi there my fellow soccer lovers!

Time to talk about your favorite soccer team: Joga Bonito! I am super busy interviewing an old friend that you might have heard of: Sir Alex Ferguson. Yes I am hanging out with Fergie at Old Trafford asking him questions about the Champions League quarter final draw Manchester United vs Chelsea. Here is what he said: “Chelsea? No biggie. Will beat them. No problem.” Can you believe this guy? Haha! Check out my attached pic at Old Trafford! So I will make this short and sweet.

Joga Bonito defeated YMCA#2 7 to 1!

That’s it! What? I told you it would be short and sweet.

Ok, ok. Basically, Game started and YMCA#2 which is suppose to be the weakest team so far didn’t look so weak at all. They were giving JB a very tough time. Next thing I know, Manager Carlos Quintero gets a yellow card by the ref and he is not even playing! So I do some research and try to find out what happened. Turns out that YMCA#2 were playing with all male players on the field. The YMCA rules clearly say and I quote: “All teams must have at least, but are not limited to one female players on the field of play at all time.” This means that all teams must have 1 or more female players on the field during the game during the entire game. So, Carlos was complaining to the ref that the other team was not following the rule. The ref told him that he could not enforce the rule. Carlos asked him “What do you mean you cannot enforce the rule? You are the ref!” The ref stopped the game and gave Carlos a yellow card! Can you believe it? This is the most ridiculous ref I have ever seen in my life! Anyway, Carlos went to complain to the other ref and to his surprise the other ref said the same thing! Carlos knew that he was dealing with ignorant referees so he went straight to the coordinator. The coordinator came out and spoke with the refs. Carlos was right. The refs were wrong. What a surprise, right?

Anyway, do you still want to hear about the game? Ok, ok.

JB had a rough time during the first part of the first half. Mauricio saved a couple of nice shots. Keith, Alicia, Robin and Tony were holding the defensive line very well. Pablo, Ernie and Carlos were taking shots but nothing was going in. Patience was key. Finally, at the 15th minute, Pablo takes a shot and finds the net! JB leads 1-0. JB starts passing the ball well. Ernie receives a nice pass and squeezes the ball in the net. JB wins 2-0. Half time buzzer sounds. Manager Carlos and goalie Mauricio give some direction.

You could see JB is a much better team but they could not find connection. YMCA#2 attacker receives the ball in the midfield and in a nice play is able to pass it to their striker who takes a shot and scores. JB is shocked. JB still leads 2-1. JB knows they need to focus and be patient. Captain Carlos decides to switch positions and begins playing center back while leaving Keith as a right back. He send Tony up to the midfield. Tony immediately connects with Pablo and Ernie and the rain of goals begins. Pablo scores again. JB wins 3-1. Tony scores 4-1. Ernie scores again 5-1. Pablo shoots and scores 6-1. And finally, Tony kills the game with a 7th goal. JB wins 7-1!!!

Player of the match: Tony Gamboa
Tony usually plays defense and he did during the first half. However, when Manager Carlos moved him up, Tony immediately made a huge impact in the game scoring 2 goals and providing many opportunities for Pablo and Ernie. Manager Carlos had this to say about his player:

“Tony is one of those unique players who can play many positions and he plays all of them well. He also is one of those players who follows instructions perfectly. If I ask him to goalkeep, I know he will do it, he will enjoy it and he will be excellent at it! We are very fortunate to have him in our team.”

Next Game: Joga Bonito vs Willard Warriors (Sunday March 27 at 7pm)
JB’s next opponent is very well known. JB defeated the Willard Warriors 4-3 in last years 2010 final game. I know that Willard Warriors is fired up about playing JB again. They will be a tough opponent so you do not want to miss this game!




And remember… love the game and the game will love you back! Thanks for reading!


Carlos Quintero
Journalist Wannabe
El Peridico del Futbol

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Joga Bonito vs Fish Keg United game review

El Periodico del Futbol
Chicago and Evanston
Monday March 7, 2010

Joga Bonito vs Fish Keg United game review


Hi there my fellow soccer lovers!

Time to talk about your favorite soccer team: Joga Bonito! Yesterday JB had an INTENSE game against Fish Keg United. I was not kidding when I said last week that Fish Keg was not the same team as last season. They now have better players that really gave JB a hard time.

From the very beginning, Fish Keg showed that they were not going to be pushed around like last season. They began attacking immediately with several scoring opportunities. JB needed to step up their game and they did with Carlos and Pablo taking some nice shots at the goal. At the 10th minute, Carlos received a pass and was holding the ball on the side while to defenders came at him. He saw Emily Lovejoy wide open in front of the goalie and was able to squeeze a pass through the middle of the two defenders. Lovejoy controlled the ball, shot and scored! JB leads 1-0. Fish Keg was not giving up. They tried hard to tie the game. However, at the 15th minute Rolando crushed their hopes by holding the ball and performing his signature turn and scoring! JB leads 2-0. Alicia and Keith were holding the defensive wall amazingly. However, almost at the end of the second half, it looked like JB slowed down a bit after their second goal. Perhaps they thought that they had this game in the bag. Fish Keg shocked them at the 20th minute when during a very crazy play where the ball was going all over the place someone shot and the ball was deflected by another player and it went in Mauricio’s net. JB 2 – Fish Keg 1. End of half time.

Rolando, Mauricio and Carlos gave the team encouraging instructions during half time and everyone was ready to fight for the win. Unfortunately for JB, Fish Keg pushed hard for the tie and they got it at the 5th minute of the second half. JB 2 – Fish Keg 2. The next 10 minutes became very intense. Both teams attacked and defended like if it was the YMCA final. Pablo, Tony and Ernie created some nice opportunities that sadly did not go in. Both teams wanted to win this game. Finally, at the 20th minute, JB’s top scorer Rolando grabbed the ball again and fooled Fish Keg’s center back and goalie giving JB the lead again! JB 3 – Fish Keg 2. I am sure that the next 5 minutes felt like 5 seconds for Fish Keg and 5 hours for JB. JB was able to hold their defense and they even had a couple of opportunities to kill the game since Fish Keg was mostly attacking to tie the game. JB wins 3-2!

Player of the match: Emily Lovejoy
I must say that I was very impressed with Lovejoy yesterday. The goal she scored at the beginning was extremely important in JB’s win. She made a smart move in standing at the open space in front of the goalie waiting for Carlos’ pass. At the same time she defended fearlessly during the entire second half.

Transfer Season and Injury Update
Joga Bonito’s manager has to make some changes in his squad for the next couple of games due to players absence and injuries. As most of you know, Colombian international Antonio Escalante still remains in the injury list. I am sure that he is extremely missed by the entire team. In his absence, manager Carlos was happy to receive Peruvian international Anthony Gamboa on a short term agreement with Barcelona FC. Lovejoy and Shand were not included in the squad list against YMCA 2 on March 20 and against Willard Warriors on March 27. The manager has requested a short term loan agreement for a new player. I am excited to announce that JB has come to an agreement with the Chicago Red Stars and US international Robin Stark will be helping JB for the next 2 games! Rumors say that Robin is the next Mia Hamm so watch her closely. I guarantee that her moves will blow your mind!

Next Game: Joga Bonito vs YMCA 2 (Sunday March 20 at 4pm)
JB’s next opponent is probably the weakest in the tournament as you can see from the standings below. However, I hope manager Carlos does not count them out automatically since I am sure they will play with all their might. I was able to catch up with manager Carlos for comments about yesterday’s game and about his next opponent.

“Yes, we had a rough game yesterday. I am very please with my entire squad’s performance. They fought for the win and they got it. Yes, we fell asleep at the end of the first half and at the beginning of the second. We need to make adjustments when we are on defensive mode. And I am not talking about the defenders only. I am talking about the entire team being on defensive mentality. YMCA 2 has lost all of their 5 games. I assume that this is an extra incentive for them to play even harder against us. We will not underestimate them. We respect all of the other opponents equally.”




And remember… love the game and the game will love you back!


Carlos Quintero
Journalist Wannabe
El Peridico del Futbol

YMCA indoor soccer league Sunday March 6 review

El Periodico del Futbol
Chicago and Evanston
Monday March 7, 2010


YMCA indoor soccer league Sunday March 6 review

Hi there my fellow soccer lovers!

Time to talk about your favorite soccer team: Joga Bonito! Well, actually, JB was off yesterday. But that doesn’t mean I am off! I am here to let you know what happened during the other games. But first, any other fun soccer news? I think so! Premier league leaders Manchester United had a rough week away from home, didn’t they? Chelsea beats them 2-1 and yesterday Liverpool beats them 3-1! The premier league is getting better and better, isn’t it? Exciting!

Anywho, real quick let’s get to the YMCA league. As you can see from results below, JB’s next opponent Fish Keg United destroyed YMCA #2 5-1. I don’t think that this is the same Fish Keg United from last season. I think JB should really prepare for a competitive game. The game will be this coming Sunday at 6pm. If you cannot be there, there are rumors that you will be able to purchase it through PPV for about $100 per minute! Now, that’s a bargain!

The other news is that Val Old Style defeated Willard Warriors 3-1. Val Old Style is another team that will give JB a very tough time.

I am noticing that this will not be an easy season for Joga Bonito. Teams have improved and new competitive teams are definitely fighting to win.

We tried to catch up with Joga Bonito’s manager Carlos Quintero for comments on the other teams but could not find him anywhere. Rumors say that he was hiding in his million dollar yacht close to the Bahamas during his weekend off!

And remember… love the game and the game will love you back!


Carlos Quintero
Journalist Wannabe
El Peridico del Futbol