Chicago & Evanston. Monday April 26, 2010
The Soccer Times
Hello soccer fans!
Amazing soccer weekend, wasnt it? I promise that today is all about the YMCA indoor soccer league! No news from other leagues. Although, did you see Manchester United vs Totteham final minutes? Sorry. Couldnt hold it in!
Anyways, I gave you an update about the quarter finals before. The only one missing was the one between Chupacabras vs YMCA. Now, this YMCA team looked promising with a couple of very good players but it looks like they lacked the leadership that will keep them organized. They didnt even show up for the quarter finals! Chupacabras won by forfeit because YMCA didnt have enough players. Chupacabras moves on to meet Willard Warriors in the semi final. It was an entertaining game but I must say that the Warriors dominated the game. Second place in regular season standings Willard Warriors defeats Chupacabras 3-0!
Semi Final Review: Joga Bonito vs Fish Keg United
So the first semi final was Joga Bonito vs Fish Keg United. The score during the regular season was 7-1 in Joga Bonito's favor but there is always a big difference about a regular season game and a playoff game even if it is with the same teams. We knew this was not going to be that easy for JB. Goalie Mauricio, Pablo and Ernesto were a little late to the game. Anthony was sick and Antonio was injured. Coach Carlos had to call help from the Joga Bonito reserve team and they sent non other than Alicinha to step in for a few minutes! She did a great job! Captain Carlos had to goalkeep for a few minutes too until Mauricio arrived.
Joga Bonito started the game well with their signature passing. However, it was taking JB some time to find the net. Finally 10 minutes before the end of the first half, Rolando intercepted a bad pass from FKU, dribbled around a defender and scored! JB wins 1-0. Two minutes later, Ernesto scores for JB in a beautiful play involving Ernesto intercepting a ball giving it to Pablo who gave it to Rolando who gave it back to Ernesto. It was a nice goal! JB wins 2-0. Just 3 minutes before half time, Keith recovers a ball from the opponent, gives it to Ernesto who gives a one touch pass to Carlos. The Captain takes a hard shot that the goalie saves but cannot control and fortunately Ernesto is close enough to complete the finish! Half time score: JB 3 vs FKU 0.
The second half was very rough with no goals for most of it. Almost 6 minutes before the end of the game, Mauricio throws the ball to Rolando who is in the center of the court. Rolando sees he has a lot of pressure from the opponent and gives a one touch pass back to Keith to relief that pressure. Keith sees Captain Carlos on the left wing unmarked and gives him a beautiful pass. Carlos controls the ball and sees Rolando running on the other side calling him. Captain Carlos rolls a nice horizontal through pass to Rolando who finishes in an amazing one time shot! JB 4 vs FKU 0! Finally, almost 30 seconds before the end of the game, the ball is bouncing all over the place in JB's PK area and it accidentally touches Shand's hand. The ref calls a PK! That's a harsh call in my opinion! Shand never intended to touch the ball with the hand, the ball just bounced on her had. She had her arm down all the time! Anyway, Fish Keg's goalie takes the PK and succeeds. Final score: JB 4 vs Fish Keg 1! Wow! What a semi final!
2010 Indoor Soccer YMCA FINAL GAME: Joga Bonito vs Willard Warriors Review
In the first few minuted, WW showed that they were not going to be dominated by JB. WW had a couple of chances showing that they are just as good. However, Captain Carlos shocked them in 4th minuted when he took a shot from the left side that finished in the net and scored the first goal of the game. JB wins 1-0. Apparently, WW were not expecting that and were a little discouraged because 2 minutes later, Rolando takes another shot and scores! JB wins 2-0. After these quick goals, everyone thought that this was going to be a piece of cake for JB. Wrong! One minuted after JB's second goal, WW takes a shot which Mauricio saves, but then the WW striker takes the rebound which hits Mauricio in the mouth!
Goalkeeper Mau is down and is asking for medical attention, but the ref does not stop the game! Everyone can hear Captain Carlos yelling at the ref that the goalie is down, but the ref ignores him and continues the game. It was very quick and another WW striker takes the shot while Mau is down and scores! I think this was a harsh call by the ref! Anyway, the score is now 2-1 in JB's favor. But that is not the bad news, the bad news is that Mauricio is out holding his lip and saying that his braces got inside his lip! Mauricio could not goalkeep anymore! You can see how Coach Carlos was not expecting that at all! The medical staff had to take Mau off the stadium and to the hospital! Fortunately, Mau is better now, but sadly he could not finish the game.
Captain Carlos has no other options but to suit up and put his gloves on. You can see he doesnt like that at all but he is willing to sacrifice for his team. The game becomes intense with this 2-1 score for the next several minutes. Fortunately, 12 minutes before the end of the the first half, second goalie Carlos saves an easy shot and then throws the ball to Rolando who receives in the midfield. Rolando tries to elude an opponent and barely gives a nice pass to Keith who returns the ball to Rolando in a nice triangular one touch pass. Then, Rolando gives back the ball to Keith in another triangular one touch pass and Keith slides sending the ball to Ernesto who scores! In my opinion this was one of the most beautiful goals of the tournament! Very nice passing! First half is over and the score is 3-1 in favor of Joga Bonito.
The second half was a different story where JB had to defend like crazy! Willard Warriors were determined to tie the game. Five minutes into the second half, WW is able to get the ball in the area and in a moment of confusion scored their second goal! The score is now 3-2 and the game turns intense again! About ten minutes before the end of the game, Ernesto finds the net again and put JB at 4-2! Five minutes before the end, WW takes a shot low and right which Captain Carlos dives and saves! JB thought that WW would give up in the last couple of minutes, but they didnt. One minute and a half before the end, WW's striker hustles and is able to sneak in the ball pass Keith and Carlos! The score is now 4-3 with 1 minute left!. JB is desperately trying to defend and kill time. They are able to run down the clock and win the final 4-3!!! Wow! INTENSE FINAL! Congrats to JB!
We caught up with Captain Carlos and Coach Carlos (who by the way there are rumors that they are the same person!), "This is the happiest day of my career! I am very proud of all my players! They gave an outstanding performance! This trophy belongs to them!"
Captain Carlos was nearly in tears when US international super star Keith gave him a gift from the entire team: an ADIDAS AdiPure black and white ball signed by the entire crew plus the stats of the tournament!
From all our huge staff in The Soccer Times, we want to deeply congratulate Joga Bonito for an amazing tournament and FINAL. We cannot wait to see them next season 2011!!!
JB Top Scorers
Rolando 21 (Regular) + 7 (Playoffs) = 28
Ernesto 9 (Regular) + 5 (Playoffs) = 14
Tony 6 (Reg) + 3 (Playoffs) = 9
Antonio 8 (Reg)
Carlos 5 (Reg) + 3 (Playoffs) = 8
Keith 4
Pablo 4
Lovejoy 3
Alex 2
Shand 1
Byron 1
Own 1
Total 62 (Regular) + 21 (Plyaoffs) = 83!!!
2010 Award Ceremony
Friday April 30 at 8pm
Lou Malanati's
6649 North Lincoln Avenue
Lincolnwood, IL - (847) 673-0800
Pizza and drinks sponsored by The Soccer Times!
Come and join us to celebrate with Joga Bonito!
Interesting Statistics
- Let's start with the only bad news, JB allowed more goals than last season. In 2009, they allowed 6 goals. In 2010, they allowed 16.
- Now, lets' move to the good and amazing news, I am excited to announce that Joga Bonito has won 22 YMCA indoor soccer official games in a row! JB is unstoppable!.
- JB has broken their own record for most goals scored in the YMCA tournament. In 2009, they scored 77 goals. In 2010, they scored 83! The second team in the league that scored most goals was YMCA and they scored only 34 goals! Can you believe it?
- International Honduran super star Roland Paz has broken his own record for scoring the most goals! In 2009, he scored 25 goals. In 2010, he scored 28 goals and he did it with his injured knee!!! This guy is a monster! He scored about 34% of Joga Bonito's goals.
- Finally, it is interesting to point out that this was the first YMCA tournament where the referee decided to use the official FUTSAL ball. Joga Bonito was loving it! They are forever grateful to the YMCA and the referee from bringing the balls from Brazil!
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! Send me your comments or I will think you just delete all my articles! Dont forget to check my blog and my facebook page!
http://carlosjquintero.blogspot.com/
Carlos Quintero
Joga Bonito Owner
El Presidente
Manager
Captain
Second Goalkeeper
Chauffer
Soccer Times Reporter
Water Boy
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