Greenwich Gunners

Great Victory, Arsenal! We expected a tough match and we got it, thanks to ourselves. We started out in our fashion, "Let's go kill them!" but after a few early misses the game settled into a groove. They were shipping balls upfront to a mysterious attacker while we kept dominating, but the services to our forwards were delivered more airmail than ground. Needless, to say, the ref was compensating for their lack of everything, so corners and free-kicks were patented by Hamden Playwright. That's how they scored their first goal. We set up the Great Wall of Greenwich but the invading kick by their 'Mongolian' hordes which was one guy, bent around into Roger's loving arms, or so it seemed. Roger got mushy and decided to make it a game for everybody, fans included, Hamden 1-0. Luckily, their big Irish Horn blew and woke us up, Jason more than anyone, scoring two goals one after another, fairly quickly after theirs. Great pressure from everybody, speared by Sebastian run right at the goalie forcing him to return Roger's favor, which Jason beautifully chipped over and then a great run by Scottie on the right assisting Jason for a left footer which he measured as precisely as laser eye correction operations, Arsenal 2-1. It was more like it and we all knew it. George added in a third following some peace talks and conference calls with the center ref and the ARSE (assistant refereeing surplus entity)on the sideline. It wasn't 100% handball, it did hit the guy's elbow, but until the rules say: "Free kick outside the box for an elbow," we'll keep taking penalties. Lee totally ignored the airport flagging motions of Sebastian "It's a penalty. Let me in!" humorously smiling back: "NO!" Arsenal 3-1. No matter. The game continued the second half with a twist early on. They scored from another free kick donation. The ball decided to take a few deflections, keep its Tasmanian spin, hit the post and go in, dumfounding everyone there. The big horn went off again, Arsenal 3-2. We did wake up again, but this time it took a bit longer. We started playing more on the ground due to which, more chances of taking their big and slow defenders on and consequently, more chances to score. After a breakaway by Sebastian was stopped by the ref for offside, our fans decided to help the cause and ask the AR what time it is confusing him to the point of letting Sebastian go the second time around. The latter took a great pass by Nicolae and after a race to their goal managed to score under their goalie right before being molested (shirt torn, kicked in the leg being dragged down, no kisses though) by their big center half - 4-2 Arsenal. Thanks fans! Another 'dinner invitation' by the same center half followed very soon after that when Sebastian had a one-on-one with him, passing by him and rocketing a shot at the goalie who decided to tip it over the bar into a corner. So rude! Anyway, he wasn't so rude to Tello who finished Hamden off with a mirror shot under the goalie after a little soccer slalom through their ranks, Arsenal 5-2. No celestial celebrations, but fireworks did spark out of everyone's eyes for we knew we were finally promoted, rewarding our superb season. Great work Arsenal! S. Pompov (Sebastian Printing-One-Man's-Point-Of-View)

Great Victory, Arsenal! We expected a tough match and we got it, thanks to ourselves. We started out in our fashion, "Let's go kill them!" but after a few early misses the game settled into a groove. They were shipping balls upfront to a mysterious attacker while we kept dominating, but the services to our forwards were delivered more airmail than ground. Needless, to say, the ref was compensating for their lack of everything, so corners and free-kicks were patented by Hamden Playwright. That's how they scored their first goal. We set up the Great Wall of Greenwich but the invading kick by their 'Mongolian' hordes which was one guy, bent around into Roger's loving arms, or so it seemed. Roger got mushy and decided to make it a game for everybody, fans included, Hamden 1-0. Luckily, their big Irish Horn blew and woke us up, Jason more than anyone, scoring two goals one after another, fairly quickly after theirs. Great pressure from everybody, speared by Sebastian run right at the goalie forcing him to return Roger's favor, which Jason beautifully chipped over and then a great run by Scottie on the right assisting Jason for a left footer which he measured as precisely as laser eye correction operations, Arsenal 2-1. It was more like it and we all knew it. George added in a third following some peace talks and conference calls with the center ref and the ARSE (assistant refereeing surplus entity)on the sideline. It wasn't 100% handball, it did hit the guy's elbow, but until the rules say: "Free kick outside the box for an elbow," we'll keep taking penalties. Lee totally ignored the airport flagging motions of Sebastian "It's a penalty. Let me in!" humorously smiling back: "NO!" Arsenal 3-1. No matter. The game continued the second half with a twist early on. They scored from another free kick donation. The ball decided to take a few deflections, keep its Tasmanian spin, hit the post and go in, dumfounding everyone there. The big horn went off again, Arsenal 3-2. We did wake up again, but this time it took a bit longer. We started playing more on the ground due to which, more chances of taking their big and slow defenders on and consequently, more chances to score. After a breakaway by Sebastian was stopped by the ref for offside, our fans decided to help the cause and ask the AR what time it is confusing him to the point of letting Sebastian go the second time around. The latter took a great pass by Nicolae and after a race to their goal managed to score under their goalie right before being molested (shirt torn, kicked in the leg being dragged down, no kisses though) by their big center half - 4-2 Arsenal. Thanks fans! Another 'dinner invitation' by the same center half followed very soon after that when Sebastian had a one-on-one with him, passing by him and rocketing a shot at the goalie who decided to tip it over the bar into a corner. So rude! Anyway, he wasn't so rude to Tello who finished Hamden off with a mirror shot under the goalie after a little soccer slalom through their ranks, Arsenal 5-2. No celestial celebrations, but fireworks did spark out of everyone's eyes for we knew we were finally promoted, rewarding our superb season. Great work Arsenal! S. Pompov (Sebastian Printing-One-Man's-Point-Of-View)

2006 USASA National Veteran's Cup Over-45 Champions Connecticut Stars SC at Wilmington, North Carolina on July 18 - July 23, 2006 Hello All, As most of you probably know, Gigi Garofano (of Club Napoli 'A' in the SASL Masters League) organised three teams made up of mostly SASL players to play in this year's USASA Veteran's Cup tournament in Wilmington, North Carolina, July 18th through July 23th. The teams were entered into the Over-45, Over-50 and Over-55 brackets. Tournament general information is here: http://www.usasa.com/2006logo/cups.aspx and details are here: http://www.ncsoccer.org/ncasa/Veterans%20Cup.htm Unfortunately, Gigi didn't have an overabundance of players, some dropped out just before the tournament, and some of the players had to play in two or even three of the brackets! Considering the heat and humidity, it must have been exhausting to play two or three games each day and no doubt this was the cause of some disappointing results. As I understand it, there were close to 300 teams entered into the tournament this year, including mens and womens age group brackets from Over-30 all the way to Over-60 in 5-year increments. It has become a highly prestigious tournament, inaugurated in 1998. Without further ado, here is how Gigi's three teams fared: Mens Over-45 Bracket (a total of six teams entered): Group play: Connecticut Stars 5, Olimpia (Georgia) 0 Connecticut Stars 0, Radnor United 0-45 (Eastern Pennsylvania) 0 Connecticut Stars 2, Greensboro United 0-45 (North Carolina) 0 The Stars qualified in 1st place to play in the semi-finals: No details given, but they must have won! Final: Connecticut Stars 2, Showmars (North Carolina) 0 Undefeated and unscored against, they finished as Champions for the second year running -- and defeated the same team as last year! CONGRATULATIONS, CHAMPIONS! Cheers, - Garry Archer (SASL Executive Board)