Usual Whos?

A game review for The Usual Suspects match on Thursday July 21, 2006.

Last night The Usual Suspects took on the Soccer Whos? with a 7pm kickoff at the Action Indoor Sports Stadium. The opposition turned out to be the team formally known as Norfolk ‘n’ Chance. They must have changed their name to ‘cash in’ on the success of the Socceroos in the World Cup. No matter what they decided to call them selves we knew it would be tough game. We had faced this team twice before with the honours shared at one game a-piece.

The game started out at quite a fast pace like last week had. Our defense was bombarded in the early going and they looked very dangerous when coming forward. We had a few counter attacks but nothing that looked like troubling their keeper. It was after about 6 minutes or so that they made their first strike. On of their guys cut across the middle and took a shot straight down the middle. It skittled through two defenders and myself (as keeper) to end up in the back of the net. An unlucky goal that should have been stopped by one of us, but just managed to get away.

However, that goal seemed to spark us up and we went on the attack. In a sweeping move forward, Mark took a shot from range and on the rebound Brodie connected with the ball and drove it into the back on the net, scores 1-1. Unfortunately for us, the managed to take the ball of us and had a one on one with me, I was not able to make the save and we went down by 2 goals to one.

Again we were sparked into action, making forward moves and then keeping composure to get back and defend. These forward progresses resulted in our second goal. Marko took the ball to the left side of the goal then delicately threaded the ball through to Brodie on the right side who then latched onto the end of the pass and cannoned it past the keeper. A well taken shot and presented Brodie with his second goal of the game.

Next it was my turn to shine, if I do say so myself. They had a two on one with me and on their first shot I was able to make a diving save to my left and parried the ball away from goal. Unfortunately it went straight to their other guy who took his shot, I was then able to make a falling save with my legs and kept the ball out. By this time our other players had come back to defend and the ball was cleared. I was très happy with those saves and always like to make a few good saves a game (after all it my job in the team to make saves).

The half ended after the managed to get another goal past me with a one on one, leaving the halftime scores: Usual Suspects 2, Soccer Whos? 3.

The second half started with us wanting to push for the win by improving our game and using skill to get the ball in the goal. That did not go to plan with the other team scoring am early goal to give them a two goal lead, 2-4. The goal was a very annoying one to concede as the scorer held the ball on the edge of the circle and we just could get it away from him before he turned and slotted it home.

The game turned in our favour a bit when their keeper dove to the ground and come out of the circle, which gave us a penalty. With Matt, Mark and Brodie on the field it was up to one of then to take it. Matt usually takes the penalties but he has come under some criticism lately for missing them. But with Brodie and Mark too shit scared to take it Matt stepped up; he bazooka’d it right past the goalie and converted. A well taken penalty and that could just silence his doubters. The scores were now 3-4.

The game then started to turn a bit rough, with hard challenges and an increased about of body-checking. Earlier Matt got viciously fouled and to go off (he came back on later) and now we started to get manhandled a lot more. Of course, the shithouse ref did not call anything, and when he did he got it completely wrong. For example, the ball was rolling between Brodie and a guy from the other team. They both ran for it and as they got closer the other guy turned his back to Brodie. Brodie then kicked the ball away, without touching the guy, and he was called for making a challenge from behind, even though the guy did not have possession of the ball and Brodie kicked the ball cleanly. This was a totally bullshit call by the ref because Brodie was not even making a tackle, he was kicking the ball, and the guy did not even have possession of the ball so there was no tackle to be made. Brodie didn’t even touch the guy so there could be no foul for that either. The ref we had is the most crap one there and we always seem to be having him. The place needs to put the best refs in Division 1 and let the fuckwit we had got back to the minor league. We should not have to put up with this shit when playing in the top flight. As you can tell I’m pretty pissed off and so I, and the team, should be.

Ok, back to the game. We pressed more and more to get an equalizer but out efforts were fruitless. The same guy who got their fourth goal got them a fifth goal in exactly same the fashion so I don’t need to describe it again. The match ended with us struggling to score again but with no luck.

Final scores: Usual Suspects 3 (Brodie 2, Matt 1) – Soccer Whos? 5.

Special thanks to Patrick and Ben who turned up to watch the match and support the team. Ben currently leads the Spectator’s Award, having been to all 4 games this season, but Patrick is not far behind on 3. I really like it when people come to watch our games, it adds support to the team and I really think that it gives us a boost. So thanks for those (especially Patrick and Ben who come most of the time) that come our games and I hope to see more of you in the future.

Another thing to note is that Brodie is on 198 games and will play his 200th match in two weeks time. He will become only the second Usual Suspect, behind me, to reach the milestone and will be a great achievement. The next on the list will be Matt who has played 191 matches currently. The team is what everyone wants to see succeed but it also good to note personal achievements along the way. The website will be updated soon so you can see more stats there. The address is:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/deanmark/

Until the next time I make post,

Fuck You San Diego

(Note: 1230 word post - man that’s long)