What a Day

The weather was odd today and the game even more so. Valor scored a quick goal in the first half from a free kick headed in, then another goal later in the half from a tricky breakthrough, leaving the Plough down two points as the half came to a close. From the beginning the game was a physical one, and as soon as the second half started the rough play turned too rough and resulted in fouls and yellow cards all over the place. In total four players on Valor and six players on the Plough received yellow cards and about ten minutes in Armando received his second yellow, sending him out of the game, leaving the Plough down two points with one less player on the field. However, this seemingly fate-sealing event may have helped turn the game around, as a goal resulted not soon after from a free kick (Julio tapped it and Molo scored). Only down by one point now, the Plough started playing much harder (yes, meaning more cards). For much of the rest of the half the Plough maintained offensive control and created plenty of opportunities, though Ricky did receive a little action in the goal and got his opportunity to be sassy. Finally, a hand ball in the box allowed the Plough to tie the game with a penalty kick from Julio.

All in all there were a lot of missed chances by the Plough, most players seemed to agree that the game could have easily been won, but the team stepped up in the second half to avoid a loss and strung together a lot of great passes, kept their defense tight, definitely played physical, and had a great bonding experience. 

From the beginning, a physical game

Good job Alex! Luckily the ref didn't see this one

One of many attempts

Getting all fancy

So dramatic

The touch that led to the first goal

And the aftermath of it

After scoring a PK, pure joy!

What a Sweep

Damn. The Plough beat ILM 7 to 0 last Sunday, four or five (he can't remember) of the goals were Julio's and the other two belong to Mike and Molo. I was out of town again, playing with Tunde in a beach soccer tournament (don't worry, our women's team won) so I don't have pictures of the Plough's incredible victory, but maybe this is a blessing in disguise - you can use your creativity to imagine what the goals looked like! In times when I can't attend the game I rely on input from the team to put together a blog post. This week I'm asking Julio for details and this is what he is telling me: the first goal (both Julio's and the game's) was a pk from a foul against Jose, Julio had ten or so nutmegs, when I asked if Ricky had any amazing saves Julio claimed that he was the goalie, in fact, he did everything, so awesome job Julio, let's see if you can pull it off this weekend too. Here are some pictures from my tournament to subdue you:

'Twas a Sad Day In Berkeley

Sorry for the delay, I've been too sad to post about the Plough's loss. This past Sunday the Plough lost 1-2 against long-time nemesis Nacio and his team the Berkeley Juniors. Word on the street is that some crazed gypsee from North Dakota cursed the team, others say it was just an off day. For lack of pictures from the game, I'll post some pictures from last year's (victorious) season with the old Plough jerseys.