First Team
Kickers 1st team suffered a second consecutive league loss against an extremely beatable Kelmendi FC. Despite a shaky start in the 1st 20 minutes the Kickers took the lead in the 18th minutes via a free kick by Gonzalo Trovato who literally kicked the ball over the head of their keeper. Even after witnessing how incredibly vulnerable Kelmendi's keeper was, Kickers wouldn't take advantage and continued to fail and get shot off onto Kelmendi's frame. In the 35th minute after continued failed efforts to work the ball properly and find the simple passes, Diego S would lose the ball in the Kickers half and with three quick passes, Kelmend let off a shot that would bounce off Khriswayne's hand and lead to a PK. It was a very soft call but nonetheless Kelmendi would tie up the game and go into the half 1-1. It was in the second half that things would start off bad and finish off worse. In a good effort to build some nice football, James Z tried to find Alexis B in the middle which was interrupted by their left back just closing his eyes and kicking the ball away, unfortunately for Ari and Jake, Kelmendi's lone forward split them and as Mo tried to come out an challange; he was chipped and 1 minute into the half Kickers were already 2-1 down.
Kickers continued to try an find their game, passing out of the back, though the middled and finding the spaces for our wide midfielders, however Kelmendi found themselves getting up the field with just simple clearances up to their lone striker that were becoming their only option, but an effective one. It was another one of these desperation clearances that led to a corner kick. Their corner led to a failed attempt to clear on the kickers end and a Kelmendi player would find himself taking the ball down off his chest and ripping a left footed shot, low and hard to beat Mo for the second time in 10 minutes; 3-1. It would be similar circumstance that would lead Kelmendi to their 4th gal of the game, this time it would be a header 5 yards in that would beat Mo and make the game 4-1.
Despite being down 4-1, Kickers pushed forward, everyone continued to keep up their work rate, getting shot after shot off however many of them off frame. Kyle R, James Z, Gonzalo T and FX T worked hard to get down the line and give the kickers a spark, but we failed to get the ball in the box as often as we needed; this was where Kelmendi was most vulnerable. It was a last minutes free kick by Mathias J which we also have the goalie to thank for, that would cut the lead to 2 goals, but it just wouldn't be enough. Another loss that found the Kickers under estimating a weaker opponent that capitalized on simple mistakes and who were dominated most of the game. With this loss kickers are tied in points for the 5th and final playoff spot with a game in hand that will be played Tuesday Dec 3rd against Williamsburgh FC.
Second Team
The Reserves avenged their state cup loss to 2nd place Kelmendi FC with a defensively dominant yet offensively fortuitous victory. With what had to be +70% possession, the Kickers peppered the Kelmendi defense with chances of all different shapes and sizes. Crosses, free kicks, shots from outside the 18, redirections from inside the box, seemed to just not go the way of the Kickers offense. One such chance, which came from a foul outside of the box, trickled onto the post and then was skied over. Another rattled the crossbar. Many were shot straight at the keeper, such that even if he was trying to avoid the ball he'd have difficulty not saving it. It appeared to be "one of those days" until Agus Cygiel played Tommy Herlihy a ball in the left channel, who cut inside and from outside of the box struck a ball the the keeper could only palm into the crossbar where it ricocheted into the keepers back and into the goal. The second goal was of a similar ilk; Gio LoMonaco received a pass from Danny Challita and struck from distance and the ball slipped through the goalies grasp and into the net. The final goal came with the last kick of the game, with Lukas thundering another long distance shot off of another feed from Danny with the only goal that Kelmendi could not blame on the keeper. Kelmendi finished with no shots on goal, and dropped from second to sixth while the Kicker Reserves managed to wrap up first place for winter break.
Over-30 Premier
On a cold and dreary afternoon at Randall's Island, the Kickers took on the CPR Orange with only 10 players. Yesterday, it looked like we might have 12-or 13 players, but within 24 hours several players dropped out and if not for MVP Bryan Baracaldo coming to the rescue, this could have been a much different result. In spite of being a man-down, the Kickers enjoyed more time on the ball at the start of the match and had several opportunities early. One shot by Dimitar looked like it went in, but the referee said the shot came from outside the net and through a whole in the side (which seemed geometrically impossible given the trajectory of the shot but that's the way it went for the Kickers today). CPR's threats came mostly from dead-ball opportunities and in the 20th minute, CPR had a free-kick that sailed over the defensive wall and just out of the reach of Fitzgerald to ping off the cross bar and out of danger. A few moments later, CPR had a corner Kicker that snuck inside the near post and Fitzgeralds effort to punch it away, was ineffective. That is how the first half ended.
In the second half, the Kickers continued to press; then in the 55th minute, the CPR goalkeeper slipped to the turf, coughing up the ball to Dimitar who placed the easy finish into the back of the net for the equalizer. The rest of the second half was end to end action with both sides taking turns at being dangerous, the Kickers with slightly more precision. Bryan Baraclado lining up his shot, coming down the right side and slicing it to the back post with this left foot, was getting closer and closer with each attempt. Then in the 75th minute, Bryan calibrated correctly and found pay dirt giving the Kickers the lead. When Carey Chamberlain's hip flexor started acting up, the Kickers were effectively defending with nine men but managed to hold on for the 2-1 victory.
MVP goes to Bryan for coming from his First Team match in the Bronx, playing a full 90 and scoring the winning goal. The Honorable Mention goes to all the players that came out today and made the season and this pivotal game a priority; Ardian Hasko, Aaron Vernnard, Lucas Shanks, Chris Smith, Dimitar, Alex Petrovic, Evan, and Carey.
Over-40 Legends
Weather was pissy and cold, and the RFK Bridge offered little respite from the freezing wind and occasional rain and sleet that fell on Randall's Island field #72. But the Kickers were there in relative force of 13, while Banatul showed up with 8 players, eventually joined by a late ninth. The numerical advantage turned out to be overwhelming, despite our ability to make hard work of starting scoring against them while camped in their box. Slover and I both managed to dribble into the box without being able to finish, while the Dan, Kevin, AJ took turns to miss or shoot straight at the keeper. Finally around the 15th minute, Danny found the net, settled whatever anxiety existed, and the little flood gates opened for Kevin, Jesse (twice?) and Dan again to close out the first half at 5-0. Coming out of goal, Joe notched up a nice hat-trick with three excellent strikes, Jesse claimed his own hat-trick dribbling into the box, Jake added his second goal for the club, and Scott, receiving a perfect pass from Christian, taunted the keeper by waiting until the last minute to slot home. With the score at 11-0 (though my count was 12 but it may have been the disallowed goal that Christian scored?), the opposition requested us to kindly let them go home, and we passed on the chance to emulate the USWNT's unrepentant 13-0 dismantling of Thailand.