10/4/2015 Game Recaps

First Team

The first team battled swirling winds and a scrappy NY Bronx Supreme team on Sunday morning. Despite going up early on a blast from Kyle Grato from about 25 yards out, and a beautiful combination play through the midfield that freed up Bryan Baracaldo to slot home a second goal, the offense failed to take off the way it felt it should. NY Bronx Supreme equalized on an unfortunate goalie mistake and then again on a ball floated over the top and poked into the far corner, and the first team had to settle for a disappointing 2-2 tie.

Second Team

After chasing the game for much of the first half that culminated in the Kickers Reserve team falling a goal behind, the team delivered a strong defense performance and capitalized on mistakes by the Bronx Supreme backline to record its first victory of the season, 2-1. A quick combination play down the right side led to the opening goal for Bronx Supreme, but the Kickers responded just before the half through a corner that was slotted home by Seamus Kelly. The second half saw back and forth play with Bernie Sheary making several key saves which included palming a looping shot against the cross bar. The Kicker team was able to capitalize on confusion in the box between the defense and goalkeeper of the Supreme, with Seamus Kelly poking home his second of the game following a strong header by DJ Stewart. It was an encouraging Sunday for the Manhattan Kickers reserve team as they were able to carry over a strong performance from the 2nd half of last weeks game to pick up their first points of the season. 

Over 30s

It was a game we were supposed to win, and in the end, we did win it, but not without unnecessary stress at the half way mark trailing 1-2. Starting against 8, then 9, then finally 11 players of Barnstonworth Rovers Old Boys, Kickers did play to plan, pressing high up, and were 1-0 up in the first 10 minutes when Joe's cross skimmed towards the far right post, the rebound off which Dylan slammed into the net from close quarters. But as the half wore on, the fighting Barnstonworth XI began winning practically every ball in midfield, and our high attack (more like a 4-3-3 than a 4-4-2...) allowed them to dominate the middle. A give away from the back resulted in the striker somehow holding off three Kickers to place the ball into goal just past the far right post. Energized, Barnstonworth continued pressing and winning balls, and they were rewarded when a clearance up the middle was returned with a rocket of a shot into the top right corner. Rovers were up 2-1, and our worst nightmare was coming true - a loss to the bottom of the table. 

The second half started with Jonathan joining Paul up top, and there was an immediate change of demeanor for the team as Jonathan brought his Corfu sun-drenched energy to the game, fighting and winning 50-50 balls and turning around the win stats for us. Paul, who up to then had several chances not fully taken (perhaps because he was wearing Raj's contact lenses which were 1.5 times stronger than his normal prescription), finally found himself on a break away with only the keeper to lob, which he did perfectly, the ball bouncing up into the billowing net with the shiny Manhattan skyline in the background. 

Tails up, Kickers went looking for the winner and found it soon when Paul found room to shoot at the top of the box, which he completed with typical aplomb, a shot across the goal into the right corner, spinning in despite the Rover's keeper getting a hand on it. Paul would have a few more chances, including a shot that crashed into the post, and another that bounced off one post, across the line to the other and between a few desperate shins and knees before it was cleared to safety. Rovers had a chance to tie the game on a breakaway, but Raj had the save of the day, coming out to read the shot perfectly as he dove to close the space and to seal the 3-2 win. 

Over 30 Premier

Kickers Premier showed up with a full squad for the first time all season. However, Everton Westchester Dinamo did not and Premier won by forfeit 3-nil. A little disappointing since Dinamo is one of our rivals and we almost always enjoy a spirited and competitive match against them. We will not face Dinamo again unless it's in a later round of the NY State Cup.  Given our slow start to the season, we will mark this down as our first official victory of the season.

9/27/2015 Game Recaps

O-30s Premier

Kickers Premier played the Greek Americans without 5 starters, most notably Captain Richard Webb, dynamic Joe Whitman, and defensive stalwart Chris Beddows.

The Kickers took the lead in the 18th minute when newcomer Khouri Mullings chipped the Greek goalkeeper. The Kickers dominated play until the 42nd minute when the Greeks walked through the defense like they were daisies and sliced in the equalizer. The Kickers continued to dominate the run of play in the 2nd half. Then Andres Padilla played a nice through ball to Khouri inside the 6-yard box that Khouri dinged off both the near post and far post for the go-ahead goal. But no lead is secure these days with the makeshift Kicker Premier lineup, and the Greeks found the equalizer for the second time in the 68th minute. The Kickers knocked, knocked, and knocked on the door but could not find the winner. It was another frustrating day and start to the season for the Premier side.

O-30s

The O-30s tied the league leaders CPR Old Boys 0-0, a repeat of a performance against the same team in the first half of last season, and a great improvement vs. the last time the two sides met. 

Congratulations to Raj, the defense (Jesse, Mike, Randy, Greg and Christian), as well as the midfielders (Mads, Pic, Dylan, Joe, Scott) for the shutout. Considering the Old Boys had scored 8 goals in the two matches prior to playing the Kickers, this speaks well for their quality at defense.

The Kickers started off the game in defensive mode, but rather shakily, giving away the ball easily, and were pinned in their own half for a bit. But the two walls of four held strong with Jesse sweeping effectively. The Kickers then began to make head way into the other half, earning a few good breakaways, and by end of the half, were back into the game.

In the second half, the Kickers switched to a more offensive 4-4-2, twinning Paul and Ibrahim up front, and pushing Randy up into the midfield, causing the Old Boys defense significant problems. The Kickers dominated play in their half in the first 15-20 minutes and had several chances. The tide turned again as they ran out of steam a bit and we were pinned in their own half. One real scare came when a shot from 30 yards looked to be a repeat of a similar goal from last season, but Raj, fresh from his European tournament, managed to palm it over the bar.

The Kickers had a great chance to win it in the last few minutes when Mads streaked, stumbled, and then steadied himself to cross from the right corner onto Ibrahim's leaping header, which came off the post onto Paul's left foot a yard from goal—but Paul uncharacteristically hit it straight and low at the keeper. The Kickers could have very easily walked away with three points, having played the Old Boys well at their level.

9/20/2015 Game Recaps

First Team

The first team improved to 2-0 with a 2-0 win over Ukraine in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Despite a few guys doing double duty on the first and second team, the Kickers looked like the more energized team throughout the first half. Bryan Morris and Kyle Grato created multiple chances up front, but it remained 0-0 at the half. In the middle of the second half, Nick Bill and Hayden Morris collapsed on a ball in the box—Hayden managed to get just enough of a touch on the ball to free up Nick Bill who buried the goal in the bottom corner for the 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, it was Nick Bill who found Hayden Morris on the other side of the field, who took on a defender 1v1 and laced a shot low under the keeper to make it 2-0. Two goals and a few key saves from Bernie Sheary were all the Kickers needed to hold on for their second shutout victory of the season.

Over-30 Premier

After a heart breaking loss last week to the previous season title holders, the Kickers Premier drew 2-2 against one of the worst teams in the division. Once again dominating in the midfield, the Kickers Premier lacked any real threat up front and for the second week in a row, allowed two goals on the oppositions only two real threatening opportunities. The Kickers Premier cannot afford to drop any more points this Fall if they expect to be in the race for the title.  The Kickers premier are desperate for some stability in the nets and are seeking a goal scorer to be more threatening in the attack.

Next week, the Kickers play away vs the Greek American's, this is going to be a real test of what type of team we are going to be this season.

9/13/2015 Season Kickoff

All four teams were back in action on Sunday to kick off the 2015-16 CSL season. Below are game recaps.

First Team: 1-0 (W)

Despite a hectic first half, the first team took care of a pesky Ittihad FC team who are new to the CSL second division. Brian Morris, Nick Bill and Alex Torres created quite a few opportunities in front of goal, but it was a back post header by Lucas Shanks on a Bryan Baracaldo corner kick that put the Kickers up 1-0 mid-way through the second half. Bernie Sheary made 2-3 key one-on-one saves throughout the match to preserve the shutout and the three points.

Second Team: 0-3 (L)

With a roster of newcomers, the second team struggled to find the organization they needed to score any goals. Despite controlling the pace and holding the ball for much of the game, they lost 3-0 to a scrappy, young Ittihad FC second team.

O-30 Premier: 1-2 (L)

In a match where the Kickers dominated the run of play for most of the game, the 1-2 loss was not representative of the match and was a bitter result against last seasons Over-30 champions.  This is a Team the Kickers should have beaten last season on the Finals and this was a disappointing defeat to start the season.

In the first 15 minutes, Shamrocks S.C. had the better opportunities but the Kicker defense lead by Colin O'Banion, Mark Supple, David Dupuy and Dave Reichsfeld, were solid through the back line.  Then in the 20th minute, the Shamrocks earned a free-kick from outside the penalty area after a a questionable free-kick that was easily converted for the 1-nil lead for the Rocks.  The Kickers dominated the rest of the match through the midfield of Richard Webb, Andy Stern, Nick Bill, Ari Dolegowski, Oscar Villada, Andres Garcia and Alex Petrovick.  The Kickers, had many-many goal scoring opportunities with Gilad Bloom, Nick Bill and Oscar Villada leading way, but failed to convert.  In the 50th minute, the Shamrocks extended the lead with a very fortunate and controversial bounce over our keeper that lead to an easy 2-nil lead.

The kickers responded on a serendipitous Ari Dolegowski goal in the 80th minute.  Ari had another point blank chance to draw things even in the 85th minute but the shot hit the Shamrocks Keeper (who had a decent day with 2-3 routine saves) square in the gut.  The Kickers had several more opportunities in the final moments, but lacked the magic touch to to covert those opportunities into scores.

In a match where for 80 plus minutes, the Kickers dominated ball possession, dominated the goal scoring opportunities and dominated the run of play, we lacked the finishing touch to win the match against a very good Shamrocks squad.

O-30s: 1-1 (T)

With close to half the players playing together for the first time, and with exactly 11 at kick-off against one of the top teams in our Division, last night's 1-1 tie for O-30s' first point for the season was a satisfactory result.

With half of the regular defensive line missing the game, O-30s had somewhat of a make shift defense with almost everyone playing out of their normal position. Big Mike was in goal instead of Raj, Greg was at Right Back, myself on left, with new midfielders Mads and Jonathan doing time in center defense, and Mo debuting in new role as sweeper. Jesse and Randy joined the defensive team later. Quentin and Pic roamed the wings, with Dylan and Scotti working overtime in the middle. Lone strikers - new man Ibrahim and then good old Paul provided us our single offensive outlet as we parked our bus and waited for our chances on the counter, playing a  rare and conservative 5-4-1 formation.

It worked perfectly thanks to the great focus and team effort. We took the lead from a classic Paul Cowler screamer from outside the box in the 60th minute and were cruising for an upset. But around the 75th minute, Dinamos equalized through a rather soft goal due to some mix-up in the back. We had 3 people on the play against their one striker, but misunderstanding led to his getting a soft header into the net . A shut-out would have been well-deserved for an excellent performance in goal by Mike.

10/19/14 Game Recaps

FIRST TEAM

Yesterday afternoon, after a long van ride out to Poughkeepsie, the first team played a big, strong Germania team in the first round of the State Cup. Kyle Baumgartner scored a fantastic individual goal, but the Kickers ultimately fell 3-2 on PKs after tying 1-1 in regulation.

 

SECOND TEAM

The seconds fell to Iberia for the second time this season. Unlike earlier in the season, though, the Kickers flirted with victory, missing a number of opportunities before conceding two sloppy goals. 

The seconds may have crashed out of the cup, but the team is a long way from the one that was well beaten by the Shamrocks. Better organization and invaluable leadership from Neri Amaducci and Bernie Sheary is helping accelerate the building process that the club is going through. 

There is still work to do, but there's little doubt the seconds are closer to achieving their goals. 

 

PREMIER TEAM

Yesterday, we put forth the best over-all team performance since last seasons final and fully dominated the LI Gaels in a 2-nil victory.

From the start, it was clear that we were the better squad.  We had about 80% of the possession and had two point blank shots in the first half (Ari hit the GK in the chest and Nick Bill had his shot cleared off the line by the defense), our defense was solid, switching the ball and creating channels for the offense, and the midfield were dominate.  At times, we held onto to the ball a little too long and could have moved it a little quicker to avoid the pressure.  

Although we struggled to score early, Nick Bill found a way to get one over the tall Gael Keeper in the 70th minute, while Gilad Bloom deflected one passed the Keeper in the 80th minute.  The Gaels had a hand full of chances that FitzGerald managed but otherwise a solid performance all around.

One thing that really helped, was having the 3 subs on the sideline to give us those fresh legs and extra spark when we needed it.  Especially down the wings where we have struggled a bit in the past.  I hope we can continue to see those kinds of numbers in the future.  

Next week, we play home at 11:00am at Grand Street vs. an old foe in the Celtic Legends.  

10/5/2014 Game Recaps

Two difficult losses today.

SECOND TEAM

The 2nd team had a difficult time with top of the table Shamrock Reserve, with 4 new players and 5 players playing out of position for most of the game. Additionally, they had 4 players who were also missing in action. Big thanks to Mike Michelini (MVP) for his performance in goal, he made some incredible saves and the score might have been worse if it weren't for his performance.

FIRST TEAM

As for the first team, a big thanks goes to Chris Doyle, who coached the entire game. We hope he can keep this up as he recovers from his knee injury. The first team played well, but after taking a 2-1 lead, lost focus and gave up 3 goals in a span of 15 minutes. In the second half, hard work on defense paid off and the Kickers first team capitalized on a mistake by the goalie to being the score back to 4-3. Overall, it was a few defensive lapses on set pieces that were the difference in the game. Kudos to Bernie who yet again played a great game in goal and to Mohammed (MVP) who scored all three goals.

9/14/2014 Game Recaps

Today at Grand Street, the First Team brought home the first win of the young season, while the Seconds struggled against S.C. Astoria.  The Premier side also took home the first of many victories, while the Over-30's drew with CPR Old Boys.  

In the First Team match, Nick Bill found pay dirt off a lucky bounce, while Tommy H scored a sizzler to give the First Team the 2-0 win.

In the Seconds Team match, Sasha scored one for the Seconds, to get the squad on the board in an otherwise less than stellar performance in a 1-5 loss.

The Premier side dominated in a 2-0 victory with Gilad Bloom (65th minute) and Joe Whiteman (80th minute) scoring and Mike FitzGerald preserving the first of many clean sheets, (with a big save in the 50th minute) on the young season.  

The Over-30's drew 0-0 with CPR Old Boys.

Next week, the First & Seconds play away against last season's champion... C.D. Iberia on Randall's Island (time and location is TBD).

While the Over-30's play home at Grand Street at 9:00am vs. BW Gotctshee.

The Premier side play home at Grand Street at 11:00am vs. CPR Old Boys.  

Practice at 8:15pm Wednesday evening at Pier 40.