Game 3 Preview & Postmortem

Preview:
We're playing Brazucas this evening at 10pm. I'm not sure of their make-up, but it sounds Brazilian and they are not team Aioh. They've only played one game and lost 3 - 4. Out for tonight is Ashish, Sachin, and Gareth thus far which leaves us with 13 at most. Good luck guys and see you tonight. Please post any comments below.

Postmortem:
Final Score: Optimizers 1 Brazucas 2

We started out with a lead when Bob got a header in off a corner. We played great defense and controlled the ball in the midfield but then in the first 10 minutes of the second half, they got a lucky goal on us via a corner kick. We stayed pretty even and attacked until with 9 minutes left, a questionable call by the refs led to an argument, at which point Brazucas used the advantage to drive down in a 3 on 2 to score. We tried to come back with some shots but we ran out of time. We have to learn to take bad calls in stride and not get caught out manned. Also, while we controlled the ball much better, we were still trying to force it past their D rather than pass it back when on trouble. The mids must get back in time for D as well. Lastly, we need to try to get more angled crosses in the middle of the field rather than try to bring it down the sides and cross. Just my opinion. Other than that, we're playing with much more chemistry and should be winning these games. Great job everyone. Comments?

P.S. Thanks to Kerry for helping us out last night.

Issue: Too Many Players

The big issue right now is that we have too many players.  We have 16 total now, but with Sachin and Milind alternating it still keeps us at 15.  Ideally, we didn't want to exceed 14 players but with some people bringing new guys and with some of the older guys returning we have a few too many and too little playing time to share.  Too many players also take too long to develop chemistry which we badly need.

A possible solution:
Some of the guys suggested that we have a weekly elimination process where we get the first 14 to report as finalized since there's always a guy or two unavailable guys each week.  However, if there aren't and we don't have a specific process for reporting and when, how do we keep this fair?  Ideally, I'd like everyone to play but realistically, there's only so much time and games.  Other than people willing to opt out of the team, I don't know what else to do.  There may be a team in our league that needs a few more players.  If you want more playing time, it's worth pursuing.  Any thoughts people?

Game 2 Preview & Postmortem

Preview:
We're playing the Rochester Mills Brewing Company.  No Preview this time, sorry.

Postmortem:
We started off with a strong lead and went up 3 to 1, when we started to break down on defense with a lack of chemistry based on too many substitutes, too little aggressive play, and easing up. The opposing team tied it up and even went up a goal on us.  Being down 4 - 3 with 6 minutes left in the game, Ryan forced in the tying goal.  We were unable to score as time ran out and settled for a 4 - 4 tie, but we still know, this game was ours to win and it eluded us.

Game 1 Preview & Postmortem

Sorry guys for not providing this earlier.  We ended up losing to RSC Partimers 3 - 0, but 2 of those goals were pretty badly handled by our temporary goalie.  Needless to say, we could have won this game but our control of the ball and a lack of  a strong midfield hurt us.