FC77 Rangers 4 - 3 FC Bridgetown O-30
(Ingersoll 12'; McConnachie 20'; Sibanda 55'; Radigan 70')
Match Day Six found Rangers playing on a new day, (not so) far from the comfortable confines of the Montessori Earth School, against a familiar opponent, on the most dreaded playing surface of all...
The day: Saturday. I don't know about you, but I think the last time I got up at 10:00 AM on a Saturday to play soccer, I may have stuck an orange peel in my teeth like a mouthpiece because I was ten years old!
The venue: Cleveland High School. I don't know about you, but I had to drive around the field twice to find the opening in the gate. Seanny doesn't like being disoriented trying to get onto the pitch.
The opposition: FC Bridgetown O-30. You remember them, don't you? They were our rivals in the Spring 2008 Championship Match, "the Greatest Victory for the Greatest O-30 Recreational Football Club in the Greater Portland, Oregon Area". Don't recall our finest hour? Click here. Seriously. Here. I still get choked up thinking about it two years later, but I have been told on several occasions my priorities are kind of whack. [Editor's Note: Unlike some of the teams we have played this season, Bridgetown played with a lot of class. No jawing, no grousing, just smart, competitive soccer from whistle to whistle. They played like they had a lot more guys on the pitch and they even stopped play to escort a confused elderly woman out of the goal box. So if on the off-chance any of those guys find this match summary during their lunch hour internet web surfings: Respect.]
The Most Dreaded Playing Surface of All: Artificial turf. To date, 'Gers have never won a match on artificial turf. It's true. Look it up if you don't believe me. We're like, 0-4 on it against Blue Monk, NW Bike United, Controlled Chaos, and the Salem Kickers. It's like kryptonite to our Superman. However, we had a powerful new ally to help us in our efforts...
Powerful New Ally to Help Us in Our Efforts: The new black adidas kits! A man can do a lot of good things--great things, I daresay--when they feel pretty. And boy, did we feel pretty. Which was important, because our play on the morning was not pretty in the least...despite having another key advantage...you know, a key numerical advantage...which we didn't fully utilize at all.
In the end, three points secured. Sometimes winning ugly is the only thing that matters. I just hope that only pertains to soccer victories and not picking up chicks.
Starting XI:
Silverman, goalkeeper
Pullen - Calkins - Fahrbach, fullbacks
Snyder, holding midfielder
Freiwat - Radigan - Muralt - Ingersoll, midfielders
McConnachie - Sibanda, strikers
Reserves: Seaton, Bennouri, Bauman
After Ingersoll won the coin toss (woo hoo!), 'Gers started out of the blocks a bit timid, frankly, as they worked to break down the opposition. Bridgetown smartly back-loaded their two rear lines, stayed surprisingly compact the entire match, and only played a lone striker forward with help arriving on counters. A lot of out-of-bounds gave the match a "start-stop" herky-jerky feel to it, but that is often the case on artificial turf because the ball rolls forever and there is almost always a running track around the perimeter which doesn't slow the ball down. Bridgetown was also more spry to a lot of 50-50 balls. Rangers started to find their game with some runs down the outsides and crosses back into the mixer. Radigan had a few early attempts at goal, as did Muralt, as the wingers started firing balls from the corners toward the penalty spot. Finally, around the twelfth minute, the break-through: A flurry of passes and runs with Friewat and Muralt found the center midfielder inside the west edge of the Bridgetown box. Muralt scooped up a lovely lob over the assembled teams and found the shortest guy on the pitch waiting to put a forehead to it. Unlike the four header crosses he attempted in warm-ups, Ingersoll's header went down and past the fullback on the near post, resulting in the first outdoor header goal he has ever scored. Ever. (Once, in the eighth grade when I was playing for West Salem, I may have had the ball bounce off my chest on a corner for a goal against Sprague, but that was it.) Ingersoll was so stoked he subbed himself off to go do a happy dance on the sideline. And, uh, let other guys sub on.
McConnachie doubled up the lead around the twentieth minute when he poached a Bridgetown back-pass and surged forward through the two middle backs, stranding the keeper with little help and a big frame to cover. McConnachie's fifth goal of the season went to the lower left corner.
Up 2-0 with only twenty on the clock, it looked like the match was quickly pulling away for the home side, but to their credit they fought back with the occasional long ball and managed a bit of luck of their own. Around the 30 minute mark they got forward and took a well-hit shot that sent Silverman sprawling to the left to make a brilliant parry. The rebound fell kindly to their lone striker who put it back and the 2-1 scoreline held until half.
The team talk at half-time was all about spreading out the field, making the opposition run more to tire them out, and playing simple and smart (but a little more urgent) soccer. 'Gers turned up the intensity a little more and started getting more pops at goal. McConnachie crossed a lob back to Ingersoll and Seanny almost found a second a header goal on the day...but was just a hair over the bar. Sibanda got a few shots in from distance until maybe fifteen minutes into the half a frantic scramble in front of the Bridgetown net found the ball pinballing around wildly. It eventually kicked out to Sibanda, playing left winger, and he smartly took a classic "Bullie" shot from the corner of the box. It was nothing but net as it slammed over the assembled scrum and splashed into the upper right corner. 3-1. Bennouri started to work the east sideline more and more as the half progressed, allowing the strikers to spread out and tax their backs. More runs and surges forward yielded a fourth goal when Radigan smacked a thumping header of his own past the keeper in the 75th, fed ably from Muralt on the left side off a well-practiced corner set play.
Then it got a little nervous. Two goals in the last fifteen minutes made the scoreline uncomfortably tight, with the home side capitalizing on some wild ricochet action in front of goal and perhaps a fortunate touch or two. Bauman, Calkins, Snyder, Fahrbach, Seaton, and Pullen all locked down the back line to ensure that the advantage stayed with Rangers until the final whistle. Silverman made one or two kamikaze runs at inbound strikers and we even got a few offsides calls to preserve the win.
So while definitely not our finest hour--that would be here, which you have read, haven't you? If not, why? WHY?--'Gers did enough to secure the three points and still go home in time to watch the Champion's League final...or mow the lawn...or heckle the Sounders on FSN...or get dinner from Pizza Schmizza...or head to Fred Meyer's for some ginger ale, Ben & Jerry's "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream" ice cream and cold medicine to stave off the impending illness you feel coming on...or, if you're me, all of the above.
Match Notes...Attendance for the match was three, excluding the neighborhood joggers on the track and the very nice but confused elderly women who wandered onto the pitch in the second half...Tory Snyder--not Rory Snyder as I have been calling her for the last three and half years--wore the inaugural black Junior Ranger kit for the morning...I've probably spelled it wrong, haven't I, Jim?...Tory/Torie/Tori did a fine job baby-sitting Nabyl's daughter during the time when her father was playing...'Gers are off for Memorial Day Weekend and have a bye next Sunday...
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