February 5, 2012

A job well-done to Compass on managing to dominate Jhubei F.C. today 5-0, despite the warmer-than-usual temperatures, barely any subs, hard uneven pitch and somewhat subpar officiating (with no linesmen).

Played under sunny skies and perfect temperatures (perhaps slightly hot), the game got off to a rough start as we had to get used to the pitch, unpredictable bounces and an aggressive, physical Jhubei side, which saw Eugene body-checked/fouled heavily and taken out of the game temporarily. However, Compass settled into its passing, give-and-go game and saw its first goal 23 minutes in when Gaetan put a nice long lob down the center and over the keeper. Two minutes later, Spanish Jose (as opposed to Paraguayan Jose, playing in midfield right behind him) charged in and got his head on an open ball by the right post to score our second.

Despite a few nervous moments here and there in front of the Compass net, we never let up and at 34 minutes Ben headed in a curving corner kick from Arnaud, again by the right post, that was heading in the right direction. At 40 minutes, Cesar charged into the box to bang in a cross, following this up with his second at around 75 minutes when he capitalized on a mistake by the Jhubei keeper.

Speaking of keepers, I want to give a very big thanks and welcome to Joseph Park for an outstanding job on the net today. Joseph (Peter Park's little brother and the Morrison varsity keeper) made a number of good saves today, keeping us with a clean sheet. I'm looking forward to seeing him with us again as a capable backup for Gary and Garett in the net.

It was by no mean our best game and we will need to play a much tighter game--hopefully with most of our team present with better fitness--in our first Central League match this coming Sunday vs. Tubbies (tentatively scheduled for 3:30 p.m.).

Go COMPASS!

Doug