July 5, 2014

Hi Guys,

In the midst of all the World Cup matches, it's nice to be able to get out on the pitch and play some 'real-world' football. Such was the case this evening, in our very competitive match against Tubbies. Although we will undoubtedly have more matches in July (perhaps as soon as next weekend), today marked the end of our unofficial "season", which started back on August 24, 2014 with our 7-1 thumping of the Tubbies.

The conditions were much nicer in the evening and both Compass and Tubbies came out playing to win in an extremely aggressive match. Compass was bolstered by return of Seth, Clement and Oscar, and the addition of three new players: Japanese keeper Genfu, playing his first full match for us, plus French midfielder/defender Said, and Brazilian forward Johnny.

Compass immediately began putting pressure in the Tubbies' defensive third and a fast drive by a much-improved (and beefed-up) Oscar in the 15th minute resulted in a foul and PK, which was taken and scored by Said in his inaugural Compass goal. However, Tubbies got in and around our defensive line about 5 minutes later and scored to tie things up. Things then got a bit heated when Callum, who already fouled and injured Genfu (necessitating a 10-15 minute spell by Clement as goalkeeper), tripped Artem from behind, resulting in a significant confrontation that resulted into red cards for both players and the ref's call of a 5-minute "water break" to allow the two sides to cool off. Some negotiations with the referee during this time-out resulted in both red cards being downgraded to yellows, allowing both teams to continue with 11 players.

Compass started the second half very strong, beginning with a series of lightning-fast breaks through the Tubbies' defensive line by various players. Just two minutes in, one of these breaks by Johnny resulted in his first Compass goal. In the 11th minute, Callum went through the middle and scored to once again tie things up. This was followed in the 30th minute by a Tubbies' header into our net off of a corner kick to give them the lead for the first time. Eight minutes later, a free kick by Arnaud was deflected out, put back into the box and a mixed cluster of players by Artem and then scored by Lukas.

As noted above, this match was marked by very aggressive challenges by both teams and I was happy to see Compass players giving out better than they received, physically challenging almost every ball and chasing down the Tubbies all over the pitch. Fortunately, the referee was pretty good, too (even Danny said that he was the best ref he's seen here yet) and managed to strike a good balance in his calls. As was noted by many of our players, Compass had more strong scoring opportunities that were just unlucky not to go in, meaning that the final score could have just as easily been 6-3.

I thought you all played great football and was very happy to see our new additions--Said, Johnny and Genfu--do so well. We welcome you all to Compass and look forward to having you with us on the pitch in the months ahead.

For the record, out of 35 official games since last August, Compass has 27 wins, 8 ties and, of course, no losses, with 116 goals scored for and 22 goals against us.

Arnaud and I are talking about a team barbecue party at his house on the weekend of July 26-27. Robert is asking if we can do it on that Saturday, as he's leaving the next day and I know a few of you will already be gone (like Artem). How does that weekend look for the rest of you? I'm looking forward to celebrating an extraordinary, first-ever undefeated Compass season with you all!

GO COMPASS!

Doug