February 12, 2012

My Fellow Teammates,

Congratulations on a strong, dynamic and hard-fought start to the Central League, with a 2-1 win over the Tubbies. Our cross-town rivals pushed us very hard up to the end but Compass held tough in what I thought was one of our best displays in a long time.

From the first whistle, Compass dominated the Tubbies with a tight passing game, good movement to space back and forth and laterally across the pitch, and superior ball control. A strong Tubbies defense, anchored by Darren, Camillo and Raphael, held until about the 23rd minute when Gaetan broke through and into the box and was tackled by keeper Jon, who failed to touch the ball in a clear-cut foul that no one protested. Cesar stepped up and put the PK into the net, only to have it called back because of an intrusion into the box. Undaunted, he took it again and put it in again.

Compass continued its domination and were rewarded in the final minutes of the first half when Ben got a fast break up the right wing and, despite a good effort by Jon to cut off his angle, cooly put it past him and into the net, in a strong display that reminded Robert of some good ol' "route-one football".

The second half was a bit more challenging for us, as it often is. While we continued to dominate, the Tubbies--to their credit--fought hard to regain the initiative, primarily led by Tepei, Rory and Danny. Rory then got a excellent goal on us on a glancing header off a long cross. Our re-energized opponents, perhaps smelling blood in the water, went all-out to get an equalizer. At the same time, we lost our rock-solid defensive co-anchor David to a nasty injury to his hand, which someone stepped on and swelled up immediately. The last 15 minutes turned into a very physical battle with Tepei and other Tubbies getting the worst of it. Joseph, who was stellar in our net, made at least one critical save on another close header attempt by Rory. Compass had its own near-goals, a nice long shot across the box by Arnaud that was millimeters off the right post, and break-away by Oscar who made a game effort to chip the keeper.

There was some relief when the final whistle finally blew. Hans said he liked the fact that Tubbies fought back so hard in the second half, although I could've probably settled for more of a blow-out, haha. That being said, it was a great game to watch and certainly deserved a larger audience (Wembley Stadium?). A big factor in this win was our dominant midfielders, who were always back with our defenders to give the Tubbies' offense very little opportunity. Our French middle line Arnaud, Gaetan and Laurent were excellent as always, well matched on the wings by Artem and Robert--who I want to single out for having an especially impressive game.

Guys, I'd like us to build on what we did today and become even stronger as we head into this league and our March cup tournament, with some good friendlies scattered in between to keep us on our toes. Tubbies are playing Jhubei FC here next Sunday in a league match, so I'll have to see if I can get us something else.

Once again, a great job today! GO COMPASS!

Doug