August 20, 2000
Bumrushers at Vietnamese Football Club

The inaugural game of the Fall 2000 season. We started off with 13 of our 17 registered players present. We unveiled the yellow uni's. I'm doing this from pure remembrance so I might miss some stuff.

The game started fast paced with VFC controlling the game for the first 5 minutes. But that soon quickly turned around. We started controlling the game with nice passes and great support. The scoring started in the 15th minute when a ball was sent for David and a VFC defender knocked him down right outside the box, and I mean 1 inch from the box in the half-circle. With a 4 man wall Robert stepped up and curled a shot that was 2 feet off the ground that nicked the left post and hit the back of the net. 1-0 Bumrushers.

The Bumrushers kept constant pressure on the VFC goalie and defense with shots from the left and right. The VFC goalie had a hard time holding onto the ball and making numerous fingertip saves. There were countless times when we were inside their box and our shots were just wide or bounced of a VFC player. Micah had a great run on the left side and shot a ball into the stomach of the goalie. Ryan followed up with a shot that went wild. We thought we were gonna have one there. Our next goal came about 25 minutes in when a ball was sent up to Ryan and while taking a shot, the opposing player took him feet out from underneath him inside the box. Ryan setup to take the penalty kick, kicked right, goalie guessed correct, but Mark with the fundamental follow-up one timed the ball in. Bumrushers 2-0. The next thing that happened was Sam was going for a ball that a VFC player had that Sam stole it from him. The guy pulled Sam down. Sam got a yellow for, well, I still haven't figured out why.

About 35 minutes into the half we struck again. Sam took a ball into the left corner and worked his way back toward the center and saw Robert in the box. He played a high ball to Robert that was brought down on his thigh and hit into the left corner for his sceond of the game. Bumrushers 3-0. Five minutes later we struck again when David took a pass from Sam who was rushing toward the goal, play some give and go with Cam, did a spin to make it look pretty, and blasted the ball past a late diving goalie to put us ahead by the score of 4-0. At the half, spirits were high, and we were feeling good. Baxter hadn't been challenged and we were in control. Little did we know what was going to happen.

The VFC changed goalies which seemed to energize their team. VFC came out pressing and pulling 6 guys up front. With pushing that many people up, our defenders had more people to mark than were defending. Our midfield recognized that and started holding back. VFC struck about 10 minutes into the half. I couldn't tell you how they did cause I was making sure "Little Dennis" was ok after being stepped on. (and yes, he is) Bumrushers 4-1 The whole second half was marred by questionable calls not going our way and calls that should go our way not being called. That is not an excuse but it was clearly evident as compared to the first half being called evenly. VFC scored again when our defense was stiffled by the attacking VFC switching fields and getting the ball back into the middle and taking a shot from the left middle that made its way past Baxter. Bumrushers 4-2.

Both teams were playing equal at this time. We started to get a little tired. It was more evident in the defense as all of them nearly played 90 minutes with 3 of our guys out being defenders. I commend those guys for their effort and they did a great job. More rough play from VFC and some from us yielded 3 more yellows. One for Art and the others for VFC. VFC got another goal when Cam and one of their guys both went for the ball, and each hitting shins in the box. Cam stood tall cause he's a monster who feels no pain, and the poor little VFC cried like a baby. He dove and the ref believed him. Penalty shot. Baxter guessed left, shot went right. Bumrushers 4-3. Twice Micah was making his run and the right defender must not have realized you can't use your hands in this game. After the second time the guy reached and got it with his hand the ref finally gave him a yellow. We had a guy do that last year and he got a red. That's gonna be our new strategy, use your hands so you wont get beat.

We got control of the game once again, and were playing some nice soccer. We were getting them back on their heals once again. 15 minutes before game time a fast little VFC made his way down the right side and just got it past Baxter on a fast break. Game tied 4-4. This finally made us pick it up even more. The last 12 minutes was constant pressure on our side on their goalie. Many shots were deflected off of VFC players that would otherwise find their way to the goal. Both teams had a chance to win it in the last 10 minutes. VFC had a fast break versus nothing but Baxter and Baxter made a save that would make Tony Meola jealous. Baxter stood his ground and dove and got control of the game. His body reminded me of a pretzel. Our best chance was when Art one timed a pass from Robert to Dennis and he fired from about 35 yards out. The ball was heading for the right corner of the goal until the new goalie jumped up and got a fingertip on the ball and deflected it just enough to skim over the crossbar. After a minute of extra time the ref blew the whistle to end the game in a tie, 4-4.

From this game I have noticed a few things. A) we are better than last year B)we need to not get onto our own team and C) subs are good. We knew 2 of our guys were gonna not gonna be there. No showing is just unacceptable. We sure coulda used the help. If your gonna pay \$150 to play, show up. I'm sure we aren't the only team that does this, but when things aren't going good, don't get onto each other. Be supportive. We forgot that for a while. Once we remembered it, we started playing a whole lot better. Overall it was a good game. The first half was one of the best halves we have played. The second started off sluggish, but we got better. The score might not show it but we played well even in the 2nd half with 1 goal coming from a questionable call and the other from a clearing ball that made its way past our defense. Constant pressure on goal and great passing are the highlights. What we need to work on: taking dives when an opponent touches you on the back/arm/leg and selling non-injuries. Once we learn how to do that then we can get calls in the second half of games. J/k


Dennis Thompson