Comebacks

(the photo above is the center circle of our new on site street soccer pitch. The you see is being raised today so the field wil be ready for play for this weekend's national team camp.)

Comeback:

3-3. It was a game we could have won, probably should have. Our opponents were excellent, a pan latino group called Barcelona, but we were stronger. Yet, we played level headed, we rotated our roster, and as Pop said, "Hey, we didn't lose!" My first reaction was negative to Pop's comment, but actually he's right. This was a game that in the first couple weeks of the season we would have lost, even though we hustled and showed great skill.

We did comeback from being down a goal, but then it was our team which lost a 3-1 advantage. Although our goalie Brian Thompson made some tremendous saves, it was the other team's goalie who was the star as we missed lots of chances.

The entry here is called "comback" because of the players who came back to play. Prince, our ghanaian star of the past has taken the brave step of confronting and accepting his mental illness. He said that he still just doesn't want to accept it, but that he would have to because he wants to get off the street and be able to receive his younger brother if he can come to the United States.

Leo Johnson, a former captain in 2005 of then Art Works Football Club came back. Lean Leo, now in his fourtieth year still has great speed. He hasn't played with us in 8 months but trained on tuesday and made a nice contribution. We continue to congratuate Leo on his sobriety and accomplishment, especially of late.

Our Honduran trio who have kept the job our counselor found them for 7 months now, all drove their own cars to the game. At first they were on foot, Then they were all in one old car. Then two cars. Then one replacement car and now three! Elmer scored two goals and has been perhaps our most consitent player all season. The comeback in this case refers to Daniel who had struggled in his form this season. He has been running everyday for the past two weeks and it showed last night. He returned to quality of play that made him MVP of the first ever US Cup.

The other great comeback was that of Brian Thompson. Brian is our all american member of the team who actually played semi-pro american football. A native of Western North Carolina, Brian was new to soccer. He was dedicated member of our team from the beginning of his involvement and has remained so even though his work has kept him away. Currently he is staying at the Men's shelter, but will be ready to move out soon. This was Brian's first game of the season and it was our last regular season game. He performed excellently, however, making three important saves.

Also in action last night were Dave who added another goal to his team leading tally, Jorge, Mohammed Osman, Josh, Ray, Amil, Pop, C-white, Javier another high schooler and friend of Dave's, Kim, and Ray Isaac. So that makes two africans (sudan and ghana), two brooklynites, three honduranians, one salvadoreno, one panameno, one women, two native charlotteans, two rural western north carolinians, 3 players 18 or under, 3 player fourty, or over, and two virginians as coaches.

Finally let's congratulate Pop on his comeback into the workforce. After much frustration Pop now has two jobs, one full time.

Aso thanks to mo and his children and elyse for giving us good cheer from the sidelines.