Pistolas FC 2011

MARKHAM - What started off as a mismatch, soon turned into a nightmare, before Pistolas FC soon reloaded and fired a late goal over Those Guys FC 2-1.

The game started with Those Guys only fielding 8 players, but PFC failed to capitalize on the advantage and played slow and lacklustre, a tendency they seem to have playing at the level of their competition. In fact goalie Mark C. was forced to come up big right away as the opening rush ended in offense for the team in teal.

Suddenly a glimer of hope came in the first half when Rocco stood to take a penalty kick just as a 9th member of the opposition began suiting up on the sidelines. The spot kick was perfect, hitting the top left corner with no chance for the netminder. But then, in a flurry of confusion, the goal was waved off with the referee citing another one of our players was in the box. A few days after the game it was confirmed that according to the rules, it should have been a retake and not simply waived off and the ball awarded to the other team.

Then PFC began getting into a groove, and a blast by Gus G. was saved by the keeper only to redirect it unto a desperate Eckleton R. who headed the ball towards the open net but hit the crossbar. King Cobra strikes again!

But a series of flurries eventually ended with a scramble in the box where Ivano V. passed a ball through and Steve W. hamered home the opening tally. 1-0 good guys.

Those Guys would not give up, and kept up their chances and fight. Then, midway through the second half, one of their players - who had already gone down in the game with cramps - went down in the box untouched, and on a horrible call, a penalty was given. On the ensuing kick, Mark C. dove correctly, but the ball just slipped under, tieing the game at one a piece.

As PFC regrouped, they began controlling the ball better and started their own waves of offense. A tie would just not suffice. However, in a counterattack, the best player on Those Guys raced down the right flank only to be robbed by Mark C. in the play of the game. Being down 2-1 would have seriously changed the game and would have ranked as an embarassing loss.

Still tied, the boys pressured again and with only minutes left, Gus G. nailed home the winner to seal the victory.

With the victory, the boys move into a tie for 4th with a game in hand. Winners of 3 of their last 4 games, they end the first half of the season 4-4-1 against teams in their division (with one makeup game still to be played).

Pistolas FC now begin a road swing at Mount Joy Field against teams from the Eastern Conference. They begin this Sunday at 9:00pm against the Inter-Selects a team with few losses and goals against. It will be a tough battle for sure.

TORONTO - Reminiscent of last year, the 2008 Pistolas appear to have needed a few weeks of working in their legs playing together to develop some sort of cohesion, and if recent weeks are a telling sign, they are beginning to progressively gel nicely at midseason.

In the first 5 games of this season, the team only had 1 win and sat in the bottom 3 of the standings. They also had a lack of scoring, potting only 6 goals in 5 games.

But in the last 3 weeks, they've won 2 out of 3, beating previously undefeated Markham Crush to the tune of 3-1, and trouncing Pamir Fc 3-0. In this span of three games, they also scored 7 goals from 4 different goalscorers.

Sunday's victory also put them in a tie for 4th place in the league along with Inter Selects, both with 10 points on the year.

This Sunday's game pits them against Those Guys, currently in 3rd place, but beatable nonetheless. A makeup game against Cornell FC is also due sometime in the near future and most likely before they start to take on teams from the other division.

Let's hope this promising turn of events continues.

MARKHAM - Like Paulo Rossi in '82, Schillaci in 1990 - or David Villa in Euro 2008, a goalscoring machine awoke from the team of sleeping giants this past Sunday, to lead Pistolas FC to victory; and his name is - Davidinho.

Hungry for a win and without their team MVP Eddy, PFC faced tough mental challenges. Up against Pamir FC, they were haunted by the last time these two teams met where Pamir tied the game with one minute left to play. This time PFC wanted just revenge.

Having only 13 players on game day (from a roster of 23) the Pistolas came out blazing showing some dominant ball possesion. The defensive three formation with turns by Rocco, Jason, Dookie, and Marcello did well in holding the back fort and pushing the ball up to the mids.

In the midfield, Steve, Ivano, Gus, Carlos, Luch, and hero Davidinho created plays and played keep away for a majority of the 1st half, culminating on chance that led to a corner.

On that ensuing corner kick, Davidinho, a defensive midfielder, ran in from the box in a perfectly timed run to the outside post that ended with a direct header right into the top right corner.

The end of the first half, however, got sloppy as Pamir began pressing and PFC was getting away from their passing dominance.

The second half was a return to form, as the boys in black pressed onwards and defended well. Carlos made some brilliant runs from the midfield, and though he's still waiting for his first goal of the year, Eckleton once again brought his 'A' game, outhustling and outmuscling the opposition to create chances and make plays.

"Ecks was playing fierce out there today, really pushing into guys and getting the ball," said the Raging Bull.

"You gotta love the way this guy plays. He's hungry and he'll work and outwork the other teams. Nice to seem him get more aggresive and show toughness out there," said Mark R.

And in fact it was an ingenious Eckleton freekick just inside the corner kick marker that accurately picked out the head of Davidinho, who sneakily appeared in the crease completely unmarked and baffled the keeper with a beautiful flick on header that again caught the top right corner.

After a flurry of chances from Eckleton and Carlos, it was Charles who had some chances. A post and crossbar were hit in a 10 minute barrage of chances by the trio.

Then, in the 78th minute, Mark R. took hold of his second breakaway of the game and provided a little chip over the keeper that snuck under the bar to break him out of his goal slump.

But the game didnt end there. In the final minutes, Pamir pressed deep into the box in a flurry of chances that keeper Mark C. saved repeatedly to go with an impressive game of saves and security. Again the defense stepped up to support as the crowd and players all gasped hoping he'd retain the much deserved cleansheet. And he did, keeping the ball out for 90 solid minutes to earn his second shutout of the year to tie for 1st place in that category.

A 3-0 final was a much deserved victory for the boys.

MARKHAM - At the start of this Sunday's game it was confirmed that Eddy 'MVP' Megurian would be out indfinitely after suffering a horrible injury in the game versus Limeys FC.

Though initially it was thought that the injury occured when Eddy and a member of the opposition both went in hard on a ball, it turns out that it wasn't until Eddy stood up in the pitted eight inch long grass did the horrible field conditions pop his knee out.

One can only hope that this injury isn't as serious and that he'll be able to recover and walk pain free over these next few days and weeks. The team sends all their best for a speedy recovery.

As for playing, it is likely that he'll be gone for the season, but never count this champion out.