Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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.
