v CD Limeno 0-4 loss

very disappointing performance after last weeks great victory.  team just is not playing well.  again our goalkeeper Thomas "PK" Pouncy played hard and had double digit saves.  Limeno's keeper did not have to do much.  Present:  Harry, PK, Dirk, Doug, Tim, Jeremy, Ray, Aldopho, Joel.  Paul is still injured. 

v JEVI win 5-3 penalty kicks

A great game in the midst of a south Florida lightning storm.  The first game of the day that began a little after 3pmm; our side had 9, theirs about 14.  Harry, Paul, Thomas, Dirk, Doug, Ray, Tim, Jeremy and Aldofo.  We did have Joel come for the last 20 minutes and Paul reinjured twice.  Before the rain delay we had a free kick about 5 yards outside of penalty box.  JEVI set up a two man wall.  Ray took the kick and Dirk saw a hole and called to Ray who put it hard in the far corner to bring us back level 1-1.  A fierce but sort lived storm blew right through the game and when lightning struck less than a mile away the game was stopped.  It started to pour and we took refuge in a pavilion with referee.   Sun came out 20 minutes later and we decided to play the second half.  Game ended in 1-1 tie.  Both teams had good opportunities to score and both keepers had incredible saves late in the game to take it to PK.  Incredible shoot out.  Both teams did not miss.  Only great save by Thomas on the fourth shooter and a put away on the fifth shot by Jeremy won the game. 

v Oakland Park FC 3-4

tragic game.  OPFC started a man down and FTFC scored three goals in first half.  goal keeper Thomas Pouncy again had a great game saving a penalty kick in the first half off a Bubble Gum clumsy push inside the penalty box.  In all fairness the OPFC player went down very easily, and the referee may have had some bias in this situation. 

the second half OPFC had a full team and came out with vengeance.  dominating the offensive half of the field and hitting some great shots.  Thomas had double digit saves again and two shots went off the posts.  Very rough game.  Bubble Gum got a red card for delay of game.  Very strange call.  Dirk received a straight red toward the end of the game, again a very strange call by the referee.  When Dirk was questioning the decision a several of the OPFC players got in Dirk's face.  Dirk was struck in the face while trying to keep them out of his personal space.  What ensued was a 24 min bench clearing brawl that included drunk OPFC fans. 

Manager Harry met with Oakland Park on Tuesday and a video was shot of the donnybrook that showed OPFC players and fans were mostly responsible for the fight.  Both teams with be suspended for one game. 

week 3 v Los Gauchos. loss 2-5

Much better playing in the first 15 minutes.  FLFC scored first on Jeremy's great 1 v 2 beating both defenders down the middle and finishing hard on the ground past the keeper.  Jonny came off the bench and scored the second goal with a beautiful header putting us up 2-1.  But late in the second half Los
Gauchos put in two goals going into the half leading 3-2.  Thomas agains had double digit saves while the opposing keeper had only a couple of saves on several long distance shots.  In the second half we played even until the last ten minutes when Gauchos scored two goals against a disorganized defense. 

week 2 v Tormex 0-5

Tormex played very organized football; FTFC played very disorganized.  Having our two stalwart defenders(Paul and Dirk) not available did not help.  first half was 4-0.  second half 1-0.   Goalkeeper Thomas had double digit saves or the scored could have easily been 8-0.  Thomas stopped a penalty kick from a handball in the box but no defender followed to help him out.

FTFC had a penalty early for a push in the back of Kirk, but Joel failed to take the opportunity and kicked a soft ball to the left of the netminder for a nice routine save.  FTFC had another great opportunity in the first half on a free kick just outside of the penalty box but lack of communication resulted in a terrible decision to attack directly instead of passing to a wide open Kirk 12 yards from goal.  Tormex possessed the ball well and kept the attack in FTFC half of play.  Several times FTFC's defense looked shocked by the increased paced and domination of the game compared to the first when there where very few shots on goal.

The second half was 0-0 until a loss of  possession in the defensive half resulted in a 3 v 1.  Thomas had an incredible second half and played goalkeeper like few will ever see.  The offensive for FTFL was much more promising in the first half.  In the second there were few shots on goal.  Several times Thomas after a save went for the long throw to striker Kirk for 1v1 on the sweeper but was shut down every time.   Manager Harry keep reiterating that the clubs needs to practice together to get the rhythm.  Ray, Thomas, Joel, Osvaldo, and Kirk have not yet practiced with the core of the team.   We have a week off and plan to have a practice this weekend.  I hope that everyone is able to make it to get the team ready for Los Gauchos 7pm the first Saturday in March.  

First Game vs Hurricanes

FLFC scored a goal late in the second half, but it was called back by the referee for being out of play.  I like this ref, but that was a hard call to see from 50 yards away.  The only goal scored was our sweeper kicking the ball over the goalkeepers head.  Other than that one mistake we played an almost flawless game.  The big mistakes were missing the target on 8 shots- one on frame from forward gently picked up by keeper.  Defense played extremely well   Goalkeeper Thomas had a couple of saves but almost no shots on goal.   Weller was injured midway in the first half with a twisted knee.  The manager Harry Ramos was extremely please with the play.  I spoke with the referee after the game and he was impressed with the improvment of our side over the past few years.