[FM16] The Americans

[tenthreeleader]

The Americans

“When Americans put their mind to something, they generally get it done.” – Sir Alex Ferguson

You would never have expected me to get into this business at any level. Why I’m here, I really do not know. Call me a dreamer.

I guess it's because I really love the game. The fact that I was never especially good at it notwithstanding, I suppose.

I was a product of the soccer boom in the United States in the late 1970s. The first one, that is, not the one that actually took hold in the country after the 1994 World Cup.

Back then, the North American Soccer League was the thing. The New York Cosmos were the hottest thing going, Franz Beckenbauer, Georgio Chinaglia and Pele were all strutting their stuff on the big stage, and my home state even had a team.

I’m from Minnesota, the northernmost of the 48 contiguous United States. Here, we appreciate our league season because in most years, summer lasts about twenty minutes.

They say in Minnesota if you don’t like the weather, wait half an hour and it’ll change. That’s true on some days.

In the late fall and early winter we can go from rain to snow to sunshine within a matter of minutes and the place is populated by hockey and NFL fanatics who are only slowly coming around to the idea of the world game. They seem to like the cold weather, maybe because it lets them tailgate in the cold and sneak a flask into the stadium.

But on a true Minnesota summer evening, there are few better places to be. Summer here is what I live for.

As for football, I always followed the game. I grew up watching the Bundesliga on American Public Television once a week, with condensed match highlights and the great Toby Charles providing commentary. In college I started to follow Manchester United and from there, well, there was no stopping me.

Eventually, I became a youth coach and developed an abiding love for helping players grow. I got a very good reputation in the local traveling leagues and as a result when the greatest expansion and reorganization in the history of the American game came about, I was right there to scoop up a managerial slot.

Only they don’t call it that here. We aren’t managers. We’re coaches.

In a way, that makes me laugh. America is a land where ‘football’ is only played with the feet by two players on a 50-player team. That’s messed up, as the kids say.

They have coaches on their teams. Real football teams, on the other hand, do not. They have managers.

If that sounds like I’m a snob, well … okay. I’m a snob.

Which in its way is just fine, because the people who hate the game I love are just as strident about what they believe. Changing attitudes about real football in the United States has taken a long time, and it’s a job a long ways away from being finished.

John Cleese once said that only Americans could play a game that only Americans play and call the winner “World Champion”. Well, in football it’s safe to say that the American champion won’t deserve inclusion among the world’s elite for a few years yet – but one day, might.

Millions of young people play the game in the United States – there were over three million registered youth footballers in 2014 according to U.S. Youth Soccer and God only knows how many more casual players.

Minnesota had 76,668 of those players – the third highest total in Region II of the United States, comprising most of the Midwest. That’s the smallest of the nation’s four regions in registration, and with Chicago being the region’s only major population center, the state had only four thousand fewer youth players than Illinois.

So there’s a great interest in the game here. This is why when the game was reorganized in the United States, this area got special emphasis.

Oh, by the way … my name is Ryan Winchester. I'm 45 years old. And I've got a dream.

Author’s notes: FM16, played using MJK46’s American Premier League database. This database makes several significant changes to the American structure including promotion and relegation, a ten-tier professional system and European-style player acquisition (retaining American-style limits on foreign players, though at the level I'm starting, this won't be a problem).

In all the time I’ve played this series of games, this is my first ever save in my home country. So please indulge me. I’m also changing my style of writing for this save – my New Year's resolution is to play more FM. There will be characterization and other things I feel readers expect of me – but I’m going to be more selective in how I do it.

As always, reactions of individuals in the game are driven by the game engine.

# # #

[CFuller]

Ooh... a new tenthreeleader story - set in America! You've got me hooked already!

I'm actually thinking about playing my main FM16 save with a custom US database (not the one you're playing with), so I'll certainly be interested to see how this pans out.

[mjk46]

Awesome start man and I can't wait to see how you do once the file is released in a week or so

[edtheguy]

This is exciting - what a wonderful premise - add me to those who are looking forward to reading!

I haven't done anything with custom databases yet - but it's just a matter of time, I can't wait to see how this goes.

[tenthreeleader]

Thanks, gentlemen. Thanks especially to mjk46 for his post -- it's his database and it's the only one I have ever heard of that I have committed to playing before I ever saw it. It isn't done quite yet but when it is done, it's going straight into my machine. I've seen some sneak previews and it looks fantastic. Perhaps mjk46 will provide a download link when it's available for those interested.

For me, though, the db not being quite ready is okay -- just gives me a chance to work on a little backstory.

___

It made all the newspapers. It made ESPN, which was dragged kicking and screaming from its wall-to-wall coverage of the NBA and Draft Kings. And, it made the sports radio talk shows even among those hosts who don’t like the beautiful game.

The re-organization of the game in the United States took a massive effort and it took all the skill of Sunil Gulati of the U.S Soccer Federation (can the editorial comments, gang) to make it go through.

MLS didn’t like it. Commissioner Don Garber didn’t like it and above all his owners didn’t like it because they had everything to lose and nothing to gain. But in the end, they were outnumbered, outvoted, and finally defeated.

The story read:

USA Goes Europe

espnfc.com

Get ready, American soccer fans. You said you wanted to be more like Europe. You’re about to get your wish.

The American professional game is being reinvented from top to bottom. And Major League Soccer is right in the crosshairs of change.

Monday’s announcement of the rebranding of MLS as the American Premier League (APL) was earth-shattering in scope. No major American professional sports league has ever changed its name and survived.

Even the National Football League, which absorbed teams from the rival American Football League in 1970, kept its name when it grew. Only MLS has made the change – and not by its own desires.

“The rules changes and the complete restructuring of the American professional system made a rebranding of MLS possible and, in fact, desirable,” said United States Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati at USSF’s news conference announcing the changes. “Eventually, they were able to see this.”

The politics, as you might have expected, were unreal. The USSF and MLS hadn’t seen eye to eye on a number of issues for years, so to persuade the major league in the country to give up its identity for a new one took some real doing.

Gulati was key to that. And as details of a closer working partnership between USSF and the new APL emerge, it does appear that the idea of growing the game by close collaboration between the top pro league and the national governing body is a good thing.

But, we digress.

Whether he’s right or not, the governing body of the game in the United States, the United States Soccer Federation, has engineered a number of changes to the organizational structure of American professional soccer. You want Europe?

Brother, you got it.

Beginning with the 2015-16 season, promotion and relegation will be a thing. Fans will get to sweat out relegation six-pointers, playoffs, and all the angst that goes with going up or staying up, feeling the pain of the drop or the elation of staying in an existing league.

There will be no more packing it in and playing for next year with losing teams. They’ll be playing to stay in their league, and the benefits that league brings. Owners won’t be able to stuff their bankrolls by playing on the cheap and pocketing the difference. If they do, they’ll find themselves down a league and they won’t like that very much.

Perhaps as a sop to his past, Garber will remain as the APL’s Chief Executive Officer, but now he’ll have to watch teams enter and leave his league on an annual basis.

The ‘new’ American game will be divided into eight top tiers:

• American Premier League
  
• USL Championship
  
• USL League One
  
• USL League Two
  
• USSF National League
  
• USSF National League Conference
  
• National Premier Soccer League
  
• National Premier Soccer League Division One
  

Below those tiers, regional leagues will house teams looking to advance to the next higher level. It’s a more organized, free-flowing system, which was what fans said they wanted.

Theoretically, it will now be possible to advance from the bottom tier of the game to the top. It’s just that simple.

However, many of the rules regarding foreign players will stay intact. Teams will be allowed a maximum number of imports – which is fine with us as long as Designated Players go away.

It may also shut up some of the conspiracy theorists in MLS – who note that all the elite foreign players seem to keep winding up in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles and Seattle due to the league’s system of allocating players.

And better yet – some of the great clubs in the history of the American game are being resurrected as part of the explosion of the game in the United States.

Just one example is Bethlehem Steel of Pennsylvania, a founder member of the ancient American Soccer League and the dominant team in the nation from 1913-30. It’s rising from the ashes as a phoenix club. Originally planned as a farm team of the MLS’ Philadelphia Union, the new rules now mean the club is on its own.

The original team, which was naturally sponsored by the company of the same name, won American Cup titles in 1914, 1916, 1918, 1919 and 1926. The trophy was awarded from 1885-1929. The club also won five National Cup titles between 1915-26. That trophy is now known as the U.S. Open Cup and is still contested today.

How can you not love all that?

So there’s romance. There’s history. There’s a system in place that ‘purist’ fans of the game are going to love. There’s drama. There’s fun.

When was the last time you could say that about American sports?

# # #

[mjk46]

Awesome update but there will be two more leagues added at the first version I release. I have just finished the first of the two "US Club Soccer" divisions today.

[Victory_Palace]

Hi 10-3, I've only just joined the forum, but am a long-time reader. I've particularly enjoyed reading your stories and are now going back through the ones of yesteryear. I hope one day to write my own, but for now I just love what you're doing. KUTGW

[mark wilson27]

Another 10-3 story meaning no one else stands a chance of an award next year. Sir looking forward to having to spend time away from FM16 reading more of your work

[tenthreeleader]

Now, now, Mr. Wilson ... we've got some great new talent on board now to join the old guard and there are a number of writers who are more than good enough to knock the curmudgeon off his perch!

Victory_Palace, welcome to FMS and thank you for giving this story your first post here. Very happy to have you aboard. Feel free to look around and kick the tires a bit, we're a decent lot in general

mjk, as always thank you, I'm very interested to see your db in its final form. Having seen the kit of my new team, I'm amazed at the amount of work you have put into this.

___

I live in St. Paul, the smaller of the two “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis/St. Paul, but don’t let anyone who lives on the east side of the Mississippi River hear you say that the east side is anything less than the west.

The two cities once hated each other so much that the state’s first two major professional teams – baseball’s Twins and the NFL’s Vikings – were sent to the DMZ of Bloomington, a southern suburb, to play their games. The rivalry between the cities was so intense that the teams were named not for one of the two cities, but rather for the entire state – a practice which had never occurred before but which is now commonplace in American sports.

Then, when the NHL’s North Stars were formed in 1967, they built a stadium across the parking lot from Bloomington’s old Metropolitan Stadium to house them.

The NASL’s Minnesota Kicks played at the old Met too, which is why I bring up this particular portion of Minnesota history at this time. That’s where a young boy could go to watch the game being played, even if some of the goings-on in the parking lot had my dad moving me past with his hands over my eyes.

The Met was falling down by that time, though, and the construction of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in 1982 signaled a sea change in relations between the two cities. Now the Twins and Vikings played in Minneapolis, and the NBA’s Timberwolves went into Minneapolis as well, at Target Center.

It wasn’t until the NHL re-expanded to Minnesota in 2000 that St. Paul finally broke through, building the Xcel Energy Center to house the team. Minneapolis responded by building Target Field for the Twins and U.S. Bank Stadium for the Vikings. Added to the $250 million cost of the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, the city had seen about $1.7 billion worth of stadium construction projects in a six-year span.

So it was that when the NASL’s Minnesota United applied for permission to join MLS, they tried to build a stadium in Minneapolis, only to be rebuffed by politicians tired of giving tax breaks and building stadiums for extremely rich men.

I told you all that so I could tell you this ... that brought St. Paul back into the fold.

They successfully persuaded management to build on the east side of the river. Unfortunately, that’s where my team resides – and in terms of fan interest, my guys are so far down the pecking order as to be ridiculous.

My team is Roseville FC, located in a small suburb north of St. Paul which has a great high school team nicknamed the Raiders, a really cool shopping mall and the best Mongolian stir-fry restaurant in the world, known as Khan’s.

Minnesota United, known to its fans as the Loons, starts at the top. I start near the bottom, in the ninth tier of the new American system – in a different Premier League – the Mid-America Premier League. But we aren’t even the only team in Minnesota’s capital city, for crying out loud.

The league members are:

• AAC Eagles (Chicago, Illinois)
  
• Carpathia Kickers (Detroit, MI)
  
• Como Park FC (St. Paul, MN)
  
• Dayton Pilots (Dayton, OH)
  
• Dubuque Saints (Dubuque, IA)
  
• FC Peoria (Peoria, IL)
  
• Milwaukee Wave (Milwaukee, WI)
  
• Oakland County Football Club (Rochester, MI)
  
• Roseville FC Reds (Roseville, MN)
  
• Sparta Michigan (Sparta, MI)
  
• Troy Soccer Club (Troy, MI)
  
• West Virginia Soccer Club (Charleston, WV)
  

I was selected from a cast of several to manage this great group of players, who had yet to be determined. It was part of my job to go out and find them.

That would mean tryout camps, word-of-mouth and networking. I did have a fairly extensive network of local coaches from my days as a youth coach and traveling team coordinator. I would be leaning heavily on it.

I’d need players who would want to work hard for very little or no pay, because that’s what their manager was getting, and a group of men who could slog their way through a long season.

The other big thing about the new system – the season was changed to match the European model. If you hadn’t noticed, that would be problematic in a cold place like Minnesota.

We’re not talking England’s idea of cold. I’m talking actual, real cold. Most winters, Minnesota will have a stretch of 7-10 days where it doesn’t get above zero degrees Fahrenheit. The all time record low temperature for the state is -60, set on the second day of February.

That’s why, after the restructure, some American leagues will now have a winter break or will have certain teams play in covered facilities. Our break will run through December and January. There’s no way we’ll have a covered facility, or even a facility to call our own, for the foreseeable future. We're too small, so we'll take time off.

February, on the other hand, has no reason to exist in Minnesota. It’s a brutal month in most winters here and playing the game at that time of year is going to be a test for everyone. If I’m going to be on the touchline, I’m going to be dressed up like the Michelin Man and that’s that.

# # #

[EvilDave]

I expect another brilliant story, an education in American sports, and Hold Steady references by the bucketload. Very much looking forward to this 10-3!

[tenthreeleader]

Thanks, Dave ... the research on this particular save will be easy since it's from memory. LOL

___

As for me, I’m just a regular guy.

As I mentioned before, I’m 45 years old. I played in high school and college, but I was a goalkeeper which means some people don’t think I really played the game.

I was pretty tall, six foot three with a good command of my penalty area, but I made up for that by having a real inability to leap and hands that weren’t horrible but which weren’t the kind to make anyone forget Peter Shilton or even Shep Messing.

I had a siege gun of a right leg, though, which earned me a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings as a placekicker when my real football days were through. I didn’t make it, of course, but it was fun to try.

I have three kids. My son Bobby is thirteen, my daughter Barbara is twelve and my son Brian is nine. My wife of twenty-two years, Dawn, is the center of my existence, my high school sweetheart and the most wonderful mother I can possibly imagine.

Some guys in this game have it tough because they’ve made it tough on themselves. Dawn has made certain that this isn’t the case with me, and I often use the old line that “other guys say they have the best wife in the world, but I actually do.”

She takes care of herself, she loves to walk and hike, and like me, she’s totally devoted to the kids. And we’re devoted to each other.

Sugar-coated? Fine. Call it what you want. I’m a damn lucky man and I know it.

My kids all play the game, with varying levels of success. Bobby has some talent but has to work hard for everything he gets. Barb is more skilled, but Brian is a prodigy. He has real ability and he seems to have a head for the game, something that you just can’t teach.

I try the best I can to support all my kids, and they can all play in traveling leagues thanks to my role as owner of a local technology firm. I can take time away and work from the road, and nobody can say a word.

So I can support my kids’ desires to play the game, I can manage my club when it travels this year and I can do my job all at the same time. I like the rewards of having worked hard and accomplished something and I hope people don’t blame me for that.

But I have it pretty good. I love the game, though, and after twenty years of building my company from the ground up, I think I’ve earned the opportunity to enjoy a bit of outside pursuits.

And, of course, it means Roseville FC has a kit sponsor. Not the main one – somehow, that is the Minneapolis-based retail giant Target Corporation, and I’m not sure who did that – but it is a way for me to put my money where my mouth is when it comes to the club I manage.

But for now, it’s simply time to wait for tryouts. I am a manager with no players, no staff, and no club other than the four walls around my small office at the training ground at Roseville High School. The logo on the door – a red rose inside a stylized “R” – is the only indication at this time that Roseville FC exists.

There’s a corporate office at the mall, where the managers sit, but it’s very small and staffed only part-time. This befits our status.

Our home stadium will be SeaFoam Stadium, on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul, a Division II college school located about ten miles from Roseville proper. It’s a great facility for us, with Field Turf that isn’t horrible to play on, and we’ll like the place quite a bit.

And I love the name. The guy who invented SeaFoam, which is an engine additive that cleans out gunk from your car, attended the school and donated a ton of money to help get the place built. Hence the name.

Most of the football work is going to be done by me. I’m fine with that, and part of me can’t wait to get started.

The other part of me is terrified, but that’s life in the lower leagues.

# # #

[neilhoskins77]

Looking forward to reading this one. The reorganisation from mjk sounds fascinating. Should make for a great save.

[Dircks]

I can't believe that there's a team in Roseville but White Bear Lake gets denied. Lol.

I'll be following as this one literally hits close to home.

[tenthreeleader]

Good gracious, another Minnesotan on the board! We're taking over!

Thank you for reading ... hope this lives up to expectations.

___

My days as a player were fun but, shall we say, disorganized.

I always wanted to be a goalkeeper. My idol was Sepp Maier, the great keeper for Bayern Munich, who I would watch on television each week whenever “Soccer Made in Germany” showed them.

So when I took the pitch as a youth player (nicknamed “stilts” because of my gangly shape and above-average height), it was into the goal I went. It took me a long time to learn how to play angles, how to command a penalty area and, in general, how to play the position. In those days, specialized goalkeeping coaches were very rare.

But all that said, I played in high school and then for four years in NCAA Division III at Bethel University in the Twin Cities. I loved to play, but clearly, when my senior year was over my footballing days were as well.

I got on the local news in my senior year when we played for the conference championship and one of the local TV stations showed up to get some highlights.

We won the match when I scored, believe it or not – off a back pass, I hit a ball about eighty yards in the air which was allowed to bounce and found its way into the opposing goal. It was one of the most sweetly-struck balls of my life and it led both to a good deal of local publicity and to a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.

Dennis Green was the coach back then, and Fuad Reveiz, who now can be seen on the Do It Yourself (DIY) Network as the host of a home remodeling show, was the incumbent placekicker.

I was the guy brought in to remind Fuad that his job really wasn’t entirely safe, even though it really was and certainly should have been. I do have the distinction of having kicked an extra point and a 36-yard field goal in the only preseason game in which I played, against the Philadelphia Eagles. I guess not everyone can say that.

I was allowed to keep my jersey from that game, though, and that was a nice touch. It’s framed on the wall of my den, with my old goalkeeping number, 1, underneath my name. It’s perhaps my ultimate athletic souvenir.

But as most American football fans will try to tell you, placekickers aren’t really “football” players. As such, I faded into the woodwork and started my own company.

I spent fifteen years building my company, which started as a data storage concern and now handles cloud storage for highly-regulated businesses such as financials and health care companies. It’s a growing company and I’ve got no worries about that. I could sell it tomorrow and not have to work another day in my life.

I’ve worked extremely hard, which allows me to play at being a coach in my spare time. And while I wasn’t the best player in the world, I listened very hard to my own coaches, took the appropriate courses, and found that it’s a bit true that “those who can’t do, teach.” It was true for me.

And, of course, none of this would have been possible without Dawn.

She was one of the first girls’ players in the area. Though girls’ soccer didn’t become a high school varsity sport in the state until fifteen years after we both graduated, she played on local teams and, like me, she was a goalkeeper.

That was actually how we met, at a summer soccer camp in our sophomore year of high school. The goalkeepers did a lot of drills together and we hit it off very well and very quickly. There wasn’t much doubt that when the time was right, we were going to start dating and we were inseparable from our junior year in school right on to graduation.

She went out of state to school, though – like a lot of Twin Cities kids do, she went east to Madison and the University of Wisconsin, and we learned what it was like to be apart for four school years running. We soon decided that we didn’t care for that very much, and got engaged before our senior years in school.

We got married after graduation, and have been together for nearly thirty years.

I am very happy with my situation and couldn’t be more pleased with Dawn’s gentle support for the kids. With me being gone so much with the team this season, it’s going to be an imposition on her. I can’t avoid that and my goal is to have them with me as much as possible, but I can’t expect miracles.

I do have a miracle worker at home, though, and that counts for quite a bit.

# # #

[TwinsFan86]

So many great stories to read! I'll never keep up! Great stuff, looking forward to more, especially since I was born just outside Minneapolis, and my parents are from the Duluth/Superior area.

[edtheguy]

Really enjoying the backstory here - it has a nice comfortable feel. And I remember the Dennis Green years well, I was watching a lot of NFL then, those first few years under Green were some pretty good ones for the Vikings - well except for the playoffs that is.

Looking forward to more, as always!

[sherwinriga]

What a good story to start! By the way, make sure the save file will be uploaded in no time!

[mjk46]

What a good story to start! By the way, make sure the save file will be uploaded in no time!

Don't worry as I am the creator of it and it will be out sometime this week. Just doing the finishing touches and one more major test.

[tenthreeleader]

Thanks for the great comments, everyone ... I appreciate them all! MJK tells me that the database is nearly ready for release so I will be writing match stuff soon.

___

Sometimes you have to do your own marketing.

I learned that with my company in its early days and I’m about to learn that truth again as I try to get players to come to Roseville FC.

The obvious source for players is the local amateur leagues – the standard of player might not be completely up to scratch for the professional game even at this level, but if warm bodies are what we’re after, these guys might just fit the bill.

My first order of business was to design advertisements for the local league newsletters. As the snow finally started to melt and leagues all over America ramped up for their first seasons under the new organizational plan, I imagined that there were clubs all over the country trying to do exactly the same thing mine was.

It wasn’t pretty, but it did get the word out. Our first tryout camp was scheduled for March 25 and with that, I returned to my business for a few weeks. Competition for players was going to be fierce and even though I had a company to run, my thoughts started to wander more and more toward the pitch.

It was starting to get a bit fun. My evenings were spent at the computer, designing ads and plotting how I’d play my team, even though I had no idea about the kinds of players I’d attract. In that respect it was counterproductive at best, but at least it killed time. I spent vast amounts of time studying tactics and enrolled for licenses. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.

I also spent a fair amount of time on weekends at the team offices, looking at the kit design and otherwise wishing my life away until the tryouts began. I helped try to sell tickets too, which was a much harder proposition.

But I also stayed true to my youth roots and coached a winter indoor league team in Roseville. It was with u-12 players, an age which I always enjoyed coaching.

That age of player is moldable and coachable but is also starting to develop his skills, so you can evaluate his potential at the same time you evaluate his potential to play at higher levels. And despite what some parents will tell you, players of that age do need coaching, even their little darlings.

That said, I did have some method to my madness – trying to raise awareness about my team and its to-be-built u-18 side meant I’d need players and if I built coaching relationships with the better players now, they might be more likely to consider us as their first club when the time came.

That assumed, of course, that I’d still be in my post in four seasons’ time. That was a big ask, as the English say.

The winter season allowed me to keep my mind on the game in my spare time – and also to coach against my son Bobby, who scrimmaged my u-12s with his Roseville Raiders u-14s just as the new year turned.

We were supposed to lose, and we certainly did – but the interplay between father and son as the match wore on was a lot of fun.

An extremely hard worker, Bobby had a reputation for being a bit of a biscuit-tin head around goal but he scored twice on that day, and bowed toward my bench area after each goal.

Had it been a league match or something, we’d both have reacted differently, but on this day, goalkeeper father and midfielder son were on the same wavelength even when on different teams.

It was fun. It was a game. That fact wasn’t lost on either of us.

Where I was going, though, that was about to change. It would soon be more than that.

As I watched my son celebrate the simple joy of scoring a goal, I wished I could bottle the simple happiness he felt.

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

Thing of it is, if any team in Minnesota does anything in this game, they’re going to be treated as conquering heroes.

In terms of success in professional sports, this place is a wasteland.

Minnesota has one of the best women’s basketball teams on the planet – the WNBA’s Lynx have won three championships in the last five seasons – but that’s it.

Baseball’s Twins finished last four seasons in a row in their division, losing nearly 400 games in the process. Their last championship was almost twenty-five years ago, and the area’s last in a major sport.

Basketball’s Timberwolves have been a laughing stock of the National Basketball Association for years, as one of the league’s worst-run franchises. Some good luck in drafts has given them reason for hope but they are some time away from being a contender. The old Lakers were a great team in the 1950s but moved to Los Angeles.

The NFL’s Vikings are the poster child for spectacular failure, having not reached the Super Bowl in nearly two generations and writing the book about how to throw away games from winning positions. They used to be known as football’s version of the Boston Red Sox, until that team started winning things.

The National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild suffer from an inflated sense of self-importance, having accomplished nothing meaningful in a setting of unreasonably high expectations due to being based in the self-proclaimed “State of Hockey”. Prior to them, the old North Stars were good in the early 1980s but were a regular loser until they moved to Dallas.

In the college ranks, the University of Minnesota’s football program hasn’t been truly competitive in fifty years, the men’s basketball program is in a shambles and all the high-profile programs in the state are in decline or are moribund.

There are few metropolitan areas in the United States that experience the Twin Cities’ level of frustration when it comes to winning things. It’s bad enough that one of the major sports tadio talkers in the area refers to the region as “Loserville”.

He doesn’t necessarily like it, mind you, but the truth is the truth when it comes to wins and losses and the facts are plain: Minnesota is a place where winning goes to die.

So just about any team – be it the larger-scale Minnesota United, the independent baseball club St. Paul Saints or even a small little club in the new American game – has the opportunity to gain a following.

And if that means little Roseville grows up, that would be just fine with me.

I never liked that “Loserville” tag anyway.

NOTE: The database is ready. Let’s get going!

# # #

[mjk46]

Hell of a update man!! I am ready to see how far you take Roseville

[sherwinriga]

You're going well in this update! Will you show the download link for that database?

[mjk46]

You're going well in this update! Will you show the download link for that database?

Here you go man! http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/450247-The-New-American-League-System-FM16

[sherwinriga]

Thank you, mjk46! I hope I can play this in the future!

[tenthreeleader]

July 1, 2015 – Roseville Soccer Complex, Roseville, MN

What dreck.

I mean, I try to be optimistic, but life in the ninth tier is going to be harder than I thought.

After our open tryouts, we’ve got about forty players under amateur contracts. About half a dozen of them are what I’d consider to be reasonably accomplished. The rest are unreasonably accomplished, I guess you could say.

But this is what I signed up for. The pundits, such as there are at this level, have already pegged us to finish ninth in this twelve-team league. Since we can’t be relegated past this point, I guess that’s not the worst thing in the world.

But the people who supposedly know think that old Ryan Winchester’s men are going to be makeweights. That means there’s no pressure on us, which isn’t the worst thing in the world either.

Even my board, what there is of it, doesn’t think much of our chances, asking only for us to finish mid-table. As a result, my first meeting with my new team went really well when I told them I wasn’t necessarily looking for the sun, moon and stars.

Simply clearing the trees would be really nice, come to think of it.

Our first friendly is against our own reserves and I’m really not sure whether the teams are split up appropriately. Our friendly schedule starts against local teams a week or so afterward and that’s great since I’ll be able to make judgments about how players play with each other before deciding on the long-term makeup of the senior team and reserve team.

After that, though, the friendly schedule gets a bit more difficult. I’m trying to get match action for these players but our schedule is pretty tough.

According to the experts, our league is slightly more prestigious than the First Division in the Cayman Islands, but less prestigious than the First Division in Barbados. So it’s not like we are going to overwhelm anyone.

18 July 2015 - @ Bloomington FC (NPSL Midwest Premier League)

22 July 2015 – Minnetonka City (local club team)

27 July 2015 – Minnesota Twin Stars (NPSL Midwest Premier League)

1 August 2015 – Tampa Bay Rowdies (USL Championship)

5 August 2015 – Red Wing FC (area club team)

That said, the opening game could hardly have been more non-descript.

Roseville FC 2-2 Roseville FC Reserves

July 2, 2015 – Roseville Soccer Complex

It was ugly in virtually every respect. The senior team had to come from behind in the last five minutes to earn a draw with the reserves and u-18s. I had my eyes opened.

Cory Bradford, a local striker who everyone tells me is going to be the heart and soul of the team, wound up in the book after only three minutes. Against his teammates. That was not exactly a great start. However, his side-foot volley after half an hour that opened the scoring was much better.

However, the reserves scored twice in three minutes in the second half, through 16-year old winger Guillermo Villareal and veteran winger Hector Garcia, putting my team behind 2-1 with sixteen minutes to play.

To their credit, though, they found a tying goal, with the introduction of 22-year old striker Sandro Freitas jump starting things. He slid a great ball through to Bradford with five minutes left and the 28-year old, who has played on local teams for three years, didn’t miss.

He told me afterward that he loves the idea of playing so close to his home, and as such all the interest being shown in him by other teams as everyone scrambles for players is a bit unnerving.

Nobody is getting paid in our league, so really, if a player changes teams out of the Twin Cities area, he’s upping sticks and moving to another city for zero salary. That’s odd. But this game does odd things to people, so I suppose a few are going to try.

Who knows. I might be one of those trying to convince someone to move here.

# # #

[mjk46]

July 1, 2015 – Roseville Soccer Complex, Roseville, MN

Who knows. I might be one of those trying to convince someone to move here.

# # #

Don't know why they would want to move or play in Roseville when Edina is the better choice. First they have two clubs, the area is super nice and so much more. Oh I forgot to mention they face each other in the Cake Eater Derby haha.

[tenthreeleader]

I grew up on the west side of the Twin Cities in the next community over from Edina. I grew up as their rivals. Now that I am an east sider, Roseville is the far superior option, and Rosedale kicks tail all over Southdale in terms of shopping facilities anyway

__

My team is a hodgepodge as most of them are at this level.

We had two weeks – or five training sessions – between the reserves friendly and our first “real” friendly against Bloomington. So it was time to take stock of my team.

Goalkeepers

Kris Garcia, 28 – Can catch a ball. If he can stand in the right position, he’s useful.

Valerio Izzo, 16 – Spent the first day of training talking about his international options. I love an optimist.

Defenders

Alex Armstrong, 24 – In ten years, he has a chance to be 34.

Mark Kline, 17 – Loves to lead others. It’s playing full back that challenges him.

Chris Quintana, 25 – Functional. And I’m not kidding. Probably the starting left full back in my 4-4-2.

José María Bravo, 16 – Came off the bench for the reserves and made a real impact. Technically weak, but can run all day.

Reed Chulis, 16 – A traffic cone with feet.

Garret Chadwick, 24 – Understands marking. Decent in the air but does nothing else well. A pity.

Denis Velasquez, 24 – A starter. Marks decently, good in the air and understands his position.

Richie Johnson, 16 – The reason the varsity didn’t score more than two goals. The reserves’ best player, will challenge for time with the seniors. Can amount to something.

Midfielders

Ryan Lucas, 22 – An anchor man. Hopefully he doesn’t fall out of the boat.

Mike Brown, 18 – Very strong in the tackle. Has potential. Holding midfielder with some upside.

Gustavo Acuña, 25 – Can play either side and knows how to cross a football. Definite starter.

Keith Nolan, 17 – Everyone says he’s got potential but I have yet to see it. Nice Mohawk, though.

Bob Vega, 22 – Left-sided player with the hairline of a much older man.

Kyle Jones, 21 – Right-sided player with a decent turn of speed and a sense for how to cross. Likely starter if I can’t find a better option.

Guillermo Villareal, 16 – scored against the senior team for the reserves so deserves a look. Maybe not a long one, but a look nonetheless.

Stephen Penn, 25 – His real name is Smith, but anyone who looks as much like Spicoli as this guy does should consider changing his name. Central midfielder.

Israel Figueroa, 16 – Interesting name. If his skills develop to match it, I’ve got a player. Here’s hoping.

Jim Smith, 16 – There’s some talent here. Can play off the strikers and a good physical player too. Will bear some watching.

Strikers

Cory Bradford, 28 – So clearly the best player at the club I can’t describe it. Hard to avoid being one-dimensional when he’s out there but everything we do will go through him until a bigger club takes him.

Sandro Freitas, 22 – Target man and good in the air. Pairs decently with Bradford from what I can see. Second-best striking option.

Tony Cochrane, 23 – If there were any sort of technical skill I could point to, I would. But there isn’t, so I can’t.

That said, these are my guys. I’m going to work with them, warts and all, and remind myself as I do that I wasn’t a whole lot better than any of them when I played. Their coach isn’t any great shakes either, so I’ll bear that in mind too. We’re all in the ninth tier for a reason.

# # #

[edtheguy]

Best Squad evaluation ever. Awesome stuff as always!

[CFuller]

Ryan Winchester doesn't pull any punches, does he?

I really loved what he said about Alex Armstrong! My fellow British FMSers will probably agree with me when I say that he really is Pointless!

[tenthreeleader]

Thanks for the thoughts, fellows. And I did go on YouTube to check out "Pointless". What an awesome game show idea!

___

We have two players already willing to come here.

Rodrigo Vasquez, 27, who is presently not playing for Bloomington FC, will make the ride north on I-35E to play for us. They’re our first friendly opponent, so it’ll be fun for him to face his old friends.

Cory Hector, 17, a midfielder who somehow managed to avoid the carnage of players signing for teams all over the area, is also coming in. He’s the ninth-tier version of Roy Keane, with a Mohawk, of course. If he cracks the XI, he’ll give us some steel. For some reason, those who identify with us are really excited about this kid. I was too, otherwise I wouldn’t have signed him, but their enthusiasm borders on unreasonable.

One area where we’re getting more than a bit of complaint is from the local high school coaches, who are seeing players who would ordinarily be playing for their teams going on to the new organizational ranks. They still have to be schooled, of course, but I see some significant troubles for the powers that be if the complaints get any louder.

We also have our first import. Marc Guzan, a player I once coached in youth soccer and who still has family in the Twin Cities, is moving back home from Wenatchee, Washington, and will go straight into my team. He’s a smooth finisher and I like him quite a bit.

We’ll lose players this way, too, of course, but at least for the time being I have insurance in case Bradford gets tempted away from Roseville FC.

Dawn giggled about all this player movement when I arrived home for the Fourth of July celebrations in the Twin Cities.

“You’re a real wheeler-dealer,” she said, hugging me tight as I entered the kitchen.

“You think so?” I asked, looking into her amazing blue eyes.

“My husband, the art-of-the-deal guy,” she teased. “You’re going to do just fine at this coaching thing, just you wait and see.”

“Let’s go watch some fireworks,” I suggested. “And then maybe make a few of our own.”

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

Guzan’s teammate, Bryan Larentowicz, is coming along for the ride.

The two were the strike duo for the USSF National League Western Conference team and now they’re my strike duo. Bradford has company up front now.

I now have two target men and two poachers, who fit quite well in the tactic I want to play.

It’s a high-pressing 4-4-2 which asks quite a bit from the wingers and the strikers. It’s going to take some time to get right, especially when we can only practice two nights a week, but when they get it right, the textbooks say it should work out just fine.

And I also got a starting goalkeeper from right in my back yard.

Chris Williams, 22, who was languishing with Como Park just up the road, will now play for Roseville. I saw him play in USSF leagues a couple of seasons ago and liked what I saw then. He’s perfect for us – tall, rangy, a good command of the area and a decent handler of the ball. As a former goalkeeper, I know what I like to see in a keeper and he’s as close to it as I’m going to see at this level.

The thing of it is – Como Park is a league rival. The communities are ten minutes apart. It’s not quite Everton-Liverpool in terms of scope, but they are our backyard competition for attention and fan support. It’s a good thing to take a good player from them.

The back room might also get considerably bigger, with someone finally answering my advertisement for a first-team coach.

And what an applicant it was – Richard Mulrooney, former Toronto FC, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes and Dallas FC defender. He was also capped 14 times for the United States and has probably forgotten more about this game than I will ever know.

Yet he wants to get onto my staff. After a quick phone call to see if I was being pranked, I nearly ruptured myself getting back to him with an agreement.

At that time as well, the preseason odds were posted by some guy who keeps a league website. It’s nice to know that there is someone around our league who is wonkier than I am.

Promotion odds – Mid-American Premier League

Milwaukee Wave (1-5)

Oakland County (1-5)

AAC Eagles (5-1)

Carpathia Kickers (16-1)

Como Park (16-1)

Dayton Pilots (16-1)

FC Peoria (16-1)

Fort Wayne SC (16-1)

Roseville Reds (16-1)

Troy (16-1)

West Virginia Soccer Club (16-1)

Sporting Iowa (5000-1)

After Mulrooney and I finished laughing at Sporting Iowa and wondering what it was that made them such a lock to be a disaster, I focused on another pet peeve of mine.

“Richard, the Milwaukee Wave,” I said, and he nodded.

“What about them?”

“Well, we’re the Reds. They’re the Wave. What do you call one of their players?”

He looked at me and laughed. This was about the amazingly annoying tendency of American teams to have non-plural nicknames.

“One of us is a Red,” I said. “One of the Wave is a … Wa?”

We finally decided on “Ripple” and went out to run practice.

July 18, 2015 – Friendly #1

Roseville FC @ Bloomington FC

Bloomington FC Stadium

“Bloomington FC Stadium” was actually Bloomington Jefferson high school’s field, renamed for the use of our higher-level opposition.

Unfortunately, even though some people thought we might come out of this with a win, we played like high-schoolers ourselves. Ninety minutes, new players – and not a single shot on target in the entire match.

That said, I was happy that we didn’t lose. They were a league up on us and so should have been expected to do well. But Williams, making his first appearance in goal for us, was pretty good and even got help from his crossbar in the 85^th minute, but we only looked like scoring once in the entire match.

That came ten minutes from time when, with the starters all on the bench, Bryan Larentowicz made his bid with a free header from Bob Vega’s cross. With keeper Bill Herrera hung completely out to dry by central defenders who were nowhere in sight, Larentowicz looped his header over the bar and off toward the parking lot. The good news was that of our five attempts at goal, four of them came after I lit a fire under the players at halftime.

But Larentowicz’s effort was as good as it got. We compounded not having shots on target by not having possession, either. So we have a lot of work to do.

Roseville FC 0

Bloomington FC 0

H/T: 0-0

A – 61, Bloomington FC Stadium

Man of the Match: José Manuel Ochoa, Bloomington FC (MR 7.2)

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

The kids are taking to Dad being gone with good grace.

Bobby would go to practice with me in the evenings and Brian would too when he wasn’t playing with friends, riding his bike or playing FIFA on his Xbox. Barb, for her part, was quiet about things but she wanted me home as much as possible before the season started, when I’d get swallowed up in the mundane details of running a team.

Mulrooney helped a lot with that and he was a real find, but we couldn’t find anyone wanting to provide athletic training services to us, and that was a real issue from the point of view of player safety.

The friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies – an opponent of Minnesota United in the USL Championship, one step below the Premier League – would supposedly net us enough money for emergency services for the rest of the season, but you always want these sorts of things dealt with early on because at this level, sometimes whether you attract a player depends on whether you can care for him in a decent manner if he gets hurt.

But to have my kids and Dawn around at this point in time was really a good thing. My work matters, and running my company, took up a lot of my time as well when I wasn’t on the practice field.

But as our second friendly arrived and I was looking for better performances, I was concentrating on my guys.

July 22, 2015 – Friendly #2

Minnetonka FC @ Roseville FC

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Oh, I forgot to tell you – we lost our stadium just before the season started.

There was a snafu with Concordia St. Paul and we lost the opportunity to play on their field for our home games. That was too bad, but the city stepped to the plate and saved us at the last minute.

The Oval is billed as the largest outdoor skating rink in North America and in the winter, it’s exactly that – with our surface nearby. The United States National Bandy team trains there – which was news to me as before we moved to the Oval I wasn’t aware there was a United States National Bandy team – and also hosts speedskating and other events.

Now it hosts football as well. The pitch is standard size and it contains enough seats to not look cavernous when it’s nearly empty – which will be most of the time until we start to attract some people.

Friends and family were in attendance tonight – and all I can say is that my players must be pretty unpopular even in their own houses.

Given that four of the 92 tickets sold tonight were to my own family, that means the remaining 23 members of my team – and those of Minnetonka FC, in the western suburbs about 30 minutes from the ground – accounted for 88 spectators.

The announced crowd was 92. It might not have been that high.

That was too bad because they missed a much better performance from us. Minnetonka held the ball for the first few minutes but as soon as they gave it up, we punished them. Jose Maria Bravo took the ball down the left and hooked a very nice ball into the danger area for the run of Keith Nolan, who hit a twenty-five yard bullet into the top right corner of the goal to give us a lead three minutes into the match.

We put them back on their heels, and just before the half hour it was Nolan again, this time setting up Larentowicz and this time he didn’t miss. The new guy made it 2-0 with 27 minutes on the clock and also knocked in a square ball with one minute left in the first half for a 3-0 advantage.

It was the second team from the Bloomington match that had done all the damage and that raised my eyebrows a bit. I praised them up one side and down the other at halftime, wondering what my “first team” would think about it all.

The answer was, not very much. I started to make substitutions after Kyle Fearrington burst between my two teenage central defenders and gave Kris Garcia no chance in our goal, and I had to get up and onto the touchline after Minnetonka started to dominate play after that point.

Even at our level, we were better than the visitors and I had to remind certain players of that fact before putting more of my senior players on for the last twenty minutes.

Larentowicz completed his hat trick with 73 minutes on the clock with a fine low finish after we made a super decision on a cross from Bravo, who first-timed a ball to the left right into the box where Kyle Jones was ready to run onto it.

However, he was in an offside position and knew it, so he simply played a dummy right onto the foot of Larentowicz, who was both in line with the last defender and in a better position. He made no mistake and we got the benefit of the doubt on offside.

That was 4-1 and the game.

Minnetonka FC 1 (Kyle Fearrington 63)

Roseville FC 4 (Keith Nolan 3, Bryan Larentowicz 27, 44, 73)

H/T: 0-3

A – 92, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match: Bryan Larentowicz, Roseville (MR 9.6)

# # #

[Cheesey1975]

another great story in the making

[tenthreeleader]

Here's hoping, Cheesey ... a very low LLM save is always interesting!

___

And then Bradford left.

He moved to California. They paid him to do it, though, and there was nothing we could do but wish him well and start looking for another striker. He did it on the morning of our friendly with the Twin Stars and that was doubly hard since we had no way to immediately replace him.

Fresno Fuego, of USL League Two, the fourth tier of the game, offered him $30,000 a year to come and play. He couldn’t say no to that and even though he was a local guy, I didn’t even try to convince him to stay. He deserves to know if he can make the grade in a better league but I told him to stay in touch in case it didn’t work out.

Figuring we’d lose him, I was scouring the wires for information on players before the bid ever arrived, even though I was waiting for answers before the Fresno bid arrived.

Chad Steucher’s name kept popping up. A 28-year old striker with pace and a nose for goal, he had been out of the game for 19 months since being released by Windsor Stars of Canada. My people said he could do a job for us.

The transitory nature of life in the lower leagues was already more than apparent to me. Trying to establish any sense of continuity was going to be a king-sized problem once larger clubs raided me for my better players.

As such, I was a little downcast when Dawn arrived for the game that night against the Minnesota Twin Stars, a league up and a lot better than we are. We had traded texts throughout the day and she knew I was in a bad mood.

“Buck up, buttercup,” she smiled, hugging me tight. “Nobody has offered me a transfer fee for you.”

I had to grin. “Would you take one if it was offered?” I teased.

“Not for all the money in the Glazers’ bank account,” she replied. Some things in life really are more important and I had to remember that.

July 27, 2015 – Friendly #3

Minnesota Twin Stars @ Roseville FC

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

They really were that good. The Twin Stars were running rings around us.

For a team only one tier up, they looked a whole lot better than we did. There was only one ball on the pitch and unfortunately for us, they wouldn’t let us play with it.

Their captain, Robert Jones, opened the scoring sixteen minutes into the match on a simply horrific, and rather alarming, play by Chris Williams in our goal. He was played through rather artfully by Tony Locklear and I watched, horrified, as Williams kept backing up rather than playing the angle.

“What the hell is he playing at?” I moaned as Jones easily beat him to the far post for a goal their play deserved.

We got nothing going – as in, at all – in the first half and I scratched my head in front of the team at the break.

“Look, I realize we aren’t favored tonight but could you at least look like you have an idea what you’re doing out there?” I asked. “I get that this is about fitness but some of you guys need to put a bag over your head if I’m going to send you out for the second half.”

One of them, unfortunately, was my new vice-captain. Garret Chadwick had the unquestioned friendship and loyalty of his teammates and as such he was at the heart of our defense for the match. What he didn’t have was a sense of where to find Twin Stars striker Michael Dean – and that was his job.

Dean’s wastefulness prevented a cricket score in the first half, as the English might have said, and I kept the starters out longer than I wanted to in the second half because I simply wanted to see better play.

It took seventy minutes for us to get a shot on target and after that milestone, we did play a little better.

Eight minutes from time we got a corner on the left side and it wound up deep in the box where Chris Quintana got his head to it. He headed it directly at teammate Jim Smith in the six-yard box.

Smith then made a marvelous reflex play, dropping a shoulder and redirecting the ball past Greg Davies in the Twin Stars’ goal to get us tied up with eight minutes to play.

We took that result with a smile and got the hell out of Dodge.

Minnesota Twin Stars 1 (Robert Jones 16)

Roseville FC 1 (Jim Smith 82)

H/T: 1-0

A – 89, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match: Jim Smith, Roseville (MR 8.1)

Tampa Bay was next. I looked forward to that match with all the pleasure of a deer caught in the headlights.

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

Chad Steucher signed two days later, giving me a full complement of strikers once again. He joined us right before the friendly against Tampa Bay, a full seven tiers above us in the league structure – they had played in the old USL, a step below MLS and which was now known as the USL Championship.

It was supposed to be a bloodbath. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what it was.

August 1, 2015 – Friendly #4

Tampa Bay Rowdies @ Roseville FC

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

We were hardly into our seats before the Rowdies were ahead 2-0.

Corey Hertzog had made us look sick twice, getting open inside the six-yard box to score easy chances with Williams stranded before five minutes had been played.

I had changed the formation to 4-5-1 for this match. It was a silly, stupid decision. The tactic wasn’t trained as well as our 4-4-2 and they carved us open with ease.

My thinking, such as it was, favored five in the midfield. But when the five have no idea what they’re supposed to be doing, it’s a dumpster fire rather than a formation and we were made to pay for my shortsightedness.

Bulgarian striker Georgi Hristov made it 3-0 just before the half hour and at that point I decided enough was enough. My young team wasn’t handling things well at all so I went back to 4-4-2, added a second striker and things immediately improved after that.

The team talk at halftime was short and sweet. We weren’t supposed to win but we were supposed to be more than speed bumps for Tampa Bay, and we went out fired up for the second half.

They made no substitutions at halftime, and we stood with them with a revised eleven for most of the second half. Right on the hour, we pulled a goal back as Chris Quintana’s ball from the left touchline found Acuña near the penalty spot. His looping header found the target to make it 3-1 but that was as good as it got.

We couldn’t get a corner defended in the 70^th minute and Omar Salgado made it four for them, and Hertzog completed his hat trick four minutes before the end of the game.

That didn’t please me at all – I had my youth team out there by that point and Rowdies coach Stuart Campbell still had half his starting eleven on the field looking for a hat trick for his striker.

We did get to watch Freddy Adu play for them, though. Once regarded as the wonderkid of American soccer, Freddy’s career had fallen off the edge of the earth in terms of advancement, and here he was in the second tier playing against a ninth-tier team.

That didn’t make it hurt any less. Yes, it was a friendly, but they had rubbed our noses in it, and my words to the team after the match that we had played hard and done our best switched everyone off. They were angry. I was angry.

We had made money on the gate, with a few of Minnesota United’s “Black Clouds” in attendance to size up their own league rivals – but none of us was happy.

Tampa Bay Rowdies 5 (Corey Hertzog 3, 5, 86; Georgi Hristov 29, Omar Salgado 70)

Roseville FC 1 (Gustavo Acuña 60)

H/T: 3-0

A – 410, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match: Corey Hertzog, Tampa Bay (MR 9.6)

There was actual media present after this match and I fell on my sword.

“I didn’t give us a chance in this match,” I said. “We thought five in midfield would slow them down but our players weren’t as tactically aware as they could have been and that was my fault, not theirs. We will be better for having played this match, even as much as it hurts to think about right now.”

We got the draw for the First Qualifying Round of the U.S. Open Cup too, and we’re heading to Dubuque for our first game. The board expects two wins from me in that event, and if we can’t even get corners defended in our friendlies, that’s going to be a tall order.

As a result I wasn’t too happy when we left the stadium for home after the game.

It was left to Brian to summarize everything with the innocence of a child.

“Geez, Dad, you guys got your butts kicked,” he said as we climbed into the car.

There may be a lot more of that ahead.

# # #

[mjk46]

Good update and that sucks about the loss. At least a bus trip to Iowa isn't too bad.

[tenthreeleader]

Thanks very much! Yes, I expected to get drilled by a much bigger team and they didn't disappoint me!

___

I’m looking for defenders.

I’m looking for attackers.

I’m looking for midfielders.

This team simply is not very skilled. After today’s last friendly, in which the opposition goalkeeper gifted us the game, I’m really hitting my network hard.

The problem is that we do not have a scout and we cannot pay for one. And though business is good at my company, I can’t hire any more staff and then ask them if they happen to know anything about the ninth tier of American professional soccer.

Because if I could do that, I would.

August 5, 2015 – Friendly #5

Red Wing FC @ Roseville FC

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

I stood there in disbelief, watching Red Wing keeper Andy Ching trying not to tear out his hair.

The keeper had committed one of the most amazing blunders I had ever seen in the game – with help from one of his defenders – nine minutes into the match.

We had taken a corner, and perhaps somewhat to his own surprise, Chris Quintana had put a highly useful ball into the box, where keeper Ching had smothered it, but spilled the ball about three yards in front of goal.

Lying on the ground, Ching lost sight of the ball, which meant defender Jermaine Martin, on the left post, needed to try to play it. His clearing effort hit Ching squarely on the back of his head and rebounded into the net for an own goal.

Ching lay on the ground, stunned, but eventually recovered. Once we knew he was okay, everyone except the Red Wing players and staff had a good laugh, and there was a bit of debate over whom to award the own goal. Ching, as the last player to touch the ball, earned the honor and play resumed.

But after the Tampa Bay debacle, we were sluggish and slow, and our non-league opposition from the Mississippi River valley started to carve us open with distressing regularity.

With 29 minutes on the clock, something named Daniel Barabona got behind the defenders and beat Williams to tie the game 1-1, which finally set me off on the bench.

“I don’t care if this is a friendly, that’s bulls**t,” I snarled, and to my right, Mulrooney agreed.

“Light a fire under them,” he suggested. I’d have loved to but I’d have been arrested.

A friendly suggestion to wake the hell up was given on the touchline and six minutes later, we responded through a superb effort from Steven Smith, who side-footed home a great first-time volley from eighteen yards when Red Wing couldn’t get their lines cleared after Acuña’s cross. His shot was letter-perfect and we were back in front.

We got to half ahead 2-1 and I suggested that there was better in the players.

Unfortunately, they seemed to disagree, and as such the entire second half looked like it was played in a vacuum. It was truly awful football and my suggestion after the match that things would have to change was largely met with receptive ears.

Except for one player, and that surprised me.

Chad Steucher, the latest free transfer in the striking department, wasn’t happy. In fact, he looked and sounded angry that I should suggest that they had been anything but magnificent. He used two choice words, in fact, and that caused a bit of a stir.

As the players changed to leave, I called him into my office.

“I will tear up your contract right this very second if you ever do that again,” I said. “I am the reason you are here, so you can decide what you want to do right now. I can find a replacement for you tomorrow. I don’t let my employees talk to me like that and I damn sure won’t let you talk to me like that in front of this team.”

He started to answer but I cut him off.

“Not a word from you,” I said. “I mean it. Get out of here before I change my mind.”

He left, as unhappy as when he came in. I’ll probably have to make a move with him sooner or later, but the fact remains.

Right now, this team is not very good.

Red Wing FC 1 (Daniel Barahona 29)

Roseville FC 2 (Andy Ching og 9, Steven Smith 35)

H/T: 1-2

A – 77, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match: Steven Smith, Roseville (MR 8.3)

# # #

[edtheguy]

Now might not be a good time for someone to ask for Mr. Winchester's thoughts on his team's execution....

[chesterfan2]

Just caught up with this. Brilliant. the line In ten years, he has a chance to be 34. is by far the best player 'pen picture' I have ever read.

[tenthreeleader]

Ryan Winchester is a live wire, so to speak, as self-made men often are. His team will need to be on its toes. Channeling the late John McKay is only one way.

Motivation is a funny thing.

___

Kyle Murphy’s arrival made me feel somewhat better.

The 24-year old central defender had moved to the Twin Cities on business, so securing his contract from Weston FC of the NPSL Southern Premier League had not been difficult.

He scratched a few itches for me. Positionally sound, good man marker, decent positionally and better mentally than I had become used to seeing from my defenders. He was one for the present and he would go straight into the starting team for the first trip of the season.

Troy, Michigan was our destination point. A northern suburb of Detroit, the city bills itself as “the safest city in Michigan”, which is certainly a good thing from a visitors’ point of view.

There wasn’t money to fly the team to Detroit just yet, so our first trip would be a bus nightmare. It was ten hours and 700 miles for us across Wisconsin, around Chicago and then across Michigan to get to the opener, and then another eight hours on the bus after that to get us to Dubuque, Iowa for our U.S. Open Cup match. Then we had to bus home.

So it was that Murphy and I got to know each other a bit on the trip. It came over a card table so that was fine, but the first road trip in team history taught us that we didn’t know what we didn’t know.

We had never loaded equipment before. We had never arranged seating before. We had never tried to stick to a travel itinerary before. The first trip was an exercise in improvisation.

But, we got there, and I spent a fair bit of time texting Dawn as the bus chugged its way across three states.

“I hate having you gone already,” she wrote, which caused a bit of a wistful expression on my end.

“I’m not thrilled about it either,” I replied. “Hopefully the trips won’t cause too much trouble.”

“Sounds like the games will do that for you,” she teased.

I had problems enough. Guzan had hurt his heel against Red Wing and with no physio on staff, he was seeing a physical therapist for his treatment. He was supposed to miss two weeks but who knew how long he’d really be out?

Enter Aaron Hall, another Texan. The 26-year old signed from Texas Stars of the NPSL Southern Division One and was another player who could step right in.

I watched on television as Manny Lagos and his Minnesota United team traveled to Indianapolis for 2-2 draw against the Indy Eleven. I guess you call one of those team members a “one”. The Loons spotted their hosts a 2-0 lead and came back with two goals in the last half hour for a draw. Not bad.

But I had other, much smaller, fish to fry.

August 12, 2015

Roseville FC @ Troy Soccer Club – Mid-American Premier League Match Day #1

Troy Soccer Complex, Troy, Michigan

Hall didn’t make the eleven for the opening match but Murphy did, and we kicked off to a bit of apprehension on the visiting bench. Like ourselves, Troy was listed as a 16-1 favorite for promotion, and after our performance in the last two friendlies, I was wondering how we would react to my pre-game demand for a competent performance.

It turned out I needn’t have worried. That felt odd.

Eleven minutes into the season, Bryan Larentowicz was jumping up and down like a madman in the Troy penalty area, having just converted a great square ball from my best friend, Chad Staucher. The striker had run onto Chris Quintana’s lead ball and, seeing he was covered, simply laid the ball into the middle and the poacher couldn’t miss.

Six minutes later we were yelling again, as Kyle Jones ghosted in. Off a corner, Gustavo Acuña found Quintana in the middle of the area and he nodded down to the right, for the run of Jones. Two-nil and it was as easy as that.

Troy sagged noticeably, and Acuña buried them seven minutes before half when he bent a simply wonderful ball over the reach of keeper Ericq Roche from the left corner of the penalty area. It had to have flown fully thirty yards in the air and was perfectly placed to give us a 3-0 lead at half.

What could I do? I told the players how marvelous they were and sent them right back out there. Our new captain, Alex Armstrong, had gotten loose on the right and pulled back for Steven Smith in midfield, playing out of his preferred role but hardly caring. He threaded the ball to the left for Acuña who had time to move to the middle, set his feet and beat Roche like a rented mule to make it 4-0.

We weren’t done. Acuña earned a free kick by the right touchline in the attacking third, and he put a great ball right into the middle of the area, where Smith rose for a blissfully uncontested free header to make it five to us with twelve minutes left.

We weren’t done. I took Acuña off for a bit of rest prior to the trip to Iowa and his replacement, Bob Vega, picked up a sixth goal, heading home a great pass off the boot of our new boy, the wildly popular Cory Hector, who had come on at the same time as Vega.

Troy was missing six players already due to injuries, and we made them pay for it.

No problem, right? The league table agreed with us – if nothing else, we could say that we led the league, on goal difference.

Roseville FC 6 (Bryan Larentowicz 11, Kyle Jones 17, Gustavo Acuña 38, 63; Steven Smith 78, Bob Vega 86)

Troy Soccer Club 0

H/T: 3-0

A – 169, Troy Soccer Complex, Troy, MI

Man of the Match: Gustavo Acuña, Roseville (MR 9.4)

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

That was unexpected. It was also a hell of a lot of fun.

NPSL Mid-American Premier League Week One

Dayton Pilots 1-1 Sporting Iowa

Fort Wayne SC 2-1 AAC Eagles

Milwaukee Wave 1-1 Carpathia Kickers

Oakland County 1-1 FC Peoria

Troy 0-6 Roseville FC

West Virginia Soccer Club 0-3 Como Park

So the two St. Paul teams are 1-2 in the league after the first week, on goal difference, while the three teams tipped for promotion – Milwaukee, AAC and Oakland County – all failed to win.

The bus trip continued, as we started west and headed to Dubuque for the club’s first ever U.S. Open Cup experience against the amateur Dubuque Soccer Club.

It did feel strange to be referred to as the ‘bigger’ of the two clubs, but given the team’s ongoing struggles with fitness, a large number of players who had taken part in the dismantling of Troy were going to have to watch this match from the stands.

It was sort of a week-long National Lampoon vacation. The guys are still getting to know each other and that means there’s a fair bit of weirdness associated with the trip. Like most teams at our level, guys have road roommates and for now, we’re guessing who should room with who when we go to a hotel.

We’re learning who gets along, and who doesn’t. If we go on a losing skid, that task might get considerably more difficult.

But for now we were a winning club and since there was no point in returning to the Twin Cities for a day before getting right back on the bus, we went straight to Dubuque and sat in a town where there wasn’t quite as much to do as at home.

They have a waterpark. They have two casinos, which I had to bar my players from entering. They have the national Mississippi River Museum, which is interesting if you’re into the Mississippi River.

As for me, I stayed in my room and worked remotely, on a business proposal for a good-sized bank chain in California. That gave me something to do before we had a light training session the afternoon before the Dubuque match.

Getting the players in match condition is important but so is doing the things that help you win once you’re in shape, such as tactical instruction and learning how to get set pieces defended. We didn’t do a good job of that at all against Tampa Bay and we were exposed for it, with the backchannel whispering suggesting to me that people weren’t happy with us getting rocked by a team seven tiers above us.

My thought was that we were supposed to get rocked but we played hard and scored, and both got better from the experience and made a few bucks that this barely-professional club can really use. I guess there’s just no pleasing some fans.

But for now, there was a Cup game to play and for a change, we had expectations.

August 15, 2015

Roseville FC @ Dubuque Soccer Club – US Open Cup First Preliminary Round

Chalmers Field, Dubuque, IA

Hall wound up in the starting lineup as I made a number of changes to the team due to players who weren’t ready to play at a decent level twice within the same week.

That was unfortunate, but it also wasn’t terribly surprising. Part-time players can be asked to do things that will get them in condition but if they don’t have the time or the inclination, they can’t be made to do those things. So sometimes we have to change out a lot of players. Since we aren’t paying anyone, that’s not a huge problem but it does mean that finding understanding between players will be a bit hard at times.

We gave up a couple of half-chances at the start of the match which woke up the makeshift team a bit, but Kris Garcia kept them out of the goal and that was what mattered the most. It’s always easier to teach players lessons when the learning doesn’t hurt them.

Our second straight road match hadn’t started well and our hosts had most of the possession as well. We were flat, we had most of what I’d usually consider our second eleven out there, and the smaller team had most of the play.

Brian Menizes, the guy their PA announcer seemed to get the most excited about in the pre-game warm-ups, was trying to cause a nuisance for us by beating us over the top. That wasn’t the hardest thing in the world for him to do, given that stand-in captain Garret Chadwick and his partner Rodrigo Vasquez were only slightly faster than fully loaded ice wagons.

They did everything but score, in fact, which was fine with me, especially since we scored first. Hector Garcia, up from the reserves for this game, started the move with a very nice ball to Mike Brown in the holding position. Mike then found Mark Kline’s run down the right, and the fullback crossed quite artfully indeed for the disgruntled Chad Steucher, who volleyed home with thirteen minutes gone to get us ahead.

The Iowans looked at us like they were a little bit lost, which is what Iowans often do in the eyes of Minnesotans, and tried to figure out how to climb back in the match.

They sort of muddled around us, but we did next to nothing offensively for the remainder of the half. Dubuque attacked us with industry but with little else and we got all the way to halftime with the lead still intact.

“You guys would rather be lucky than good,” I said with a smile as the players sat for the break. “That’s fine, we’re on the road against a team that’s charged up to play you. But when we counterpunch in the second half you’d better be ready and you’d better defend like wild men. Pretty simple game today, gentlemen.”

I also had an issue with the referee. Mark Geiger was whistling a vast amount of fouls in the match – and the overwhelming majority of them went against us. Nine of the ten fouls he whistled in the first half were against us along with both of the cards – to Kline and Steucher.

We had also received all three of the cards issued in our 6-0 demolition of Troy, which was a bit of a mystery – and as the second half started, all the fouls were called against us.

As in, every one of them.

But it didn’t matter much – Dubuque would move the ball into decent positions and my defenders would find ways to spoil the shot – either by charging it down or forcing the shooter off his stroke to put the ball wide.

That was even better – and we countered them perfectly in the 77^th minute with Aaron Hall on the receiving end to administer the coup de grace to the home team.

We had been outplayed without much doubt. But we had survived, won our first Cup match, and headed back to the Twin Cities a happy team.

Roseville FC 2 (Chad Steucher 13, Aaron Hall 77)

Dubuque Soccer Club 0

H/T: 1-0

A – 586, Chalmers Field, Dubuque, IA

Man of the Match: Kris Garcia, Roseville (MR 7.7)

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

Steucher is gone.

After Chad’s petulance, I hardly minded. He got an offer to play in Albert Lea, which is in extreme Southern Minnesota near the Iowa border and is directly south of the Twin Cities both geographically and in terms of quality of their league. I couldn’t figure him out. So it’s probably best that he’s gone. He hardly had time to unpack his things with us before he left anyway.

I saw online on the way home from Dubuque that our old friend Cory Bradford had scored for Fresno Fuego in his USL League Two home debut for the Californians. They lost 2-1 to AC Connecticut but he had gotten on the scoresheet. Good for him.

My issue is that I can’t seem to keep strikers under contract. That’s unfortunate. Next on the hit parade for me is Diego Torres, 25, a striker for Houston Regal of the Southern Premier League, and he seems to want to come play for us.

That means that the four strikers on my team – Larentowicz, Guzan, Hall and Torres if he comes here – would all have come to us from out of state. The first two were Washingtonians and the latter two were Texans.

It goes to show what some people will do to play football, I guess. But we had a significant test ahead of us and we needed everyone to concentrate.

Oakland County FC, which is quite near to Troy as a suburb of Detroit, is a favorite for promotion out of our little league, and they are our opponents in the home opener.

I looked at some video of their surprisingly even 1-1 home draw against FC Peoria in the opener and was able to take a few notes. Since we have no scout, and league guidelines say that matches should be videotaped and uploaded to a central site, it’s a way to look at other teams.

I even volunteered my company’s cloud storage services to the league, an offer that was gratefully accepted. I thought it was the least I could do.

But watching the video, the first thing I saw was a talented team that was better than ours in a lot of areas, especially in attack. That was a bit odd to say about a team that had opened up by scoring six goals on the road, but I felt it was true.

But after two nights of watching video, Dawn had very gently had enough.

“I could put on a see-through nightie and you wouldn’t even notice me,” she teased, as I watched video.

“I bet I would,” I replied, turning to her. “I see you're normally dressed.”

My wife put her hands on my shoulders and massaged them, which felt marvelous and brought me back to first principles.

“The day I have to do that to get your attention is the day I will want you to quit,” she said.

I looked back over my shoulder, touched her hands, and agreed.

August 19, 2015

Oakland County FC (0-0-1, 6^th place) @ Roseville FC (1-0-0, 1^st place) – MAPL Match Day #2

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

I was a bit disappointed to find out as I arrived at the stadium that Mark Geiger was going to be our referee for the third straight match.

After giving out six cards in our first two matches – all to us – and whistling 19 of the 20 fouls in the Dubuque Cup match against us, I was starting to feel a little paranoid about Mr. Geiger.

You might say I was a Geiger Counter. I’ll get my coat.

Once the match started, though, I felt a bit better because we started strongly and that hasn’t happened much to us.

We even scored first again, when the influential Acuña shook loose down the left and hooked a great cross into the six-yard box, where it fell right on the head of Kyle Jones in the center of the action.

Kyle’s header hit the crossbar but Marc Guzan, back in the lineup after recovering from a heel injury, was first to the rebound, bundling home to get us into the lead after thirteen minutes.

But after that, we simply fell apart. It was disheartening. Ryan Félix lashed home from a simple square ball we couldn’t get defended at the 33-minute mark, which was our first competitive goal conceded of the season.

But it quickly got worse, as winger Devante Williams did almost exactly the same thing five minutes before the break and Félix tore us to shreds right as the match ticked over into first half added time.

It was 3-1, we were defending horribly, and Oakland County had certainly shown me why they were promotion favorites. It was quite a display, and I knew how Troy must have felt the week before.

“I don’t know what the hell that was out there but it sure wasn’t the team I’ve seen play the last two games,” I said as the players sat, disconsolate, at half. “This is the team that got its asses handed to it by Tampa Bay. You like that feeling? Fine. Mail in the second half and take your beating like men. But if you don’t like that feeling, then you’d better show me something better in the second half.”

“Get the ball up the park,” I said, slipping into the English phraseology. “Make something happen. I don’t care if it doesn’t work, get creative and show me that you want to accomplish something. They’re holding you down and slapping the crap out of you out there. You can make it stop. Now go do it.”

We were better as the half began, and it took us ten minutes to cut the deficit to 3-2 when Larentowicz found the range from ten yards to cap what was probably our best move of the game to that point. We were a bit fortunate there too, as Acuña’s cross for the striker was volleyed firmly against the right post, with the rebound again bouncing sweetly to us.

That was one goal. We needed two and as we started to hammer Oakland County back into a shell, that pesky third goal simply would not come.

Not needing to score, the visitors were content to defend and then try to hit us on the break. Guzan, who had played well but who had lost most of his rather pitiful game shape while injured, came off as the match reached 70 minutes for Hall.

The players surged forward as I stood on the touchline screaming encouragement to them. Six minutes from time, it all worked as we were fortunate for a third time. Acuña took a corner and it wound up at the feet of Kyle Jones in the box. His drive was parried by goalkeeper James Bertuzzi – but right back at Jones, who drove the rebound into the upper right corner of the net with the keeper down.

That tied it up for us and our small crowd was thrilled. We had come back from 3-1 and I pulled the exhausted Kyle Jones and Jim Smith off for Bob Vega and Cory Hector.

No sooner had they come on than Quintana had found Larentowicz in the middle, with the striker’s ball to the left finding the run of Hall. His cross was about to be cut out by defender Mark Marshall – but Acuña got there first, sidefooting home to put us ahead.

That was entirely unexpected and the entire bench, manager included, celebrated wildly. Five minutes later it was all over, and you could have looked at it as either a complete collapse by the visitors – or a magnificent comeback by Roseville FC.

You can guess which one I chose.

Oakland County 3 (Ryan Félix 33, 45; Devante Williams 40)

Roseville FC 4 (Marc Guzan 13, Bryan Larentowicz 55, Kyle Jones 84, Gustavo Acuña 85)

H/T: 3-1

A – 243, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match: Kyle Jones, Roseville (MR 9.0)

# # #

[mjk46]

"I was a Geiger Counter" Haha i liked that. Also nice win there.

[tenthreeleader]

“Really?”

Looking at the training calendar for the upcoming month, I was rather amazed. It was an example of one of the frustrations of managing a part-time team.

For the upcoming four weeks, we had only one training session scheduled. My hope was that no one would be sick on September 1.

Part of that was due to playing twice on Wednesday – we couldn’t practice either before or after the match – and part of that was okay, since everyone on the squad had lives and jobs, including me. At this level, it wasn’t supposed to be all about the game, and finding that balance was very important.

Dawn certainly thought so, and so did my kids, who liked the idea of having Dad home more often. That was good – and it meant I could watch Barb play in her youth games from time to time as part of a family outing.

The relationship between father and only daughter is always going to be a special one. While not as naturally gifted a player as her younger brother Brian, Barb certainly knew how to find the net. Her coach utilized her as an attacking midfielder, playing a grade level up on Roseville’s u-14 team, where she gave as good as she got.

She would earn her opportunities through a sense of positioning that was superior to other players her age, and when she got the ball, she knew what to do with it. Watching her I saw a practical young lady who knew how to get the most out of her game, even at a young age.

That made me happy. As a coach that really made me happy, but as her father, I was proud that Barb knew how doing her best could contribute to success. That’s the kind of attitude we need more of today and I was very happy to tell her how proud I was.

August 22, 2015

Peoria FC (1-0-1, 4^th place) @ Roseville FC (2-0-0, 1^st place) – MAPL Match Day #3

Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

We entered the match two points clear of Milwaukee, Fort Wayne and Peoria, as the only team in our league to win their first two matches.

Before the match we held a staff meeting, such as we were, to discuss how to handle the coming end of the transfer window. We had been hit particularly hard in the striker department but I had a couple of things I wanted addressed if it was possible.

“First, we are painfully slow in central defense,” I said. “We get beat over the top constantly and only the lower caliber of player at this level prevents us from giving up scoring chances by the bushel basketful. I would like to see us find at least one central defender with some pace and staying power. At the rate our matches are coming, we need someone who can play a lot as well. Rotating the squad like we have to do isn’t good for building teamwork and understanding.”

“Second, we need someone like Acuña on the right side of the team,” I said. “He can play both sides but we really need another field-stretcher on the right side of the field that is a natural in that position. A dual threat up front would really help.”

Those two players had already been identified, and they both played with the Minnesota Twin Stars across town: defender Muhamed Pérez and midfielder Kevin Lee. Either one would be a nice capture – both would be amazing.

And once again, Mark Geiger’s face greeted me as I arrived at the ground. The score was now 7-0 – seven cards issued to us and nary a one to our opponents – and I was trying not to let it get to me.

Yet we hadn’t lost in a match where he was in charge, and that made me feel a bit better. A bit.

That said, we looked absolutely horrible in the first half against a Peoria team that clearly seemed to want it more than we did. Still, though, Kris Garcia in our goal was keeping us in the match. Without him it would have been a disaster – and I say that as a big fan of Chris Williams.

But even Garcia couldn’t keep Adamu Okoye out of the six-yard box and nobody could have stopped the bullet he powered home from that short distance to get them ahead in the last minute of the first half.

In a way that goal helped us – it cleared the decks for the team talk I felt the team needed to have rather than the one that would have simply said ‘hang in there’.

“I don’t see a lot of good football being played here,” I snapped at half. “If you guys see any laying around in your lockers, be sure to bring it out there for the second half.”

It took three minutes for Marc Guzan to find his supply, side-footing home three minutes after the restart to get the game tied 1-1. That looked better, and once the visitors had burned through all of their substitutions early in the half, we could see how the game would set up for the end.

Then striker Chris Magee limped off for them with twenty minutes to play – and out of substitutions, they were down to ten men. What an opportunity.

What an opportunity wasted, frankly. We did exactly and precisely nothing against ten men for twenty minutes and when Geiger blew for full time – for the record, with one more of our players in his book and none for them – I was not happy at all.

Peoria FC 1 (Adamu Okoye 45)

Roseville FC 1 (Marc Guzan 48)

H/T: 1-0

A – 250, Guidant John Rose Oval, Roseville

Man of the Match – Steven Smith, Roseville (MR 8.0)

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

Pérez agreed to come to Roseville after the match, and that was a big lift for the philosophy I am trying to install. We had a match scheduled with our local rivals next – and it was the start of a fairly important stretch for the team.

The draws for the Second Preliminary Round of the U.S. Open Cup and the Preliminary Round of the National Amateur Cup were held at the same time – and naturally, we were drawn away in both.

We were drawn away to Tacoma – meaning a flight to Washington – in the Open Cup and away to Utah FC, in Provo, in the Amateur Cup. With rearranging of other matches, it means we are playing on the road four times in a span of ten days, even if one of the matches is just down the road in Como Park.

Utah FC is third in the Pacific Premier Division, our western equivalent, and the Tacoma Stars are eleventh in the 12-team Cascadia Premier League, which would be the northwestern equivalent.

Too, we have a road match in Chicago against the AAC Eagles sandwiched in there for good measure. It’s going to be a difficult stretch.

August 26, 2015

Roseville FC (2-0-1, 1^st place) @ Como Park (2-1-0, 2^nd place) – MAPL Match Day #4

Como Park High School, St. Paul, MN

It all started here, against our local rivals in the first matchup of three between the teams this season.

In our league, each team plays every other team three times for a total of 33 regular-season matches. The odd number of games means that half the league will play one more home match than on the road and vice versa.

We happen to be one of the teams playing 17 home games, which is good, I guess, but this trip is really going to show what we’re made of.

Unfortunately, in this match it looked like what we are made of is something along the consistency of tissue paper.

The team that hammered Troy and found the goal four times against Oakland County was nowhere to be found, managing only two attempts in the first half but still getting to the break scoreless.

Again, it was Mark Geiger as our referee – I really wonder if this guy is going to fly to the West Coast with us now – and he earned an actual ovation from me when he put Como Park’s Kenny Vargas into the book in the 56^th minute for a cross-body bloc thrown against Acuña, who was nowhere near his usual standard today.

Hall started in the striker position and was disappointing, coming off on the hour for Larentowicz, but Hector Garcia playing on the right simply showed that I was right when I talked about needing a true right midfielder. He was trying hard but he just wasn’t very good – and it was his error that led to our undoing.

His wayward pass was intercepted by Jack Oxendine on their left on as brutal a giveaway as I’ve ever seen. We hadn’t won a second ball all night, it seemed, and now we were giving them a first one – and then we got beat over the top, with David Meza strolling in one-on-one against Williams, who could hardly be blamed when he was beaten with eight minutes to play.

We had nothing in response. But I had plenty for the players after the game.

“Not as good as you think you are, eh, guys?” I snapped. “Pathetic. There’s no way we shouldn’t do better than that. Those of you who are going with us to the coast had better start thinking because this was horses**t.”

It was a surprisingly passionate response from me and even the players with whom I get along very well – Larentowicz, Cory Hector and Acuña in particular – could do nothing but agree.

We were awful and we deserved to get beat. And we did.

Roseville FC 0

Como Park 1 (David Meza 82)

H/T: 0-0

A – 290, Como Park High School, St. Paul, MN

Man of the Match: David Meza, Como Park (MR 8.1)

# # #

[tenthreeleader]

“Ryan, you can’t let this change you.”

Dawn, as usual, was right.

We didn’t get Lee, who would have made a huge difference for us. He committed to the Twin Stars, despite being sixteen years old and too young to sign a contract, and the day after the fiasco at Como Park I was in an exceedingly bad mood.

None of my attempts to shore up that side of the forward line had done any good and I was wondering if I was really going to have to go into league matches with such an important part of the team in such a weakened state.

The players were trying hard but we weren’t getting the kind of performance I felt we needed, and so I was looking to make changes.

And my wife, bless her heart, was reminding me of more basic truths. We were talking on Skype with me in Washington State and I would much rather have been at home with her.

“You know that you are talking about replacing Roseville and Twin Cities people with people from out of town,” she reminded me. “And what was this I heard you saying at the beginning of the season about ‘these are my boys?’ It sure doesn’t sound like it.”

“My task is to win games now,” I said. “But I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I’m right,” she said simply. “Did you like it when you were a player when someone would be recruited to come in and take your place?”

“No, but I understood that the coaches had a job to do,” I said.

“But you are letting it change you,” she repeated. “This intensity, I get that you need it if you’re going to be a success, but I don’t want it to change the man you are. That’s the man I married. Just be careful, okay?”

I looked at her, so pretty and content – and a thousand miles away, damn it.

“I’ll try.”

August 29, 2015

Roseville FC @ Tacoma Stars

U.S Open Cup Second Preliminary Round – ShoWare Center, Tacoma, WA

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

I shook Mark Geiger’s hand as I entered the stadium at the head of my team. Geiger was also entering alongside us – our referee for the sixth consecutive match.

He had mollified me somewhat by booking Kenny Vargas against Como Park – even if he had also carded a frustrated Cory Hector and Kyle Murphy in the last ten minutes of the match. The score was now 9-1 in cards issued in that stretch, but it looked like we were going to see an awful lot more of him.

The ShoWare Center, like our own John Rose Oval, was originally purposed for a different game. The Tacoma Stars were one of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)’s original teams, and, like our own space, an outdoor field had been constructed to house the outdoor team.

The place also hosts the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team as well as the Seattle Mist, who are the current champions of the Legends Football League – women playing the gridiron game wearing practically nothing. The league used to be known as the Lingerie Football League, believe it or not.

I guess I was glad I didn’t get to see that, even as a few of my players talked about trying to buy season tickets, but back to real football now. There was only one major outdoor team in Tacoma, so the anticipated live crowd was going to be on the order of ten times larger than what we were used to seeing.

That was both good and bad, since some of my players were barely past high school age and unused to playing in such settings – but good since that kind of crowd can charge up a team.

Geiger immediately got in my good graces by putting Tacoma defender Marc Davis into his book for a wicked tackle on Larentowicz just three minutes into the match. My striker got up gingerly but carried on, to his credit, as the surprisingly large home crowd roared its approval of the tackle and whistled at Geiger for correctly awarding a card.

We shut up the crowd just after the twenty minute mark, though. Another of my teenagers, midfielder Jim Smith, took a throw down the left and found Hector Torres, given one more chance to show his worth. Hector put the ball into the middle of the area, where Larentowicz found it and laid off for Acuña to his left. The midfielder confidently struck his fourth goal in five games into the lower left corner of Martyn Grainger’s net.

So far so good – and the lead actually lasted until halftime despite some threatening combinations from the Stars. Muhamad Pérez was looking half decent at center back in his Roseville debut and even though we only had three shots at goal, we led at the break.

The intermission was all about building belief, since the Tacoma crowd had been a bit intimidating at times during the half. I challenged the team to find a way to hold the lead and erase the Como Park match from their minds.

So I was quite angry indeed when right on sixty minutes, we couldn’t get a simple corner defended, with central defender Ryan Wagner finding far too much space for a free header in front of Garcia, finishing easily to get the game tied again.

My reaction must have done something to the players. The whole idea of conceding in such a fashion got me downright red-faced and the players noticed.

Three minutes later, we were celebrating in exactly the same fashion as Acuña’s corner from the right found the onrushing and late arriving teenager, Cory Hector, who drilled a header home to get us back in front. It was his first goal for the club and even though he was late arriving, the goal came just in time.

Things got even better when a 76^th minute clearance from Garcia found our other new boy, Diego Torres, in space past the halfway line. Marc Davis hacked him down from behind and my new best friend, Mark Geiger, wasted no time in showing a second yellow and sending him off. It would have been a professional foul if Davis had been the last man and the referee had no choice.

The rest of the match was easy to see out, with a slow tempo, possession and eleven against ten. Geiger even carded Tacoma’s Rusty Brady in injury time.

Maybe there’s hope for him yet.

Roseville FC 2 (Gustavo Acuña 24, Cory Hector 63)

Tacoma Stars 1 (Ryan Wagner 60)

H/T: 1-0

A – 2,910, ShoWare Center, Kent, WA

Man of the Match – Gustavo Acuña, Roseville (MR 7.6)

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