Comments on: East Bay Boys Soccer Notebook

By: Cokito

Cokito — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:25:56 +0000

I would like to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Matt for the outstanding job he has been doing for HS Soccer in NCS, and to thank all of you for your sharing your wit and opinions on this blog.

‘After many years during which I saw many things, what I know about morality and the duty of man, I learned it playing soccer’ — Albert Camus

By: chino

chino — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:15:04 +0000

Bboy I understand what you mean… A team like YV that has been doing well kept playing the style of soccer that they been winning games with. If they been winning why change it? LL did do a great job of staying organized on defence but YV did have at least 5 clear chances to score. They almost scored in the first 10 seconds of the 2nd half. The LL keeper came up with a great save. I also saw the outside midfielders beat them and created goal scoring chances. The MVP of the game was the LL keeper. BTW the #7 kid can take any defender on a 1 on 1 situation. He just wasn’t getting the ball played to his feet which hurt them. LL did a great job being physical the whole game.

By: BbOy

BbOy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:58:42 +0000

Never said that the YV coach was bad, what I meant was that even though you guys came out stronger than the first half u guys were using the same style of play which obviously wasn’t working much. props for the fast guys that u guys have, but that game was won by the team that knew how to take advantage of the chances and played a bit better.

Saves: Knuth (LL) 10, Rodriguez (YV) 10

this show how equal was the game and that LL was competent enough to win. Not taking away any of you guys merits while playing the game but when I said it lacked a bit of coaching it was the X factor of the way that you guys played that made a difference, YV persisted in the same style that obviously wasn’t working against LL.

By: BernieBernard

BernieBernard — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:19:50 +0000

The game against Cal was the bigger of the 2 losses. Not only because of the outcome but also the loss of their goalie still lingers. Cal scored the tying goal on a followed up shot that Granada’s starting goalie bobbled. The Cal player put it in along with the goalies arm (clean play). The game against De La Salle was a bit different. Granada missed 2 golden chances early in the game. DLS weathered the storm and capitalized on a goalie/defender miscue. Their second was a result of Granada trying to score the tying goal (caught up too far). The wheels were held on by their #1 goalie. He’s out for now dealing with the after effects of his seperated shoulder.

By: Matt Smith

Matt Smith — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:21:52 +0000

I have to chime in for a second and say I’ve been very impressed with Cesar and the way he is running things at YV. I think he’s a good coach and that school will be fortunate to keep him around for a while, especially while all these young studs continue through high school.

By: Out Of Pocket

Out Of Pocket — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:57:35 +0000

You’re not a dullard, Bernie. And I couldn’t agree with you more re: “most EBAL teams need to be ranked top 15.” Acalanes is accorded a spot that simply would not stand if they faced a steady diet of EBAL teams. And I suspect others would similarly drop in ranking as well.

My point re: AV had to do with the fact that they are a better team than their record and ranking indicates. And I stated clearly that Granada righfully won the game and with it the Winter Classic vs. AV. Translation: AV was a finalist in the Winter Classic, not Cal or any other team. They got there by winning a few games, etc. And there’s more to come, too, as they mend and blend, so to speak.

Disappointing, to me, that Granada lost to Cal and then DLS. Not sure which wheel feel off the wagon, but G looked every bit to be “the” dominant horse in the race. What’s going on?

By: Soccer Fan

Soccer Fan — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:26:40 +0000

Chino, I think Bboy was actually giving YV some respect with his comments, as have I in my posts.They have a good team and good skill but they didn’t get the result. Sometimes that happens.My comment about” long ball” in post 10 had more to do with the direct play the YV coach thought would work in the second half.No doubt he thinks that #7 can beat most defenders to a ball.In this case he couldn’t but YV was desperatly trying to knot the score: hence, the ” predictable” comment ( I think).
With 5 freshman YV will be tough for the next few years.Perhaps this year but they have some admitted physical obstacles to overcome; namely size ( your words).
LL did a good job making their adjustments as well and make no mistake, the LL players have equal skills,athleticsm ( strong throws and speed) and they know the game.
BTW, love the description of the Logan field in #16.The billiards table..how true is that!

By: najort

najort — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:15:22 +0000

Out of Pocket,

Arroyo and CV already have played on the 18th at Arroyo, which ended in a 2-1 win for CV.

I know I may sound cliche, but I have to admit that the reffing in this game was awful. There was something like 5 or 6 yellow cards for CV and none for Arroyo. I thought it was a very clean game myself, but I guess the refs didn’t think so. If these were volunteers I wouldn’t complain, but these are paid officials. Anyways, the scoreline in this one makes it seem closer than it was. The Arroyo goal came in the last few seconds of play and this game was marked by poor CV finishing. The run of play was somewhat even, but CV seemed to constantly come up with golden opportunities that they couldn’t put away. No disrespect to Arroyo because they are a good team with some talented players it just wasn’t their day. I think the HAAL race will come down to O’dowd and CV as usual, but CV looks to be the better team this year

By: chino

chino — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:30:07 +0000

Bboy.. Like you said you guys adjusted your formation to stop the outside midfielders. I’m sure next time you guys play again YV will adjust to the long throw in that LL does everytime… Which was predictable but smart cause YV lacks in size. YV team is very young. They started 5 freshmen in yesterdays game. The only thing that bothers me is that you said they lack coaching when they came out a lot stronger in the 2nd half and started controlling the game. Which means the coach adjusted his team and played a lot better! I wouldn’t expect you to know much about coaching anyways just by your statements that you have said about the YV coach.

By: BernieBernard

BernieBernard — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:21:42 +0000

I’m a dullard. I just used should’ve as well. Granada rolled thru non league going 8-0-1. As soon as they got to the EBAL play it was a different story (0-2 against DLS and Cal). Most EBAL teams need to be ranked top 15.