Match Report: Victor/Victoria

The Dean Park Rangers still have that new car smell. Despite having the early edge in possession, DPR found themselves down a goal courtesy of Victor (pictured left). In the past, going down a goal early against the run of play would have been a bad omen. But as the wise-commensurate-with-his-years Dave Batista observed: though younger, this team is more mature. Calm level-headed play and some consistent pressure finally led to decent scoring chances. It took a few pokes at the net before DPR finally broke the seal, and then the goals flowed like wine. Minutes into the second half, DPR had a 4-1 lead. Other than the goal Ilyas scored, this blog can't remember any of the others. (That's just how this blog is. If you want goal credit, you have to post a comment or get your own blog).

Speaking of Ilyas's goals, his first one (that's right, there was another one later) was pretty nice. He came down the middle of the park on a two-on-one with Everton. Although a dish to Everton on the right would have been the high-percentage play, high-percentage is about as exciting as watching someone prepare an actuarial table. Instead, Ilyas faked the pass, dragged it left around the flailing keeper, and calmly rolled a smooth, slow roller to the far post, behind a defender who was scrambling to get to the near post (it was probably a miss-hit).

Now back to the game. The defense held up well, controlling Victor and making the enormously gifted player with more skill in his pinky than most people have in their entire bodies look more like Victoria (now do you get it?). Dave, Dan, Terry, and Mike took turns getting elbowed by Victor in the midsection, and held him to a few scuffed shots and a lot of dives. The shots that did get through were generally tapped aside by Paul Jr., who also contributed to the counterattack with some good distribution and a few forays forward.

Things get more tense towards the end of the game, as Carioca pulled back a goal to make it 4-2 and 5-3. As foreshadowed earlier, though, Ilyas saved the day with a goal to make it 6-3. Smiles all around.

Final score:
DPR 6- 3 Carioca FC

Team Record: 2-0-0