Barça Leave it Late

Welcome to the second addition of the Rashaun Rivers show!

The Coquitlam Metro-Ford Barça '96 boys team won their 4th game in a row and 5th in 6 games beating a very game Langley United team 2-1 on a cold and rainy night under the lights in Langley.

The rain couldn't cool the red hot Rashaun Rivers who scored 2 outstanding goals including a world class hammer job that Cristiano Ronaldo would have been proud of. Rivers opened the scoring half way through the first half after some heavy pressure from the Langley team who was winning all the 50/50 balls and most of the races to every lose balls up until that point. Rivers collected the ball midway in the Langley end, proceeded to beat a Langley defender and rifle a shot on a rope from around 25 yards out that kissed off the underside of the crossbar and post to settle in the absolute top corner of the net. Gasps of breath could be heard around McLeod Stadium as Rivers put Barça up 1-0. The score stayed 1-0 thanks to some timely movement in goal by Jake Sundar who was quick off his line to pick off any through balls that came dangerously close to the Barça goal.

The second half started brightly for the Barça boys and really should have added to their lead when Barça strung at least 10 passes together in the Langley zone that led to a strike from Giordano Baldonero from 25 yards out that just missed the top left hand corner of the net.

Barça played much better in the first part of the second half and were in control until a breakdown after a Barça corner was cleared and Langley countered and chipped Sundar to make the score 1-1. Things turned negative for Barça for a while with the fast turf, poor weather condition and poor movement off the ball. The flowing Barça passing game that was so prevalent last weekend in there win versus Abbotsford again deserted them and left Barça scrapping to get something from the game.

Langley came close again when Jake Sundar kept out a hard shot on his back when another Barça defender was second to a loose ball at the top of the box. This time, it was Barça turn to counter and Marchello Polisi saw is shot hit the crossbar and go over.

As the game entered the last 5 minutes and both teams seeming to be looking at a draw, Rivers hustled onto a through ball that was played too deep and pressured the defender who promptly tried to play it back to his goalie. Rivers caught up to the ball rounded the keeper and slotted the ball into the empty net to the delight of his teammates and relief of his coaches.

Barça sneaks out a win that last year would have resulted in a loss. Barça moves to 6-2-4 on the season for 20 points and cements their 5th place position drawing closer to the 3rd and 4th place teams.

Special thanks to Jacob Powell who was called up for the game from the CMF Euro '97 team. Jacob played very well in the victory and again illustrated the ability of the club to produce players that can raise their game to play at a higher level.

Barça moves on to play the 1st place Coquitlam Metro-Ford Bayern next week that should be a classic as is all Bayern/Barça matches are.

Can You Move it Like This?

Can you shake it like that?

Barça Uses Math to Win 3rd In A Row

Great Effort + Solid Team Work = Excellent Win!

The Coquitlam Metro-Ford Barça '96 team had one of their better games of the season beating a very good Abbotsford Mariners team 2-1 at Charles Best. The great effort combined with sold team-work resulted in their 3rd win in a row and their 5th on the season in the very tough U14 Select 'B' division.

Over the last two games, the Barça coaching staff has been disappointed with the effort of the Barça players and challenged them to get back to the two thing that makes them an outstanding under aged team - EFFORT and TEAM WORK. Today, they passed with flying colours!

To Abbotsford's credit, they are an outstanding under aged team that will be challenging Barça in the future. They have been having some of their promising '96s play up with their Select 'A' team but with the 'A' team having a bye this weekend, they brought them down along with one of their best '95 players for the tough match with Barça.

The first half was a battle of wills with both sets of midfielders fighting for territory and supremacy. With the constant pro-active movement of Barça's outside backs (Trevor Hallam, Anthony McKave and Matteo Gallacio), the Barça midfield of Paul Serres, Giordano Baldonero, Kyle Jones, Marchello Polisi and Ryan Mobilio was able to grasp the momentum and pin the Abby team in their end. The half ended 0-0 but the chances, time of possession and shots on goal were firmly in Barça's favour.

The second half started off much the same as Barça kept the Abby Mariners on their heels. After some good defensive work from James Lynn and Anthony Martin, Rashaun Rivers worked his way down the right side and powered his way into the penalty area and scored a deflected goal to put Barça up 1-0.

Spurred on by this much deserved lead Barça kept winning the 50/50 balls and with 15 minutes left in the game Baldonero found Rivers at the top of the box who slipped a nice ball into a onside Krsto Lulic who charged to the net only to be taken down by a Abby defender. After a 'rock, paper, scissor' contest, Polisi stepped up to put Barça ahead 2-0. Cudo's to Lulic for being a team player by stepping aside and letting Polisi to take the PK!

Barça had a few more chances to put the game out of reach with both the Mobilio boys (Ryan and Michael) finding room in the 18 yard box and coming close.

With 5 minutes left on the clock, Abby got one back when a breakdown in the Coquitlam Metro-Ford defense allowed Abby's most dangerous player in behind the defense and his centering cross came off a Barça defender past keeper Jake Sundar who, besides some foot clearances, had very little to do. One must say that the undisclosed Barça defender clinically slotted the ball into the corner of the net! ;)

It was all hands on deck for the final 5 minutes but Barça showed too much heart and character to let this slip away, pressing Abby in their own end and walked off demonstrating to all their fans that they are at least one of, if not, the best team in their age group.

Barça improve to 5-2-4 for 5th place in the U14 Select 'B' division and look forward to using this new found Math against Langley United next week in Langley.

Barça Win Again!

It wasn't pretty but the Coquitlam Metro-Ford Barça escaped another close encounter to hold on to a 1-0 win over Alouette Ultra to record their 4th win of the season and move into a tie for 5th in the very competitive U14 Select 'B' division.

Barça started off quickly and had four glorious chances to virtually kill off the game in the first 15 minutes with Krsto Lulic, Rashaun Rivers and Kyle Jones missing chances that on other days would have nestled in the back of the net. Rivers eventually opened the scoring on one of his many chances with a well struck shot into the corner of the net. This woke up the older Alouette team who were dangerous from all set plays.

Infact, Alouette could have - should have - drawn level with 5 minutes left in the half when a corner was poorly cleared by the Barça defense and the Alouette midfield saw his brilliant volley from 6 yards out miraculously pushed onto the bar by goalkeeper Jake Sundar and cleared by defender Matteo Gallaccio. Sundar recorded his 4th shutout of the year in the process.

After the half Barça again started off well but uncharacteristically ventured away from their fluid passing and possession game that sees off opponents. Barça was now losing all the 50-50 battles, were second to every ball in all areas of the field, and gave the ball away cheaply as Alouette piled on the pressure. Most of the chances came outside the penalty area and when a big save was called upon, Sundar and his Barça defense thwarted the effort. Alouette came close with a great long distant strike that hammered against the crossbar and out of the danger area. Barça had chances to kill off the game on the counter attack but finishing and sustained pressure were lacking.

Barça was able to hold on and collect the full points but efforts like this will not do in the future or dire consequences will be the outcome.

Barça have hit the halfway point in the league schedule and are 4-2-4 with 14 points and tied for 5th in the league standings. Barça now move on to play a much improved Abbotsford Mariners 'B' next week.

Coquitlam Metro-Ford SC Player of the Week

COQUITLAM METRO-FORD SC PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

RASHAUN RIVERS – COQUITLAM METRO-FORD BARÇA

In the Under 14 Select Division, Barça edged the older, and stronger, Surrey United Selects by a 4-3 margin mostly due to the outstanding play of RASHAUN RIVERS.

Despite the fact that Barca struggled throughout most of the match, Rashaun managed to score 3 great goals to lead his team to an unexpected victory. Rivers, a first-year player with Barca, has had to adjust to a steep learning curve and has adjusted remarkably well to the higher expectations. With a great work ethic, positive attitude, and true athleticism, Rashaun has risen to the unenviable task of playing against older, bigger, select players and is continuously making positive contributions to his team’s endevours.

What made Rashaun’s performance even more impressive is the fact that Barca played one of its worst games of the season! For his outstanding performance, RASHAUN RIVERS has been chosen as Coquitlam Metro-Ford Male Player-of-the-Week.

Hungary for a Better Life

On the most important day of his life, Shadrak Kwabena wakes up hungry. He is 9 years old, his pencil legs covered in knee-high, hand-me-down yellow socks. This is the moment his mother imagined when she took him to the coach three years ago with a request: Please give my son a future.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=ghanasoccer

Nike - Take It To The Next Level (Director's Cut)

Neat commercial.

Enjoy

Mr. Jones

Play Well and Lose, Play Poorly and Win!

Tale of two games!

Barça came away from the last two games against Richmond United and Surrey Selects showing the best of themselves (and losing a match they had no business losing) and the worst of themselves (and winning a match they had no business winning). Both games were against teams that have been doing quite well in the league and were always going to be tough but as many Premiership teams can attest, the game(s) don't always go the way they are suppose to go.

Against Richmond United, the Barça boys showed that they can be one of the best teams in the league with their fluent passing and stingy defense. While limiting Richmond to only a handful of chances (3 actually) Barça created at least SIX clear cut chances to sink a strong Richmond team that sat in 3rd spot in the league standings.

Richmond scored on two of their chances including an offside play where a Barça player was wrongly penalized for a high foot clearance in the box and Richmond were awarded an indirect free kick 10 feet out from goal!

The Barça boys only scored on one of their six glorious chances. As much as the referee made the wrong call on one of the Richmond goals, we didn't score on our chances and thus we must share the blame! The goal was scored by Giordano Baldenero from a terrific and delicate cross from Ryan Mobilio.

Ever the other way around, Barça finally was on the other end of a result that they probably don’t deserve against a very good Surrey Select team.

Thanks to 3 goals from Rashaun Rivers, Barca knocked off an older, bigger Surrey team that had brought down 4 players from their ’95 ‘A’ team for the match.

Kyle Jones scored the other goal from the penalty spot.

At one point Barça was winning 3-1 before letting Surrey back into the game. Barça had a chance to make it 4-2 when Giordano Baldenero scored on a second PK but the ref called it back for encroachment when one of our players was pushed into the area before the kick was made. The second shot was saved and brought a 'dead in the water' Surrey team to life! All hands on deck was the call of the moment and real heart was needed to get anything out of the game.

Barca did not play very well but thanks to Rivers last minute volley, Barça was able to steal the 3 points that in other games were stolen from them!

The Barça lads now move on to play Alouette Ultra next Saturday at home.

Coquitlam Metro-Ford SC Player of the Week

COQUITLAM METRO-FORD SC PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
TREVOR HALLAM – COQUITLAM METRO-FORD BARÇA

Leadership is given to those that others follow. The best leaders lead whether asked or not! In the case Barça captain, the rest follow his true leadership.

The newly elected diminutive Barca captain is proving his true leadership by accepting responsibility on and off the field, battling back from injury with a giant of a game and filling in on the back line making crunching tackles at the back while making huge contributions going forward and turning defensive situations into offensive chances.

Against the older North Shore Select '95's, Trevor was at his best helping his team to a much deserved and needed 1-0 win by demonstrating all of these attributes from the start of the game to the finish.

Hallam is a naturally quiet boy who leads by example, sacrificing his body and using his skill and smarts to lead his team. Whatever is asked of Trevor, he follows through without questioning or batting an eye... and the rest follow.

Well done captain! For his outstanding performance, TREVOR HALLAM has been chosen as Coquitlam Metro-Ford Male Player-of-the-Week.