Fall 2009 O30

SEASON FALL 2009

GAME 1: Alemannia started the season with a disappointing 1:2 loss at West Orange Park against Apec. On August 30, 2009, Alemannia played Apec, a team which under the name EZ Rent a Car had just won Division O30B and had moved up to O30A. Alemannia dominated the first 30 minutes and put enormous pressure on Apec. Christian Thier missed with a header by inches after a corner from Thor Adalsteinsson. Many other opportunities to score were missed. In the 24th minute, James Rodrigues scored for AAIX with a shot from 16m on an assist from Christian Thier. Then, Apec began to free itself from the pressure and came itself to chances. In the 65th minute, Apec's best player took the ball from his own defense all the way to Alemannia's penalty box and despite being attacked managed to score with a shot into the far right corner of the goal to make it 1:1. In the last minue of the game, Apec scored the winning goal on fast break counter attack. A very disappointing loss after a strong start.

On, Sept. 5, 2009, Alemannia played a friendly game against FC Miami. The game was fair and exciting and it served as an excellent preparation for the second game of the season.


GAME 2: Alemannia continued the regular season on Sept. 13, 2009 with a 0:5 win against FC Liga. The team had worked relentlessly on its conditioning during the two week break, and it showed. Alemannia controlled the game from the beginning with short, precise passes, timely runs and enormous pressure on the opposing ball carriers. In the 35th minute, Rodrigo DePaula scored with a free kick from 20 meters into the upper right corner. After the break, Johan "Cobra" Cardenas broke through on the right wing, took the ball to the baseline and his precise cross was pushed over the line by Carlos Luna. In the 67th minute, Carlos Luna got a red card after he and an opposing player had a "difference in opinion" . Another player from FC Liga also wished to express himself in a a manner similar to Carlos' and received a red card for it as well . The game continued with 10 against 10, and Alemannia increased the tempo. Jay Morlachetta scored on a shot from 20 meters in the 74th minute, then Thor Adalsteinsson made it 0:4 on a pass from Anton Berisha, and in the last minute of the game, again Adalsteinsson scored for the 0:5 on an an assist by Christian Thier. Losing Carlos Luna is a tough break for the team. But the performance today was a major improvement from week one.   


GAME 3: On September 20, 2009, Alemannia Aixpress played Revolution, a well know adversary as many friendlies have taken place between the two. Alemannia had the stats in their favor by winning all of the friendlies, but the heat of 93F and limited subs added uncertainty to the outcome of the official match. Our team came out a bit sluggish and gave up a goal early in the game, but then controlled the game for the next 75 minutes. Tito Diaz scored the first goal in the 20th minute, just 15 seconds after getting on the pitch, from a perfect cross from Rodrigo DePaula. The 2nd goal came just 10 minutes later via a beautifully placed free kick by Thor Adalsteinsson. The 3:1 was set up by Thor Adalsteinsson again, who was running down the right sideline completely unmarked; inexplicably, the goalie tried to cheat over towards him to cut off a potential pass, so instead of passing, he lobbed the ball to Johan "Cobra" Cardenas, who struck again by sneaking the ball behind their goalie in the opposite side of the net. Five minutes after half time, Revolution scored the 3:2 on a corner that got batted around in the box and went into the net before we could clear. But less than 5 minutes after that, Alemannia reopened the two goal lead as Phil Prince burned their defense after receiving a perfectly placed breakaway pass by Tito Diaz and finished it nice and cool in the lower left area. The last goal came just prior to the final whistle as Tito Diaz, Frederick Waczewski, and Johan Cardenas connected on a beautiful give and go with Tito Diaz finishing it off for the 5-2 victory over Revolution.
The defense was strong as their chances were few and far between. Carl Johnson in goal made a couple of nice saves including a tough one on one. Our fullbacks won countless one on ones against their offense and greatly transitioned the ball to the midfielders. Alemannia's 5:2 win wouldn't be possible without the hard work of our defense today, so way to go D!
We had 15 people total (4 subs), it was very hot, and people at times were tired. However, Rich "Solid Flab" Vosilla reinvigorated the team with well made substitutions throughout the game and this was essential to the team's 5:2 victory. 


GAME 4: On October 4, 2009, Alemannia played St. Andrews XI. Initially, Alemannia had the better chances. In the 13th minute, a shot from Christian Thier from 18 m brushed off the side of the right post. In the 23rd minute, a shot by Johan Cardenas went wide. In the 31st minute, Johan Cardenas then scored with a low shot after a quick turn from 20 m. After the 1:0, St. Andrews began to control the midfield and came to chances. Alemannia surrendered the midfield and came under more and more pressure. However, the team managed to get the game to half time without getting scored on. In the second half, Alemannia picked up where it left early in the game and controlled the game. More quick, short passes led to scoring opportunities. But Rodrigo DePaula missed on a free kick, hitting th eleft post, Philip Prince hit the right post on a break away, Johan Cardenas missed by inches several times, and Tito Diaz had two good chances to score. In the middle of all these chances, St. Andrews hit a long ball, which bounced over the AAIX defenders. The St. Andrews striker put the ball over the AAIX keeper for the shocking equalizer. Alemannia tried to score once more, but despite many chances was unable to put the ball in the net. A disappointing 1:1 tie against a good St. Andrews team, which never gave up.
  

GAME 5: On October 11, 2009, Alemannia played FC Liga again. As the first game, this was a very physical game. The referee never had this game under control. Several Liga players were clearly out of control and tried again and again to take out the opponent. Alemannia though kept its cool and controlled the game in the first half. In the 20th minute, Jay Morlachetta scored with a shot from 23m, which hit the upper right corner. What a goal!! In the 39th minute, Tito Diaz increased the lead to 2:0 on a pass from Rodrigo DePaula. In the 43th minute, the captain of the Liga team committed a brutal foul on Alemannia's sweeper Andrea Melotti. The referee though not only had not seen a foul (!!!) but gave Melotti a red card for cursing at the guy, who had committed the foul. No further comment! Alemannia had to play a man down in the second half, but managed to allow only one goal, on a penalty shot in the 80th minute. A well deserved win against an unfair and unpleasant opponent, with a referee of amazing incompetence. Alemannia won 2:1. A win like this is a loss for everybody.


GAME 6: On October 18, 2009, Alemannia played SV United. SV proved to be every bit the strong opponent we expected. The game featured the first placed team against the second placed team. Alemannia dominated the first twenty minutes and came to good chances. But Christian Thier, Carlos Luna and Joan Cardenas all missed out on good opportunites. After twenty minutes, SV United began to take control of midfield and got chances to score. One of them, a beautiful pass between the defenders, led to the 0:1. Around the 35th minute, Alemannia began to turn the tide again. But despite good opportunities, the score was still 0:1 at halftime. In the second half, Alemannia increased the pressure and dominated midfield. SV gave up most of midfield, but still came to several excellent scoring chances on fastbreaks. In the 58th minute, Rodrigo DePaula scored the equalizer on a shot from 10m into the right corner. Despite many more chances for both teams, the game ended in a 1:1 tie. An exciting game on high level against a formidable opponent!     

GAME 7: On October 25, 2009, Alemannia faced FC Winter Park, the artists formerly known as Mellow Mushroom. The field was narrow and made for a congested midfield all game. Alemannia was the better team in the first half, but had trouble converting on its chances. After many misses, Frederick Waczewski finally scored in the 38th minute from the top. In the second half, Alemannia continued to put pressure on the Winter Park goal, but could not put the ball in the net. Twice, the ball came down from the crossbar, onto the goal line, but did not go in. Rick Hartker, Johan Cardenas, Rodrigo dePaula and Carlos Luna had excellent chances to score. Christian Thier missed on a break away and shortly thereafter on a header. In the end, this was a well deserved 1:0 win for Alemannia Aixpress.

GAME 8: On November 1, 2009, Alemannia Aixpress played Apec FC. Apec was the only team AAIX had lost to this season. Alemannia dominated the game form the get-go, but was not able to convert any of its many many scoring chances. The first opportunity for Apec then led to the completely surprising 0:1. One of Apec's fast strikers had broken through and put the ball past AAIX's goal keeper. AAIX kept pushing and kept wasting chances. Finally, in the 40th minute, AAIX scored the equalizer, when Piloto crossed the ball from the left and Johan Cardenas put a header into the upper left corner. At halftime, the game was tied 1;1. After the break, Alemannia continued to completely dominate midfield and pile up chance after chance. However, Apec scored again, on its second scoring chance, another break away by Apec's fast number 15 for the 1:2. Alemannia continued to fight and eventually, the ball started to go into the net. In the 59th minute, Calos Luna hit a shot from 18m into the upper left of Apec's goal. Only minutes later, Rodrigo DePaula hammered an incredibly hard and precise shot into the upper right corner of Apec's goal to make it 3:2 for AAIX. In the 75th minute, Christian Thier hit a long pass to Johan Cardenas to the right. Johan crossed the ball back and Christian Thier sent a low diving header into the left low corner of the goal. In the 85th minute, Thor "The Hammer" Adalsteinsson converted on a free kick for the left edge of the box to seal Alemannia's 5:2 win.

GAME 9: The last game of the season was against Scruffy's. The game was held at Central Winds Park. Alemannia had to win to secure the Championship and to get promoted to Premier. In the first half, Alemannia dominated the game and came to repeated chances, but was unable to score. After the break, Scruffy's came to its only chance when their fast striker broke through. Alemannia's goal keeper prevented the goal, but was sent off for having fouled the striker. Alemannia now was a man down, and Scruffy's began to came to more chances. But Alemannia fought back and eventually came to two late goals by Carlos Luna and Rodrigo DePaula. The 2:0 win was the final step in a several year process of returning to O30 Premier!!!