Cheeta Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 Sunday the 24th is the day. Final has been rescheduled for 2:00 at Vince Leah. Winner goes onto the Challenge Cup tourny in Quebec City (?) to try and make it three Winnipeg clubs in four years as National Champions. Three completely different Winnipeg clubs I might add. And that's no small accomplishment for any metro area, and an honour to ol' Winnipeg City should Hellas or more likely, Sokol, be able to pull it off. Good luck, lads. Everyone bring their best game. Fingers and toes crossed for a grand final, a good involved crowd, and not too hot weather. All bets are on Sokol taking the day. Seriously. ALL BETS. Of course, Hellas have done something which so far this year Sokol hasn't and that's beat Sons of Italy Lions fair and square so we'll just have to wait and see. Cheeta well of course be there. May just bring along the nephews. They love a bit of kick about with their favorite uncle and I have sorrily neglected their education. Can't learn to swim without water my old Baba used to say, so there you have it. Just got to remember to watch the "shop floor language". God, I hope we get some next level footy out here soon. Develop an emotional attachment to a side. (Please, please, please, whatever it might be, don't let it be called a Sundog. Ug). Wretched as they were, oh, I miss my Fury. P.S. Trivia question! Former Fury 'keeper Patrick Onstad's middle name? Anyone? Cheeta knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE_TRUTH Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 can't wait for the final. it will be better for manitoba if sokol goes as they have the best chance to win. i haven't seen them play but knowing their players they should be able to outclass hellas. but for the better of soccer sokol should go through yet i cheer for hellas. keep me posted THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted August 24, 2003 Author Share Posted August 24, 2003 I worthy game for a cup final! The MMSL Champions for 2002, Sokol, are this years MSA Cup winners and well represent Manitoba in Quebec City for the Canadian championship Challenge Cup. Sokol-2 Hellas SC-1 OLA. OLA-OLA. SOKOL!! SOKOL!! A tightly marked tenative affair for much of the first half Sokol's 11 showed great respect for the Hellas counter and it was a strategy which worked exactly as scripted. Vaske Komlenovic earning a yellow card five minutes in had Sokol supporters jeering and the Hellas faithfull wondering if two sunday upsets back to back might just be on. A soft booking but an otherwise well called match in a spirited but sporting contest. A nice build up and excellent delivery down the Hellas left side allowed Sokol captain Herbie Blackwood the opportunity to make space enough from his marker to fire in from a dozen yards and give Sokol the lead. Sokol's front runners would continue to show their pace throughout the match to dangerous effect. Hopes that the goal might open up the match were not achieved as Hellas stayed the course and continued to probe the Sokol lines for openings which were not forthcoming. In a match which produced three quality strikes Hellas' score on a free kick from 22 yards had both sets of fans clapping Justin Hart's effort for the reward it deserved. (Lads, this was the best goal I've seen live since Jeff Cambridge's 30 yarder at The Stadium in '88 or '89. An absolute cracker!). Having earned a free kick in the danger area Hart struck a wicked ball right footed over the Sokol wall into the top left corner of the net. Sokol's man-giant Kevin Krause guarding the left side of the net was simply overpowered by the pace, volley, and accuaracy of the shot. Leaving the pitch at the half a deserving 1-1 there were some nervous Sokol faces. Half time locker room banter must have had a pretty straight forward message in Sokol's end of the clubhouse. The Redshirts walked onto the pitch and proceeded to come at Hellas with both barrels blazing. Nolley Sanchez sidefooted a long Herbie Blackwood cross from 6 yards on a Sokol break after only 5 minutes. Sokol would continue to force the play for most of the 2nd half and miss hit some excellent opportunities to seal the match. As it was, Hellas withstood the attacks but fresh legs off the Sokol bench spent all Hellas' energy and their late pressure towards the contest's end didn't realy look as though it would pull the sides back level. Honours all around. Bravo to Hellas who've proved themselves worthy of their Runners Up medals. They should be carefull though, as pretty soon people are going to start to expect this sort of thing from them on a regular basis. Bravo to Sokol who I think might very well be the best club side out of Winnipeg since that Lucania bunch five or six seasons ago. "Team United Nations" have some player personality issues I'd say, but winning is an excellent tonic for that type of illness. Man of the match Hellas' Justin Hart. He was on his game start to finnish and that goal!! Strong honourable mentions to Hellas' Fabio Capone and Sokol's Herbie Blackwood who's tireless tenacity set the yardstick for his teammates successful efforts. Best crowd I've seen to date. No chance at squeezing into the bleachers and supporters and fans from goal line to goal line, 3-4 deep in places. Counted about 130 adult heads north of the bleachers and with a sure twice as many on the south side I'd guess closer to 600 souls were in attendance. Great to see. Hope it holds going into league playoffs. P.S. Wondering how this move to Vince Leah is coming off? Or at least how those involved at the organisational level preceive it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDO Posted August 25, 2003 Share Posted August 25, 2003 NOOOOOO! NOOOOOO! How did this happen? Sokol will now move on to nationals and ruin everything Son's of Italy worked so hard to attain! Respect for the quality of Manitoba soccer will go way down now that Sokol is going to Quebec!Please Sokol! If you have any heart (not HART) you will back out and allow Son's of Italy to go and represent MB. My prediction: Sokol will finish no higherthan 5th or 6th! Reason:In a tourney like the challenge cup Sokol lacks the depth to play 4 or 5 games at the required level for 5 or 6 days in a row!They are also not nearly fit enough to survive the grind! Cheeta.....what do ya think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted August 25, 2003 Author Share Posted August 25, 2003 Jury's still out for me. But much more optomistic. Don't think they'll do any worse than "best of the rest" and finish 5th or 6th. How high is anyones guess. I'd like to say first;). If the moneys not there already it'll be found to send as big a roster as is able to commit to the tourny. Don't dought that for 1 second. Don't agree with you about the bench depth or fitness. Sokol's been playing a lot of bodies over much of the year and some of those bodies are fleet footed young lads of good quality. If Sokol can hold them they're going to develop a competative side for years to come. Hit it dead on about the tourny structure, though. It's going to be a real eye opener for most of these lads for sure. I don't think Sokol can be said to have "out coached" the opposition at any time this year. If that dosen't do them in, it'll be goalkeeping. Still, I don't know. A lot of individual talent out there. Just isn't as fluid in places as you'd expect it to be. But boy they can attack you every which way and are comfortable doing it. No matter what happens in Quebec everyone they play well remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE_TRUTH Posted August 25, 2003 Share Posted August 25, 2003 Well from what i hear it was a great game. i may have heard some biased opinions about the second half but none the less sokol is the team to go. Personally i know that if Kanata makes it to nationals, which they should have no problems doing, they will win. After playing with and against many of sokol's players during the off season i have no reason to believe they will do poorly and ruin what lucania ACTUALLY made possible for manitoba teams going to nat's. With players like nano and herbie and with the serbian boys i think they'll do just fine. i give them a bronze. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted August 25, 2003 Author Share Posted August 25, 2003 Adam Wazny did nearly a half page in the Free Press on the cup final. Nice snap' of Nolly Sanchez. Pretty good articule altogether. Short on the Hellas angle, but all in all not bad. Ha, you'll like this. Described Justin's goal as a Becham-esque free kick from 20 yards. If you haven't talked to Justin yet you better soon because I'm sure that by Christmas dinner it'll be "Man, you should have seen that 30 yarder in the cup final!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE_TRUTH Posted August 26, 2003 Share Posted August 26, 2003 yea i've been trying to get a hold of him but i don't really see the need as my father has been going on and on about it. i'm happy for him that he did it in the finals. Well the family comes out here to watch my games on the 13th and 14th of sept so hopefully we can put on a show for them. last time they came out i scored in each game. peace and blessings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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