97 PPL Predictions 11/7-11/8

FWU N Blue (3-0-2) vs. TFC White (3-3) - FWU has been known for their offense, but this season their defense has been stellar too. FWU 2-1
ASG (3-3) vs. TLSC (4-2) - ASG has given up 8 goals to just 3 for TLSC. TLSC 2-1.
Nationals FC (0-6) vs. Solar Silver (0-4-1) - Solar still hasn't scored this season, but this is their tonic game...NFC has given up 40 goals in six games (6.67 per game). Silver will come out golden 3-0.
Texas Xtreme (2-4) vs. Nationals (1-3-1) - Xtreme score and give up exactly one goal per game. Nats will have trouble with the TX defense and will lose 1-0.

TLSC vs. FWU N Blue - If both teams win on Saturday it will create a showdown for second place in Group 1. This should be a great game between two of the best teams in the Group. I give FWU just the slightest of edges, 1-0.



Tigers (7-0) vs. Boca Jr (5-2) - We know what the Tigers are, but Boca is a mystery. Are they the team that dominated a solid Blaze team 6-1, or are they the team who came out the next weekend and dropped a 2-1 game to FWU N White who is in the middle of the pack? This is realisitcally the last chance the Tigers have to pick up a loss this Fall, as they will have beaten each of the four teams below them in the standings if they take care of Boca. The Tigers are riding high after taking down the Aces on Wednesday, and they won't slip up here, although I expect a pretty close game. Tigers 3-1.
Aces (5-1-1) vs. Valencia (5-2) - The Aces played admirably in their loss to the Tigers, their first of the season and the first game they've allowed multiple goals. Even in the loss they controlled much of the action and their trademark defense limited the Tiger's scoring chances. Valencia has struggled to score against the top teams, getting just one goal against a stiff FCD defense and scoring none against Boca and Tigers. Most of their goals have come against the teams sitting lower in the standings. They won't find it easy going against Aces either, and Aces will hold up 2-1.
FWU N White (3-3) vs. HPSA Scots (3-5) - FWU has played better of late, but I sense a letdown in this game as the Scots have the ability to score goals if they aren't marked tightly. A bit of an upset, Scots 3-2.
FCD (3-4) vs. Inferno (0-6-1) - FCD will even their record as Inferno won't sniff the net. FCD 3-0.


Tigers vs. Inferno - The Tigers run their record to 9-0 with an easy 9-0 win.

hoff1032 wrote:Silver will come out golden 3-0.

Nice touch there Hoff!

ASG 1 TLSC 2

FWUB 2 TFCW 0

Scots 2 FWUW 1

Aces 1 - Valencia 1
Very evenly played game, each team scored with the wind. Congrats to both teams.

Stoped by the FWU Blue v TFC White game for the second 1/2......FWU played the ball very well, they were first to most all balls, they passed the ball around and worked it down the field, they had lots of shots on goal. One went in the goal and was cleared out by TFC "D". The Ref never called it. Then FWU got a corner kick, very nice!!! FWU player banged it in. Ref called it off. Not sure why, maybe someone pushed off or something. Nice corner anyway.
TFC White played as strong of a game as the could but their problem seem to be that they would work so very hard to feed one player. If they would just pass the ball and work it down field than maybe they could get something done. They would feed the player who was a tank, he would make no moves what so ever. He would just take the ball right up the middle and run over anyone in his way. I thought he was going to get a card at anytime. FWU found out fast that you can't just go right at him and take the ball. He will just run flat over you. He must have had 90 lbs on the FWU players. FWU just played the ball away from him and controled the game. TFC could be very strong if they played as a team. Not always looking for a playmaker. Coach needs to re-think his game plan when faced with a team like FWU. That may work with weaker team, but not with skilled ones. From what I saw, they have some very skilled players that could get the job done if they would just trust themselfs.
Over all good game by each team..... Lots of missed calls by the Ref.
FWU 2 TFC 0

Hoff - I am very impressed by your predictions for this weekend. You were pretty much on the money in most of the games! You absolutely nailed the ASG game and were pretty much on track for both FWU games. I'm hoping you are right in your prediction for the FWU and TLSC game tomorrow.
I can't wait to see your write-up on the Monterray-Solar Gold game!
Keep up the good work!

I thought FWU played their best game of the year vs. TFC. Despite the wind and hard/fast field they possessed the ball well and played as a team. A few strange calls or it would have been 4-0. TFC has the biggest,strongest kid I've seen at this age - he is an absolute bruiser who was tough to shut down.

OK...is it just me or does anyone else think it's ridiculous that results from 11/3-4 have not posted to the standings yet???

The 97 league commissioner has hist E-Mail address on the bottom of the standings page. E-Mail him and let him know that you would appreciate him posting the scores that have been called in a timely fashion. Timely = 24 hours. There are some commissioners who like to wait until they have all scores called in from both teams before the get on the computer and update the pages. I believe the easiest part is posting the scores on line. The hard part is to chase down team managers/coaches who have not turned in their scores via the procedure. Maybe they should fine those teams $50 day for turning in their scores late.

dfwobserver wrote:Hoff - I am very impressed by your predictions for this weekend. You were pretty much on the money in most of the games! You absolutely nailed the ASG game and were pretty much on track for both FWU games. I'm hoping you are right in your prediction for the FWU and TLSC game tomorrow.
I can't wait to see your write-up on the Monterray-Solar Gold game!
Keep up the good work!

I wish I had been right on the Aces-Valencia prediction. I had it 2-1 Aces, and Aces were up 1-0 when Valencia got a fortunate bounce on a hard shot from midfield and the keeper slipped while trying to stop and backpedal. Valencia really had no other scoring chances all game.

The AR on our sideline made a horrible offsides call from five yards behind the play. I was directly even with the play when it happened, and our forward was a full step onside when the ball was struck. The AR was way out of position behind the play and ran up to the spot and then raised his flag. Not saying we would have scored, but it would have been a breakaway and could have put us up 2-0. The CR was trailing the play and was in no position to call it either, but he had to trust his AR. I wish the AR would understand that he shouldn't make the call if he is not in position to see the play. It would have been nice to see the play develop and see if we could have scored.

Good luck tomorrow DFWO.

TLSC 0 FWU 2. Extremely physical game that the ref could have put a stop to but did not for some reason.

FWUB v TLSC- Can anyone give a full game report? I did not get to see this one..... Some girls who saw the game said very dirty play by TLSC. They said coach for TLSC got a card and a PPL commish. was called out for dirty play. I wish I could have seen this. From what I have seen FWU seems to be very well coached and fun to watch.

The first 25 minutes was all FWU as they went up 2-0 over TLFC. From that point TLFC became frustrated and the game became pretty ugly. The last 10 minutes of the first half was particularly tough and the game was out of control. The commish showed up for the second half and it might have been a little better but was still really physical. Yellow for a TLFC player and yellow for their coach who seemed equally frustrated and upset. Our boys played great this weekend and won both "must win" games. One more great match up next weekend with ASG.

Soccermom97, any comments from the TLSC side on this game?

I didn't think the game was nearly as dramatic as it was made out here... Yea, it was physical but if the ref had gotten control in the first half, the second half probably wouldn't have gotten so ugly. Center ref made some interesting calls / and had some kinda weird dialogue with the sidelines on a couple of occasions.

I completely agree with Soccermom's assessment. It was a classic case of the ref letting the play get very physical in the first half and then not being able to ratchet it down in the second. The ref looked like a former lineman for the Cowboys, so maybe he didn't think he was letting it get too rough. Overall, it was a very "spirited" game.

Hat's off to TLSC. The FWU boys were happy to get out with the win and the know TLSC will bring it in the spring!

By the way, I have always wondered if Soccermom actually is a mom or a dad posing as one? What's the story?

LOL, no posers here, I'm a mom. Soccernovice and Hoff can vouch for me.

Definitely not Soccerdad97b!

hummm. I also stopped to scout FWU and TFC. I did not see either team dominated. I saw boths goals, one an own-goal with no opponent near. Another was a soft shot go between the keeper's legs. I did notice that big kid, I wanted to scout him. I find it strange that you say they only look to feed to him because my notes are all about his prevalent position in the back (not the front).
The bit of inconsistency applies to the description of it being a physical game. I did note down that neither team was physical, at least not in the sense of looking to foul. Though, I can not state my case as well here as I did up above.
I scouted a game the prior week between the long horns and TFC and my notes are that TFC out-moved the ball and had many shots on goal, big guy played 90% center defender. Long horns played pack it in and crancked up the physcal play in the last 1/3 third of the game and then one rare, surprise shot looped in. The ref for that game was very good and called a lot of fouls, mostly on long horns 1/2. Either the ref was biased and one sided, or he felt that long horns fouled a lot. Calling a lot of fouls on the physical team keeps the other team from needing to match that kind of play. The big kid plays very good, clean defense. Gets very frustrated as a forward, but again, plays very little forward.
As far as long horns vs FWU being a physical game. It is just that the ref needs to call fouls earlier so that the other team does not have to notch it up too. Better late than never. The called fouls were just, the yellow was just, the talking to the coach was just, but all too late and made not point. When it is too late, it has a tendency to catch the retaliator/pay-back instead of the instigator so you really can not conclude much from hearing about an ugly game. It is usually nothing like it is told.

Stylecounselor wrote:hummm. I also stopped to scout FWU and TFC. I did not see either team dominated. I saw boths goals, one an own-goal with no opponent near. Another was a soft shot go between the keeper's legs. I did notice that big kid, I wanted to scout him. I find it strange that you say they only look to feed to him because my notes are all about his prevalent position in the back (not the front).
The bit of inconsistency applies to the description of it being a physical game. I did note down that neither team was physical, at least not in the sense of looking to foul. Though, I can not state my case as well here as I did up above.
I scouted a game the prior week between the long horns and TFC and my notes are that TFC out-moved the ball and had many shots on goal, big guy played 90% center defender. Long horns played pack it in and crancked up the physcal play in the last 1/3 third of the game and then one rare, surprise shot looped in. The ref for that game was very good and called a lot of fouls, mostly on long horns 1/2. Either the ref was biased and one sided, or he felt that long horns fouled a lot. Calling a lot of fouls on the physical team keeps the other team from needing to match that kind of play. The big kid plays very good, clean defense. Gets very frustrated as a forward, but again, plays very little forward.
As far as long horns vs FWU being a physical game. It is just that the ref needs to call fouls earlier so that the other team does not have to notch it up too. Better late than never. The called fouls were just, the yellow was just, the talking to the coach was just, but all too late and made not point. When it is too late, it has a tendency to catch the retaliator/pay-back instead of the instigator so you really can not conclude much from hearing about an ugly game. It is usually nothing like it is told.

Wow! Really? Are you talking about TFC White FWU Blue on Nov 7th? The game I saw was much more accurately described previously by Sidelines and LDW (except for I'd say TFC's big player outweighed the others by 40 instead of 90 ). Both goals I saw were nicely knocked in by FWU players receiving a cross.

I think Style must have fallen asleep.... What I saw was FWU first to the ball. Not only first to the ball, but lots of hard shots at the keeper. I find the thought of an own goal funny......Keeper got a work out and kept the game from getting crazy. Big guy was up top when I saw him. I think FWU's keeper touched the ball maybe 2 times.