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Friday, November 18, 2005

To say I am stunned by the following piece of news is to put it mildly, but here it is:

Roy Keane has left Manchester United by mutual consent.

I'll be sure to track the news, which just broke, on Soccernet and BBC Sport.

More updates and analysis after midnight, probably.

gambitch [ 8:23 PM]

Monday, November 14, 2005

Yesterday went well as far as the football went. In fact, it was a very good day for me. For the first time in a long time, I bagged three goals!

Those who know me well will know that I am totally understating it when I say that my fitness isn't that great. I get out of breath easily, mostly because I'm overweight, the sad result of some poor eating and exercise habits in my childhood. I'm still paying the price. The consequence is that my stamina is horrible, and I can't run quickly. As an outfield player in any version of football, those are attributes that you don't want to have.

So, as usual, I've been playing goalkeeper for the afternoon, until my teammates kept politely asking me whether I wanted to come out and play in my previous best position - defensive midfield. I say 'politely', because as I pointed out rather mercilessly, they were using this as an excuse to catch their breath while playing in goal. The thing is, I was late, you see, and they had played for about half an hour without me.

I equally politely declined, because I wasn't in the mood to get asphyxiated, and I like playing in goal because I'm better there. (I actually saved a decent number of shots, while conceding a few less.) But eventually I figured the day was ending soon, and it would not be entirely a problem to come out and work a little sweat, as long as I wasn't going to overdo it.

So I decided I'd have a little fun. After one save, I basically tossed the ball out to the right, and made a run to keep pace with the ball. And then I crossed the halfway line (it isn't that difficult; we weren't playing on a full-size field). And then, instead of trying a long pass across to the left as I had done a few times, I pushed forward. Suddenly I was bearing down on goal, and I can't quite remember what happened, but my shot got fumbled into the top of the net.

That was Goal No. 1. The next one was rather more hilarious, because by now I switched out to become a roaming forward. Being a lousy outfield player as I was, I didn't usually get tight marking. So somehow I got a ball, realized I was facing the wrong way, and in a desperate move, backheeled towards the other team's goal. Somehow, it went in.

The third was more routine, but I'll leave it at that. Suffice to say I suddenly found myself scoring three goals after playing for weeks between the sticks. That was fun!

But I'm not about to kid myself and say that I've suddenly become a decent striker, even among my Sunday football buddies. I'm not that good. I just had a little silly time out there, that's all. Next week, as always, I'll be back in goal.

Here's to a good week ahead for all the readers!

gambitch [ 11:38 PM]