Tampa Bay Table Soccer Club: October 2011

The 2011/2012 season started for the Club with an unprecedented 2 days of Subbuteo in which there were held three A.S.A. sanctioned tournaments: 1st Edition of the League Cup for the Veterans category and the Open Gasparilla Cup on Saturday September the 10th , the Open Florida Cup on Sunday September the 11th 2011 .

The events marked the start of the A.S.A. official season and the return of Alex to the Subbuteo pitch after missing the entire past season and saw a low attendance of just 3 players, Jody Schaaf [ from the Savannah Subbuteo Club ] and Isabel Batacchi the other participants.

Isabel did not participate at the Veterans event because call at work at the last minute, so the two old rivals played a 3 games tournament for the League Cup:

Alex was able to win all three games: 2-0 [ 0-0 ]- 2-0 [ 0-0 ] - 2-1 [ 2-1 ], even though the play was very tight and Jody missed some good chances when the result was still 0-0, both players struggled and made a lot of mistakes , definitely their overall game resented of the long inactivity .

When Isabel arrived the Gasparilla Cup event started. The format was a round robin in which every player was playing each other twice.

Alex - Jody 1-0 [ 0-0 ]
Isabel - Alex 1-2 [ 0-2 ]
Isabel - Jody 0-0
Jody - Alex 2-1 [ 1-0 ]
Alex - Isabel 1-0 [ 1-0 ]
Jody - Isabel 0-0

In the first game the play was very evenly matched, a very defensive game oriented, with not many chances created and Alex was able to win it with a lot of luck with a goal 2 seconds from time, after a Jody mistake gave him back the ball cheaply with 17 seconds left on the clock , he was able to go down the pitch "stealing" a victory not deserved.

Isabel started very well hitting a post and with good possession, Alex was lucky again and in counterattack was able to close the half 2 goals up, she came back with a goal in the second half but the final result was never in jeopardy.

Great game the third one, where Jody and Isabel missed many chances each, which was the story of the all tournament definitely a record in low scoring.

Game 4 saw Alex defeated by Jody , thing that did not happen since 4/2/2006 in A.S.A sanctioned games,both played better than previously, Alex attacking and Jody defending with occasional and deadly " long balls" , Alex did not cope well with his opponent strategy, too busy attacking was often leaving his back line misplaced and unattended and paid the price[ fantastic Jody's winning goal shooting a rolling ball after a long one went around Alex defence], even though he had a spell of the last 5 minutes all in his opponent half [ the "never die attitude" of the Red Devils], a bar, a post and some missed chances were not enough.

In game 5 Alex was able to win over Isabel with a long shot with the ball in her shooting zone and his man on his shooting line passing in a very narrow space between 2 defenders and even though the game was even in the play he was able to win it and secure the victory in the tournament.

Last game between Jody and Isabel was again very even with chances on both side but no precision in the shots, just a great game with no goals.

The day after it was Florida Cup, with the 10th anniversary of the Towers attack that the participants honored with a minute of silence before starting to play.

from left Jody, Isabel, and Alex with the Trophies

Isabel - Alex 0-2 [ 0-0 ]
Jody - Isabel 0-0
Jody - Alex 0-1 [ 0-0 ]
Alex - Isabel 3-1 [ 2-0 ]
Isabel - Jody 1-0 [ 0-0 ]
Alex - Jody 4-0 [ 3-0 ]

First game in schedule: Alex vs Isabel, she started very well hitting a post in the first minutes with Alex a little too nervous and imprecise, the half went on very evenly played and actually Isabel was the one that had the best chances [0-0]The second half saw Alex starting in attack with a different confidence and even though he squandered a couple of good chances, started to dominate the proceedings and won the game 2-0.

Jody & Isabel in action

Second game Jody vs Isabel was a "deja vu " of

the previous day with both players missing good

chances in a very open game.

Third game Alex vs Jody extremely even play

with very conservative tactics on both sides,

Jody mostly defending and Alex attacking but being very careful to do not leave room for the "long balls". A very quick action and shot from Alex on the right of Jody defence was the winner.

The first round of games closed seeing Alex with 6 points, Isabel and Jody with 1 point.

Lunch break and back to the games with Alex winning 3-1 [ 2-0 ] over Isabel, great and dominant first half on his part showing some good play from the past, in the second half he suffered the return of Isabel and became a little sloppy but was good enough to get the points for the final victory.

One of Jody saves on Alex attacking impetus

Fifth tournament game saw a dominant Isabel winning over Jody 1-0 [0-0], many wasted chances

for her during the game, but the goal itself very lucky: shot block by Jody goalkeeper,

shooting figure rebounded on the ball and the ball rolled over the goalkeeper body going slowly into

the net.

Last tournament game, again the two old rivals facing each other, Alex won it 4-0 dominating [3-0] from start to finish with Jody unable to enter his shooting zone and forget about the " long balls " intercepted when tried.

A very good Subbuteo week end where the participants found again the joy of playing the best simulation of soccer ever created for the tabletop, and the adrenaline and competitiveness of a tournament even though between just three players.
The start of the week end saw all the players coping with many mistakes lacking of match awareness but towards the end everyone was showing some good table soccer, after all the game is like riding a bicycle you will never forget it.

The season has started hoping that the future for the South Region would be better than the past, unfortunately the first signs are not really encouraging but the hope is still there.

A big thanks to Jody Schaaf to make the trip from Savannah to celebrate Alex returning to the pitch.