Cobra Kai took the field against a depleted Spartans team. With many players unavailable and Mario Vega pulling a no-show the Spartans were in tough.  The game was a bit scrappy to start.  The first goal came off a corner kick when Metinho got the end of a low cross to put it past Bonner.  Shortly thereafter, Hamid took a pass in the area and with defenders crowding him out, made a quick pass to an unmarked Ivan who slotted home.  The first half ended with a great goal by Rogelio who ran straight up the middle of the field and finished with his left foot.

The second half saw the heart of the Spartans come out. They were tired and down 3-0 but kept pushing forward.  Although they couldn’t find the back of the net, they generated chances.  One incident marred the game though.  Ivan lost his footing and fell hard to the ground.  Not only did the Spartans show no concern for his well-being but some of their players accused the Blues’ captain of diving as if he was an Argentine.  His pain was alleviated when he set up Hadi for one last goal to make the final 4-0.

~Ivan

Second place was at stake when D-Mentors (does anyone know what the D stands for?) and the Renegades battled Wednesday night. Dickens would say it’s a tale of two cities here, on the one hand D-mentors have had a stranglehold on 2nd place since the Obama administration while Renegades have started from the bottom (now they’re here).

First half was tightly contested and both teams had great opportunities, both John Altinian and John Burinski kept the Renegades humble by making solid runs and creating good opportunities. The Renegades were resilient and held the D-mentors back. Natasha opened the scoring with a nice pass from Brett Baker, Neil Carey doubled that up with a counter attack which started in the Renegades end. At half John Altinian was heard trying to inspire his troops with some Winston Churchill quotes. Meanwhile the Renegades were discussing baby names for Beyonce and Jay-Z’s latest twins, Natasha was hoping for baby girls.

2nd half saw the D-Mentors push the action a bit more and they really did have some great chances. But Mutlu was motivated by Brad Hughes secret pre-match email in which Brad predicted he would out-keeper Mutlu twice tonight, so much for Bradley’s prediction. Mutlu would win this duo as Brad lost to Mutlu in the second game as well.  Natasha added a second goal in the 2nd half and she was Queen Bee for the night. Renegades 3, D-Mentors 0.

~Fernando

The primetime game saw league leaders Barons FC visit relegation threatened¹ Clubber Lang. The high octane match showcased why Teacher’s Champions League ranked as the top league in the world² in the world.

Barons FC started off the game in spectacular style and were on the score board within a minute after kick-off (common guys….I didn’t even have my cleats on yet!). Confusion among Clubber Lang’s defense led to Barons getting a 2 vs 1 situation where Barons’ forward calmly slotted past the keeper to make it 1 – 0. Clubber Lang soon regrouped and were able to pull one back by the 10^th minute (I was still waiting to be subbed on at this point..). This was the turning point of the game; Clubber Lang suddenly turned up the heat and produced wave after wave of attacks. Mid-way through first half Clubber Lang defender Hector sent a powerful effort that somehow hit both posts before falling kindly for Barons defenders to clear. However, Hector was able to put that disappointment behind him and soon got on the score sheet himself. At half time the score was 3-1 to Clubber Lang.

Second half started with Clubber Lang striker Dan Newman trying from distance, missing the net by mere inches³. Both teams then got into a pattern of passing the ball swiftly around the center of the pitch, but producing few clear cut opportunities. This is the first game for former Barons striker Andrew Winnett to face his old team after the high value mid-season switch to Clubber Lang. The occasion certainly did not affect Andrew as he put together a MOTM performance by scoring his hat-trick goal minutes into the second half. Barons were able to reduce the deficit to 2 goals though it was too little too late. Clubber Lang was able to extend the winning run to 2 games.

¹ We do not relegate teams in this league because we are nice. (Actually we just don’t have enough players)

²As voted by players and staff of the league.

³I think it was closer to feet/ yards actually, but Dan would kill me if I wrote that.

~Markos