Captain Makes Intentions Clear

FLORHAM PARK, NJ - Team Captain Russell Bauer received his first booking while playing his first game as full captain in Sunday's fall against Maiwand FC, amidst a match teemed to the brim with drama and tension between and among the two sides.

Bauer was booked late in the second half after charging Maiwand's spot kicker from the wall during an attempted free kick. The very same kick was previousy gifted by Bauer, who violently (and seemingly intentionally) lashed out at the legs of another Maiwand player outside the 18. Though there was no card on the foul, the subsequent act of apparently leaving the wall before the kick forced the official's hand.

The issue being discussed off the field, however, was that this action was just the culmination of a very fiesty day for the Continental captain. Most notably, Bauer appeared to engage in loud verbal arguments with his own squad on the pitch in front of the vistiting team's fans. Many have been calling the new skipper's attitude into question following his second half display.

"There was a bit of a quarrel, I admit," commented Bauer in a phone call this morning. "It was a poor example for me to set to my teammates, that's for certain. It showed a lack of professionalism and discretion. Taking it out on the other team the way I did was no more right than what happened between certain teammates and myself."

Bauer attributed his frustration towards a culmination of mistakes made by everyone, including himself, which had caused the game to slip away into the second half.

"We had stopped communicating as well on the field. I was trying to get my point across, appropriately, but the back line had just stopped clicking the way we had been during the first half. It put me on edge, and when the blood is running hot and the adrenaline is pumping, it takes a lot to keep your cool.

"Clayton and I shared some words on the sidelines after the incident and I realized he was right and I wasn't being a good leader out there. I apologized to the Manager, and later to my team for getting out of line and I feel like we're ready to move past this."

Bauer insists there are no locker room rifts between him and any players involved.

"We're just looking forward, now. To next week and the rest of the season. We want to take what we learned from this game and make ourselves a better team. I think we made a lot of positive changes in the mid-season break. And I saw a lot of it on the field. Granted, most of our starting defenders were unavailable. And we still are lacking that strong midfield presence, and we have been discussing how we can make our transition up the field better.

"My biggest concern is that we play with a little more physicality. Obviously not the physicality that I displayed late in the game, but we need to carry ourselves with more authority and defend with our bodies more, playing more shoulder-to-shoulder when challenging attackers. We need to play big."

"We play Hispano next, and we really should have beaten them the first time around. We put a bullseye on this fixture a few months back knowing what we should have accomplished previously. We wanted to start the spring with at least four points but I would be happy to see us with three come Sunday afternoon."