Keeper Herte On Trial

(Princeton,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC announced today they signed Chris Herte ,former Florida Institute of Technology keeper on a Loan deal, terms of the deal are not known.

The 6'2" Herte is expected to make his debut this Monday at Long Valley FC.

Match Monday 8pm

(Long Valley,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC will play Long Valley FC 18 at Rock Spring Park in Long Valley this Moday night (6/29) at 8pm.


Long Valley has a record of 1-3-1 with 8 goals forced and 16 conceded.


The club will also hold practice at Frelinghuysen 3:30pm tomorrow, Saturday.









View Larger Map

Continental Struggles Continue

(Morris Township,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC,currently immersed in the poorest run of form in club history, fell 7-1 yesterday to Pompton Lakes FC.

The result was truly a tale of two halves as Morristown trailed 6-0 at the break, and held their own in the second half as a looked to play with a lot of heart and passion in the latter period of play.

The skill seems to be there on the Morristown side but the intensity is often if not almost always lacking, expecially for a full 90 minutes.

Dave Scott scored his first 1776 goal for the lone Morristown tally.

Basher Blog: New Look Continetals Play Like the Old

           This supporter has been to every game this season and has seen  the same result from last two summer fixtures of 2008 until now..... LOSSES. A coaching change was implimented March 3rd, making current captain Dan Clayton manager, replacing with now healed first choice keeper Ryan Vinton. Also Charman of the Board, Vinton praised Clayton's motivational ability and soccer IQ. There is no doubt the lads have been fiester, more spirited, and the overall talent level is improved but as for his "soccer IQ", give me a break.

  His Choice to have a goalkeeper battle during meaniful games led to at least two losses. Not calling Mark Basso at all a lesser choice, but it put extra unnecessary pressure on the both lads  leading to unnecessary risks to try to impress the gaffer. His biggest blunder must be his substitutions. he has lads on shifts like its a bloddy hocky game. LET THE BOYS PLAY. I understand early in the season when people are not at their prime, but after a few games ease the rotation PLEASE! Clayton is still a good player but he should just PLAY and be fired as coach.

   I must admit that the talent level has risen, but mental mistakes late in the half have got to be erased, like the last fixture against Lake Parsippany, the game should have gone tied into half, but the inability to clear lead to a goal, which in the second half, they had to chase to game and conceded two more goals. Flashy or not, the boys need to play well tonight, or the gaffer will be canned.

MCSSA Match Added July 8

(Morristown,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC will play FC Fenerbache July 8th at Frelinghuysen Middle School at 6:30pm in an added MCSSA league match.

This will be 1776 last match before the playoffs are scheduled to start.

Bauer Blog: Dingler and Greskovich Set to Feature in Amateur Hour

Progress. That's the key word right now, something that has eluded us for as long as, or longer than, winning has. We've been on a sour streak for a while now, but something faint in the air is starting to smell a little sweeter. For the first time in a while we're posting goals. Genuine goals. Team goals. If you looked at the goals we scored last Summer, it started with Peter Luthi at the midfield, Peter Luthi powering his way up the field, and Peter Luthi finding the finish. The guy is a locomotive train/freak of nature. He's also on injured reserve. Our plight has been finding OTHER players on the pitch to get on the score sheet because our buildup has never been solid. But looking at our goals last night, playing through the midfield, checking back, making overlapping runs, confusing the opposition, and being creative... it's progress.

We still suffer from our mental lapses which often prove costly. At least three of the goals last night never should have been (then again, I'd like to think if the game hadn't been cancelled by lightning we would have bounced back and won). We are playing with some really brilliant style for stretches but then there's a team-wide temporary regression and it's a habit we need to break. I don't think we're at the "score at will" level, but when everyone does his job and executes the tactics we're going to start putting more on the board. We just need to find that extra "something" to build our lead and then sink our teeth into it and not let it go. We let leads slip away; we need to lock down, sink our cleats into the turf, and protect that lead like mama bear trying to protect her cubs. And stop making mistakes. The final two goals last night were bogus, from a free kick that never should have been and a pick and roll executed by the player and the official on Louie, but the back seven need to play like wild animals when we're trying to win.

While having our post-match gathering at Tavern off the Green, Rob (1/3 of the "Young Midfield Trio" feature from last week) made light of an interesting situation. Summer season debutantes "Kangaroo" Jack Taylor summoned some Thunder from Down Under to net the second goal of the night in his second appearance, and new player Cesar Bellido scored our third. Rob posted that miracle strike against Winter Rovers last week, and in the midst of a shared pitcher of Yuengling he pointed out that fellow new players Steve and James had yet to score.

This isn't amateur hour, guys.

I understand the friendly challenge was laid down to encourage some scoring from the other two-thirds of our new-look midfield, and I credit Rob for that. The truth is that our team is being built around the three of them and they've done tremendous work in distributing and creating and our goals of late have come from their work in the midfield. However, as much as they have to be credited for our improvement in form, I too would like to start seeing us bag a few more goals from the midfield. Let it be said on the record that if at least two of the three central mids score Wednesday night against Lake Parsippany, Red and I will pay for beer. (Note: Red doesn't know about this but he's always saying "if you score I'll buy you a beer" anyway so he shouldn't mind.) That's right, Rob laid down the challenge and I'm making it official.

I also want to see a defender find the net. Our wingbacks have been playing much higher now that our midfield is working more and I would love to see someone pull a killer shot, or for a defender to score off a corner or set piece. I'm hoping for a miracle strike from Brian Daire or a redemption goal for Mike Austin, something to really get the team fired up. Let's face it: if our defenders are scoring, than the attack needs to step up and not let defense do everyone's work.

Wednesday night we have to smell blood in the water and go for the kill.

Some thoughts on turf...
We are notorious for coming up with terrible results when we play on turf. I don't know what it is, maybe we got it into our heads that we're a bad team on turf and we make our own self-fulfilling prophecy. I think a lot of times we play teams that are used to the speed of turf and we just can't adapt. The facts are that we are a very quick team and that our 4-3-3 experiment should actually flourish with the space afforded by a turf field. I don't want any excuses after Wednesday night.

A couple more things to wrap up before matchday tomorrow:

• I wish our bench was loaded. We have some nice depth at wingback and wingers but the next best choices for center back after Charlie and Mugs are Red or me, and we're typically starting elsewhere on the pitch and not really fresh enough to spell one of our two starters. If we had someone who was an absolutely dynamite central defender who was ok with playing 20-25 minutes a game, we would be looking great at all times.
• Despite his ginger appearance, it's possible that Brian Daire may be the long-lost relative of Brazilian Dani Alves. We're actively investigating this possibility.
• We need to play with more balls on the ground. Through balls and passes to feet are crucial. We spent too much time on the turf pitch last week chasing balls through the air. I asked Tim, a 53-year-old Male from Mendham and president of the Mendham Chapter of the 1776 fan club, what his thoughts were about us playing more balls on the ground. Tim said, "I love it when you boys play with your balls on the ground. Especially Mike Pollock. That's the kind of thing I pay money to see." Pollock, currently on the inactive/ineligible list, was unavailable for comment.
• Steve Dingler had us do a toast to raping on Wednesday. Seriously, better choice of words next time?
  
• Steve Dingler also said "this isn't amateur hour" four or five times so yes, this blog was directed largely toward him.
  

Parsippany Gators Match Moved Til Thurs. 9:30pm

(Parsippany,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC confirmed this morning that the away match with Parsippany Gators, originally scheduled for tonight has been moved to tomorrow due to a field scheduling conflict with the Parsippany Rec. Dept..

The game will be played at Smith Field in Parsippany, right on Rt 46, with kickoff scheduled for 9:30pm.



View Larger Map

Bauer Blog: Young Midfield Trio Shows Great Promise

If you were to ask me to be honest about what I felt was the key contributing factor to the streak of poor form the team has displayed in my tenure here, I would say without a doubt that our lack of a dominant central midfielder to control and distribute the ball, and to bring that extra "something" to both ends of the field. In my opinion, a team should be built around the central midfield because that role does every job on the field and is responsible for providing the "look" of a team's style. During the inaugural season, Morristown 1776 claimed David Chase as that kind of player, and despite the final results the original squad was far more consistent in form and competition. Although Chase remains a Continental on paper, there is a lot of speculation about his status with the club and his future has yet to be determined.

In a conversation I had recently with my brother (fellow Continental Dylan Bauer) I said that a true central midfielder has to be a mix of a raging bull, a rabid wolverine, and a guerrilla warrior. Dylan asked me to clarify if I meant guerrilla or gorilla, and after I contemplated it, I told him both. Yes, like Planet of the Apes. You see, a great center mid needs to be aggressive, perhaps even ferocious, clever, conniving, cunning, courageous, and controlling, but unselfish and acutely aware. One does not train to be that way, it is in the blood or it is not. There's a certain mentality needed, along with a certain physicality and a high level of skill. I would be lying if I said I believed that we have that caliber of player on the roster right now. However, I feel that we have the talent right now to let multiple players work to become something more, to be everywhere on the pitch and feel like that one, perfect midfielder.

The idea came last week when Dan Clayton and I were brainstorming about how we would counter the speed of Winter Rovers, Monday's opponent. We decided that we should try to choke them out of the midfield by crowding it, forcing them to play to the outside and defending against the crosses in. The idea was to use a 3-man holding midfield with two forwards and a striker, the "Christmas Tree" formation used commonly by international clubs like AC Milan. Over the weekend leading up to the game, I was trying to think of who would be best suited to fill particular roles, and since Clayton was not going to be available to coach Monday I wanted to do the best I could to field a strong side in his absence with the ideas we had come up with.

When I saw the available talent for Monday's game, I knew immediately who I wanted to build that midfield trio around. I had hoped that new players James Greskovich, Steve Dingler, and returning NJSL player Rob Linepinuel would be available because I feel strongly that those players are the most comfortable with the ball at their feet and have great vision. Also, the three of them are still young and full of energy that they can go at least 75 minutes at a very high pace and very high workrate. Luckily, all three players were available for the new experiment on Monday.

I told them about how I wanted a lot of movement and a lot of overlaps in roles. No one had any strict role and I really wanted to give them control of how they played it. They were a little hestitant and a little usure of how it would go, when it was something we had never practiced before and probably no coach or manager has ever said, "go out and be creative and make this team play as you want it." A lot was riding on their shoulders but they settled in with extraordinary comfort and poise.

To open up more space, I moved the two forward players wide and high, more in the idea of how reigning kings of just about everything FC Barcelona, plays their game (see diagram above). The idea was to have the wingers pull their left and right backs out with them, to open up big gaps in between the fullbacks and center defense. This space was exploited by the midfield trio, making runs and holding space to look for passes (this wide play also gave Linepinuel the space and time to make his unbelievable 35-yard cracker of a goal Monday night). The two wings used the width and gaps to make diagonal runs, beating the left and right backs on their instep and weak foot and wreaking havoc in the box. Playing one power forward alone at the top usually is reserved for the most gifted strikers, but the tireless effort of Brady McDonald caused all kinds of problems for the Rovers defense through the first half, drawing double coverages and creating that high, open space in front of the box which led to the first goal scored. Because the midfield defended as much as they created chances, the wings had more time to track back and defend the outside without getting worn down.

There were many times were I was almost taken aback at how fluid, how natural, those three young players picked up the philosophy and clicked, finding themselves on the same page with very little experience playing together or in that system. Last Summer, former manager Claudio experimented with the 4-3-3 but we didn't have the creative and unselfish players then. We had great passing on the ground and movement through the air, and I probably witnessed more back passes to defenders than we have ever implemented.

Speaking of defense, nothing in the first 60 minutes would have worked as well as it did without the tenacity of the defense. The pairing of veteran Charlie Hyre and newcomer "Muggs" Naveendra is my dream duo to start every match this summer, and their solid play in the middle allowed wingbacks Brian Daire and Mike Austin (who never played right back before but had a very solid game filling in given our situation and I give him tremendous credit for it) to play higher up the field.

We have a lot of solid talent to pull off the bench when our match turnout is good, and everyone should take note of the play of Rob, James, and Steve to figure out their style. I seriously can't give enough credit to how well they made this idea work. Our goal is to be able to pull anyone off the bench, or start in their place, without skipping a beat. With a little practice and a few more match minutes in this look, I really believe that we can turn our season around and really compete for a shot at the post-season.

Fitness Dooms Continental Comeback

(Bloomfield,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC fell 5-2 to Winter Rovers at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield Monday night.

Morristown went down 2-0 in the first half but countered with a Russell Bauer goal just before the break.

The second half started with some back and forth play until Continental midfielder Rob Linepinuel struck with a 35 yard blast that found the upper corner of the Winter Rover net to notch the score at two with 20 minutes to play and set off one of the more passionate celebrations in Morristown history, but the Rovers struck with 3 late tallies as Morristown never again put a serious attack on net.

Fitness seemed to squash the Morristown comeback for the second time this year, the also tied the score last week againist New Providence late in the second half.

Morristown next plays Wednesday night at Parsippany Gators.

Winter Rovers Match Preview

(Morristown,NJ)- 6-1,3-1,6-1,2-1....... those are the 4 scores in previous meetings between Winter Rovers and The Morristown 1776 AFC, with Morristown losing all 4 matches.

Morristown has played the Rovers well at home losing 3-1 in 2007 and 2-1, a match they led with 20 minutes to play but failed to match the Rovers speed on the road.

The two 6-1 road debacles were the first match in club history in 2007 and the first match of the season just a year ago. Morristown hopes to neutralize the Rovers on the smaller pitch at Brookdale Park then the turf field at West Side Park they played on last year.

Morristown will be missing Dan Clayton, keeper Mark Basso and Ryan Deighan with previous commitments.

The match is set to kick off tonight at 6:30pm at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield.

Clayton Speaks On Goalkeeping Positional Battle

(Hope,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC Manager Dan Clayton controversially removed starting goalkeeper Ryan Vinton, in favor of long time first choice Mark Basso, at halftime of Monday's match with the score 1-1, sparking controversy amongst Continental supporters for pulling a keeper in a tight match, and leaving himself open to "Monday morning quarterbacking" when the club eventually fell 4-2.

Basso and Vinton have been locked in a positional battle for the first choice keeper slot since Vinton returned from injury earlier this spring, with neither player emerging as the clear number one.

"Our depth at keeper is a good problem to have." said the gaffer, "What we really have is two first choice quality keepers, I'm trying to play the hot hand and give them both time between the pipes."

"My plan is to stabilize the keeper slot by starting Vinton tonight and allowing him the full 90 if things go according to plan and then do the same thing with Mark on Friday. I'll reevaluate the position come the weekend, hopefully with a full 90 from each player to analyze."

Taylor Out For Blues Match

(Morristown,NJ)- Australian international and new Continental Jack Taylor will miss tonight's match with a hyper extended knee suffered during Monday's loss to New Providence Pioneers.

Taylor is also expected to miss Friday's match but is likely to return Monday when Morristown travels to take on rival Winter Rovers.

Catizone Returns

The youngest player ever to make a first team appearance for Morristown 1776, Louie Catizone is expected to be back on the pitch today for 1776.

Catizone was a regular starter at 17 years old for the 2008 MCSSA Continentals but was limited to only one appearance for the latest NJSL side due to Cross Country commitments that will see the youngster continue to run competitively at the college level this fall.

Continentals Ready For Parsippany Blues

(Morristown,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC face Parsippany Blues tonight, 6:30pm at Frelinghuysen Middle School in Morris Township, although players are asked to arrive at 6pm.

Morristown has never defeated Parsippany in 4 previous meetings.

Weather at match time could possibly involve rain showers, the match will be played rain or shine.

Only thunderstorms that pose a danger to players or supporters will delay on postpone tonights match.

Morristown (0-1) are looking for the first win early in the MCSSA season, the lost a nail bitter to New Providence Monday at Frelinghuysen.

Continentals Lose Heartbreaker

(Morris Township,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 AFC opened their 2009 MCSSA season yesterday at Frelinghuysen Middle School facing old rival New Providence Pioneers.

1776 struck first as David Chase, from the sweeper position broke thru the Pioneer defensive line at the ten minute mark of the first half and beat the N.P. keeper.

Morristown held a lead on position in the first half and held off New Providence, including a goal line clear by defender Russell Bauer, for the first 43 minutes until a late first half tally sailed past Continental keeper Ryan Vinton to level the score at 1 apiece.

Manager Dan Clayton made the half time change to Mark Basso in the net and Basso made several quality stops to open the half. The Pioneers struck 15 minutes into the half to lead 2-1.

Morristown continued to stay back and counter attack and a chest pumping Clayton found the net off a Luis Guzman cross to tie the game once again with 10 minutes to play, but the Continentals allowed to quick strikes from the Pioneers at the 85 and 87 minute marks to fall 4-2.

1776 drops to 0-1 as New Providence goes to 2-0.

Morristown still has two home matches remaining this week at Frelinghuysen Middle School, Wednesday vs Parsippany Blues 20 and Friday vs Irvington Knights both at 6:30pm.

1776 Prepares For 3 Match Week

(Morristown,NJ)- The Morristown 1776 A.F.C. begin a busy fixture week as they play 3 times at Frelinghuysen Middle School, Today, Wednesday and Friday all at 6:30pm.

The Continentals start tonight with a match against familiar foe New Providence Pioneers, Morristown has lost to them the last two years in MCSSA play, 4-3 and 5-2.

Morristown welcomes a bunch of new players to its MCSSA roster including Mike Austin, Dave Scott, Mugs Naveendra, James Greskovich, Jack Taylor, Scott Hanaran, Cesar Bellido and John Alves. Returning from former Continental clubs are David Chase , Luis Silva, Luis Guzman and Louie Catizone.

Current Continentals Dan Clayton, Mark Basso, Russell and Dylan Bauer, Ryan Deighan, Ryan Vinton, Charlie Hyre, Mike Cheatham, Brady McDonald, Brian Daire, Rob Linepinuel and Tyquan Griffin are also on the roster.