Continentials Set to Embark on Winter Campaign

(Morristown Nj-)
  
           Club President Ryan Vinton made a statement today, Proclaiming that the Morristown 1776, comming off a very disapointing summer campaign will resume their quest for a possible win here or there and even a title comming up this winter. He did not divulge into if he was going to Re-Sign player/coach Dan Clayton or Brady Macdonald  this season. Rumors have been speculating about Clayton's distrust with management and medical staff regarding his hip injury and Macdonalds desire to play another season. Many things need to still be worked out, but only time will tell

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.









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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.