retired_workingmom77

retired_workingmom77

June 2008

With our amazing performances so far we were well on the way to cementing a mid table spot. Our first game of June would turn out to be the most memorable match in the clubs history, possibly in the history of the league. The fixture against Paysandu didn't have the hallmarks of a classic but it certainly turned out to be one. We started the game well enough, Diego Morais netting on 11 minutes. The equaliser from former Feyernoord winger Gerson Magrao was a sign of things to come though. We retook the lead on 20 minutes thanks to yet another Wellington strike and the lead was increased to 3-1 with not much of the first half remaining, Diego Morais getting his second of the day. Rogerinho squeezed in a header just before the break to send us in at half time 3-2 up. In the second half I was expecting the goal rate to slow, but once again Paysandu equalised through Wellington Amorim to make it 3-3. Two quickfire strikes from Wellington increased our lead to an amazing 5-3 and I thought it might have finally killed the game. However Wellington Amorim completed his hat-trick to make it 5-5. I could have sworn the game was over when Juliano scored to make it 6-5 but with just three minutes remaining Ze Augusto left CAHA fans heartbroken as he equalised to end the game a breathtaking 6-6.

Our next game was the complete reverse of the previous fixture, away to recently relegated Fortaleza. One goal was enough to win it despite a good performance from the lads, a late Neto Mineiro goal sealed a much needed 1-0 victory for Fortaleza. We couldn’t have rounded off the month in a better way against Treze however. The side had always got the better of us both in our Third Division days and last season. But it was revenge as we edged them out in an open game. The score was 2-2 at the break thanks to some great work from Wellington and Diego Morais. Maycon won the game for us with ten minutes remaining, a fantastic 30 yard drive. However there was controversy at the end of the game which resulted in three players being sent off in one minute. Renato’s clumsy challenge was enough to receive a second yellow. However Treze’s Tiago Matos and Eder, angry at Renato’s challenge surrounded Wellington and began pushing him to the floor, both received reds for violent conduct.

Results
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************Paysandu 6-6 H Second Division Diego Morais(2), Wellington(3), JulianoFortaleza 0-1 A Second Division Treze 3-2 H Second Division Wellington, Diego Morais, Maycon******************************************** ************************************************** **********************************************</pre>

retired_workingmom77

A screenshot for the doubters \o/

Hermann Aichinger 6-6 Paysandu

retired_workingmom77

The door to the prison opened with a loud creak. Heinrich wheeled in silently on his motorised wheelchair, and surveyed his two prisoners. They looked exhausted and in pain but still defiant in their expression. Heinrich had seen this kind of defiance before under interrogation and knew it could take years to wear down. Years were something he wasn't sure he had however.

"I hope you have had enough time to think about this."

"It's been two months for crying out loud, let my father go and do what you want with me. You'll never get anything out of either of us."

A sinister chuckle erupted from the small figure of Heinrich, enveloped in the shadows.

"Now where have I heard this before? Ah yes that was it, 'let my friends go and do what you want with me'. Unfortunately such a display of compassion the last time around resulted in the murder of 4 of my men. He stays here, as do you. Until I get what I want."

"I'm telling you we were working alone."

"Proposterous!"

He now turned to face Max who looked as though he was asleep from the exhaustion.

"You know how I know there was an insider? How did you know when to leave the country? A lucky coincedence is not a good enough reason for me. You are working with someone and you are going to tell me who this person is. Does he or she work at the club?

Max ignored Heinrich and continued to stare at the floor. Manni answered for him.

"I'll tell you what you want, but I want to strike a deal."

"Out of the question."

"It depends how much you want to know who the third party is. I can wait here as long as I have to, you'll just have to kill me. Then you'll never know who it was. And knowing that this person is out there somewhere, completely in the clear will drive you crazy. So I want a deal!"

"Tell me what you want and I will consider it..."

retired_workingmom77

July 2008

Another quiet month for us in preparation for the 8 games that are going to be squeezed into August somehow. At the beginning of July we were still clutching on to our mid table status, however it was still very open at this stage. A series of good results could see us go near the top of the table, just as easily a string of bad results could see us back in relegation trouble. July was a good month for us and by the end of it we would be sat in 5th place in the league, our highest ever. Our first match was away to Santo Andre, whose average attendance was lower than ours as a result of their disappointing performance over the past couple of seasons. This season it looked as though once again they were to languish in mid table obscurity. We did them no favours by robbing three points, the only goal of the game coming from Diego Morais. The young striker has got the attention of Juventude after their interest in Wellington was dismissed by us. It looks as though we will have to take the same measures to protect our player, who is also on a very low minimum fee release clause.

Our next opponents Guarani were having another positive season and were looking towards a top 5 finish. Explosive striker Lico silenced a sell out crowd at the Estadio de Baixada on 6 minutes. The equaliser didn't come until not long after the break, Wellington finishing after a one on one with Jean. Wando was quick to restore Guarani's lead and it looked as though they would take all three points. That was until 7 minutes from time when Wellington got his second of the game and salvaged a point.

Finally it was newly promoted Americano at home. For the first time in a long while we went into the game as the bookie's favourites. TV cameras were on hand at the Godofredo Cruz as Ale slammed the ball home to give us a 1-0 lead over the hosts. The home team equalised just before the break, Matheus accidentally knocking a Rodrigo Possebom cross into his own net. It was another own goal that proved to win the game, Wellington's thunderous drive was parried straight to Bruno who couldn't get out of the way and bundled it past his keeper to send us 2-1 in front. That was how it stayed, however the Americano players seemed to lose their cool and finished the game with 9 men as both Butti and Marlon received red cards for violent conduct.

Results
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************Santo Andre 1-0 A Second Division Diego MoraisGuarani 2-2 H Second Division Wellington(2)Americano 2-1 A TV Second Division Ale, Bruno (own goal)********************************************* ************************************************** *********************************************</pre>

retired_workingmom77

retired_workingmom77

August 2008

The Brazil job was never going to happen despite the ramblings in the media, at least not yet. I had the visit of Santa Cruz to worry about. Despite my prediction of Ponte Preta and Vitoria being promoted looks to be becoming true every day that goes by, Santa Cruz are without doubt contenders aswell this season. They came to the Estadio de Baixada and showed their evident class in a 2-0 win, goals from Carlinhos Bala and Wilton Pantera. That victory shot them up to third and put us back down to ninth.

There was more misery to come as we faced Nautico next, our victory against them in our last meeting had not gone down too well apparantly. Despite this we took the lead through Wellington on 23 minutes and all seemed to be on course for another win but Nautico bounced straight back and within 10 minutes were level through Rodriguinho. We could have held on to a point but a late penalty converted by Rodriguinho and then a goal from Tiago Santos sealed back to back defeats and dropped us to 12th in the table.

Next up was Paulista, who had been involved in last season’s relegation battle. In fact they had guaranteed their survival last season by beating us 3-2 and prolonging our battle. This time they fell behind to a brilliant goal from 17 year old Juliano. The youngster has been putting in some consistently good performances. We were pegged back by a Lucio penalty and that was how it stayed as we took one point from 3 games. Not exactly continuing our good form. It was another stalemate away to Portuguesa, all the goals coming in the first half in a 2-2 thriller. Goals from Diego Morais and Wellington both served as equalisers to the efforts of Renan and Marcos Xavier.

Bad form was not the sort of thing I had in mind taking to Avai. Still yet to beat them or other fierce rivals Figueirense, I wondered as usual whether today was the day. It certainly looked good when Diego Morais broke free and slotted home totally against the run of play. From then on our goal took a pounding and Alencar who has been deputising for the seriously injured Paulo Cerqueira somehow kept Avai out. Right until the end we played defensive until a runaway counter attack left Wellington in the clear who made no mistake and put us 2-0 ahead on 88 minutes. It proved vital as 34 year old veteran Fabio Oliveira bent in a free kick in stoppage time to reduce the deficit to 2-1. It wasn’t enough as we went on to claim our first win against Avai under my management.

The elation was short lived as we went down 2-1 to Ituano in the next game. Despite being reduced to 10 men, Ituano’s Ricardo Lopes and Robson Santos’ goals were enough to cancel out an early Diego Morais effort. We were soon back to winning ways against bottom side River (PI), though it wasn’t easy. A seven goal thriller followed with us nicking it 4-3 in stoppage time thanks to a Fernandinho own goal. Finally was the match against other local rivals Figueirense. We started the game in the best possible fashion, two Diego Morais goals put us 2-0 up. But former CAHA favourite Adriano was there again to make it 2-1 and eventually on 78 minutes Rafael Carioca made it 2-2 and I thought the 3 points were lost. But I had reckoned without Juliano whose superb 35 yard free kick gave us a 3-2 victory and sent us to 8th place at the end of August.

Results
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************Santa Cruz 0-2 H Second DivisionNautico 1-3 A Second Division Wellington Paulista 1-1 H Second Division JulianoPortuguesa 2-2 A Second Division Diego Morais, WellingtonAvai 2-1 H Second Division Wellington, Diego MoraisItuano 1-2 A Second Division Diego MoraisRiver (PI) 4-3 H Second Division Wellington, Diego Morais(2), Fernandinho (own goal)Figueirense 3-2 H Second Division Diego Morais(2), Juliano******************************************* ************************************************** *********************************************** </pre>

retired_workingmom77

1940
La Paradis, France

Heinrich had been waiting patiently for his first taste of combat during this war. He didn't have long to wait as the inevitable clashes with the British Expeditionary Forces started to occur, as part of the plan to drive them back to the coast. Heinrich had joined the SS Division Totenkopf, a division famous for the fact that most of its soldiers had started as guards to concentration camps. Heinrich had joined through the army however, he was from the SS Combat Support Force. In his late teens he had participated in the re-capture of the Ruhr, the annexing of Austria and the occupation of Poland. However, during this he had never seen any combat nor fired a single round at an enemy. He had transferred units as his old one was being divided, half would be incorporated into the dreaded invasion of Russia and the others would filter into the Totenkopf Division in France.

So here he was in France instead of preparing to fight on the dreaded Eastern Front. His former unit's fierce loyalty and anti-semitism made him a perfect candidate for Totenkopf, which had a rather shady history of its own. Heinrich had spent the last three days in bitter fighting with the British, who were slowly being depleted to the brink of defeat. Conditions were wet and muddy, the fighting was fierce and brutal from both sides and a climax was expected on this fourth day. Heinrich had been fortunate to have made the rank of Leutnant at the age of just 23. This meant that he commanded a platoon of his own, which was positioned on the right flank, waiting for a British attack.

The expected attack never came and Heinrich was surprised to see a white flag being waved high in the air, they were surrendering. Heinrich's platoon were the first to get to the British position and Heinrich counted 99 British prisoners, most of whom were wounded and about a dozen or so of them were officers. Heinrich's platoon stood guard over the POW's while Heinrich himself radioed in for a senior officer to oversee the surrender. The CO was a man named Fritz Knöchlein an Obersturmführer in the SS. He strode over to Heinrich later that day and asked him about the prisoners.

"Leutnant, do we have their names, ranks and numbers?"

"Yes Sir, 99 men in total including 14 officers. We understand that they are part of the Royal Norfolk Regiment."

"Möller!!"

A tall Sergeant came running towards the with an MG-42 slung over his back, he placed it on its tripod and positioned it on the ridge overlooking the prisoners. Heinrich misunderstood the Obersturmführer's intentions.

"Sir, we have checked the area these are all thats left of the British."

"I realise that Leutnant, but the Führer's prison camps are full as it is."

"You're going to shoot them?"

"No, you are. Every last one of them and I want you personally to do it"

"Sir, I must protest."

Knöchlein whipped a Luger out of his holster.

"Now! Leutnant.

Nervously, Heinrich walked over to the mounted machine gun, knelt down beside it and pulled back the cocking device....

***

Down on the ridge, two of the British prisoners were chatting away about escaping from whichever camp they were to be placed in. The men's names were Pooley and O'Callaghan. Both were wounded from the previous days fighting but amazingly both were in fairly good spirits, laughing and joking, doing whatever they could to help morale. It was O'Callaghan that saw the machine gunner first, but it was too late when just as he cried out, the MG-42 opened fire and bullets began to rip through the prisoners. Pooley grabbed O'Callaghan by the collar and dragged him down a steep gulley and into a stream whilst the machine gun mercilessly cut down their comrades. Pooley had twisted his ankle landing in the stream with O'Callaghan but the pair of them were out of sight of the machine as the made their way slowly towards the reserve line, they could hear the screams of their comrades as they hobbled to freedom.

retired_workingmom77

September 2008

August had been one of our better months for sure, Diego Morais and Wellington were continuing to perform well and net plenty of goals. September would be a rollercoaster of emotion, little did I know that it would contain two of the most humiliating defeats in my short managing career so far. But also it would contain two breath-taking victories against top-notch opposition.

First up was Ponte Preta who we had almost beaten earlier in the season, who were now putting distance between them and 3rd place in their chase for the title with Vitoria. Despite a first choice team and a relatively good performance all round, Ponte Preta were to strong in the end as goals from Claudio and Roberto Santos sealed a 2-0 win for the title chasers. Our next game would be hard to bounce back for. Juventude had not taken the 5-1 whalloping we had given them lightly and were out for revenge. It's beginning to be very unlikely that Juventude will bounce straight back into the top flight as currently they cannot seem to escape from mid-table obscurity. One goal was enough to grab the three points and thankfully Diego Morais scored it as we sealed a 1-0 win and completed a double over the side.

Unfortunately we couldn’t grab another three points in our next game, at home to SE Gama. Despite a good start in which Wellington grabbed an early goal, the visitors blitzed Alencar’s goal and by half time were 3-1 up. Goals coming from Joao Paulo, Ceara and Mazinho. Denio scored a late penalty but it was too little, too late as we went down 3-2. Our next game was a depressing affair as we were hit for six by CRB. We had a few players missing for the match but in all honesty there was no excuse for the defeat.

An opportunity to pick ourselves up from that humiliating defeat came the following week against runaway league leaders Vitoria. Earlier in the season we had shocked our critics by grinding out a 1-0 victory against them, the press were predicting Vitoria to exact their revenge when they visited the Estádio da Baixada. With Paulo Cerqueira and Marcelo Augusto still injured, Alencar was forced to continue in goal and he was called upon to make a save as early as the 3rd minute. Thiago Laranjeira’s spectacular half volley forced an excellent save. Laranjeira is a player I dream of having in my squad, at just 20 years old he looks the complete article and he causes every side problems. Wellington then attempted an incredible bicycle kick from a tight angle but all to no avail, the counter attack from Wellington’s chance cut our defence to shreds as Laranjeira fed Borges to score Vitoria’s opener. We didn’t have long to wait for an equaliser as Ale was fouled in the box by Gustavo. Clecio took the spot kick and tucked the ball away for 1-1. A series of attacks from Vitoria followed but totally against the run of play, as Andre’s deep first time cross found Ale, who headed home for 2-1. Not long after the second half had kicked off, Vitoria had their equaliser. Marcos Parana latched onto a flick on and slotted the ball past Alencar, 2-2. Roughly 4 minutes later we were amazingly back in front, a 25 yard Maycon volley made it 3-2. Just two minutes later, Wellington netted his 25th of the season so far to make it 4-2. Vitoria had been stunned by a quickfire brace of goals. Despite the predict Vitoria onslaught in the final third, we held on for a memorable 4-2 victory.

After the famous 6-6 draw with Paysandu, the TV companies had somewhat wisely decided to televise the return fixture. They were not to be disappointed, Paysandu scored another six goals on this occasion. However sadly we could not find a single goal in our second 6-0 defeat of the month. There were now just two months of football left and despite we had already surpassed our points total for last season by 4 points, we weren’t safe yet.

Results
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************Ponte Preta 0-2 A Second Division Juventude 1-0 A Second Division Diego MoraisSE Gama 2-3 H Second Division Denio, WellingtonCRB 0-6 A Second DivisionVitoria 4-2 H Second Division Clecio, Maycon, Ale, WellingtonPaysandu 0-6 A TV Second Division ************************************************** ************************************************** ****************************************</pre>

retired_milla0225

good to see this one still powering along.

Good work Xenon, old buddy.