I have to admit I enjoyed getting back in touch with the various Timbers Army Football Clubs and hearing how the start of their fall campaigns is going.  As one of the original members of the former Timbers Army FC side that eventually came to become Cascade Rangers FC, I know many of the players from the adventures of Division 4 personally and have a great deal of respect for everyone I’ve encountered, even that Jerry guy that is still running Cascade Rangers FC after all these years.

At latest check, the website updates to get the fall schedules and match reports is still being worked upon, so there are no official reports to link to for this week. However, once that occurs, this should be a great way to keep track of what’s going on with your favorite club in terms of who are the leading scorers, which keeper is setting the mark for TAFC teams, or who might have the misfortune of being the subject of a weird or wacky play during a match.  For those of you keeping track at home, visit the Timbers Army FC main page for a complete list of club happenings and news for 101^st FC, Cascade Rangers FC, FC Dynamo, FC Portlandia, North End United, Northern Alliance FC, Old Growth FC, Rose City Athletic, Guerreros Verde, and Multnomah Forest FC. So until those are added, I’m relying upon the match reports that were provided by email or by the TAFC HQ Facebook page.

FC Dynamo reported a 3 to 1 loss to County Cork FC in week 2. After taking the early lead on a goal from Nathan Pogue, County Cork FC took advantage of some miscommunication on the backline in the 35^th minute to tie the score, and they took the lead behind two second half goals. FC Dynamo applied plenty of pressure, but couldn’t put anything past goal in suffering their second straight loss. The boys hope for a rebound against their fellow TAFC members in GPSD Division 1, FC Portlandia, as the two clubs meet out at Gladstone High on September 23 at 6 PM.  FC Portlandia goes into that match with two wins, although the last result was a forfeit win when Abyssinai Soccer didn’t have enough players to field a team.

In GPSD Division 4 action, Guerreros Verde met up with the lads in red, Rose City Athletic and reported a score of 7 to 1. The official reported score to GPSD was 8 to 1, and since I don’t have a report from RCA to confirm it, I’ll go with the official GPSD score.  For Guerreros Verde, Brenden Luworo scored his first goal with an assist going to Ben Abiles, but they took it on the chin for a second straight week. They play Clinton City Wanderers this weekend to get a weekend off from TAFC derbies.  Owen from 101^st FC reported a 3 to 2 win over Multnomah Forest AFC, but there were some challenges getting the match played.  Because of a scheduling conflict at the original field for the match, both teams found an alternate site to stage their meeting.  MFAFC took a 2 to 1 lead into the halftime break, but 101^st FC used two goals in the second half to stage a comeback win.

North End United and Cascade Rangers FC staged their regular derby as well. There was some extra spice to this one, as CRFC Captain Jamey Billig showed up in a suit to be in pure gaffer mode while Eben Crawford was making his first appearance for North End United after being a member of CRFC for many seasons. The match also had one of the more unusual occurrences with a rescinded red card for CRFC Manager Jerry Makare after tempers had escalated after a late challenge. However, emotions were held in check and NEU went on for the 6 to 1 win over CRFC; Rob Hennis notched a brace for NEU while Crawford scored for his new side, while T.J. Harrison scored the lone CRFC goal.

Northern Alliance FC didn’t file a report for their match with the Onetouchables and GPSD doesn’t list a score either, so we don’t know the outcome of that match, so we hope to get information on that affair as soon as possible.  In the current table in Division 4, NEU and 101^st FC lead the standings, but as we all know, it’s very early in the season.

Over in the Over 40 Division 2 action, Old Growth FC played their second match on September 15 still basking in the glory of the non-loss by the Timbers to that unfortunately colored side earlier in the day.  The magic of the afternoon led OGFC to put a shot off the post within seconds of the opening whistle, but the blinding sun and deceptive quickness from some of the Inter United wing’s let the other side put up four goals on OGFC in the first 45.  They held together with an improved defensive effort in half two, but ended up losing 6 to 0. They will play their next match in Vancouver out at Devereaux Field on September 22 at high noon.

We also have a report for Coat? FC, one of the TAFC futsal teams, as they posted a 5 to 2 win in their most recent match behind braces from Reid Storm and Rob Day-Reynolds.  I’m always happy to include news from the indoor and futsal sides of TAFC as this is very much an all inclusive soccer update. I hope to hear more from them in the coming weeks! That’s all we have for this week, we’ll chat with you all next week!!