It’s been a long summertime break since we last spoke about the Timbers Army FC initiative and the various clubs participating in amateur soccer throughout the Portlandarea. As the summer temperatures start to drop and the leaves turn more golden, the area’s attention turns to football in all its forms as evidenced by looking at the standings list on the Greater Portland Soccer District. Included with the Premier Division and the 4 open categories from Division 1 to Division 4 are three grouping of over 30 teams, 4 groupings of over 40 teams and an over 50 division. Soccer is adored throughout thePortland area, and the Timbers are a big reason for the love affair, but the Timbers Army also contribute with their play in GPSD.
Before we start our recap for the fall, I’d like to apologize for some of the disjointed match weekly recaps from yours truly during our last term. With plenty of midweek matches and extremely busy team managers, getting results at times was extremely difficult for everyone associated. Under the tireless leadership of 107ist President Scott Swearingen, the TAFC clubs are working to simplify the process to get game results and their respective websites updated more easily and quickly, saving everybody time. I am also making it my goal to publish this recap on Thursdays every week through the season, and will include those reports that I get from the clubs. If I don’t get a report, I will still include links to every team’s site so you can keep up with your favorite side and we’ll try to play catch-up as best as we can. With the entire league set up on weekend matches for the most part, it should also help everybody in keeping track.
Secondly, I wanted to welcome some new clubs to the TAFC and provide everyone a recap of what divisions contain TAFC teams. In Division 1 within GPSD, TAFC is proud to have two clubs participating in the fall, FC Portlandia and FC Dynamo. Division 4 could almost be called the Timbers Army Division as there are 7 clubs under the TAFC umbrella participating in the Fall Term: the club that started it all, Cascade Rangers FC, another grizzled veteran side, North End United; the upstarts of Rose City Athletic, friends from over in SW Washington, Northern Alliance FC, and three new teams, Multnomah Forest AFC, Guerreros Verde FC, and 101st FC. You might recall that 101st FC is actually a team that has played futsal for many seasons, and now the club is making the transition to the outdoor game. The final umbrella member is Old Growth FC, playing in the Over 40 Division 2 PDX grouping. From the initial days of one club to now 10 playing in various divisions in GPSD, it’s pretty impressive to see the growth here. WE will also keep an eye on the various indoor and futsal clubs as they compete in their various campaigns.
For those of you keeping track at home, visit the Timbers Army FC main page for a complete list of club happenings and news. The new clubs haven’t been added to the directory yet, but you can click on the main page for 101st FC, Cascade Rangers FC, FC Dynamo, FC Portlandia, North End United, Northern Alliance FC, Old Growth FC and Rose City Athletic to see results, upcoming matches and other fun stuff. The updated schedules and new team pages should be added shortly, but until then, I can provide a few updates from the match report emails that I did receive.
Guerreros Verde FC and Multnomah Forest AFC started their TAFC accounts by playing each other in a derby between new sides, which seems rather fitting. While Ben Abiles opened his account with the first ever goal for GVFC, MFAFC put up a seven spot in winning 7 to 1. 101st FC started their season against another new side in D4, the Clinton City Wanderers, and made a single tally by David Guttierrez stand up in a 1 to 0 win to get their first win in outdoor play. Stevie J from North End United sent a full recap of their season opening win over Northern Alliance FC 8 to 2, noting that in D4, there’s almost a derby each week. Marcus Nelson scored a hat trick and assist for NEU, while it was great to see NAFC return for another season. The team is going through some changes in personnel, but they have retained their competitive, battling spirit indicative of their fall 2011 version.
FC Portlandia started their 2012 campaign with a new logo, redesigned primary kit, and new sponsor in Maletis Distributors, but that didn’t change their competitive fire one bit as they started out with a big win over Salsa Azul, a club they’d lost to back in the spring term. Behind a brace and two assists from Anthony O’Reilly and a goal & assist from Nabil Zerizef, the Portlandia lads scored an impressive 5 to 1 win. Old Growth FC reported the same score line, but they were the club only scoring one goal in a loss to Celtic Portland FC. Lane Scheideman became the first OGFC player to score in consecutive matches, as he tallied the lone goal in their last match for spring, so hopefully he can keep the scoring streak going.
We’ll be back next Thursday with more reports from thelandofTAFC, and we hope to have updated schedule links, official match reports from weeks 1 and 2, and more fun as we celebrate the fall with futbol! If you have story ideas or suggestions for this weekly recap, please add your comments below or contact me at pdxtimbersblog@gmail.com.
