It does take a while for teams to gel and learn how to play together as a group, but what happens when a league has a similar issue or concern?  It’s a question that many TAFC members were asking towards the end of last week when there was a massive amount of reschedules affecting most outdoor teams.  After the troublesome “rugbygate” match on April 4 involving two TAFC members, North End United and Northern Alliance FC, that was delayed for over an hour and shortened to get the fixture in, the folks at the Greater Portland Soccer District needed to make some modifications in the Spring schedule.  While the fall session is usually straight forward with limited shuffling, spring so far has been a bit disjointed in terms of knowing when matches will be played.

DeltaPark fields 3 and 7 have been strictly dedicated for rugby, and with many matches put on those fields, the league needed to adjust their schedule.  While many clubs already had a big break in the schedule during May, some of the same teams now find almost two weeks on the calendar before playing their next match.  The delay has provided beneficial for some TAFC members, however, as a few teams needed to regroup a bit after their first match.  This week, we also have updates from our TAFC futsal and indoor clubs, who have also begun their Spring campaigns.  To make things easier to follow along, we’ll list each club, current highlights for the week, and their next scheduled match:

101^st FC started playing futsal in 2011 and began their Spring futsal season playing in Division 4.  During their first season in 2011, they won the Division 5 championship which earned them promotion with an eventual goal of “playing with the big dogs”.  In their first match, they beat Lonely Shepards FC 9 to 4 to get things rolling along nicely.  Hopefully the trend continues for 101^st FC, as they started from humble beginnings from standing in section 101 to creating a futsal team with an eventual goal of playing outdoor soccer so they never have to stop playing the beautiful game.

AC Loco Moco is a newly created TAFC indoor side playing at Portland Indoor Soccer in Division 4 Coed, made up of players of varying experience and skills.  While they have recruited several members of the Timbers Army, they’ve also brought in members of the indoor soccer community and introduced them to the Timbers Army Football Club umbrella.  In the past week, they lost their first match 4 to 3 to FC Bamako and drew with Stinkers FC 3 all, putting their record at 0 – 1 – 1.  Their next scheduled match at Portland Indoor is April 13 at 11:10 PM versus TeamAmerica.  I hope this is a real soccer team, although a matchup against marionettes could be rather interesting, but we wish them lots of luck this weekend.

Cascade Rangers FC didn’t have a match this week after their first week loss toBroken Arrow, but they will have a major fixture this weekend at Old Oregon City HS on April 15 at 2:00 PM. Yes, folks, it’s a derby match between CRFC and North End United as two of the long standing members of TAFC will once again meet in what we hope is an eventful matchup.  After playing many seasons in these affairs as a former member of Timbers Army FC that became CRFC, I can tell you this is one of the most anticipated fixtures within the TAFC clubs simply for bragging rights.

FC Dynamo has gotten off to an incredible start to their 2012 season with consecutive wins over SDFC Eastburn in week 1 and Concordia Ale House 3 to 0 in week 2.  The week 2 win was highlighted by an exceptional play on a long throw in from Jon Bial to a streaking Brian Hildenbrand, a converted penalty kick at the 30^th minute, a late goal from Victor Calderon, and some exceptional play from their goalkeeper and defense.  They don’t get much rest, as they have an April 15 date with Abysinnia FC at Delta Park Strasser at 2:00 PM.

FC Portlandia is still looking for their first win, but saw an extremely gutty effort versus Team Awesome on April 7.  After the loss to Salsa Azul in week 1, the boys wanted to rebound against a team that they’ve had some success against in the past.  Sporting their alternate sky blue kits, FCP fell behind 4 to 0 despite playing fairly well with the exception of some defensive issues.  Todd Poehlman and Jeff Scherer combined to put FCP on the board at minute 75, and Poehlman converted a penalty kick at the 85^th minute to push the scoreline to 4 to 2, but Portlandia eventually fell 4 to 2.  They will get another chance to right the ship against County Cork FC at noon atGladstoneHigh School.  We’ll get links to both official match reports as soon as they are available.

North End United was supposed to have played SDFC-3 on April 11, but because they were scheduled for the infamous rugby field, their midweek date was rescheduled for later this season, and they now look forward to their annual meeting with Cascade Rangers FC.  After beating another TAFC club in week 1, Northern Alliance FC, Stevie J and the boys in black are hoping to keep up their current form in their Sunday match.  I’m looking forward to match reports from both sides, because as previously mentioned, CRFC and NEU matches are always entertaining.

Northern Alliance FC brought a fourth TAFC club to GPSD Division 4, but to say their first match was a complete adventure is an understatement.  David Xochihua provided me a wonderful recap of their first ever match versus NEU in the now famous “rugbygate” match, and the folks fromVancouver are hoping to rebound in their match on April 15 versusSouth VN.  They weren’t adversely affected by the reschedules, but they will need to be on their game against a quick South VN club and a very fast surface atOldOregonCityHigh School.

Old Growth FC was also due a midweek date versus Sellwood Moreland FC, but the shift in dates pushed their next fixture to April 22 at LaSalle HS versus Tug & Whistle, giving the O-40 club some much needed practice time to work out issues after their week 1 loss to Optimators.  There have been a few minor knocks for the club, as OGFC has been dealing with some knee and calf strains along with sore groins, but after a spirited practice early on April 8 at their practice home of ChapmanSchool, the lads and lasses can’t want for their next match.

Rose City Athletic also earned some time off after their first match on April 4, a draw versus MayDay, and they have a tough match against SDFC-3 on April 15 out in Sherwood atSnyderPark at noon.  The weather should be nice, and based upon the barrage of shots and good defense for the lads in red in game 1, we should expect some awesome results.  If Bryan Boen got log slabs after each of his goals, he’d probably have a mansion by now as he got two in the first match, but he might get some competition in the scoring line from Ed Ramirez.