Joe Goldberg indoor memorial tournament 2019

Champions

THAT CHAMPIONSHIP FEELING: NY Polet 1, PDB Irish Rovers,

Glen Cove, Oceanside United capture LISFL indoor Read more

 

 

THAT CHAMPIONSHIP FEELING: NY Polet 1, PDB Irish Rovers,    Glen Cove, Oceanside United capture LISFL indoor

NY Polet celebrate winning the LISFL Premier and Division I title. 

 

In most likely the most unique quarterfinals match, NY Polet 1 defeated NY Polet, 2-0.

Division 2-3

Talk about a dramatic ending. PDB Irish Rovers scored with 7.8 seconds remaining in regulation to equalized and before winning the penalty-kick tie-breaker over the Guyana Jaguars Juniors. The teams played to a 1-1 draw before the Irish Rovers won the ensuing shootout, 3-1.

Over-30

Glen Cove registered a 2-0 triumph over the Garden City Centennials.

Over-40

After edging Olympiacos NY, 1-0, to win the title, Oceanside United dedicated its championship to the late Vito Sguera. A long-time Oceanside United SC coach and club official, Sguera passed away last August. He was 51.

Sguera was an assistant coach with Oceanside United SC’s Under-23 team that finished in third place in the Nassau West division of the Ryder-Vass U-23 Cup with a 6-3-1 mark.

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — NY Polet 1, PDB Irish Rovers, Glen Cove Over-30 and Oceanside United O-40 won titles at the Long Island Soccer Football League indoor tournament at Global Soccer Sunday.

A quick look at the championship games in the Mitchel Athletic Complex:

Premier and Division 1

Christian Galindo recorded a hat-trick to power NY Polet 1 to its second successive indoor crown, a 3-1 victory over NY Kosmos/Olympiacos United. Galindo tallied his three goals within a span of 10:21 to break the game open before Kosmos found the back of the net.

In the semifinals, NY Kosmos gained a measure of revenge over Port Jefferson behind a 1-0 semifinals win. Port Jefferson defeated NY Kosmos in the 2018 Tony Cangero Super Cup in a shootout.

IN TRIPLICATE: Galindo’s hat-trick lifts NY Polet to 2nd successive LISFL Premier indoor title

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — At the age of 27, Christian Galindo claims he is past his prime.

“I’m old now,” the NY Polet 1 forward said. “My prime was five years ago.”

Tell that to the rest of the Long Island Soccer Football League. Galindo certainly is a ready for prime-time player. He estimated he tallied seven or eight goals in the league’s annual Joe Goldberg Indoor Tournament, including a hat-trick in his team’s 3-1 victory over NY Kosmos/Olympiacos United in the Premier and Division I final Sunday.

“I think I did pretty well,” he said. “My teammates play very well with me, so its easy to play. It’s easy to look good because they make me look good.”

Head coach Zvonimir Antolos second that motion after his team captured the indoor crown for the second consecutive year.

“Christian scored a lot of goals this tournament,” he said. “He was exceptional.”

During a span of 10:21, Galindo exceptional, tallying his three goals within a span of 10:21 to break the game open before Kosmos found the back of the net at Global Soccer at Mitchel Athletic Complex.

“It was a good game, a good opponent,” Galindo said. “We have a good team. We have a good core of guys who have been playing in different leagues, so we have good chemistry. I think that’s why we ended up on top.”

Galindo lifted NY Polet into the lead putting home a rebound on the left side with 16:07 remaining in the 20-minute match. He doubled the advantage with exactly 10 minutes to go with a shot from outside the penalty area before tapping home his third goal with 5:44 left.

“Lucio [Sorto] made a good cross and I was able to finish when I came across,” Galindo said of his third goal.

NY Kosmos pulled one back with 70 seconds remaining.

“It’s a 20-minute game,” Galindo said. “It’s good and bad. If you go down early, it could hurt you. But luckily we started off well, finished well and we were able to win.”

Nicknamed Z, Antolos gave all the credit to his team, which took home $1,000 for winning the tourney; NY Kosmos earned $650.

“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “The boys did it all by themselves. They are an amazing team. They’re really skilled. We’ve been together for a while now. We’ve traveled to Canada every year to play in a tournament. We’ve built a good team over here.”

In the group stage, NY Polet 1 ran the table winning all three of its games, outscoring its opponents, 13-1.

In Sunday’s knockout round, the team defeat NY Polet, 2-0, in the quarterfinals — the squad had two teams play in separate group sin the division, and NY Serbia in the semifinals, 2-1.

“This league is very competitive, with Serbia, Port Jefferson and Kosmos,” Antolos said. “Being here, it wasn’t easy, it was tough. But the boys pulled it out again. I really congratulate only them. All I have to do is make a lineup. They’re playing all the time.”

“Honestly, we’re playing really well, from the get-go. We didn’t have a tough time. The Serbia game was a little tight you know, we deserved it. We played every game better than the opponents. The kids are really in good shape and they’re proving it on the field. I am always humble and everything, but they were playing amazing. They were amazing. As a coach I was quiet and just celebrating.”

The secret to NY Polet’s success?

Coach and player felt it was the player’s familiarity to one another.

“A lot of these kids played in college together,” Galindo said. “We played in two leagues throughout the week, so we’re constantly playing. So, it’s pretty easy. It’s not like we play every four months. So we have good chemistry. We have good players as well.”

No one has to remind Antolos about that.

“We are friends on and off the field,” he said. “We are hanging out all the time. It’s fun to be with them. When we go on these trips [for games and tournament], we take it to another level. We go to beautiful dinners together. We don’t do like some other teams, let them go on their own. After the tournament we go to dinner together, keep it together.”

Antolos praised NY Polet president David Rosini, the driving force of the club. Rosini was inducted into the LISFL Hall of Fame in November.

“He’s really doing it the right way,” he said. “I am just his right hand and keeping this all together.”

Galindo was born and raised in Brentwood and played for Brentwood High School, perennially one of the best Class AA boys teams in Suffolk County, if not Long Island or the state. He played two years at St. Brook University before finishing his college career at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

At Brentwood, Galindo played under legendary head coach Ron Eden, who performed for the New York Apollo and New York United in the old American Soccer League and of course, the LISFL.

“He told me he played all over the place,” Galindo said. “A good guy, a good mentor. Good person. Someone to look up to, a good person in the Brentwood community. Definitely helps a lot of kids out.”

Before he left the indoor facility Sunday, Galindo talked about how much he has loved playing the beautiful game with a roof over his head.

“I like playing here. I like this field,” he said. “I like playing indoor. I just wish the games were a little longer, instead of 20 straight, maybe two 15’s or two 20’s. It’s a good tournament. It’s good to have this every year.”

Wait a minute!

Longer games will mean more scoring opportunities for Galindo. After his performance last week, that might be the last thing NY Polet’s LISFL foes will want.

MUCH BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Last-second goal gives Irish Rovers 2nd life as they win LISFL Div. 2-3 indoor title

Feb 26, 2019 

Goal-scoring hero Niko Jelicic with Lucas Paul Kabashi and LISFL president Gux Xikis. (FrontRowSoccer.com Photo)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — The PDB Irish Rovers’ victory in the Joe Goldberg Long Island Soccer Football League indoor tournament was just another reminder that a game isn’t over until it’s over.

With eight seconds remaining in the Division 2-3 final, Irish Rovers was trailing the Guyana Jaguars Juniors, 1-0.

With 7.8 seconds left in the game at Global Soccer at the Mitchel Athletic Complex, it was all knotted up at 1-1 thanks to a goal by Niko Jelicic. Irish Rovers went on to win the title via penalty kicks, 3-1

“That’s why you always play to the last second,” Jelicic said. “Try your best. Regardless of letting in a weak goal seconds before, you’ve got to try to stay positive as best as you can. Take a deep breath and keep playing.”

PBD did not have much time to stage a comeback. Guyana had grabbed the lead with only 2:18 left in the match.

“When you’re trailing 1-0 against a good team like that, it’s not necssarily doing it by making subs,” Irish Rovers head coach Zef Kabashi said. “The guys got to do it themselves. They’ve got the responsibility on the field to make those decisions. sure enough. The guys we all believed that we all could make it to PKs and win the final and we did. It was a matter of belief in themselves and each other and that’s how they pulled it off.” As the clock was winding down, Jelicic and company did not give up. With 22.7 seconds remaining Irish Rovers attempted a free kick that was cleared off the line by a Guyana defender.

The ball eventually came to Jelicic, who fired a hard, 20-yard shot with but 7.8 seconds to go in regulation.

“I took a shot at the end, hopeful, wishful thinking more than anything, just get it on net,” he said. “It ended up being a very nice goal, had the momentum, and took them to penalties.

“Head down, just what they taught us in grass roots and just put it on net.”

Which Jelicic did. In fact, he converted his shootout attempt as did two teammates to win the trophy.

In group play, Guyana defeated Irish Rovers, 4-1. The losers learned something about the defeat, its only loss in the tournament.

“We stayed a little more compact, stay connected and the instructions were to shoot from distance,” Kabashi said. “And the opportunity came and sure enough, the goal that took us to PKs was from distance.”

Added Jelicic: “We played the team in the final that we wanted to. They beat us in the first game, so we learned our lessons. We took our licks.”

So, what did Irish Rovers learn from the first encounter?

“We were too stretched,” he said. “They were much more contact. They were able to counter on us without really having to do that much. We were giving the ball away, forcing a lot of it. This game, just wait for them to come out a little bit, try to make 2 v 1s when we could, make some space and take them on goal when we could. We had lots of shots on goal, which was good, but their keeper was really good.” Kabashi, whose six-year-old son Lucas Paul (a member of the team’s Under-8 Academy side), posed with the team and Jelicic for photos during the post-game ceremonies, said he decided to move the team down a division after winning the Premier League and Premier League Cup last year.

“We dropped to D-2 due to the roster size. We wanted to make it more enjoyable instead of having two rosters; slimmed it down to one roster. We train two days a week and we have fun, enjoy it on the weekend. Instead of hanging around for two games, we hang around for one game and play quality ball.”

So did Guyana.

“They’re a good team,” Kabashi said. “They’ve played together for a long time. You can tell. Their chemistry is very high level. We knew we were going to see them in the final, after we lost to them in the first round.”

ALL THEY KNOW IS HOW TO WIN: Glen Cove rolls to LISFL O-30 indoor crown

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- If you notice that the Glen Cove Over-30 men's team exhibits a little more skill and soccer savvy than its opponents, there is a good reason.

The squad has four former members of the Jamaican national team on its roster.

While the Long Island Soccer Football League did not have its full complement of ex-international players for the Joe Goldberg indoor soccer tournament, it did quite well in the competition, capturing the O-30 title for the second consecutive year Sunday.

Glen Cove registered a 2-0 triumph over Garden City.

"This is very special. Every win is special for us, of where we're coming from," head coach Dwight Jones said. "We've been trying to build this team for quite a while. So, every achievement is special for us."

Several former Jamaican professional and national team players have moved to the metropolitan area and Long Island after their prime playing days are over.

And that's good for an 0-30 side like Glen Cove. In fact, they know each other because they have performed with or against each other for years in Jamaica.

"We're used to playing together from our youth days in Jamaica," Jones said. "Some of them come back and forth in the summer time to play in the summer leagues, from Brooklyn, Bronx and all over."

Glen Cove settled things within a span of 124 seconds in the O-30 final.

First, Jerome Robinson boosted Glen Cove into the lead with 16:58 left in the game, firing a free kick around the defensive wall into the lower right corner.

John-Ross Edwards, a former Jamaican international, doubled the margin at 14:54, connecting from the left side. Edwards, 31, played for Harbour View FC in his native country from 2007-17, scoring 21 times in 182 appearances. He has represented the Reggae Boyz four times since 2014.

During the group stage, Glen Cove rolled over the competition with a 6-0-0 mark while outscoring its foes, 22-6. It continued its conquest with a 6-0 victory over Istria in the semifinals before recording yet another clean sheet in the final.

The LISFL O-30 teams have found it difficult to keep up with Jones and Glen Cove over the past couple of years outdoors as the team has enjoyed an undefeated run.

In fact, the Glen Cove O-30's will open their season against archrival Baisley United, another team that has some talented Jamaican players, at Idlewild Park Field No. 1 Sunday, March 10 at 2 p.m. 

"We're looking forward to the start to the outdoor season," Jones said.

Given Glen Cove’s track record, the same might not be said by all of its opponents.

 

FOR VITO: Oceanside United SC players dedicate LISFL 0-40 crown to their late teammate, coach Sguera

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- During the postgame trophy ceremonies of the Over-40 Division of the Joe Goldberg Long Island Soccer Football League indoor tournament Sunday, the entire Oceanside United team raised its arms to the heaven and shouted in unison, "For Vito!"

They were honoring their much beloved late player-coach, Vito Sguera, who passed away from cancer in August at the age of 51.

And what better what to accomplish that but by winning their division indoor championship at Global Soccer at the Mitchel Athletic Complex.

"First of all, we dedicated this team to Mr. Goldberg. He started this club," Oceanside United SC's Mario Gentile said of the man for whom the LISFL tournament is named. "Then I took over after him and I got a whole bunch of guys who really played together such good soccer.

"Vito played for me all his life. He gave everything he got. What else can i say? He was a great guy. We have a great club and great coaches. I am very honored to have these guys."

Gentile, a member of the LISFL Hall of Fame, said winning the indoor crown was special because of Sguera.

"He was a 1,000 percent into the soccer league, 1,000 percent for the kids," he said. "He was a great coach to the kids. He took a team to Italy. He did everything possible to make and promote soccer in Oceanside. He was a great, great person, a great friend."

Sguera was an assistant coach with Oceanside United SC’s Under-23 team that finished in third place in the Nassau West division of the Ryder-Vass U-23 Cup with a 6-3-1 mark.

"Vito used to be my teammate, great player, helluva person," Oceanside United's Tony Santos said. "Unlucky he had to leave us so early, but I guess he's in a better place right now. Hopefully, he's enjoying this win.

"This trophy and this tournament str dedicated to Vito. The trophy will go to his wife, so she has a good memory from all of us."

Brahim Atlagh made sure he and his teammates were in a position to honor Sguera as he snapped a scoreless draw with a goal from the left side off a pass from Jose Flores with 45.6 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I pulled up to the penalty spot and I was wide open," "Atlagh said. "He passed to me and I scored it."

Oceanside United went only 2-2-2 during group play, losing to defending champion Lindenhurst in that part of the tournament, 2-1. The team, however, won when it counted, besting Lindenhurst in the semifinals, winning via penalty kicks, 4-3 and then capturing the final. Lindenhurst won the group stage with a 5-1 record.

"It's very exciting," said Atlagh, who noted Oceanside had lost to Lindenhurst in last year's final. "We came up short. They beat us. We learned from the mistakes we made last year. We played a good team. We know how they played."

Added Santos: "The win was pretty good. The team stayed on what we planned to do. The guys were ready to play. Today was our lucky day."

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