March 30th, 2008 -- Good start Breaking away from bad habits, the team earned a win and a hard-fought tie to start the season. The first game was a rather easy win 1-0 over the 1st Street Rangers in a game where we allowed only one real scoring opportunity and got plenty, two of them ending up on posts.
The second game was much harder as we fell into a 2-goal hole after an hour of play. But a penalty kick by PY and a rebound collected by Tariq on a beautiful move by Eric and Ernesto got us back in the game and eventually led to 1 more point.

March 11th, 2008 -- Champions! After a couple of seasons spent struggling, Les Bleus are back on top! It was not an easy task though, and ended up being a nail-biting experience. On our last game we defeated the FC South Bay 6-3 despite a very balanced first half. Once again, our firepower of Audren and Tariq blasted the game open with a combined 5 goals.
However, the title was not a done deal on that day since our opponent of the day was trailing us by 2 points with 1 game in hand against Inter United which dealt us an unfair loss earlier in the season. Luckily, Inter United decided to close their season on a high note and defeated in turn FC South Bay, paving the way for a new Les Bleus title!!

February 10th, 2008 -- Good vibes Today's game was a blowout victory against a great team missing its best player. We scored very early and reached halftime with a 4 goal-lead thanks to Audren, Tariq and PY. The second half was equally lopsided and the final score was 6-0. Note that 5 different players assisted on the goals (the last one was an own goal). We all really gave our best and our defense finally earned the shut-out they deserved!

February 4th, 2008 -- Highs and lows The 8th game of the season saw the end of our winning streak under torrents of water. That game left us very bitter though as highly controversial calls by the referees changed the fate of the game.
Everybody was therefore pumped up for the next game, and we certainly delivered. It all started with a beautiful, aerial combo involving Samuel, Tariq and Audren who sent a blast on the right post and inside the nets (1-0, 11'). More controversy arouse when the refs omitted to call a handball inside the box, forgot a red card when a defender of the opposing team used his hands to stop the ball progress while being the last hurdle before the goalkeeper, and when the refs incomprehensively reset a free kick that Audren had sent past the goalie. Instead of discouraging us, those events made us even more hungry and angry, especially when a penalty kick was called against us for... a handball in the box (1-1, 56'). But 10 fantastic minutes sealed the game: Audren, Tariq and PY converted on collective moves to make it a 3-goal gap (3-1, 60', 64', 70'). Another penalty kick, and another masterpiece by Tariq made it a game (5-2, 78', 81').

January 13th, 2008 -- Streaking! The team is starting to develop some chemistry and it shows on the field. During the first half of today's contest, our opponents did not manage to get a single scoring opportunity. Our offense was also very shy... until the 32nd minute when Audren intercepted the ball in our side of the field: 70 yards, 12 seconds, 4 opponents and 1 shot later, we were up by one (1-0, 32'). The second half saw more offense on both sides, but we kept the lead thanks to great solidarity on the defensive line and an incredible save by Davide who deflected a shot on his left post (57'). Minutes later Audren got launched by Yannick on the right side and PY collected the rebound on the stopped shot (2-0, 64'). Reda D. closed the scoring sheet when he dribbled past the goalie and scored in the empty net on a fastbreak (3-0, 82').

January 6th, 2008 -- The turkey effect The team digested the holidays quite well. The pace was slower than usual as expected, but we produced a good collective effort to reach halftime with a point. It could have actually been even better if Jeff's subtle lob on Audren's pass had not found the post on its way to the nets, following a nice collective move.
We started the second half by backing up a little bit, thereby allowing more scoring opportunities but the stellar performances of Eric and Davide kept the ball out of our nets. Midway through the period, Audren surprised the defense on the right side on a breakaway but his shot was stopped by the goalkeeper; fortunately Reda D. was there to collect the rebound and score his 3rd goal of the season (1-0, 61'). Shortly before the end of the game PY pressured a defender and the goalie into relinquishing the ball and scored in the empty goal (2-0, 86'). The goal scored by our opponents at the last second (2-1, 90') did not change the fate of the game: the team reaped its 3rd win of the season before challenging the league-leading Mexiporto FC next week.

December 9th, 2007 -- Three-pointer After two frustrating losses, we finally got our 3 points with a 2-1 win today. PY connected with Audren and Tariq on the first goal early in the game (1-0, 6'). The rest of the first half was a compilation of great collective moves ending up anywhere but not in the nets. Shortly after the break, Reda won a penalty kick and despite missing it on a nice stop by the keeper, he scored on his own rebound (2-0, 53'). Then again we were unable to pull away and on a bogus call by one of the refs the Strikers cut the lead on an imaginary penalty kick (2-1, 74'). This goal energized our opponents who had several hot opportunities late in the game but they could not convert them into goals thanks to the brilliant performances of Jerome, Julien and our goalie Emanuele for his first game with the team. Congrats and keep up the good job!

December 4th, 2007 -- Getting there (ctd) Another game, another encouraging performace, another frustrating loss. Despite many good scoring opportunities and an overall solid play, we walked out of the field empty handed as our opponents notched the 3 points on a lucky goal following a cornerkick midway through the second half (0-1, 68'). No shame though as we were facing the reigning champs and we produced enough game to make them seriously doubt, so much that a tie wouldn't have been unfair.

November 26th, 2007 -- Getting there The first two games were interesting and bear hopes for the rest of the season. The first game was canceled on a forfeit of our opponents, so we ended up playing scrimmage which gave us a good opportunity to integrate the new players.

The following game was a whole different story as we faced the best team of these past seasons. We took an early lead on Salah's free kick (1-0, 1') but conceded three goals despite Julien's great effort in our goal where he was replacing an injured Davide (1-3, 3', 12', 21'). We cut the lead in the second half when Reda D. scored on a pass by Florian (2-3, 75'), but in the crunch time as we were charging towards the opponents' goal we allowed one last goal which sealed the game (2-4, 87').
Despite the loss and the lack of experience together, the team had brilliant moments and actually corralled way more scoring opportunities than the other team -two of our attempts by Reda D. and PY ending up on the posts... Look for some improvement as the season goes by...

November 12th, 2007 -- New beginning (again) As the lack of fresh news may have hinted at, last season did not go so well for the team. Most games were played with an extra slim roster and resulted in very disappointing results. But the season that began last Sunday bears new hopes (again). A renewed roster, pumped up players, a new practice field: everything is set up for a better season!

We also now practice on a new field in Santa Clara. Check out the Practice page.

August 12th, 2007 -- New beginning After a disappointing season, the fun starts over with a fresh new team. Some players had to leave the Bay Area (Michael D.), some others are recovering from injuries (Salah, Reda D.): we wish them all the best and hope to see them soon!

This Sunday was the first game of the season for Les Bleus as game #1 was postponed for lack of enough registered players... Some new faces made their apparition at the warm-up: we welcomed Norman, Osman, Pierre-Alexandre MK. and Valentin for their first game with Les Bleus. The least we can say is that they had a pretty challenging first game as Inter United was scheduled that day.
As usual the game was very intensive and some heat started building up halfway through the first period, eventually leading to the ejection of Inter's center back after an hour of play and a couple of injuries on the Blue side. But these incidents did not prevent Les Bleus from dishing up a surprisingly good display of collective moves that most of the time yielded interesting offensive situations. Halftime came and the score remained unchanged despite a center from Geraud that Valentin flicked onto the crossbar (33') and some good opportunities for Jeff (on a pass from PY) and PY (on a pass from Jeff).
The team kept the pressure high in the second half which resulted in some more scoring chances for Pierre-Alexandre MK. and Osman thwarted by the goalie and his defense. Playing with the man advantage for almost half an hour, the forward lines finally pierced through the safe when Jeff centered from the right and Valentin sent the ball in the nets with a fantastic bicycle kick (1-0, 68')! Certainly one of the most beautiful goals of the history of the team! Despite some hot situations towards the end of the game the Inter United players could not manage to get the tying goal thanks to a good effort from Davide and his personal protection squad who collect their first shutout of the season.

Next up is the Voodoo FC, a newcomer in the Premier League. Let's hope that our team will build some momentum and collect a second win in a row, something that's not happened since the month of February!

May 20th, 2007 -- Survivor The game today was a bit special as the team ended up severely short-handed. We had only two substitutes to start with, but Kaba got injured and Jeff had to take off early leaving us with only eleven players for the entire second half.
The game started pretty well as we managed to create some decent offense. Following a couple of unsuccessful attempts, we opened the score when Jeff stole the ball in the right defender's feet and after trading passes with Michael D. kicked the ball out of the goalie's reach. A certain taste for truth and most importantly the irresistible delight of teasing Jeff pushes us to reveal that on the goal the ball was deflected by a defender, thereby making the goalie helpless. Come on, Jeff: it still counts as a goal! (1-0, 16') The score did not change during the rest of the first half as the Strikers missed a penalty kick.
The second half was an endless struggle as the other team had a 6 substitutes to 0 advantage over us which in the spring/summer time makes a huge difference. We however managed to aggravate the score when David cruised on the right side and passed toward the middle where Michael D. let the ball pass between his legs for PY who one-timed the ball to near the right post from the top of the box (2-0, 58'). This was unfortunately not enough as the Strikers rallied and tied the game late in the half (2-2, 73', 81').

This game was the first for two players that we welcome to Les Bleus: Julien who filled up at #6 and combined well with David, Jeff or PY and Max our goalie who's not to blame on any of the two goals and who made some impressive saves. Welcome to the two of you!

May 6th, 2007 -- Lamest game ever Following an average 1-1-1 start in this league, we played the lamest game ever today. Our opponents played the whole game with only 8 players, giving us a 3-man advantage. We pretty much spent the entire game on the offensive end! The game was still scoreless at halftime as we sent 4 kicks to the posts, the rest of them either being brilliantly stopped by the goalkeeper or flying completely off target.
The relief came when Reda D. converted Jeff's deep pass into his third goal of the season (1-0, 61'). PY then stole the ball in the left corner and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one (2-0, 68'). Jeff converted a penalty kick earned Michael D. (3-0, 76'). Reda D. closed the scoresheet after a nice one-touch move by David and Jeff on the left wing (4-0, 90').

February 25th, 2007 -- Revenge After a crushing loss earlier in the season, Les Bleus were pumped up and ready to put up a good fight against a Inter United team playing very good soccer so far. And our team lived up to these expectations. Despite an early lead by Inter United (0-1, 14') les Bleus quickly bounced back into the game thanks to Audren on PY's cornerkick (1-1, 19'). The game was pretty even although the ball was mostly controlled by our team. Nick U. had the go-ahead goal at the tip of his toes but his kick towards the wide-open goal was way too slow allowing the keeper to catch up and make an unhoped-for save. Shortly before halftime, on yet another cornerkick Audren tried to dribble his way to the goal but got fouled: he took care of the retaliation and scored on the penalty kick to take the lead late in the half (2-1, 44').
Les Bleus did not let the pressure go down entering the second half and played one of their most accomplished half if you put the last 15 minutes aside. On a deep pass by Tom, Dimitri went one-on-one with the goalkeeper: his first strike was stopped but he followed up on the rebound to make it a 2-goal lead (3-1, 49'). On the subsequent play, the same Dimitri pressured the keeper into passing the ball to... Michael D. who scored in a deserted goal from the top of the box (4-1, 51'). Not long after Nick U. got his redemption for his terrible first-half miss when he converted a dish from Salah into a goal with a beautiful lob shot (5-1, 63'). The last 20 minutes were quite stressful as the Inter United guys started to show some pride and scored three times on our pretty static defense but the team held on to the lead for a third win in a row.

February 12th, 2007 -- Double For the first time this season, the team managed to collect back-to-back wins. This was actually a sure thing 15 minutes into the game, as les Bleus were already up by three. The early kick-off meant the Silicon Valley Rovers' loss as they had to start the game short of 2 players. Les Bleus jumped on the opportunity and scored three quick goals by Michael D., Nick U. and PY (3-0, 1', 8', 14'). The arrival of the missing players evened things out a little bit, but the ball was clearly controlled by our team. The success was completed by two more goals by Audren and Nick U. (5-0, 76', 81').
The team wanted to formulate an apology to its goalkeeper Davide who, besides mastering four clean catches on crosses and cornerkicks, spent most of the time watching the game from his goal! Hold on Davide, you shall get more busy as the league-leading Inter United team is up next!

February 4th, 2007 -- Here it goes again Confirming this season's habits, the team bounced back from a tough loss to claim a sweet victory against the much-hyped Villareal team. Despite a limited roster (3 subs quickly shrinking to 2 after Jerome's injury) we managed to control our opponents and score at key moments. Thirty minutes into the game, PY stole the ball on the 50-yard line and passed it to Olivier who in turn launched Salah on the left wing: the instant cross found David on the right and the canonball David fired ended up in the top-left corner (1-0, 31'). Two posts on attempts by David and Salah prevented us from reaching halftime with a more substantial lead. The second half was more even and the young Villareal players managed some opportunities, and even hit the posts twice. But les Bleus pulled away when PY stole the ball from a defender and sent a lob shot right on the net from the 20-yard line (2-0, 68'). Audren sealed the win a little later when he cruised past the defense and sent the ball out of the goalie's reach (3-0, 77'). Our opponents showed some pride and scored the last goal of the game on a controversial penalty kick (3-1, 84').

The team bids farewell to one of its more dedicated members: thanks for everything Philippe R., and all the best on your new challenges!

January 31st, 2007 -- AC W-L-W-L-W-L: at least there's a pattern... The team is powered by AC current, and this week we just hit a low. Despite a balanced showdown, we conceded 3 goals in a 0-3 loss to the 1st Street Rangers. As usual two of these goals came off silly blunders, but we also missed a penalty kick that could have fueled a come-back at 0-2 midway through the second half.
The only player to emerge from the chaos was Nazim, who for his first appearance with les Bleus showed some impressive skills in the goal. Congratulations and welcome to the team!

January 21st, 2007 -- Bouncing back One game and we're back in the hunt! A brilliant performance today at Milpitas against the West Valley Strikers keeps all the hopes for a third title alive. Today's opponents, the West Valley Strikers, came into the game riding on a 3-game point streak, thereby making them a serious contender for the coveted title. But our team mastered the game from A to Z to claim this result: and 1, and 2, and 3-0!
It all started from a very impressive display by our defense which never let any opponent slip through its offside nets. Solutions were found in the midfield which led to scoring opportunities. On one of those, The ball reached Philippe R. on the right wing who transmitted to PY: one move to eliminate a defender, and the cross found Salah's head for the first goal (1-0, 31'). Right before halftime, the same Salah converted a PK won by Reda whose shot had been deflected by a defender's hand (2-0, 43'). The exact same scenario applied to the second half and on a free kick following an offside call, Serge delivered a deep pass to Reda who surprised the two players guarding him as well as the goalie (and us! ;) with a beautiful lob shot from outside the box (3-0, 70').

Special thoughts to Davide who had to leave the game after an incredible save that preserved the shut-out but also took a heavy toll on his shoulder; A-grade as well to Pierre-Alexandre who -as usual- stepped up and took over as our goalie!

January 15th, 2007 -- New practice field Starting this week we'll be practicing at Cupertino Middle School. See the Practice page for more info.
Special thanks to Serge and Jeff for getting us some lights!

January 15th, 2007 -- Friendly game report On Sunday the team played against Tom's team which plays in a league in SF. After a good start the team slowly declined before relinquishing the victory to some really well-organized opponents. Dimitri scored the first goal on Ian's assist, but then Tom took over and scored two goals to put his (other) team back on track. The final score is 1-3.
Kudos to Julien B. for his debuts with Les Bleus!

January 11th, 2007 -- Sloppy start... Two wins and two losses welcome the new season. Both losses came in games where we squandered numerous scoring opportunities. The team is battling against a couple of injuries and... the skiing season, but we manage to stay in the race for the title in a league that's more even than ever.

November 30th, 2006 -- Duty calls Despite the conquest of a second title the end of last season back in October was somewhat cheesy with a loss and a tie - and two missed penalty kicks (both off-target!) within the last 5 minutes of the second game - which creates a real challenge for us on the eve of another title defense: will the team live up to the satisfaction it drew over the past two seasons? The answer will partly be unveiled this coming Sunday as Les Bleus face the Silicon Valley Rovers in a classic matchup.

October 12th, 2006 -- Closed deal The release of the league's last results on Wednesday materialized what was already floating in the air: with a 7-point lead and only 2 more games to go, Les Bleus are officially champions of the SBASL Turf Premier division for the second time in a row. And just as with the previous title, we can thank the 1st Street Rangers who bounced back after a tough 0-5 loss to... Les Bleus and tied their next game with Victory 3-3.

October 8th, 2006 -- The title's closing in... And one more win for a solid Les Bleus team against their nemesis St Stephen's Green, the last team to defeat us 12 games ago.
It could have started like a dream if the free kick taken by PY on the 25-yard line had ended up in the nets and not on the crossbar! (9') We kept the control over the ball during the entire half, but could not score despite good opportunities by Salah and Michael C. The relief came immediately after the break when Audren intercepted the ball on the 30-yard line, dribbled past two defenders and scored his third goal of the season (1-0, 53'). The game became more even over time as our team started backing up a little bit. On a fastbreak Michael D. almost scored but his subtle flick sent the ball right onto the right post... (76') The very last minutes were particularly stressful as the ball dangerously wandered around in Davide's box, but the defense held on to preserve the win.

October 4th, 2006 -- Show time Yet another victory for the red-hot Les Bleus. But this time it was not only a win, it was a soccer show! It started after 10 minutes when Audren fired a missile from the 30 yards line straight onto the crossbar... on the first ball he touched in the game! A couple of minutes later, after two unsuccessful attempts, Salah received the ball from Audren at the top of the box and took a smooth lob that landed in the nets (1-0, 18'). This superb goal was soon followed by a cute sibling. It all started with a cross from the left cleared with a header by a defender; the ball rose in the air to PY who, over 30 yards away from the goal and without a control, fired a shot that ended up in the top-right corner of the goal (2-0, 26'). The curtain closed on the first half with the unfortunate knee injury of Baptiste. We wish him a quick recovery and hope to have him back on the fields very soon!
The second half was equally unidirectional thanks to a clean performance of our defense which systematically thwarted the attemps of the Rangers. Having such a backbone sure helps putting up a good offense. And on one of these balls recovered by our defense, the ball reached Audren who went for the one-on-one with the goalie but was stopped illegally by a defender. Audren took care of the retaliation with his second PK of the season (3-0, 56'). Later in the game, Les Bleus showed what "a great soccer move" means. Salah got the ball from Jerome on the left wing, passed it to PY who backheeled it to Nick U., and back to Salah who dished out a subtle pass behind the defense to Michael D. for a 10th goal in 5 games played! (4-0, 71') The last goal came on a run of Salah on the right wing; having no less than 4 options for the cross, Salah managed to trick the goalie into believing he would pass while he actually went for the goal with a simple strike (5-0, 83').

This game was also the first for Reda after his return to the Bay Area: welcome back Reda!

September 25th, 2006 -- Weird but win As expected the Rovers were pumped up and ready for the fight but a great team spirit and a never-ending involvement from every single player on our roster lead us past our opponents.

The game started really well for us as Michael D. scored on his third attempt after only a couple of minutes (1-0, 11'). During this first half the Rovers never saw the light and we had many opportunities to totally kill the game. However, despite a great activity from Salah, PY and Jeff passing the ball up front none of our one-on-one opportunities made it past the keeper. Blame it on square feet and tricky wind, but half-time came with only a single goal advantage for Les Bleus.
The second half started as a nightmare. The Rovers first tied the game on a cross from the right that ended up in the opposite net (1-1, 51'). This goal was quickly followed by a second one as our game in the midfield and in the defense was completely disrupted by... well, nothing but our inconstency (1-2, 54'). Instead of completely losing it, the team showed some pride and resources and launched a second wave of attacks on the opposite goal which materialized into a goal when David fired a cross from the right that ended on Michael D.'s header for his 4th personal double-goal in 4 games! (2-2, 67') We kept the pressure high and after a good combination between PY and Ian on the left side, the ball landed in Michael D.'s feet: he dodged a defender and bent a strike just out of the keeper's reach (3-2, 71'). The score froze after Jeff transformed a penalty kick gained by Salah (the second one in two games!) into his first goal of the season (4-2, 75').

September 17th, 2006 -- 5 * Win = (Grand Slam) / 2 Halfway down the road it's usually time for evaluations: it's looking goooood to say the least! 5 wins for 5 games, it'd be hard to do better. But as our captains always tell us, each game is new and deserves all our focus. In one word: let's keep up the good work and extend the winning streak.

Today's game against Victory was yet another fight -can it be otherwise with this team?- but a victorious one for us. A solid start allowed us to take the lead on a beautiful long pass by Jeff converted into a goal by guess who? the serial striker Michael D.! (1-0, 5') The ball was ours for most of the first half, yet we did not manage to score the game-killer. And on one of their rare scoring opportunities, the Victory guys tied the game when their center forward got his own rebound after Davide thwarted his first attempt with a nice reflex (1-1, 33'). In such a situation Les Bleus back in January would have lost their focus and struggled to get back on track, but now we manage to stay focus and keep the pressure high on the opponents. And inevitably a couple of minutes later, Philippe G. ignited the fire on the right wing and Salah's strike was deflected by the hand of a defender: penalty kick! Audren took care of it and left no chance to the keeper (2-1, 39').
The second half was no different from the first one, even though their offensive moves got a little more biting though not enough to really put Davide in trouble, mainly due to a remarkably well organized defense. We had several opportunities to take a more substantial advantage but the prime passes delivered by PY (68') and David (74') did not end up in the nets. The temperature went up one level when Victory's center forward severely tackled Greg and subsequently kicked the ball straight towards Audren's head and was sent out for the whole of his works. A 5-minute interruption followed as the guy would not leave the field. The game finally resumed and two passes later (Pierre-Alexandre to Audren, Audren to... Michael D.) we were leading by two (3-1, 86'), a lead that would go unchallenged for the remaining of the game.

Next week we'll face the Silicon Valley Rovers for the first time this season as they had to forfeit the season opener back in August. They're struggling this season, conceding over 4 goals per game, but we should all stay on our guard as revenge can be the most powerful fuel.

September 10th, 2006 -- Milpitas fever Last season we collected only one single point over three trips to Milpitas; with only one game this season we already have three! Thanks to a great team performance we outplayed the Strikers from minute 1 to minute 90. It all started with a couple of chances missed by Michael D. and Nick U. as a warm-up. But twenty minutes into the game Michael D. combined with Nick U. and scored a cold-blooded goal (1-0, 21'). The first half went on at a high pace and several attempts (PY 34', Salah 38', 43') would have deserved a better fate. The second half was at least as intense, and at least as unilateral. Thanks to an excellent job recovering the ball by the defensive mids and an impressive coordination of the entire defense -even with an intense player rotation, we managed to keep the control over the ball all the time, and it wasn't long before the second goal came on a beautiful header by Ian following a cornerkick by PY (2-0, 59'). The rest of the game is anecdotal: PY scored on a three-man move involving Nick U. and Audren (3-0, 81'). The Strikers cut the lead on a generous penalty kick that Davide almost flicked out of his goal (3-1, 86'). But Michael D., a.k.a. the man who scores goals only by pairs, closed the festival on a deep pass by Audren (4-1, 88').
The team has kept a steady pace of improvement, and the efforts are now bearing fruits. The defense was impressively solid, and for once all the substitutions -we had 18 players on the roster today- did not disrupt our game. And what about the one-touch moves we saw on the offensive end? It seems that all the time invested in the practices is paying off!
A special award to Jeff and David who did a great job managing the team from the sideline: they must get a lot of credit from the stability the team showed through the game. Last but not least, the highlight of the game goes to the man who put on the long-hair wig and the rabbit teeth to show us a Ronaldinho-like move that left 5 Strikers speechless: Jeff, you're the best!

August 27th, 2006 -- And 1, and 2, and 3 games won! The curse has been lifted! The non-winning streak against St Stephen's Green is over thanks to a well-deserved 1-0 victory today. The team made it despite rough "plays" from our opponents and one-way calls from the referees. It even sometimes looked like the Greens were about to dish out the same old story, notably when a strike by Baptiste ended up on the right post of the goal (57'). It actually took us over two thirds of the game to net the game's only goal who came on a beautiful, cold-blooded strike from Dimitri after Nick U. had stolen the ball from the Ds (1-0, 70').
A big up to Pierre-Alexandre who brilliantly stepped up as a back-up goalie, especially when he flicked a direct free kick right on his crossbar (81'). Good job also on the defensive end with a clean shutout!

In the game that followed ours, the West Valley Strikers wiped out the Silicon Valley Rovers 7-0. According to our inside man -and high-quality ref- Julien B., the Strikers played an amazing game with TV-grade goals that would have been worth an instant replay! This is a good warning for us as the Strikers are next up on September 10th.

August 26th, 2006 -- Keeping up the good work Last week the team showed two sides. One during the first half where we could not get the ball past the middle of the field and had to rely on Geert's exploits to concede only a single goal (0-1, 36'). The other one came in the second half where the 1st Street Rangers got totally overwhelmed by a fast-paced, one-touch play and some great team play sequences. It was not long before Baptiste tied the game on a deep pass from PY (1-1, 60') and the same PY gave the advantage to Les Bleus, assisted by a killer long pass by Jeff (2-1, 64'). Baptiste concluded this fantastic 10-minute push by turning a ball stolen by Dimitri into his second personal goal (3-1, 70'). The Rangers had a proud reaction and cut the lead (3-2, 80') but two goals by Michael D. for his first game with Les Bleus (5-2, 82', 85') helped clinched the victory.
To sum up: sloppy first half, excellent overall team performance in the second half and most importantly a second win in two games that gives us the temporary lead in the division.

This Sunday St Stephen's Green will try to put a stop to our winnning streak, something at which they were very successful last season as we could only collect one point out of our two face-to-faces. Good luck to all our players!

August 18th, 2006 -- New season, new players The Summer season really begins this coming Sunday at Leland High School against the 1st Street Rangers. The first game of the season never took place as the Silicon Valley Rovers conceded a forfeit as they did not have enough players to face us. Not a bad thing after all since they finished last season ranking second in the league!
This first game will also be the first appearance on the team of three players: welcome to Geert, Julien and Michael D.!
Last but not least, the season schedule is available on the Results page.

August 3rd, 2006 -- Relocation of practice sessions Those of you who showed up at the practice yesterday probably noticed the invasion of the field by hordes of 4-foot-tall miniatures of (american) football players. It turns out that they're very likely going to occupy the field at the same time every Wednesday for the next few months. Until further notice, we'll move to a backup field not far from Fair Oaks Park: see the Locations page for a map.

July 18th, 2006 -- Champions! The suspense finally came to an end when the defeat of team Victory was announced earlier today. Falling to the 1st Street Rangers by 2-1, they gave up every chance to get their hands on a new title. Congratulations to a team whose 18-game undefeated streak was only ended by... Les Bleus with a sensational 4-1 win a couple of weeks ago ;) Congratulations to all our players for this outstanding season!

July 16th, 2006 -- En route to the title? After an ah-some 3-0 victory over the division leaders, expectations are really high among les Bleus' ranks. Any result other than a victory of team... Victory (which played the 1st Street Rangers today) would guarantee the title to les Bleus!

Thanks to what could be the fastest goal in the league's history (Baptiste after 20sec.!), Les Bleus quickly took the lead and would never give it up anymore. (1-0, 1') This blazing fast goal had a devastating effect on the Rovers who could only watch Les Bleus display one of their more accomplished halves of the season. Every single player gave his best for the team's sake, and the offense responded to the defense's brilliant lock with some classy moves. On one of theses opportunities, PY dishes out a deep pass to Michael who controls the ball and draws three players to him before launching Audren on the left of the box. The central Ds attempt a last-second save but it's already too late, and Les Bleus now have a 2-goal lead. (2-0, 18')
The second half started with more energy on the Rovers' side, but once again the defense held on very well and thwarted every single attempt to cut the lead. The pressure reached its peak when our goalie Davide made two back-to-back saves to preserve the shutout: he first flicked a strike from the right directly to his crossbar; shortly afterwards he soared to intercept a strike that was about to clean the spiderwebs in the topright corner of his goal! (59') That's the moment when Les Bleus decided to shoot their final bullet: following a nice offensive combo involving Michael, Kaba, PY and Baptiste, Audren gets the rebound, dribbles 1, 2, 3 players and scores! (3-0, 65')

To sum up, what a demonstration from Les Bleus who could have won by 6 goals or more. And even if the title is not clinched yet, hopes and expectations are high for next season.