| Connecticut Table Soccer Club's 2002 A.S.A. NEW ENGLAND THANKSGIVING INTERLEAGUE |
Hartford, CT
Six of CTSC's seven members and Greece's Yannis Kakavas
from Newport, Rhode Island, met today at the Trinity College
in Hartford, CT, for the first ever Connecticut TSC's ASA
event: the New England Thanksgiving Interleague.
Despite the snow and an early-winter temperature, it has been
a great day of Subbuteo, in which Massimo Conturso won his
3rd straight Interleague--and first ever ASA tournament--after
August's Connecticut Cup and October's NEFI.
The seven players have been initially divided by draw into two
groups, one of 4 (Group A) and one of 3 (B). Massimo
Conturso and Ryan Bak were the seeds. The group A's winner
was going to qualify to the semifinals, while playoffs were going
to be between the other 6 players and the Top 4 Round.
The players also decided to play the semifinals in two legs,
adopting UEFA rules on tie-breaking (goals-for away).
The First Round didn't bring any major surprises, with Ryan's
4-0 over Jeff, Massimo's 2-1 over Miguel and a 0-0 between Jim
and Yannis. The Greek, who has been studying at the War
College of Newport in the last few months--he's a Greek Navy's
Officer--generated a lot of curiosity and he was tournament's
most watched player. Yannis started to show his skills in the
Second Round, when he passed over Jeff 5-0, while Ryan was
able to tie against Jim when only 30 seconds were separating
Taylor from a great victory. In Group B, Miguel used well a pk
against Eddie in his 1-0 win.
In the Third Round, Massimo won 7-0 against Eddie--one of
the worst loss ever for Davidson Sr; Jim reached the second
place in Group A with a 2-0 over Jeff, while Ryan stopped
Yannis' run to the top of the hill (1-0). As Group A's winner,
Bak qualified to the semifinals.
The playoffs were designed to give a slight advantage to who
did better in the groups. So, Massimo (Group B's winner)
played against Jeff (A4) and won with the rugby-type score of
9-0; Jim Taylor (A2) had hard time with Eddie (B3), he scored
in the last 45 seconds and beat his opponent 1-0. A well
different story was the game between Miguel (B2) and Yannis
(A3). After the regular time, the very balanced match was
nailed on 0-0. When the shot-outs looked like an inevitable
fact, Yannis screamed claiming for a golden goal: the ball
wasn't actually 100% over the line, but Miguel--very
sportsmanly--admited to have seen the sphere getting the
back of the net.
Sportsman attittude was a pleasing constant in this
competition and no refs and/or time breaks were needed: a
truly fairly played tournament.
In the Final Phase, the seven players were divided into two
parts: the Top 4 competition, with UEFA-style semifinals, and
the Bottom 3, with a robin round mini-group, in which Miguel
took a little satisfaction defeating the Davidsons with a double
2-0 and clinching the 5th place. The Super Classico between
father and son saw Eddie's 1-0 victory over Jeff, who finished
the Interleague as 7th.
The semifinals started with all the eyes on Yannis, who arrived
at the first leg's half time on 2-0 over Ryan, while the Italian
was struggling against Taylor in the "Founding Fathers Derby".
Ryan looked quite shooked by Greek's two goals, but still tried
to come back: after all, there was all the time to make it right.
Unfortunately for him, Yannis was very inspired and scored
again for the final 3-1.
In the second leg, while Massimo beat Jim 2-0 and qualified to
the final without surprises, Ryan had to surrend to Kakavas,
who was actually able to imitate
> BACK TO ARCHIVE
> BACK HOME
Six of CTSC's seven members and Greece's Yannis Kakavas
from Newport, Rhode Island, met today at the Trinity College
in Hartford, CT, for the first ever Connecticut TSC's ASA
event: the New England Thanksgiving Interleague.
Despite the snow and an early-winter temperature, it has been
a great day of Subbuteo, in which Massimo Conturso won his
3rd straight Interleague--and first ever ASA tournament--after
August's Connecticut Cup and October's NEFI.
The seven players have been initially divided by draw into two
groups, one of 4 (Group A) and one of 3 (B). Massimo
Conturso and Ryan Bak were the seeds. The group A's winner
was going to qualify to the semifinals, while playoffs were going
to be between the other 6 players and the Top 4 Round.
The players also decided to play the semifinals in two legs,
adopting UEFA rules on tie-breaking (goals-for away).
The First Round didn't bring any major surprises, with Ryan's
4-0 over Jeff, Massimo's 2-1 over Miguel and a 0-0 between Jim
and Yannis. The Greek, who has been studying at the War
College of Newport in the last few months--he's a Greek Navy's
Officer--generated a lot of curiosity and he was tournament's
most watched player. Yannis started to show his skills in the
Second Round, when he passed over Jeff 5-0, while Ryan was
able to tie against Jim when only 30 seconds were separating
Taylor from a great victory. In Group B, Miguel used well a pk
against Eddie in his 1-0 win.
In the Third Round, Massimo won 7-0 against Eddie--one of
the worst loss ever for Davidson Sr; Jim reached the second
place in Group A with a 2-0 over Jeff, while Ryan stopped
Yannis' run to the top of the hill (1-0). As Group A's winner,
Bak qualified to the semifinals.
The playoffs were designed to give a slight advantage to who
did better in the groups. So, Massimo (Group B's winner)
played against Jeff (A4) and won with the rugby-type score of
9-0; Jim Taylor (A2) had hard time with Eddie (B3), he scored
in the last 45 seconds and beat his opponent 1-0. A well
different story was the game between Miguel (B2) and Yannis
(A3). After the regular time, the very balanced match was
nailed on 0-0. When the shot-outs looked like an inevitable
fact, Yannis screamed claiming for a golden goal: the ball
wasn't actually 100% over the line, but Miguel--very
sportsmanly--admited to have seen the sphere getting the
back of the net.
Sportsman attittude was a pleasing constant in this
competition and no refs and/or time breaks were needed: a
truly fairly played tournament.
In the Final Phase, the seven players were divided into two
parts: the Top 4 competition, with UEFA-style semifinals, and
the Bottom 3, with a robin round mini-group, in which Miguel
took a little satisfaction defeating the Davidsons with a double
2-0 and clinching the 5th place. The Super Classico between
father and son saw Eddie's 1-0 victory over Jeff, who finished
the Interleague as 7th.
The semifinals started with all the eyes on Yannis, who arrived
at the first leg's half time on 2-0 over Ryan, while the Italian
was struggling against Taylor in the "Founding Fathers Derby".
Ryan looked quite shooked by Greek's two goals, but still tried
to come back: after all, there was all the time to make it right.
Unfortunately for him, Yannis was very inspired and scored
again for the final 3-1.
In the second leg, while Massimo beat Jim 2-0 and qualified to
the final without surprises, Ryan had to surrend to Kakavas,
who was actually able to imitate
> BACK TO ARCHIVE
> BACK HOME
the Juventus Football Club and come back from 0-2 to 2-2.
In the 3rd place final, Ryan put himself together and cancelled
Jim with the perfect score: 3-0.
The 2002 ASA NETI Open Final was actually the first and only
chance for Yannis and Massimo to play each other, after weeks
of e-mails, planning meetings and Subbuteo chatting.
The game looked a little tight at the beginning: both the
contenders were feeling the pressure and were probably a
little too nervous. Massimo's first goal--in the middle of the first
half, shot over the goalie on the close post--felt like a liberation
for the Italian, who started to see his first ASA title closer.
The second half was better played by both. Of course, Yannis
did his best to tie, but didn't get more than a few corner
kicks. It was after one of them that Massimo flicked the ball
toward Yannis' shooting area, had a couple of fast touches
with his lateral figure and scored with the Greek struggling to
go back to his goalie's rod.
With this tournament, Massimo Conturso entered in the ASA
Winners Club, clinching SSL's Eric Walton at the bottom of the
standings with 1 win.
All the CTSC's members would like to thanks Yannis Kakavas
for his availability and his sportsman attitude on the pitch that
reflects his passion for the Game and his great personality.
Yasoo, Yannis! Have a safe trip home.
In the 3rd place final, Ryan put himself together and cancelled
Jim with the perfect score: 3-0.
The 2002 ASA NETI Open Final was actually the first and only
chance for Yannis and Massimo to play each other, after weeks
of e-mails, planning meetings and Subbuteo chatting.
The game looked a little tight at the beginning: both the
contenders were feeling the pressure and were probably a
little too nervous. Massimo's first goal--in the middle of the first
half, shot over the goalie on the close post--felt like a liberation
for the Italian, who started to see his first ASA title closer.
The second half was better played by both. Of course, Yannis
did his best to tie, but didn't get more than a few corner
kicks. It was after one of them that Massimo flicked the ball
toward Yannis' shooting area, had a couple of fast touches
with his lateral figure and scored with the Greek struggling to
go back to his goalie's rod.
With this tournament, Massimo Conturso entered in the ASA
Winners Club, clinching SSL's Eric Walton at the bottom of the
standings with 1 win.
All the CTSC's members would like to thanks Yannis Kakavas
for his availability and his sportsman attitude on the pitch that
reflects his passion for the Game and his great personality.
Yasoo, Yannis! Have a safe trip home.
