A busy period of games in the autumn saw USRC gather momentum to catch up with runaway leaders of the Yau Yee League, KCC Dragons. A gap that had been nine points was brought back to six.
A feature of this campaign under new Coach Eder Ferreira has been the emergence of a string of new players and in particular, young Brazilian striker Humberto Toscan (pictured fourth from left, back row). After scoring ten goals in the first five games, he had a bit of a lean spell where he didn't score in the next three, mainly because he was out of the country! His return for the game against German All Stars on 15th November saw him bag a hat trick in a fine 4-0 win. Humberto has now scored a total of 16 goals and is well on the way to beating the Division 1 record of 23 jointly held by, among others, Andy Mitchell (Squadron, 2004-5) and Chris Davies (GAS, 2010-11). Unfortunately, Humberto didn't score in the next game on 20th November, though his compatriot, classy defender and fellow Brazilian, Emerson (pictured far right, first row) did. However it was not enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat to Dragons in what was widely held to be a battle of football (USRC) against anti-football (KCC). After that though, the Greens put together a brilliant run by going to Football Club and defeating Wanderers 3-1 (Humberto, Ferreira and Ceet) and then Albion 2-0 (Humberto and Emerson) before comfortably beating rivals 816 3-1 (Harrington (2), Rodrigues) on 18th December. At the break the top of the Yau Yee League looked like this:
| |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| KCC Dragons |
12 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
33 |
10 |
23 |
33 |
| USRC |
12 |
9 |
0 |
3 |
30 |
11 |
19 |
27 |
| 816 |
11 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
31 |
19 |
12 |
25 |
| Club Wanderers |
11 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
34 |
19 |
15 |
22 |
| Club Colts |
11 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
27 |
19 |
8 |
22 |
| Club Albion |
11 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
20 |
21 |
-1 |
14 |
One tournament that the USRC has never won is the Yau Yee League Cup and Coach Eder is determined to change that this season. In the second round on 6th November, USRC soundly defeated second division HKDC Hearts 5-2 (Callaghan (2), Blay, Taku and Yamada) and then did even better in the next round, thrashing Germans 6-0 (Ajdir (2), Ceet (2), Toscan and Callaghan). The quarterfinals will be played on 12th February.
Lastly, the team bids farewell to one of its unsung heroes. Diminutive (he won't mind me saying that) Aussie midfielder Michael Boas (pictured middle, front row) played for two and a half seasons for the USRC, captaining the team last season. Michael is returning to Australia for work reasons. Thanks Boas and all the best.
It was an equally busy period in the Legal League. USRC played six games, winning four and losing two.
On 4th November, bogey team Goodfellas, were edged out 1-0 thanks to a typical Henry Callaghan strike. Then on 11th, early pacesetters Studz played their part in a 3-2 thriller. Studz went 1-0 and then 2-0 in front in the first half, against the run of play it has to be said. In the second, two goals from Greg Turner and one from Andy Mitchell turned the game around and earned USRC a famous win. Just like Humberto, Greg (pictured third from right, back row) has come in this season to take over the burden of scoring the goals from Henry. He has now scored 12 in 12 games to lie second in the league top scorers table. Greg also scored two against Men United in a 4-2 win on 21st November, the other goals coming from Callaghan and Dave Buckley.
Another thriller took place on 25th November when Mes Amis came to King's Park. Goals from Dom Massarella, Mike Grimshaw and Kay Kulkarni saw the boys through to another 3-2 win. Mes feature a number of Football Club players and so it was a satisfying weekend as the USRC also defeated Club Wanderers (see above), containing a number of the same players, the same weekend. The two defeats suffered by USRC were costly as they came against Young Guns (2-3) and leaders Hamsap (2-4) and meant that instead of being on the top two, USRC had to settle for fourth place at the break. At the end of 2011, the full table looked like this:
| |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 Hamsap FC |
13 |
10 |
2 |
1 |
33 |
12 |
21 |
32 |
| 2 Monopoly |
12 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
34 |
14 |
20 |
27 |
| 3 Mes Amis |
13 |
8 |
3 |
2 |
28 |
15 |
13 |
27 |
| 4 USRC |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
35 |
23 |
12 |
25 |
| 5 Spartans |
10 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
29 |
6 |
23 |
24 |
| 6 Young Guns |
16 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
25 |
20 |
5 |
23 |
| 7 Studz |
11 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
25 |
13 |
12 |
21 |
| 8 J-Leaguers |
11 |
6 |
0 |
5 |
27 |
25 |
2 |
18 |
| 9 Legal Head |
12 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
24 |
29 |
-5 |
18 |
| 10 San Pellegrinos |
11 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
25 |
25 |
0 |
17 |
| 11 Revolution |
13 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
11 |
27 |
-16 |
12 |
| 12 Goodfellas |
13 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
21 |
26 |
-5 |
10 |
| 13 KCC Royals |
11 |
3 |
0 |
8 |
24 |
34 |
-10 |
9 |
| 14 Men United |
12 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
16 |
37 |
-21 |
7 |
| 15 BOCs |
11 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
34 |
-23 |
5 |
| 16 Corinthians |
11 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
10 |
38 |
-28 |
1 |
After the first round of games, i.e. each team has played all the other teams once, the league will split into two divisions of eight teams. Each team will retain the points they have and play each of the other teams in their division to decide division winners and promotion/relegation. USRC were all but certain of a place in the first division with games against Spartans, J-Leaguers and Legal Head left to play.
In other news, the USRC and Brasil Top Skills will be starting up soccer classes for children in January. News about these classes, which will take place at the USRC and at King's Park, will be sent to members and will be on display around the Club. Do keep an eye out for them and please feel free to contact me or ask at Reception for more details..
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