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CSL Roundup St. Barnabas bow out of CSL indoor tournament

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Jay Mwamba

St. Barnabas made what amounted to a cameo appearance in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League 2000 Indoor Tournament in Montclair, N.J., last weekend, bowing out in the first round after two losses.

The Saints never got going until their last group match, on the opening day of the 40-team, three-week competition at the Soccer Domain.

They forfeited their first game in Group C to New York Dinamo after arriving late, and succumbed 2-0 to Second Division Koha in their second match. Fatos Selimi and Fikret Celaj were the Koha scorers.

However, striker David Fitzgerald made a few amends for St. Barnabas’ tardy start to the seven-a-side tournament by netting both goals in a 2-0 romp over Concord.

The Saints finished third in Group C with three points, behind Dinamo and Koha.

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Saints official Sean Kenny said giving up points to Dinamo without a fight cost his team dearly.

"It’s a shame because we did well in the Clarkstown Tournament last week," Kenny remarked.

Fielding a mix of first-team players and reserves, St. Barnabas placed second in the round robin Clarkstown event at Rockland Community College, after three wins, a tie and a loss.

They beat Yonkers Ukrainian 2-0, edged both Clarkstown "B" and Fairfield/Westchester United 1-0, played out a goalless drew with eventual winners Clarkstown "A," and slipped 1-0 to S.C. Eintracht in a match they needed to win to lift the championship trophy.

Flue bitten

Shamrock were knocked out of the Over-30 competition in the tournament even before kicking a ball. They pulled out at the 11th hour after the flu hit all but three players on the roster.

"Everyone has the flu except three players," said midfielder John Guildea, who dodged the bug.

"It’s a pity because we were looking forward to it. We had a pretty good team. Most of our first team is over 30 and we could have won it. But we’ll never know."

Heads or tails

The winners in St. Barnabas’ group were decided, believe it or not, by the toss of a coin after archrivals Dinamo and Koha (both 7) finished in a statistical dead heat.

Dinamo called it right and advanced to the Grand Finals on Jan. 29 as group winners, where they will be joined by Koha on a wild card berth.

Both sides thrashed Concord S.C. 3-0 before battling to a dramatic 2-2 tie in what could have been the group decider.

Fikret Celaj and Nikolla Gjokaj had Koha in the driver’s seat before Tony Camaj’s brace salvaged a point for Dinamo.

"We were leading 2-0 but got over confident, and in the end got caught twice," said Koha boss Omer Hakramaj.

His Dinamo opposite, Kristo Curanovic was just relieved to see his side make it to the final round. "We’ll see what happens in two weeks time," he said.

Camaj, Mured Ibrahimov and Bessem Beskovich were Dinamo’s marksmen against Concord, while Ismet Gilaj (two) and Celaj connected for Koha in their 3-0 victory.

Sharp NYAC

Even with coach Ronan Downs away in Las Vegas playing Over-40 soccer, New York Athletic Club were able to hit peak form at the Soccer Domain.

Stand-in coach Jimmy Wurster led NYAC to the best record on the day, with victories in Group B over defending Indoor champs Istria (2-0) and Hermes (5-2), and a win by default over B.W. Poughkeepsie who failed to show up.

Pepper Brill got both goals against Istria, to add to the two he registered against Hermes. Chouri Mullins (two) was the other scorer against Hermes.

Albanians through

New York Albanians joined NYAC, Dinamo and Koha in the Grand Finals by topping Group A with a 2-1-0 (7) record.

The Bronx side came to life after a goalless tie with Manhattan Kickers to trounce Homenetmen 4-1 on goals by Ronald Dembo (three) and Naum Kove. Rocky Bojovic (two) and Sadri Gjonbalaj then starred in a 4-2 win over Ripensia-Romania, who finished second (6) in the group.

The indoor tournament continues at the Soccer Domain this Sunday with Second Tournament Day action.

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