Date
December 27, 2007
Participants
Adam Carlson, John Carroll, Sean Daly, Andrea Guarducci, Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Kevin Nieman, Wayne Smith
Winners
Open
- Winner: Wayne Smith
- Runner up: John Carroll
Mary Jane
- Winner: Andrea Guarducci
- Runner up: Sean Daly
Report
The tournament was named in memory of the relief of Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge, by General Patton's Third Army on December 26, 1944. The 101st Airborne and 463rd Field Artillery Battalion had been encircled for ten days by the Fifth Panzer Army.
The SCSC welcomed back Sean Daly who returned after an eight year hiatus. He last played in the Western States Open in June 1999.
The first stage of the competition was played in two groups. Group A was made up of Sean Daly, Simon Hutchinson, Kevin Nieman, and Andrea Guarducci, who had only played two games prior to today. Group B featured favorite Wayne Smith, Adam Carlson, John Carroll, and Dominic Hutchinson.
The first round of games in Group A ended with 1-0 wins for Nieman and Simon over Guarducci and Daly. The match between Nieman and Guarducci was a "grudge match" pitting Andrea’s beloved Fiorentina team against their arch rivals Juventus, which Kevin was using. Nieman’s winning streak continued beating Daly with a goal that Sean described as "a blast". Simon also made it two wins out of two beating Guarducci 3-0. In their final group game Daly beat Guarducci 3-0. Sean comments after the game about his opponent would prove prophetic "He played a lot better for someone who has played so few games." Andrea had only played twice before this competition.
In the final game in Group A Nieman had to beat Simon to make sure he would not meet the winner of Group B, which was bound to be Smith, in the semifinals. Kevin was 2-0 up by the ninth minute. "Two good goals against my arch nemesis" was how he described them. Thereafter Simon applied almost constant pressure upon his opponent’s defense. In the third minute of the second half Simon pulled one goal back, and in the seventh he equalized. The game ended at 2-2, and both players agreed that despite it being another draw it was a thrilling game. Simon and Kevin both finished with seven points, and Simon took first place with his superior goal difference.
The opening game Group B pitted Carlson against his main rival Dominic. During the first half Adam flicked a figure through a narrow gap between Dominic’s defenders to strike the ball and score the only goal of the game. By Smith’s own admission he only had three shots on goal but he made them all to beat Carroll 3-0. John was left lamenting two missed opportunities in the first two minutes of the game. Carroll’s was too fast for Carlson, who made errors trying to keep up with his opponent and lost 0-3. The first half between Smith and Dominic ended goalless. Two minutes into the second half pizza arrived and they stopped their game to eat. When the game resumed Dominic described his defense as "a shambles" as Smith scored three goals in the remaining eleven minutes. In their final group game Smith ‘mercy’ ruled Carlson, beating him 4-0.
In one of the surprises of the day Carroll and Dominic’s game ended in a 1-1 tie. John took the lead in the first half. "After I scored my confidence was high," Carroll commented, "Dominic’s defensive flicks were very accurate and he stole the ball a lot." Just two minutes after John’s goal Dominic stole the ball from a goal kick and scored to tie the game.
Having lost all of his games in the group stage Guarducci won his first ever game in the Mary Jane semi final against Carlson, scoring the only goal in the first half. Andrea used the Italian catenaccio defense to frustrate his opponent. "His flicking was so precise that he blocked me every time" Adam lamented.
The other Mary Jane semi final, between Dominic and Daly, was goalless at the end of regular time, and remained so at the after of extra time. A shoot out is always exciting to watch and full of tension for the participants. Dominic’s first shot was wide of the goal, Sean’s shot was saved. Both players scored with their second shots, Dominic chipped the goalkeeper and Sean’s ground shot was missed by the keeper. The third shots were saved. The fourth was a repeat of the second, Dominic scored chipping the keeper and Sean with a ground shot. Dominic’s fifth shot struck the crossbar and Sean scored to win. "The tension got to me in the last shot of the shoot out," Dominic remarked.
"I knew Simon would be tough to defend against," Carroll stated after the first of the Open semi finals, "I only had two up and tried to play disciplined in defense." These tactics paid off as John scored with 1:10 minutes remaining in the game. "It was a lucky roll" Carroll commented. "The goal was against the run of play," was all Simon would say.
"It took me until 45 seconds left in the first half to score," Smith reported about his Open semi final victory over Nieman, "and it took me just one minute to score the second goal in the second half." He went on the describe the offensive nature of the game, "Both of us had so many figures forward it was amazing no-one could score. Both had six forwards and four back."
"I felt that Wayne was pressing very hard for practically the entire match," Kevin responded, "the entire match was my attempt to slow Wayne down. It did not work."
Dominic ‘mercy’ ruled Carlson in the Mary Jane third place play off, with two goals in each half. "I changed my tactics so it gave me a more attacking game," was Dominic’s observation of his victory. "Most of the game was played in his [Adam’s] half".
"My goal was very quick," Nieman commented on his Open third place play off with Simon. From his shot the ball ramped off one of Simon’s defenders rose to quiet some height before dropping down to bounce behind the goalkeeper and into the goal. "I was very disappointed when Simon equalized," he continued, "I felt like I was being pushed hard by Simon." Kevin’s winning goal came in extra time scoring when Simon had paused expecting a call by the referee. "I really feel fortunate to have scored the final goal," Nieman said.
Having won his first ever game in the Mary Jane semi final Guarducci made it two wins in a row defeating Daly in the Mary Jane final. "His shot [that scored the goal] was an incredible shot," was Sean’s comment, "I worked the ball up but they [shots] were not on target. I don’t think Andrea’s goalkeeper made a save."
Guarducci’s winning the Mary Jane tournament is remarkable as the final was only his seventh game. "Playing as Fiorentina gave me an unfair advantage," he said with a wry smile.
In the Open final Smith took a two goal lead before Carroll pulled one back. "John’s goal was really nice," was Wayne’s observation of his opponent’s strike. Smith’s final goal came with less than a minute left. "If I gave Wayne a shot he made it," John said after the game, "I played conservatively until I was two goals down. Then I made three or four plays of quick combinations, which worked for one goal."
Group A
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Simon Hutchinson O | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | Kevin Nieman O | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 3 | Sean Daly M | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Andrea Guarducci M | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 0 |
M Players moving on to the Mary Jane knock out rounds
| Kevin Nieman | 1 | v | 0 | Andrea Guarducci |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Sean Daly |
| Kevin Nieman | 1 | v | 0 | Sean Daly |
| Simon Hutchinson | 3 | v | 0 | Andrea Guarducci |
| Sean Daly | 3 | v | 0 | Andrea Guarducci |
| Simon Hutchinson | 2 | v | 2 | Kevin Nieman |
Group B
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith O | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 9 |
| 2 | John Carroll O | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3 | Adam Carlson M | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 3 |
| 4 | Dominic Hutchinson M | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 1 |
M Players moving on to the Mary Jane knock out rounds
| Adam Carlson | 1 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | John Carroll |
| John Carroll | 3 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| John Carroll | 1 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson |
| 'Mercy' rule was applied | ||||
Open knock out rounds
Semi finals | ||||
| John Carroll | 1 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Kevin Nieman |
Third place play off | ||||
| Kevin Nieman | 2 | v | 1 | Simon Hutchinson |
| FT 1-1, AET 2-1 | ||||
Final | ||||
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 1 | John Carroll |
Mary Jane knock out rounds
Semi finals | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrea Guarducci | 1 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Sean Daly | 0 | v | 0 | Dominic Hutchinson | ||||||||||||||||||
FT 0-0, AET 0-0, Shoot out 3-2
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Third place play off | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dominic Hutchinson | 4 | v | 0 | Adam Carlson | ||||||||||||||||||
| 'Mercy' rule was applied | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Final | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Andrea Guarducci | 1 | v | 0 | Sean Daly | ||||||||||||||||||