Only the results of the Southern California Subbuteo Club members are given.
Date
July 19-20, 2008
SCSC Participants
Keys
- Clubs:
- BUSL = Boise Unemployed Subbuteo League, ID
- IM = Inter Mountain Subbuteo League, WA
- MSC = Maryland Subbuteo Club, MD
- SA = Sporting America Table Soccer Club, DC
- SC= Suncoast Table Soccer Club, FL
- UMF = Utah Mother Flickers, UT
National Open Championship
Group A
| Zach Walker (SA) | 4 | v | 2 | Steve Tucker |
| Paul Eyes (MSC) | 2 | v | 1 | Steve Tucker |
| Todd Kleppin (IM) | 1 | v | 0 | Steve Tucker |
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | Paul Eyes (MSC) 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 7 |
| 2 | Zach Walker (SA) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 7 |
| 3 | Todd Kleppin (IM) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 3 |
| 4 | Steve Tucker | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
Steve Tucker advances to Mary Jane quarter finals
Mary Jane quarter final |
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| Steve Tucker | 3 | v | 0 | AJ de Leon (BUSL) |
Mary Jane semi final |
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| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 0 | Todd Kleppin (IM) |
| Steve Tucker wins with a "golden goal" in extra time | ||||
Mary Jane final |
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| Jonathan Smith (BUSL) | 1 | v | 0 | Steve Tucker |
Group C
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 0 | Paul Barnes (UMF) |
| Wayne Smith | 2 | v | 1 | Eric Garza (BUSL) |
| Wayne Smith | 3 | v | 1 | Daniel Cranston (MSC) |
| Pos | Name | Pl | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 1 | Wayne Smith | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | Daniel Cranston (MSC) | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Eric Garza (BUSL) 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 4 | Paul Barnes (UMF) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
Wayne Smith advances to Championship quarter finals
Championship quarter final |
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| Lenny Foster (BUSL) | 1 | v | 0 | Wayne Smith |
Veterans Championship
Quarter finals |
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| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 0 | Jonathan Smith (BUSL) |
| Wayne Smith | bye | |||
Semi finals |
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| Paul Eyes (MSC) | 5 | v | 1 | Steve Tucker |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 0 | Alex Batacchi (SC) |
Final |
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| Paul Eyes (MSC) | 3 | v | 0 | Wayne Smith |
Team Championship
The Southern California Subbuteo Club team consisted of:
- Wayne Smith
- Steve Tucker
- Alex Batacchi (on loan from Suncoast Table Soccer Club, FL)
- Zach Walker (on loan from Sporting America Table Soccer Club, DC)
SCSC 3 v 0 Boise Unemployed Subbuteo League |
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| Alex Batacchi | 3 | v | 0 | Forfeit |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 1 | Eric Garza |
| Steve Tucker | 3 | v | 0 | AJ de Leon |
| Zach Walker | 4 | v | 0 | Lenny Foster |
SCSC 2 v 2 Maryland Subbuteo Club |
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| Alex Batacchi | 2 | v | 1 | Daniel Cranston |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 3 | Paul Eyes |
| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 0 | Todd Kleppin |
| Zach Walker | 1 | v | 2 | Patrick Sheridan |
SCSC 4 v 0 Utah Mother Flickers |
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| Alex Batacchi | 5 | v | 0 | Paul Barnes |
| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 1 | Brian Barnes |
| Steve Tucker | 2 | v | 1 | Eddy McLane |
| Zach Walker | 5 | v | 1 | Jonathan Smith |
| Pos | Club | Pl | W | D | L | Pts |
| 1 | Maryland Subbuteo Club | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 2 | SCSC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| 3 | Boise Unemployed Subbuteo League | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Utah Mother Flickers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Final
Maryland Subbuteo Club 2 v 1 SCSC |
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| Alex Batacchi | 0 | v | 0 | Patrick Sheridan |
| Wayne Smith | 1 | v | 3 | Paul Eyes |
| Steve Tucker | 0 | v | 6 | Daniel Cranston |
| Zach Walker | 7 | v | 0 | Todd Kleppin |
Jerry Garcia Memorial Championship
Unlike the other competitions this was played in simple knock out format
Round of 16 |
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| Wayne Smith | 4 | v | 0 | Todd Kleppin (IM) |
| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 0 | Brian Barnes (UMF) |
Quarter finals |
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| Steve Tucker | 1 | v | 1 | Wayne Smith |
| Steve Tucker wins shoot out 3-1 | ||||
Semi finals |
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| Patrick Sheridan (MSC) | 2 | v | 0 | Steve Tucker |
Wayne Smith's report
I left for Idaho from Northridge at about 11:15 AM on Friday, 7/18/08. In order to get to the hotbed of little plastic soccer players, I had to go through Las Vegas, the hotbed of life-sized plastic-filled strippers. Once in Idaho I met Steve Tucker at the airport and met with Lenny Foster and about a dozen other Subbuteo players at a pub in downtown Boise.
We didn’t manage to play any friendlies on Friday night. I found my hotel easily enough, even though I had to drive into the sun for pretty much the whole 25 mile trip. That, in addition to road paint so dim it was hard to see, twice I found myself driving on the shoulder without even knowing it.
Once checked in to the hotel I decided to drive to Caldwell High School-the site of the tournaments. Getting there was easy, but I got lost on the way back. The 6-minute trip back to the hotel took closer to 20 minutes.
After a fairly sleepless night I got up at 6:30 to get to the site at 8. My first game was at 8:15-too early for me and too early for my opponent: the ASA’s 4th ranked Alex Batacchi. Alex’s previous night was tougher than mine. His inflatable bed didn’t work too well and he ended up sleeping on the floor for about 3 hours. We were both noticeably nervous. It was our first match of the day and was odd because it was the semi-final of the Senior (geezer) division tournament.
I had played Alex three times before and all three were 1-goal wins for Alex. On the average, it was clear that Alex was the better player. Today would be different. It was much tighter than the previous games. I had worked on my defense since then and worked hard to make sure that I didn’t give Alex too much space. This also had the effect of making it tougher to attack and counter. It was a very intense match and I pulled it out 1:0 with a second half goal. I let out a yell as I scored the only goal of the game. It wasn’t as loud as Alex’s normal goal celebration, but it was out of character for me, but as the weekend went on, it went became somewhat routine because of the intensity of the games. That win got me into the finals of the geezer division, which would be played later in the day.
My first game in the open division was against Paul Barnes of Utah. I controlled the first half but had nothing to show for it as Paul’s keeper made some good saves and I shot wide a few times, as well. Finally, in the second half I managed a goal. That made things easier and I added another not too long after. The final was 2:0.
My second game in the open division was against Idaho’s Eric Garza. Eric is the second best player in the BUSL (Boise Unemployed Subbuteo League). I took a 1:0 lead fairly early (maybe in the first or second minute) and I thought I was on to an easy win. But Eric had other ideas. Not only did he score a goal fairly soon afterward, but he pretty much took over the game until about five minutes left. With about three minutes left I took the lead that would clinch me a spot in the quarter-finals. The final was a tight 2:1.
The game that would decide the group winner seemed on paper to be an easy win for the newly crowned U-19 national champ and ASA’s 3rd ranked player: Daniel Cranston. Dan took a 1:0 lead fairly early, but he really didn’t seem into the game. I tied the score and was quite excited about it. Then, right before half time I looked at the clock and saw about 3 seconds left. I rolled the ball in from the right wing and shot as fast as I could. The ball hit the back of the net just as the buzzer went off (at least I HOPE it hit the back of the net as the buzzer went off). I jumped up in the air and let out a whoop. If Dan wasn’t into it in the first half, he really wasn’t into it in the second half. I was a goal up on a guy who was clearly a class or two better than I, so what did I do? I attacked! I managed a third goal in the second half and the game ended an amazing 3:1. That was my best result since 1999 when I beat Gregg Deinhart-the eventual seven-time national champ in a shoot-out sleep depravation contest leading to an ASA Super Cup victory. With the win over Daniel I won the group.
In the round of eight I was matched against the second-place player in group B: The BUSL’s top player, Lenny Foster. I was very optimistic as I had played Lenny four times three or four years ago and had a record of 4-0-0, 10:3 against him. Lenny, however, was much better than three years ago. His defense was fantastic, limiting me to no good chances. Sadly, my best chance came as time expired. I had just taken a corner-flick (yes, that’s what they’re officially called) and got the ball into the middle of the pitch with some figures in decent positions to get to the ball when time ran out. Lenny did manage a good chance, with resulted in his game-winning goal. I was really disappointed with the loss, but Lenny clearly deserved the win. The 1:0 result was a fair representation of the game.
My last game of the day was the senior final against Paul Eyes. Paul is the ASA player against whom I match up the worst. He was ranked 6th in the ASA and was the top ranked senior. In our two previous games I lost 2:6 and 1:4. Paul plays super fast-the fastest in the ASA I think. My defense was stout and I was down only 1:0 at half-time. That was the good news. The bad news was that my offense was non-existent. I was missing 10” flicks that I rarely miss. I don’t think I touched the ball inside of his shooting line. Paul added two more goals in the second half, resulting in a 3:0 win that maybe should have been worse.
From there we went to the home of Eddy McLane. His brother and a friend cooked up a storm-fantastic hamburgers, fried fish and chicken. Lots of games were played like table tennis and Stiga table hockey. While I stayed away from playing table tennis, I went 3-0 at table hockey.
On Saturday night I slept much better and got to the site before my scheduled 8 AM start time. My first game was a rematch of my 2:1 win over Eric Garza. This was part of the team competition. The SCSC’s team of Steve Tucker and me was supplemented with the addition of Alex Batacchi and three-time national champ Zach Walker. It was funny that the team was named after our club, but our club actually made up the two worst players! The second game against Eric was a more relaxed game than the first, but the result was not as promising as it was a 1:1 tie. I played better than the first game, giving up fewer chances, but Eric made 5 saves which prevented a second goal. Eric is always dangerous because he is terrific at long flicks. He never seems to miss from less than 15” and always hits the side of the ball he wants to. The 1:1 result was part of the team competition and it had no impact on the final result-a win for the SCSC.
In the second team match of the day I had to play Paul Eyes again. Paul controlled the game and even though the score was only 1:3, my best score against Paul ever, I really didn’t think I had a chance to gain a point in this game. The SCSC did manage a 2:2 tie against the powerful MSC. This was thanks to Steve’s win over Todd Kleppin and Alex’s 2:1 win over Dan Cranston. Had Zach even tied Patrick Sheridan, we would have won the match, but Patrick was too much for him.
Our final team match of the first round was against Utah MF. I played Brian Barnes. It was as much a teaching game as a real game. I won 4:1 and spent some time teaching tactics and rules. The SCSC won that match 4:0.
In the finals we played Maryland again. This was no surprise as they are clearly the best team in the country. I got matched up against Paul Eyes for the third time of the weekend. Paul takes the team competition very seriously and his game against me was considered by his team as a lock, as it should have been. Paul’s nerves, though, proved hard to overcome. I started the game very relaxed. I scored early and when I yelled “Goal, SCSC” Zach looked over and was totally shocked. Paul regained his composure and tied before half-time, but not before yelling at himself several times. It was 1:1 at half-time and I felt very confident. I was playing reasonably well and Paul wasn’t. In addition he was leaving only two figures back in an attempt to score so I thought I could counter. I told Zach before the game that we can expect a 3:1 or 3:0 loss from me. At half-time I told him I thought I could pull off a win or tie. Paul came though, though, like a champion, scoring two goals in the second half, the second on a gift as I stranded my keeper with about two minutes left. The Maryland boys truly deserved the ASA team championship. In fact, had we won it, it would have been a terrible miscarriage of justice as the SCSC made up the weakest of the players.
Now the only tournament left was the “Jerry Garcia Memorial.” This was a single elimination tournament with a random draw after each round. My first game was against Todd Kleppin who wrote me about 10 years ago when he was living in Oregon. Now he lives in Eastern Washington. He had given Steve Tucker good battles in their previous two matches, so I was expecting a tough match. However, everything went my way and left with a rather easy 4:0 win. This included my prettiest goal of the tournament. The ball was about on the line of the penalty area just left of center. The only figure that had a line to the ball was sitting on my shooting line just right of center. I flicked the figure about 30 “ and he popped the ball into the air right into the top left corner of the goal. Patrick Sheridan watched it and I said “WOW! That was my goal of the…” and Patrick added “Century?” I said, “Maybe more like ‘weekend’ but you get the point.” Todd was equally impressed.
From here, the weekend went downhill fast! I played Steve Tucker. He’s played me so many times that I knew that there was no way I could surprise him. I was nervous going in because he has played me tough recently and I knew that he had learned a lot about defense during the tournament. His defense was terrific and add to that the most miraculous goal and he was up 1:0 late in the game. He had a good opportunity and shot the ball at my goal. I made the save, knocking it to my left. Incredibly, after hitting the ball, his figure collided with a defending figure, knocking into the goal area, where it knocked the ball into the goal! I couldn’t believe it and kicked over a chair that was nearby. I finally managed to score a goal late to force a shoot out. Oddly, before we left for the trip I told Steve that we should practice shootouts. He declined. He was glad he did because he won the shootout easily 3:1. Two of his three goals were easy rollers. One of them I moved my keeper and got out of the way of the ball. The other was rolling on the ground and I pushed the rod of my keeper downward. Unfortunately, there was a bar at the back of the goal that pushed the keeper UP as the rod was pushed down. A very sad ending to my tournament weekend.
Fortunately the trip home had none of the excitement that the National Weekend had.