Summer League round
4~~
With three rounds to play, it looks like “Serves You Right” is a safe bet to
reach the finals. Taking their 3 point lead atop the standings last week, they
have now extended that to 15 and more importantly, are 19 points ahead of the
4th and 5th placed teams. Once again, their sizeable leap forward
was thanks to the 7 bonus points they picked up and the 5 matches they
completed – 4 of which they won. “Serves
You Right” now have 28 bonus points for the season, averaging 7 per week
which is rather impressive for the Summer League. There was many a team in the
winter league that couldn’t reach that number.
The next four teams are closely bunched together and it
should be a healthy battle to see who advances after the 7th round.
The “Nick Knacks” in 6th
position are by no means out of the running either. Six points is hardly a huge
deficit to overcome – just two 3-0 wins would manage the gap. The last 2 teams
are making life difficult for themselves, but are also within reach. Although “Art of Incompetence” are picking up
less and less points as the weeks go along – obviously that is a recipe for
failure. They scored 15 points in week 1 alone – and only 21 since.
There were a few matches played last night, but not
surprisingly it was a relatively light turnout. The USA was playing in the
World Cup during that time and even though 90% of the population could not care
less about soccer under normal circumstances, the World Cup seems to make us
gravitate towards the sport as if we were life-long fanatics. What was surprising was that the USA actually
won the match against Ghana. Here’s what happened: USA scored in dramatic
fashion in the 29th second. Then for 82 minutes, absolutely nothing
happened. Then Ghana scored a pretty goal, and then 4 minutes later USA scored
again. The End.
It’s difficult to top excitement such as that, and I’m sure
that Al Iafrate (“Coordination Zero”) who took a 2-1 win
over Jeff Gembis (“Serves You Right”) won’t be claiming
such a feat. Even after winning the first game 15-14. Nor would Nick Cinqeranelli (“Drop Dead Gorgeous”) who also managed a
2-1 victory, against Matt Turnbull
(“Art of Incompetence”). At least, I
can say with confidence, none of the squash players last night were flopping on
the court with life threatening injuries every time their opponents brushed up
against their shirts. Nor were they running around the facility like a drug
crazed lunatic taking their shirts off and getting mobbed by their teammates
after every time they ‘scored’. Yes, yes, soccer (or should I say “fooze-baal”?)
is the “beautiful game”.
Take note, all players have until July 8 (inclusive) to get
the matches completed. If teams are tied after round 7, then the bonus point
totals will be the tie-break. Top four advance, bottom four are done. Done like
Ghana. And Australia. And England…
