When I came to Boston a year back, it was winter too and that put me into impression that Boston was just not a place for out door sports. Landscapes changed with time. Winter was gone and Spring came, so did the spirit in Waltham. The white snow laden field of Brandies University turned out to be a beautiful green soccer ground. At the same time, I heard from PawanS that the guys from D2 used to play soccer there and they were ready this time too. He was doing a great job in cajoling people to join the team as you know, without significant number of players, the game could have never happened. He was very successful in that and I was one of them who nodded to join the team. The sole reason was to get rid of the nightmare once I had that I was to undergo a liposuction in my belly. Stretching and loosing muscle tissues that has been tightened over the period might be a bonus. Finally everyone managed to put on whatever sports gear they had and a team of eight was ready for a real kick-off. Initial couple of days were just the beginning. Rejuvenated right from the start, people started purchasing more soccer gear. Again, PawanS was leading the team as he bought one more soccer ball. Most of us got a pair of soccer shoes. SanjayG once had to take a nasty foul and bought a pair of leg guard. Anyway, all the enthusiastic participant were putting their individual effort to form a D2 Waltham soccer squad and sense of that you can glean out of the pictures below. PawanS, AnilS, PawanP, OmkarP, TikaU, BijayG, HimalK, SanjayG, UjjwalS, GregM and our D2Nepal veterans RajuS, SudeepA, PrajwalH have made our team very interesting and guess who is joining us this week. John Cassella. One thing I don’t want to miss here is we will be getting a little bit of official support just to follow the path we have set in Nepal. In appreciation here are some of the pictures.
Caption: Pawan Shrestha
Weather Condition: Raining
Camera: Prajwal Hada
The team..where is Greg?
Pawan stretching
Nilesh’s leg stretch
Omkar’s turn
Greg will be watching you
Pawan’s warning up
Omkar’s first touch
Players getting into field
Greg and PawanP
Tika’s bad reputation
Sanjay is all set
Game starts
Greg in action
Nilesh doesn’t see the ball
PawanP and Sudeep
Game continues
Prajwal, this is not baseball
Getting ready for the second half
Game goes on
Move by Himal
Game goes on
PawanP covering Tika
Raju the goalie
PawanP ready for the golden goal
Himal ready for a strike
(match) Balls
Game ends.
Sweating PawanP and PawanS, you two never changed. Always same
How many goals Raju eat?
Prashant You got HImal for SAT Drill in football field to share experience of Waltham team!!
Nilesh lost his Fat. No stomach. Is it possible to be so fit by playing football?
super way of Naming ppl in pics..bravo guys..really Greg is missing in Picture 1. Oh he is down in Action
Despite the heavy rain fall, all of us enjoyed playing one of the most beautiful games in the world. In Boston, usually it’s only these three months of the summer – when it is easy to play outdoor sports. How can we miss this opportunity when we have such a nice team of enthusiast players.
In another note, while everyone is waiting eagerly for eurpoean leagues, the Major League Soccer and SuperLiga here in North America is at its climax here. It is also worth-while to mention that New England is a place full of good and enthusiast players. They are not only one of the best in (American) Football, Baseball and Basketball but the Football (a.ka. Soccer) team of New England “New England Revolutions” has been able to top the MLS Eastern-Conference since last few years. They have also advanced to the SuperLiga semifinal and a strong contender for the final. MLS is like EPL where as SuperLiga is sort of European Champions League where top leagues from North America compete for the title.
The MLS all star game is also an exciting and eagerly anticipated match. Every year, a chosen team of players from all MLS clubs compete with one international club/country. They have registered big wins against the top European clubs like Chelsea (1-0), Celtic (2-0), Fulham(4-1), West Ham (3-2).
All-in-all the game, though still not popular among Americans, is picking up slowly and there are good american players too, who make the game watching worthwhile.
http://www.mlsnet.com/
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/section?id=us
(y) Keet the spirit, guys!
It is nice to see people playing football in US. Keep it going!!