2 years of Workdaze history

Today, on Aug 6th, it's been exactly 2 years since we had our first game as the Workdaze soccer team. Sounds like a good day to say goodbye and is there any better way than a top ten list? So, here are my top ten games of 2 years Workdaze history (in chronological order):

Aug 6th, 2006: Workdaze - Survey FC 2-2
Our first game. You always remember the first time, right? We scored only 2 goals, because they had an awesome goali that night. But we also allowed only 2 goals, which is was very impressive for our 1st indoor game and it was an indicator of what we are up to: the best defense.

Feb 6th, 2007: Workdaze - Clayton FC 8-4
Clayton was the best team at that time and the odds were clearly against us. But we had a plan: hold on to our defensive line and score on counter attacks. And we executed perfectly on it, in my opinion, our best game from a strategy point of view.
It still makes me smile thinking of the Clayton players getting so frustrated that they started to argue with each other at the end of the game.

Mar 8th, 2007, final: Workdaze - Survey FC 4-4 (4-1 in penalties)
Definitely my number one game. It had everything in it. We had a real chance to win our first championship and therefore we were pretty nervous. Survey took advantage of that and led by 4-1 in the second half. But we managed to get our strength back and equalized before the end of the game. Then, it went into overtime with no more goals. Then, it went to penalties. I tried to play goalie, but fortunately there was a rule that wouldn't let me do it. Goalie Kevin got the gloves back and became the rightful hero with 3 saved penalties. At the end, there were great celebrations and a lot of hugs from Dave.

May 24th, 2007, final: Workdaze - Survey FC 4-1
Our second championship. The game was pure dominance. The win was never in question, 3-0 at halftime. The dynasty was born. And I remember a large crowd of Workday employees watching the win. Celebrations went late and ended in a local bar with Aneel.

June 28th, 2007: Workdaze - Citicars 8-4
The games against Citicars were always full of emotions. Citicars was a team of Southamericans, friends of the referee. We didn't win against them as often as we wanted to. But this was a sweet win. We did not have a full squad, missing several key players. But we pulled it together and surprised ourselves.

Jan 10 - Mar 6, 2008, Session 59: 10 wins
No specific game here. The whole session was great. After struggling for several sessions, we were back. 10 straight wins, what else can you ask for, especially during the regular season we dominated each team. We averaged 7.5 goals per game and allowed only 3.0 goals per game. The dynasty was back!

Mar 6th, 2008 - semi-final: Workdaze - D4 4-3
Comeback wins are always the most fun. In this one, it did not look good for us with 30 seconds left on the clock. Then, Ralf scored from an impossible corner position to save us into overtime. With a second wind from that, we managed to score in overtime and hold on to the lead.

Mar 6th, 2008 - final: Workdaze - Fred's Market 5-4
This was probably the toughest game ever. We already had to play a semi-final plus overtime just one hour earlier (see above). We managed to lead early, but as the game went on 5 players went down with cramps. We had to change the goalie 2 times, from Kevn to Ralf to Thomas. Somehow we held on to the lead, one last save, and the third championship was ours.

June 26th, 2008: Workdaze - Vanderbilt 5-4
Another great comeback win. We were down 3-4 with one minute left. We didn't really play well all night. But suddenly the 4-4 came with less then a minute to go. Then, somehow we got the ball again and somehow we scored again only 35 seconds later. Amazing, probably the latest comeback win ever played at San Ramon Sports.

July 31st, 2008 - final : Workdaze - Vanderbilt 3-1
The last championship is always the sweetest. Once again, our defense won the game in this final. We survived 8 minutes of penalties without a goal, allowed only 1 goal in the whole game to secure our 4th championship.

So, that was it. After 2 years, we look back to 10 sessions played, where we have been 10x in the semi-final, 6x in the final, and 4x champions. Looks pretty damn good to me. It's been an honor to play with you guys. I will sure miss the Thursday night games and beers and jokes after the game. Auf Wiedersehen.