By Jay Mwamba

Promotion side United FC claimed a famous scalp in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League top flight last Sunday when they stunned defending champs Pancyprian Freedoms 5-2 at the Aviators Sports Complex.

United hit Pancyprian repeatedly on the break after two-goal hero Stefan Dimitrov had shot the Greek-Cypriots ahead off a Tasso Polydefkis assist.

Pauly Nittoli [two], Mohammed Mashriqi, Semi and Yanik Salomon scored for United.  Dimitrov combined with Julio for Freedoms’ second goal.

“It was a fast game [and] we scored four times on breakaways,” said United boss Alex Zaretser. “They took early lead but my team responded really well. They are a very organized team.”

The upset punctuated a miserable day for Pancyprian whose reserves were beaten 3-1.

United’s second win of the fall [2-3-2, 8] lifted them four points clear of the drop zone in the East while Pancyprian [4-2, 12] fell nine points behind Hellenic rivals New York Greek-American/Atlas in the West.

This is after Atlas shutout Clarkstown 4-0 on Randalls Island to up their ledger to 7-0 [21].

PR STAR
Puerto Rican international Chris Megaloudis notched a brace while Josh Trott and Michael Todd had one apiece in the Atlas romp.

Todd had props for goalie Steven Diaz and Demetri Touros for helping secure the shutout.

The Greek reserves won 1-0.

NYAC HELD
Undefeated in league play in the regular season since the 2009-2010 campaign, New York Athletic Club fell two points off the pace in the East after a 1-1 tie with Manhattan Kickers at Grand Street.

Kickers’ Man of the Match Dimitriv Petrovic nodded home [30th] to cancel out Bayode Adafin’s opener for NYAC [20th].

Resurgent Kickers, beaten 2-0 in the curtain raiser, had a chance to take the lead in the 35th minute when Matt Smith won a penalty but Pietro missed the spot kick.

With both Lansdowne Bhoys and Stavros Zomopoulos’ Barnstonworth Rovers victorious on the day, NYAC [3-0-3, 12] fell out of the three-way tie they’d been locked in.

HOT IRISH
Lansdowne blanked New York Croatia 2-0 in Boonton on goals by Hayden Johns [60th] and Nico Zini [80th] to maintain a grip on first place [4-1-2, 14].

The Irish reserves also came away from New Jersey with full points, courtesy of a 3-1 win scripted by Jonathan McGeeney, Seamus McDaid and Ritchie Morgan.

BULLISH ROVERS
At Icahn Stadium, Rovers held off Central Park Rangers 2-1, thanks to Scott Waddell [20th] and Colin Marshall [35th].  Michael Nieraeth was the CPR scorer.

“[We] took care of business, easier than expected, basically ending the game in first half,” was Zomopoulos’ observation. “We should have made it four or 5-0 by mid-way through the second, but we missed some [impossible to miss] chances.”

Yuval Lion, CPR’s boss had a different take. “It was a tightly contested game between evenly matched sides, with Barnstonworth doing a better job converting the chances that came their way,” he said.

At any rate, the win kept Rovers [4-1-2, 14] in a statistical tie with Lansdowne.

In the reserve fixture, Daniel Coccaro’s 85th minute leveler earned CPR a 2-2 tie. Rovers’ Joseph Cover and Ajene Green had earlier turned it around after Jacopo Rampini’s ice-breaker for Rangers.

CAMAJ CONSOLATION
Elsewhere in the CSL upper echelon, veteran Tony Camaj was on target for New York Albanians in a 2-1 loss to Polonia SC at McCarren Park.

Albania’s Oliver Papraniku counted ten “easy” chances that his men squandered.

No such ill fortune in the opener that the Albanians won 3-2 on goals by Roland Dembo, Mark Luxman and Joe Novelo.

DEMBO TREY
Earlier, Dembo bagged all of Albania’s goals in a 3-1 US Amateur Cup Over-30 State final victory over New York Dynamo.

CUP FIGHTERS
Hoboken FC stormed into the second round of the New Jersey State Cup after mauling Woodbridge Stars 7-0 at the Overpeck State Park.

Guilherme Dantas [3rd], Javier Vegas [9th, 66th], debutant Hugo Lourenco [20th, 41st], Zach Cuttler [45th] and Isaac Asomani [75th] — with his first ever goal for the club — tallied for the CSL side.

LIONS SLAIN
Second Division leaders Manhattan Celtic hammered Moroccan Atlas Lion 6-0 in the late game at Pier 40.

Phil James [two], Austin McCann [two], Marcos Romero and Julian Creco scored to extend Celtic’s one hundred percent record to six matches.

Celtic’s equally hot second unit, also 6-0 with 18 points, were led by Barrie Taylor, Dan Callow and James St. Clair in 3-0 romp.

ROCKY STRETCH
Tesoro Kings’ Andrew Revanles scored for both reserves and the first team as the latter kept Shamrock winless [0-7] in Division Two with a 2-0 decision on Roosevelt Island.

Kareem Joachim got the other goal in the senior fixture while Kerden Roberts joined Revanales on the score sheet in the reserves’ 2-2 tie.

EMC REBOOT
New-look EMC ended their skid in the second tier by knocking off NYPD 2-0 on Randalls Island.

New signings Nick McClaferty and Alex Dawson produced the win that came on the heels of the 8-2 drubbing of White Plains FC in the Flamhaft Cup.

“Having lost half [our] team as well as the manager, I’m pleased to say that we’ve finally completed rebuilding. We’ve got a bunch of great new signings,” said Eddie Yee Woo Guo.

Among the players EMC lost was the aforementioned Pietro who missed a penalty for Kickers against NYAC.

EMC’s new form has spread to its reserves who bounced NYPD 4-1 with Michael Nuss notching a brace and an assist. James and the returning Rodrigo, the latter from a superb
curving free kick, were also on target.

TURKEY SHOOT
Galatasaray’s reserves went on a scoring spree against FC Japan ‘B’ at Newtown High School in Elmhurst and when the dust had settled walked off 9-1 winners.

Emre Tetik had four goals, Cem two and Ayhan,  Yahaya and Jean one each.

In the senior fixture, Cem reeled in another two goals and Tolga got one in a more competitive 3-2 win.

UKRAINIANS TRIUMPH
Florian Meisenberg [20th] and Claudio Ama [65th, 75th] starred in New York Ukrainians’ 3-1 victory over Central Park Rangers Reds at McCarren Park.

The reserves drew 0-0.

SPORTING EFFORT
“Life is tough without Gregzilla,” lamented Sporting Astoria GM Ed Romero after his side succumbed 3-2 on a late goal to undefeated Metro Div. One [West] frontrunners Korabi.

Korabi recovered after conceding an own goal to lead 2-1, and after Patricio Acosta had equalized [60th] got the winner in the 80th minute.

“Korabi made the most of their opportunities,” noted Romero, who won’t have the talismanic Gregzilla back until next spring.  “Overall a great game. We can’t wait for the rematch.”

Korabi improved to 6-0-1 [19], seven points ahead of Gwardia PLNY and Missile FC, who won 3-2 and 2-1 over  BW G Cosmos and FC Partizani, respectively.

EASTERN FRONT
In Metro Div. One East, CD Iberia upped their stats to 5-0-1 [15] without kicking a ball after Gotham Argo forfeited.

Mr. Dennehy’s joined VV Nieuw Amsterdam and Homenetmen in a three-way tie for second place on 12 points after thrashing the latter 3-0 at the Greenbelt Recreation Center.

Jose Ramon Marti, Jonathan Imundo and Nick Whipple scored.

NIEUW DAY
Amsterdam also hit CPR Blacks for three without conceding a goal on Randalls Island.

Ben Eichenberger, C.P. de Vera who slotted home a Renaldo Vega pass, and Matt Blakeley connected.

“It was a very good match, one in which the score line is a bit deceiving,” remarked de Vera. “If CPR was able to bang home a few of their earlier chances, the outcome could have easily been 3-0 to them.”

SHOOT-OUT
Lansdowne Bhoys battled to a 4-4 tie with New York Dynamo at Kaiser Park. Nelly Maguire, Anton Toner and Kevin Maginne [two] tallied.

Lansdowne [5-1-1, 16] are two points adrift of leaders Ridgewood Romac who beat New York Ittihad 3-0.

JUAN GOAL
Juan Gonzalez Casares [20th] saw his first goal in three seasons for Barnstonworth Rovers canceled out in the 75th minute by FC Bulgaria in a 1-1 tie.

“We had control of the entire game [but] could not put it away,” he rued.

ZENITH TOPS
At Lincoln High School, Ralph Petithomme, Jacques Thelusma and Clifford Augustin were on the mark as Grenadier Zenith edged AO Brooklyn 3-2.

BRAVE SHOWING
New Amsterdam United lost a nine-goal thriller to FC New York Braveheart by the odd goal on Randalls Island.

Tegnane Ly [two], Roberto Ramirez and Hamilton Tobar connected in the brave effort.

For the winners, Parlay Raj led all scorers with a hat trick with Guillermo Ortiz and Diego Mayanga adding one apiece.

ASSIST KING
Nedge Nazon had four assists in Barnstonworth Premier’s 5-0 rout of Tesoro SC in an Over-30 Div. One encounter on Randalls Island.

Jon Benenson [two], Maurice Wellington and Duane Pena scored with Tesoro also conceding an own goal.

KICKER SQUEAKER
Premier [5-1, 15] stayed a point ahead of Manhattan Kickers in the East. The latter pipped 10-man Shamrock 3-2 at Bushwick on Paul Cowler’s 86th minute header.

Colin Brown [20th, 30th] had the assist on the winner.  Eugene “Bingo” O’Driscoll [22nd], who was later dismissed, and Brian O’Connor [40th] scored for Shamrock.

LAST GASP
For most of the match, Barnstonworth Rovers survived some poor finishing by Pele Masters with the two teams tied 1-1 only to concede a goal on the break in stoppage time.

“We could have lost by more, but Pele missed some easy ones,” said Rovers scorer Mike Alexander.

GOOD SCOTT
Also in the East, Eintracht SC had a superb free kick [40th] followed by a lovely chip [70th] from Scott Sucher in a 4-0 defeat of Guyana Veterans ‘A.’

Tom Strumpf [30th] had drawn first blood from the spot while Sergio Magarik [85th] sealed it.

GREEK MIGHT
Steve Tsividakis, Steve Papadopoulos and Chris Tsangaris were on target as New York Greek-American/Atlas knocked off NYPD 3-0 to move into joint first with New York Dinamo in Over-30 Div. One West.

Dinamo crashed 3-0 to Manhattan Kickers Premier.

GOOD ’OL BOYS
Barnstonworth Old Boys blew out short-handed SC Gjoa 5-0 to stay within two points of leaders Central Park Old Boys in Over-30 Div. II.

Bryan Painter [two], Jason Racine, Matt Rosamond and Jim Beck were the marksmen.

“Good performances all over the field, and particularly pleasing to keep a clean sheet at the back,” observed David Sheeran, whose lads are now 4-2-1 [13].

CELTIC SLIP
Rob Jonson’s early strike [4th] was in vain as Manhattan Celtic succumbed 2-1 to FC Partizani in another Div. II clash.

NIEUW STAR
Reza Watts made a memorable debut for Nieuw Amsterdam as he banged in a hat trick in a 7-0 drubbing of Banatul.

The scoring was methodical with John Graham [9th], skipper Matthew Patterson [15th, 63rd] and Watts [26th, 35th, 78th] on target.  Banatul also conceded an own goal [85th].

“After losing much of the team to injury this season, it was good to get a win and three point,” said Matthew Patterson