It’s a big day for Greenpoint United Football Club as Season 49 gets underway. It’s Greenpoint’s second season of existence and it’s also the first for their youth academy.

Today’s schedule of events:
Quotes from today’s press conference with Manager Zorro Cat will be available as of 19.00 HT time.
Greenpoint’s Youth Academy will play their first game in Los Angeles against Red Dragons F.C. at 22.05 HT time. Updates will be posted at halftime and fulltime.
The U.S. Open Cup’s first round gets underway at 1.00 HT time tomorrow (7 pm tonight in New York City) as Greenpoint has traveled to California to face bot side Loco Soccer. Live coverage of the entire match will be available in this post starting at 0.30 HT time.

Come on, you Growlers!

18.57 HT UPDATE: Manager Zorro Cat (pictured) has held his pre-match press conference in advance of tonight’s cup tie. Here are the highlights:

On tonight’s game: We’re going to switch up the tactics a little bit, and front load the squad. We want goals tonight. The new keeper [Dylan Prouvost] will start between the sticks. We have three substitutions in mind, so fingers crossed nobody gets hurt.

On a potential cup run: I hope we get a little bit of luck in our cup draws this year, because the league is going to be challenging enough. Opening with a bot is a good start, and obviously we can’t count this as a W yet, but we just hope we keep Lady Luck on our good side in this regard.

On their series this year: To be perfectly honest, winning that qualifier might have been biting off a little more than we could chew. V.254 is a competitive division, with seven very good managers [excluding Greenpoint]. It’s going to be a challenging season. Very challenging for us. Can we be competitive? I can’t really answer that question yet; we’ll see on Sunday night.

On this season’s expectations: It’s our second season and we’re already one division higher. Last year could not have gone better. We went 850 competitive minutes without conceding a goal. We conceded six in 14 competitive matches. This year, though, is a whole new ballgame. Obviously, our expectations cannot be as high as they were last year. We’re looking to stay competitive. We’re looking to be in every game. We’re hoping to avoid the drop. That’s really all you can say right now

Stay tuned for update’s from today’s youth match in Los Angeles between Greenpoint Academy and Red Dragons F.C.!

22.50 HT UPDATE: Youth coach Bip Bipson (pictured right) has an update from the Dragons’ Lair in Los Angeles, where Greenpoint Academy is facing Red Dragons F.C. and it is halftime:

“Well, it’s not looking good for us. Dragons are leading 4-0 at the intermission and they’ve been all over us. We only had about 39% of the possession. To be fair, this is our first organized fixture, so being close would probably have been asking too much.

“Our new kid, [Facundo] Lemos had a chance up front but couldn’t finish. We’re still really excited about what he’ll be bringing to the table.

“In any case, Marshall McLaughlin and Steven Patton have two goals each for the Dragons. Albert Dahmer hit the post when he nearly added a fifth. It’s been a long, hot day and we’ve got a long way to go.”

0.05 HT UPDATE: It’s full time in Los Angeles, where there has been no update to the scoreline. Red Dragons emerged a 4-0 winner over Greenpoint Academy in the youth squad’s first game. Stay tuned for coverage of Greenpoint United’s cup tie with Loco Soccer tonight! Coverage starts in less than half an hour!

PRE-MATCH: Welcome to the start of Season 49! Greenpoint United open up their second season on the road in the first round of the U.S. Open Cup, as they take on Loco Soccer here in partly cloudy California.

Greenpoint was founded in week two of last season. By that point, their predecessor club, Vazquez19, was already eliminated from the cup, having lost 8-0 to Dilligaff. So, this match is Greenpoint’s first real shot at the cup in their existence.

As alluded to earlier, Greenpoint will be going on the attack in this match, playing a 2-5-3 formation for the first time. Newcomer Dylan Provoust gets the start in goal and will wear the captain’s armband. The two defenders will be Pierre Scheuzger and Rui Rodrigo Santos Mateus.

Trevor Marzullo, he of 14 career competitive goals, will start up front along with Jack Baumgardt-Wellander, who is right behind him in the Greenpoint history book, with 13. Jesus Cueva, who is Greenpoint’s all-time leading scorer in friendlies, makes his first career competitive appearance for the club, starting in between the aforementioned Marzullo and Wellander on the top line.

The midfield will see Anthony Baron and qualifier hero Joffre Silver on the wings, with Gert Hardy, Slawomir Niemczak, and Matteo Lima on the inside.

1 min: OMG kick-off!

3 mins: This would be the night where my Internet connection is worse than usual. Loco Soccer (shouldn’t it be Loco Futbol or Crazy Soccer?) have two players named Moore.

6 mins: GOAL! Loco Soccer 0 – 1 Greenpoint: Marzullo extends his record to 15 competitive goals with a strike down the middle! The Growlers are off to the races!

11 mins: The slowness of my Internet connection is driving me insane. These live blogs will get better once I move in July. As for now, it’s still 1-0. Three other sides from our new series, including Sunday’s opponent, also lead early.

14 mins: Loco’s Thad Davidson has been booked for being a jerk. Or, for kicking the ball away after the whistle.

15 mins: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! 2-0! Matteo Lima scores this one from down the left wing.

22 mins: It took seven minutes for this text box to reload after that last update. Thankfully, nobody scored during that time period. Seriously, this team could score more, but they’re holding off for the sake of the live blog. Yeah, that’s totally it.

32 mins: Seriously, nothing is happening. But, I momentarily lost this entire post. Tonight is such fun!

33 mins: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! It’s three! And it’s Gert Hardy, from the right side. One from the left, one from the right, one from the middle.

34 mins: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! Cueva’s first and it’s 4-0! This one comes through the middle. Both of those came in quick succession after Greenpoint’s formation experience dropped. Now, they’ve pulled back, too

37 mins: Loco’s Edward Kane has been booked for a nasty challenge. I’m waiting, worried, that someone is hurt. Meanwhile, Greenpoint’s formation organization dropped from weak to weak. No, really, it said that.

41 mins: That update took four minutes to post… in the meantime, Marzullo nearly picked up a brace, but could not make it 5-0. An audacious lob attempt was blocked by a Loco defender. No word on if the defender is actually crazy. Three others teams from our series already lead 5-0.

HALF-TIME: Loco Soccer 0 – 4 Greenpoint United. The visitors claimed 84% possession in that half. We’re on our way! Elsewhere in the league: Terrapin F.C., The Young Chemists, and Real Clinton all lead their matches 5-0. It’s 4-0 for Bergenfield Fire and Bluesters United (Sunday’s league opponent,) and it’s 3-0 for West Lafayette Griffins and Bree Prancing Ponies, both of which were the fastest to jump out to 3-0 leads. Elsewhere, my girlfriend had the misfortune of being one of only about 200 human U.S. teams to have to face a human opponent in the first round. She leads 2-1 at the half.

49 mins: I’m just typing this in Notepad now. It’ll get online eventually… A point of clarification from earlier: First the organization fell to weak, then the organisation fell to weak. Big difference. It’s solid now, by the way.

52 mins: Real Clinton becomes the first V.254 side to go up 6-0 in their cup tie.

54 mins: Make that 7-0 Clinton. Mercy. Orn Saemundsson is warming up on the Greenpoint sidelines. One of the three forwards is coming off soon…

56 mins: And it’s Jack Baumgardt-Wellander, who now finds himself two goals behind Trevor Marzullo on the all-time Greenpoint scoring list.

60 mins: We’ve hit the hour mark and it’s time for another Greenpoint sub. Matteo Lima makes way for Said Slaoui in the midfield.

62 mins: My girlfriend has gone up 3-1 in her match, which is probably much more entertaining than this one.

64 mins: Our organisation is passable again. No word on the organization, though.

66 mins: Terrapin F.C. has won the race to 8-0, as we look around the league…

66 mins 30 secs: …and to 9-0 as well.

71 mins: A goal for Bree Prancing Ponies means Greenpoint’s 4-0 advantage is now the slimmest margin in the league. Well, blergh.

73 mins: Loco’s Thad Davidson, he of jerk status in the 15th minute, has gone done bruised, but has refused the trainer’s attention. The jerk…

77 mins: Girlfriend’s up 4-1. She could end up winning by the same margin as I am against a bot. Two sides in the league are now up 9-0.

78 mins: Final sub, as Rui Rodrigo Santos Mateus comes off and Imre Medvegy comes up for a 12 minute cameo.

78 mins 40 secs: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! Comfortably 5-0 now, and it’s the qualifier hero, Joffre Silver, scoring his second competitive goal, after his free kick winner a week and a half ago. This one comes on a chip shot through the center.

80 mins: Real Clinton is the first to hit 10 past their bot among V.254 sides. Think we have five more in us tonight? I don’t…

83 mins: This one’s likely all wrapped up. We’ll have to wait for any matches that go to extra time to find out Round 2′s opponent, though. Odds are Greenpoint will be the lower seed this time around.

84 mins: One more goal? Please? Pretty please?

86 mins: Every other team in the league has hit at least seven past their bot opponents. This doesn’t bode well for this season for Greenpoint, does it?

87 mins: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! Well, it’s a brace for Joffre Silver! Would it be too greedy to ask for another?

88 mins: GOAL TO GREENPOINT! Apparently not! Said Slaoui from the right, and Greenpoint have seven!

89 mins: RED CARD TO LOCO SOCCER. SECOND YELLOW TO DAVIDSON. NIEMCZAK IS HURT. GOAL TO GREENPOINT. IT’S A MARZULLO BRACE. THINGS HAVE GONE MENTAL!

Both sides are on ten men for the final minute. But there are major concerns for the health of Niemczak.

FULL-TIME: Loco Soccer 0 – 8 Greenpoint United

Let’s catch our breath a bit, because that ending got really crazy.

Post-game report indicates that Niemczak, the crux of our midfield, will miss a week. I asked for one more goal with five minutes to play and got three. Thanks, Match Engine!

Other 8-0 winners in the league: Bergenfield Fire and Bree Prancing Ponies. 9-0 winners include Terrapin, Bluesters, and The Young Chemists. Real Clinton won 10-0. West Lafayette ended up the low scorers, at 7-0.

What a wild ending. Stay tuned to the bottom of this post for the cup drawing.