soccer

After a solid undefeated season of indoor soccer at Sportstown BC, the EQO All-stars took their high octane, run-and-gun style of play outdoors. The opponents, UTStarcom (formally known as Telos), a strong squad of 20 men, came to Albert Airey Park looking to avenge a prior 5-1 embarrassing loss.

From the opening kick, you could tell that the squad from UTStarcom was determined to not be whitewashed a second time. Harsh tackles and strong words nearly led to fisticuffs more than once (watch the video and you’ll see what I mean!). However, cooler heads prevailed and when all was said and done, the match was declared a 2-2 draw.

1st Star: Colin Quon--Carved his way through defenders, helped to break up the brouhaha between Stan and a colorfully-mouthed defender, and scored the game tying goal off a beauty of a corner kick.

2nd Star: "King" Richard Chow--Stopped about 87 shots, half of them from point blank range.

3rd Star: Amar Kulkarni--This UBC coop sensation was a bull out there.

Honourable Mention: Kelly Ko--After hearing about the misogynous remarks of a member of the other team at half time, she put forth an inspired 2nd half of soccer.

Peter
EQO Customer Support

In one of the most thrilling indoor soccer matches in recent history, a fierce squad from EQO downed a plucky team from Ventyx, the company formally known as MDSI, 2 – 1. I am not sure if this is why they changed their name, but in their first meeting, EQO thrashed MDSI 7-2. This time, reborn like the phoenix, Ventyx was hungry for revenge and put up a valiant effort before finally going down to the upstarts from EQO. Check out the highlight package on YouTube.

With mere minutes left in the game, EQO’s goal-sniping assassin, Stanley Chiu, buried the game winner. The glorious victory was a fitting send off for long-time EQO veteran Craig Hughes. In his final match with EQO, “Captain Britain” tallied a goal and blocked 5 shots on the way to his first star selection. After the gutsy performance, Hughes dedicated the win to Sir Bobby Charlton.

The match was followed up with celebratory pints and words of well-wishing for the departing Mr. Hughes. His deft skills and savvy leadership will be missed both on and off the pitch by all.

This past Friday EQO achieved a third successive soccer victory, this time against local tech rivals Mobidia. This victory was less glorious than the previous two, but was no less satisfying. Mobidia turned up in red company jersey's with matching shorts and socks appearing to be a very professional outfit, which turned out to be the case. In the end it was EQO, in our rag tag mismatched blue, winning the day with a plucky 2-1 victory. Mobidia was the toughest and most organized squad we've faced so far, apparently they even practice, but we prevailed with hard work to match their skill.

The game played out with many chances at both ends. Richard Chow was stellar in the EQO goal making many key saves. Peter Chandler drew first blood after a myriad of chances, finally finding the Mobidia netminder's weakness. Turns out all you have to do is hit him in the face with the ball and knock him over, putting enough spin on the ball to have it go backwards into the net. Todd Heintz made it 2-0 potting a rebound off his own initial shot, which turned out to be the eventual winner as Mobidia drew one back late.

The EQO three stars as awarded by Stanley:

3. Richard Chow - The EQO netminder was his usual stellar self making many Luongo like saves to keep us in the match.

2. Chris Richardson (me) - Stanley thinks I played well enough defensively to earn second spot despite missing the net multiple times by very wide margins.

1. Todd Heintz - Todd got the winner and pushed the Mobidia defense hard all game.

Honorary star: Nathan - The EQO web contractor who I'd just met the very day of the game played excellently and only missed out on top star because Stanley didn't know his last name.

Stanley posted the match highlights on Youtube. If you see a highlight three times, that was Stanley.

It's rumored that Mckesson wants a crack at us next, which should be a tough one for us seeing as they are huge. I will only post about it if we win.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

This past Friday EQO enjoyed another famous indoor soccer victory. We were challenged by the local UTStarcom contingent, former employer of EQO founder and CTO Colin Quon when it was known as Telos back in the day. UTStarcom employed a few other EQO employees in the past so this was a match EQO really wanted to win and, spurred on by threats of castration from Colin, we came through with a 5-1 victory.

We were a little worried when we got to the pitch and UTStarcom had company jerseys, but we calmed our nerves and jumped to a 2-0 lead from goals by regular EQO goal poacher Stanley. The bad guys got one back before EQO stalwart Craig Hughes nicked three more for the good guys to seal the deal. Now for the EQO three stars:

3. Mike Imperial - The EQO web designer was sporting new indoor soccer shoes and put them to good use with some nice footwork. He ran hard and displayed mercurial skill with a few nice dangles.

2. Colin Quon - Our founder was clearly motivated to defeat his old friends and picked up an assist through his hard running. He motivated the team with his defensive efforts and, well, threats...

1. Craig Hughes - Our Program Director was all over the pitch scoring three goals from defense whilst shutting down the opposition, not at all like his hometown Stoke City FC.

Who shall be our next victim? Mobidia continues to talk tough, maybe they'll soon make an appearance on the pitch?

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

This past Friday afternoon EQO defeated MDSI 7-2 in a well contested indoor soccer match. To fill you in on context, the EQO office is located in the MDSI building. Our staff of 40 go about their business on half of the bottom floor, a company called Matrikon has the other half of the bottom floor and MDSI has the top two floors. MDSI is about five times bigger than EQO and are aptly referred to, by me, as our evil overlords. Clearly we were huge underdogs in terms of selection pool, but the EQO competitive match squad prevailed nonetheless. The match was contested five on five plus goalies in two thirds of the "pod" at SportsTown BC. The EQO squad numbered 12, whereas MDSI could only draw 9 from a pool of 200; the smell of fear is powerful indeed. The EQO contingent turned up with fans and a videographer as well (Video Highlights!).

We went down 1-0 early but Stanley, EQO Systems Admin, soon tied it up. The match stayed steady at 1-1 for almost half an hour at which point Stan "the man" scored another two goals. Near the end of the game we took advantage of a clearly tiring MDSI outfit with energy drawn from our superiority in numbers to put the match away. Peter "the great" of EQO Support fame scored two quick goals and was poised for a third until I poked the sixth home from almost the goal line, haha! MDSI had a latecomer with a bundle of energy join the fray and add a second to their meager tally. EQO, unfazed, responded with another Peter "the great" goal off a bungled breakaway by yours truly. The game ended 7-2 thanks to the individual talents of a few, a couple great saves from Richard, and the hustle involved in a truly collective effort. Who shall we face next, I hear Mobidia are looking for a match, hmmm?

Now for the EQO three stars:

3. Peter "the great" - Scored three (almost four) goals and led the EQO team to victory but can not claim higher than third star because he plays soccer all the time.

2. Stan "the man" - Scored three goals (all the goals we needed) and was a tireless bundle of energy as always. He even punctuated his performance with a somersault tackle on defense. You say that doesn't make sense? Well I saw it and I still don't really know what happened.

1. Adam Leszczynski - EQO Coop of unpronounceable last name fame was a rock on defense and an excellent distributor of the ball. His flowing Jesus hair inspired EQO to victory.

We welcome all challengers who we can beat to challenge our precious crown. Until we face our next opponent EQO will drink golden nectar from the sweet, sweet cup of glorious victory.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Last week I was talking to the Right Honorable Bill Tam, CEO, about how I’m slowly and steadily getting fatter due to excessive sitting on my ass and proposed that we start an EQO exercise program. I was just kidding around, but he took me more seriously than I expected and likely deserved. Much to my delight, he allowed me to organize an EQO soccer game for the afternoon of Friday, September 15th.

I let the staff know, told them to bring shin pads (we have some ankle biters), and informed everyone that they would not be allowed to stay in the office and work. Those who didn’t want to play had to come cheer on their favorite player, which I incorrectly assumed would be me, lame. All I wanted was one sign that said “Go Chris!”, is that so wrong?