The FC Scroungers of 2018 are a far cry from the strapping young lads who captured the C2 Division championship only three years ago.

I can sense an almost resigned desperation in captain and league fixture John Khoury, when asked who amongst his roster of Laval Catholic bros has most surprised him this winter. “Most surprising…most surprising…oouufff, it’s hard to say. We’ve all been playing pretty bad. We always put up good teams, but this year we’re just out of shape. We have good individual players but we’re just not playing well together.”

Dead last in the C4A Division, there’s little doubt the Scroungers are seven years off their Double-A-Centre-Sud-sweet-sixteen prime. Then again, as far as Khoury is concerned, his disheveled crew has nowhere to go but up. Longtime sniper Charlie Rizutto is finally recovering from a really bad injury. Sacha Cantin has been playing some inspired soccer at midfield. And don’t look now, but the Scroungers are unbeaten in their last two games.

A looming encounter against younger and faster FC Dumos should go a long way in determining if the Scroungers can scrape their way back from the edge of a self-inflicted black hole – or if they’ll have to live out their real-life football frustrations over FIFA 18. “We’re kind of trying to make a playoff push. If I were a betting man, I’d think we have good chances. But it’s not gonna be easy.”

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