GIBRALTAR, Gibraltar - The captain of Gibraltars national soccer team laughs as he contemplates the task facing his team of amateurs against Germany. Sam Darnold Jersey .To put things in perspective, we have gone from Sunday league football to playing the world champions in 18 months, Roy Chipolina said, shaking his head in bewilderment. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.Win, lose or draw — and some locals here will be happy if Germany is kept to single figures in Fridays European Championship qualifier in Nuremberg — its a victory for Gibraltar just to be sharing a field with a team that beat Brazil 7-1 en route to winning the World Cup four months ago.After a 16-year fight, the tiny British colony — a rocky outcropping on the southern tip of Spain inhabited by about 30,000 people — became a fully recognized international team when it was accepted as the 54th and smallest member of UEFA in 2013. The move had previously been resisted by the Spanish, who dispute the sovereignty of the territory.The acceptance sparked wild celebrations in the narrow streets of Gibraltar, some of the biggest parties since one native won Miss World in 2009.A completely amateur set-up, from the players to the countrys football association, suddenly had to become a whole lot more professional. Within months, they had been drawn in a European qualifying group containing Germany, Poland, Ireland and Scotland.We have gone from 10 people watching us play to 35,000 people watching us play, Chipolina said in an interview just off the bustling main street that runs through Gibraltar, which has an area of just 7 square kilometres.The past 12 months has been a year of firsts for the Gibraltarians: A first official game — a creditable, unexpected 0-0 against Slovakia in November; a first (and so far only) win — 1-0 over Malta in June; a first Euro qualifier — a 7-0 loss to Poland in September.In their two other Group D qualifiers, theyve lost 7-0 to Ireland and 3-0 to Georgia. No points, no goals.Its been a culture shock for the players. Only three Gibraltar internationals play professionally — two of those in the English lower leagues — with the rest having to balance playing the game they love with holding down a full-time job.Take the teams main striker, Kyle Casciaro. He is an operations manager for a shipping firm in Gibraltar and works 9-6 Monday to Friday, as well as being on call every other weekend. In his spare time, he plays for Lincoln Red Imps — one of eight teams in the amateur Gibraltar Premier Division. They train three, sometimes four, nights a week before a weekend match. Then there is fitness work at the gym.Yesterday, I finished work, went home quickly, changed into my kit, had a banana, then went to get the coach to training in Spain, Casciaro said in an interview during a break from work.Going on international duty with Gibraltar involves taking a week off work for the likes of Casciaro and Lincoln teammate Chipolina, who is a customs officer. Representing Gibraltar in 10 European qualifiers per year requires 50 days off work and they have only 25 days of annual leave. So, they rely on the goodwill of their employers to accept a request from the Gibraltar FA to take special leave for international matches.Its hard enough balancing football, work and family, with your wife nagging at you when you go training every night, Chipolina said with a smile. Then youve got to use your annual leave for football, so you have to tell your wife we arent going on holiday this year.Firemen, a policeman, a store manager, a student, a teacher, a researcher — they come from all walks of life to play for Gibraltar.Admittance to UEFA means Gibraltars players are, however, getting a glimpse of what life would be like as a professional footballer. When they go away for international duty, players now wear suits instead of tracksuits, stay in five-star hotels and VIP areas, and are even starting to be asked for autographs. They follow a strict itinerary, when two years ago they would book their own hotels and everything would be fairly ad hoc.But back at their clubs, life can still be amateurish. Gibraltar midfielder Jeremy Lopez plays in the domestic league for Manchester 62 FC, which holds one of its three training sessions each week on a concrete parking lot behind a hotel.Can you imagine Bastian Schweinsteiger doing that? Lopez said, referring to the Germany midfielder he is about to confront.There are severe challenges and hardships facing Gibraltars footballers. There is only one full-sized field on the territory, at Victoria Stadium near the border with Spain. The arena has to be shared by teams from all leagues and age groups — juniors to seniors, men and women — so time is at a premium.Because Victoria Stadium only has a capacity of about 2,000 and doesnt meet UEFA requirements, Gibraltar has to play its home matches in Faro in Portugal — a five-hour drive for the team and their fans, who usually number around 500. The GFA is looking into building an 8,000-seat stadium at the other end of the territory but that is years away from being a reality.And Gibraltar coach Allen Bula said he realistically has a pool of only about 60 players to choose from when he selects his national squad.Still, Gibraltar isnt complaining, not after what it has been through to get recognition from the global football community. Long-awaited UEFA membership is offering the team and the country new opportunities.Its giving us international exposure, free publicity, PR that money cant buy, said GFA chief executive Dennis Beiso, whose target is for Gibraltar to become the best of the minnows within Europe on and off the field.A daunting trip to Germany awaits but its not the first huge obstacle to have faced Gibraltars footballers.It wont be the last.Its going to be a different level, a different planet, Casciaro said. I think, to be quite honest, they are going to score as many goals as they want. Joe Namath Jersey . Joakim Nordstrom and Garret Ross also scored for Chicago and Corey Crawford made 30 saves. Tomas Tatar scored twice for Red Wings (2-3-0), Jonathan Ericsson added a goal and Gustav Nyquist had three assists. New York Jets Jerseys . Lupul injured the hand in a fall at practice on Thursday. He will wear a cast for a minimum of 10 days before he can put a glove back on it and get some mobility back, said Carlyle, who added the winger wont go on the teams upcoming road trip. http://www.authenticjetsfanatic.com/c-97-jets-sam-darnold-jersey.aspx . Martin Reway and David Griger both recorded four points with a goal and three assists each. Mario Lunter, Daniel Gachulinec and Stanislav Horansky also scored for Slovakia (1-0). Dominik Kahun had both goals for Germany (0-2), who lost its opening match to Canada 7-2 on Thursday.NEW YORK -- The Pittsburgh Penguins have plenty of familiar names up and down their roster. Now they are excelling even with some prominent players on the shelf. Sidney Crosby didnt score any goals against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night -- not in regulation, overtime or the shootout -- but he assisted on two and helped the Penguins bounce back from a blown late lead and earn a 4-3 victory. Brandon Sutter was the star this time as the Penguins played without injured centre Evgeni Malkin and a slew of hurt or suspended defencemen. Sutter scored one of Pittsburghs two third-period goals that gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead, and then netted the only tally in the five-round shootout. "If everybody got healthy tomorrow, youd talk about a significant group of guys getting back in the lineup," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "I dont think how we play -- expectations, style of play, game plan -- really changes much by getting one or two players back or getting everybody back." The Penguins will be without Malkin again on Thursday when they host Minnesota, but suspended forward James Neal is expected to return after serving a five-game ban. Still, Pittsburgh has been relying on fill-ins and hasnt missed a beat. The Eastern Conference-leading Penguins have won five straight and are 10-1-1 in their last 12. "Thats the good part about having these guys come in and play," Bylsma said. "They know exactly how to play, and they know what the expectation is. Theyve gone out and theyve played that way." Sutter gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead just 1:01 after Pascal Dupuis snapped a 1-1 tie, but Pittsburgh couldnt hold the edge. Dupuis gave the Penguins their second lead, off a feed from Crosby at 5:25, and Sutter used a strong individual effort to make it a two-goal advantage at 6:26. Chris Kunitz had a goal and assist, and Crosby increased his NHL-leading point total to 49. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots through overtime and then five in the shootout. Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard rallied the Rangers with goals 5:31 apart to tie it with 1:46 left in regulation. Henrik Lundqvist got it to overtime and withstood a hard hit from Kunitz, who bowled him over in the extra session -- striking the goalie in the heead and taking a penalty for interference. Trenton Cannon Jersey. The Rangers, however, couldnt take advantage of that power play as they did on Brassards tying goal. New York earned a standings point with its second straight shootout after not being forced to the tiebreaker round all season. Lundqvist shook off Kunitzs hit, he just couldnt carry the Rangers all the way back for a win. "It was a big point," Lundqvist said. "I played a pretty good game, I think. I just hate losing in the shootout." Zuccarello started the comeback when he shoved in a rebound of defenceman John Moores shot that trickled between Fleurys pads into the crease at 12:43. Brassard made it 3-3 when he ripped a shot from the bottom of the left circle into the top right corner of the net. It came 57 seconds after Pittsburghs Matt Niskanen went off for high-sticking. Carl Hagelin scored for New York in the second period, and Lundqvist made 30 saves through overtime in his seventh straight start, but the Rangers dropped to 1-3-2 on their team-record, nine-game homestand. New York was looking to win two straight, building off a shootout victory over Calgary on Sunday. "We put some points together, and if we do this continuously, I think guys will start to feel a lot better about themselves," Rangers forward Brad Richards said. The Penguins stayed hot despite also missing injured defencemen Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi, Paul Martin, and Brooks Orpik, and suspended defenceman Deryk Engelland, who received a five-game ban Wednesday. The Rangers, who beat Pittsburgh 5-1 in the season-series opener on Nov. 6, fell to 2-14-1 when they allow the first goal. Hagelin, who had gone eight games without a goal before he scored Sunday, tied it 1-1 with 4:25 left in the second period. It was his seventh this season Pittsburgh had taken a 1-0 lead on its second power play of the period and the game 2:51 earlier on Kunitzs 18th goal and team-leading ninth with a man advantage. NOTES: Penguins D Philip Samuelsson played his second NHL game, two nights after making his debut. His father, Ulf, is a Rangers assistant coach. ... Kunitz has points in 10 of 12 games: seven goals and six assists. ... Moore had two assists to increase his season point total to seven. Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Gear Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys Cheap NFL Black Jerseys Jerseys NFL China ' ' '