Christopher: One of his teammates went home sick after the last game on Saturday. His parents called Sunday morning to say that he wouldn’t be there. So, that left a hole….the tournament officials said if I could find a U10-eligible player and the other coach agreed we could fill that whole.
Game 1 has Matthew wearing the #5 journey with the mis-logo’d Falcons. I had asked Christopher what he wanted the team name to be; we agreed on Falcons. I ordered iron-on transfers for the t-shirts and all was well EXCEPT when I put the name on the order form…and I just put down last year’s name…the Dragons. So, I had kids in Falcon shirts with a Dragon name. Oh well.
Today was win-or-you-go-home. Falcons won the first game 4-3 (against the same team we tied 2-2 on Saturday). Happy to be moving on to the next game against the top seed.
Game 2 went on at the same time as Matthew’s team, so, he couldn’t play. BUT, we picked up another kid from Okemos so still had a full roster.
Game ended in regulation as a 2-2 tie; Christopher had a nifty goal as he took advantage of a goal kick mistake to kick the ball right back at him, and past him. But, in the win-or-you-go-home…we move on to penalty kicks, where we lost 3-2. Oh well. Thought the team had their best game of the tournament in that last one so went home satisfied with how we did.
Matthew: His U9 team played the lowest seed first game out of the gate and roared to a 5-1 victory. Matthew had two goals; click the link to see them.
The Chargers won the second game 2-0; played at the same time as that Falcons shootout game above. I coached the Falcons and didn’t see a bit of this game, but, the win moved the team onto the finals.
If you would have asked me before the tournament, I would have told you that I thought the U9 team we had was pretty darn solid….and I figured we had a pretty good shot of winning our division.
So, I sit here typing now and am still pretty stunned and disappointed that we lost 4-0 in the final. Weren’t even really in it. The team folded like a cheap tent once things went bad…..the first goal went in off one of our players on a deflection and that player wasn’t the same for the rest of the game….just couldn’t shake it off. Don’t know if the boys were tired (we had played one more game than the other team) or if we just didn’t react well to being down for the first time all tournament.
Oh well…a good learning experience for the boys and for me as well. Really enjoyed the format of the tournament and will try and do more of that type of soccer next year.
