Three games in 10 days; I need to play catch-up….
Game 5: Monday afternoon brought the first of the week’s rematches against Western Force; we had travelled to their field and walked away with a 1-1 tie…I was hoping for better results here.
At the end of the half we were up 1-0….and totally did not deserve to be on the plus side of the scoresheet….I thought they really took it too us and the boys sat back and let them do it. Western’s home field is smaller (quite a bit smaller, actually) than ours and I hoped that would play to our advantage.
Matthew scored in the second half to put us ahead 2-0 and they scored late to make it a 2-1 final. I thought we were the more aggressive team in the second half, and, in what is a disappointing recurring theme, we just gave away the goal to them that made it closer than it really was in the end.
Game 6: Wednesday was a rematch with Lansing Soccer Club; they had beaten us 4-2 in our first game on the strength of one kids’ hat trick. I did not go to the length of assigning a player to shadow this kid (I did consider it) but I did make sure everyone knew that #9 was their best player and to be on the watch for him.
Unlike Monday, we were down 1-0 at the half and totally did not deserve to be on the negative side of the scoresheet; we dominated play but, yet again, did something crazy in front of the goal (we didn’t clear it because we thought Matthew was going to reach down and get it….Matthew didn’t grab it because he thought we were going to clear it….) and had to come from behind in the second half.
We tied it early, they went ahead when the dreaded #9 finally broke through, and were pushing in for the tying goal when….well…let’s just say I didn’t agree with the ref’s call.
On Monday, the ref (a high schooler) was very clear that he was going to be calling the game ‘with advantage’…essentially, if you foul me, but I still have the ball and the possession is to my benefit, the ref won’t call the foul, or will call it later, and let the play continue. This is pretty normal, but, I appreciate him taking the time to explain it to the boys….
On Wednesday, the ref was a woman in her 30’s (maybe) and I thought, until the play I’m going to talk about, that she had done a pretty good job. The play in question we are driving in, Matthew and one other boy on a two on one…..the other boy gets fouled but gets the ball ahead to Matthew and Matthew is on the left and does ‘the move’ that I have blogged about before, deke left, ball right, and it is very clearly just him and the ball in front of the net……
“Whistle!”
Referee brings the ball back out to the spot of the foul; I have to call out and ask what the call was….it’s a foul on the other team. Her whistle took away our great scoring opportunity to punish the other team…….
Yell out “I would rather have had the possession…..” and go back to the sideline. And that was about it, we kept pressuring but didn’t get the tying goal and lost 2-1.
Game 7: A new team, East Lansing. I had heard that again, this team had one really good player and they ran the offense through him….pointed that out to the boys….
Game starts, that boy gets the ball, dribbles past all of our players and scores.
It’s moments like these that make me want to tear my hair out…..
We score, they score, and then we give up another goal right off of a throw-in (they just dribble in while we watch) and it’s a 3-1 final.
I would have thought that the team would be much better than we are (3-3-2)…..but I think I realize now that we don’t have one player who is going to step up and dominate. That, and the bizarre refusal to do the basics (I’m still telling them “don’t kick the ball to the middle on defense”….at practice Monday we did it three times….it’s just like handing the other team goals….) really inhibits the amount of success we are going to have.
This team is helping to cement my decision not to coach next year…. :)
