The rains have finally stopped, so, the first outdoor soccer game of the year is on; beautiful and sunny for the trip to Canton.
It’s the beginning of the end edition because these are the last 10 games (or so) with Coach Alex at the helm. And I’ve been a pretty big supporter of Coach Alex, but, with the realization that he’s leaving, I think I’m ok with that. I don’t think the kids have grown like they should with him this year and it just seems obvious that at least half the team doesn’t want to listen to what he’s saying….he wants quick smart soccer, we still kick the ball with no purpose way too much. A change probably make sense for the team and the club. A change from the club may make sense for Matthew…..
There can be a whole lot of excuses made (we were missing two players, two other players came late after a day of basketball) but the simple fact is we should not lose to this team (we never have) and we did, 3-1.
Talked with Matthew on the long drive down to make sure he remembered the points of emphasis that Alex has that we know about; Matthew dutiful states “play quick smart soccer”….we remind him to play his position and stay in the center.
And I thought the kid played well; lots of balls in the air, some really nice passes (he made three passes that I can remember that set up a teammate one-on-one with the goalie. No goals). We had a goal disallowed on a pretty questionable call…..and the team seemed to deflate even further from there. Five minutes left and Matthew gets a rebound and buries a shot from at least 30 yards out….video below.
Sadly, and this has become a trend, after the game we have to spend ten to fifteen minutes talking about what Coach Alex has said to Matthew. Matthew really remembers this stuff, and takes it to heart, and I find more and more that I have to constantly remind him that Coach Alex isn’t going to see what he sees on the field and he can and should ignore certain things.
There’s one event in particular I’ll write about here; Matthew has been really good about making runs after making passes, and this time his teammate passes the ball back and at midfield he is breaking in on the goal with just one guy in front of him. There are no teammates in front of Matthew, there isn’t even a teammate on the same line as him. I know Matthew, if he had seen someone, or even thought someone was there, he would have passed the ball. Instead, he ‘meg’d’ the guy, and it went ok, not great, he beat him and then the next pass didn’t work out, and Alex right away is saying that Matthew should have passed the ball sooner. On the video tape, you can hear me right away saying to Suzanne, “Watch, Alex is going to yell at Matthew for not passing even though there was no one to pass it too”….
Sigh. 9 more games. Lots of talk about what to do when tryouts roll around in mid-June. Will have an extensive post on that later I guess….
