Arrive back at the beach again at 7:50 am to get that coveted parking spot. This time more of the team families show up with us at the ungodly hour of the morning….first game is at 10:45 am.
I went back to the Pano app….took this nice one before the game started
So the first game is what we think will be for the championship, against the other 2-0 team. We come out strong and stay strong…we are putting shot after shot on the goalie. And it is noticeable, he is starting to tire…his throws aren’t going as far and our boys, especially Matthew, are stepping up into midfield and taking the ball away from him when he throws it to his team.
We beat GR Crew Gold 4-3…we had the lead almost the whole game and they only scored late to make it a one-goal win.
A lot of players play barefoot…..you may notice Matthew in the special soccer sand socks. He had originally said that barefoot was fine. He changed his mind after kicking the ball around some…wanted the socks. So we shelled out the bucks for them….figured it was better to have him comfortable for the games then have him obsessing about it.
One of the strategies is that you can score off of the kickoff…..the team with the ball sets up one guy over the ball to touch it right as the other guy next to him is about to kick it (the kickoff is an indirect kick).
So, you have the opposing team (us, in the picture above) line up in front of the ball to block that kick….and rush the ball as soon as they can (when the guy touches it…or maybe a few moments before).
You can turn and block and get hit….but then you can’t do anything but turn around and do anything with the ball. Or you can man up and plan on taking the shot…but be facing the right way after the deflection.
This third game Matthew played awesome…had some nice assists and really controlled the middle part of the field during this game…
This is the only picture of the final game…we won 2-1 against TKO Crew. We really controlled the play but after the 1st period (each game is 3 periods) they switched goalies…and the new TKO goalie stood on his head for the last two periods. We again had shot after shot but he made a lot of great saves….and we escaped with the win.
The Champs!
The scores and final standings…..
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the water….it was cold as cold could be in the morning and improved a little bit with the sun in the afternoon. This boy, this really big boy here spent way too much time in the water and in the sun on Saturday so had to wear the shirt on Sunday.
He is tall….and spent way too much time splashing me with cold water! Of course, I told him if she splashed I dunked…and he certainly wanted me to chase him around. He is getting too big to dunk!
