Just Matthew and I head west on Saturday morning for the first two games of the tournament; Mom had some work and wanted to reclaim some of her weekend for something other than soccer and at times it is unfair to Cpher to be dragged along on these all day adventures (I could see the receipts for purchases for Cpher hit the email boxes and knew he had to be having a good day!).
Game 1: Every bit the blowout I thought it would be.
You could tell from the first time the teams took the field; we were spread out all over the field and they were bunched up near the center, that this would be an ugly game. But they hung in there for 10 to 15 minutes until we punched in the first goal….and the second half was just a shooting gallery.
Matthew had the first goal….click on the picture below for the video:
(pretty happy with that goal, one touch, and then a shot (off of the bounce!) with his left(!)…)
Coach Stu says: “Boys were a little sloppy in possession and didn’t move the ball from side to side as quickly as I would have liked. We did some nice things individually on the ball to open up the field, however we were a little close to each other when we had the ball and did not stretch the opposition. We were vastly superior to the opposition in speed and skill and at times this made us a little lazy both on and off the ball. Some of the the goals we scored were fantastic ones and we showed some ruthlessness I have been wanting to see. We must build more out of the back and be more patient with our build up play! The distance from centre backs to midfielder and to strikers must be increased when we have the ball. Overall an ok start to the tournament but I would I feel we could have played a better BRAND of Soccer!”
Game 2: Hot in the afternoon….and I wonder if that contributed to a lackluster effort by the boys. Lots of standing around and we only won 2-0 when it seemed to be clear we could have and should have won by more.
Matthew split time in this two games between center back and center mid…..not as much playing time as last tournament though (we were at our full roster, 17, instead of 14). Did not start, for the first time, in the second game but have no reason to think anything of it.
Wish he, like his teammates, had been a little more active during the 2nd game but I can understand when you are back on defense against a team that can’t get it out of its own end that you might not be that active….
Coach Stu says: “Well we talked about creating more space and getting the fullbacks involved much more in the attack and creating chances from the wide position. Although we did create chances and score from the wide position we did too much individually today. The boys were hot and tired and sometimes when the weather is like this you try to make things happen quickly to conserve energy. However this ends up doing the exact opposition. The longer you keep the ball and the opposition runs the easier it is, the more turnovers the more you have to transition back and the MORE tired you become. The boys must become more patient with the ball and show a better understanding of when to keep the ball and when to attack. There spacing between players in all positions was not good enough in this game and this made it very difficult to build through the thirds of the field.”
Game 3: Sunday morning, the whole family (except Kevin) was deployed for win-or-go-home day. The last game of bracket play will determine who moves on. Lakeshore has beaten Thornapple 9-0 and Birmingham United 6-1 so they advance if they win, and they advance if there is a tie. Wish we would have punched in two more goals Saturday afternoon!
Turns out it didn’t matter; we had this game the whole way.
(Suzanne took pictures, of Matthew and of the team, while I did video)
Seems like the pattern is wear all blue on Saturday and all white on Sunday. Except when the other team shows up in white…and you are designated the home team. Then you have to switch. I am not a fan of the all-whites, so, was happy to see the blue and white show up.
(when he played, he played the entire game at center mid. the team ran about even on playing time in this game as well.)
(thought the boy played good, not great, in this game. He had his moments…our second goal came after he had slid in and stopped the other team from getting out of their zone…a pass and a shot later we were up 2-0)
(I think the 2-0 score line is deceiving….Lakeshore, like Birmingham, could hardly get the ball out of their own end)
(the ground was very hard on this field…the field on Saturday morning and later today was wet and spongy)
(so he misjudges the bounce here)
(Matthew does take a fair number of the corner and free kicks. He hits this one pretty well and the kid you can just see darting forward behind the four white players almost gets on it for the goal…the goalie does a nice job of coming out and getting it though)
Coach Stu says: “Much better then game before. Like all Lakeshore teams I have faced they are fast and always play a high line. So if you draw them in you can penetrate in behind with our even faster players. We did this to reasonable effect during this game however we missed a few very good chances. I was happy, generally, with the spacing of the team however we still turned into trouble to many times especially the Centre mid and Centre back positions. The fullbacks and wide mid’s must do a better job of opening up and demanding that these central players open us up! Overall a professional job of not allowing them too many chances and playing well enough to win.”
Game 4: On to the semi-finals….this is why we came to this tournament, to play the better teams and we draw the hosts…who won the Jr. State Cup last year.
You could say this score line is deceiving; we, at times (like the entire first half!) couldn’t get the ball out of our own end. But, for all of that, I think we counter-punched nicely in the second half and really had a few opportunities to tie it up late. They are a good team….we are better for playing them. just need to understand that when we are under pressure that we can’t just kick the ball…we need to pass the ball and keep possession
I do like watching how Matthew can back-heel the ball and how he uses that move, and a few others, to get by people.
(heading the ball out of danger)
Maybe the biggest takeaway from this game is something that started happing more in the early game on Sunday. ( C ) has a pretty strict policy; no coaching from the sidelines…one warning and then you may be banned from the sideline. And so the sideline is a different place than we are used to….pretty quiet, mostly encouraging talk. That didn’t happen so much on Sunday….a few parents started yelling at the kids to watch things and then more than a few parents started yelling at the kids to pressure the ball in the second half (we were laying back pretty good). Turns out that the coach wanted them ‘not’ to pressure the ball. So I expect the coach to have a meeting or send an email soon reinforcing that policy.
Coach Stu says: “When you play the State Cup champs you have to have a game plan and you have to have a little luck. Unfortunately with me showing up late, running may I add, just at kick-off we were going to be short in at least one of these categories. We talked briefly about lines of engagement (areas of the field to press or drop). However we just went out with a ‘standard’ plan and hoped the boys had enough in the tank to work the opposition. After about 1 minute it wasn’t working and we were one down I gave the boys about 20 minutes before I switched up the formation and ‘HELPED’ them out with some tactical switches. We weathered the storm and create two good chances of our own.
At half time we agreed on a plan. Low pressure and 3 central defenders, this was to help eliminate the threat from crosses. Try to keep it tight till 10 minutes to go, then we would go at them! Well as Mike Tyson once said everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face and we got punched very quickly in that half! We conceded from a cross, which was disappointing as could not get the marking right at the back! We made another tactical switch to 3 holding midfielder and only engage at the half way line (unless the 3 second rule applied) and this worked ok until the players became exhausted. With ten minutes left we made our final switch of the game. Full backs push on, three strikers centrally and go long! Unfortunately with not having time to show this before the game I had to do it with my boys on the bench and they waited a few minute to get on which hurt us. We caused them serious issues with this and scored and should have gotten two more goals!
Overall I was pleased with some of what the boys did. As they get older we have to adjust tactically to what others are doing and play low pressure and high pressure. We showed some signs of doing both at times and this was pleasing. However we were just too tired to counter attack in this game and the tactics didn’t work when we won the ball back!”
(the tournament…the other semi-final has the scores reversed)
Coach Stu says: “Overall, a pleasing pre-season tournament with plenty of positives and plenty of things that we must improve on! We must learn to space out better as units of the team and we must move the ball a little quicker! I learnt a lot about the players we have and a few things about the system that we play and how to best utilize our players. Although it was disappointing to lose the game we did I think it will be good for the boys in the long run to learn from the mistakes we made!
Seven games in…we’ve given up 3 goals. I guess I can live with that!
