Matthew’s team went 2-1 on the weekend. Suzanne and I talked again how it was an awkward weekend; new team, different parents, different uniform, different field. Henry’s Mom texted Suzanne right before the first game and said she missed her at Henry’s game (they were playing this weekend also) and almost had Suzanne in tears…sigh.
Game 1: I thought the boys came out slow....might have had something do with not playing on that big of a field before (biggest takeaway for me is just how wide the field is now....just seemed like it would go for ever and ever). Matthew started at center back, the team was in in a 4-2-3-1 formation. About 15 minutes in we do some subs and he moves up to center-mid....and in the next 10+ minutes we score our 3 goals; the third is by Matthew.
I’ll link the video below, but, this picture is right after fellow ( T ) refugee Zane has passed Matthew the ball as he is breaking in on goal…..Thought it was pretty cool, for the first game, that the kids were yelling at the guy who passed the ball to Zane to “Look for Zane! Look for Zane!”….
…and Matthew races in on goal. Note where the goaltender is here and where he is standing when Matthew shoots the ball (if you watch the video)….good positioning. Not that it mattered, high school kids would have had trouble stopping that ball where Matthew put it….
Yeah, new uniform, and Matthew, being the shoe maven he is, wanted to get some new cleats as well. The good thing about these new model Messi cleats is, well, you can find him pretty quickly by just scanning for pink feet! Happily for the family budget, he’s going to wear his old cleats for football this year (they are in good shape and are better for kicking than football cleats)
Click the picture above for the less-than-30-second-clip-with-the-goal.
As I’ve said before, the coach provides write-ups of the games too….tournament write-ups are not as detailed as league-game write-ups, but, hey, if he’s going to write, I’m going to copy it here!
“Boys started out a little sloppy in possession and looked a little overwhelmed with the size of the field at the very start of the game. We were too compact when we won the ball back from the opposition and didn’t open up quick enough. Then we started to get a better feel for the game as it went on and started to use the space more. I was pleased with the chances we created in the game and how quickly we adapted to going forward from the full back position. We looked to swing the ball through the centre midfielders and we created a lot of good chances from the wide position. This was something I had asked them to do and worked on the week before. Although this was pleasing there has to be more purpose to what we are doing and we must link better with our striker in front of us. The whole purpose of using the whole fields is to open up those spaces to play the striker and wingers in behind more and create pockets of space. Good win but we should of scored at least 8 and need to be more ruthless against these teams.”
Game 2: One of these days Matthew will play on a team that beats the Burn. Just depressing to talk about this....they had maybe one shot in the first half and we held the ball in their half for long long stretches of time. Same deal in the second half except we open it up more...and miss on three different breakaway attempts. And then they get a strange bounce as our goalie is trying to kick the ball and they trickle one into the goal and we just can't find the equalizer. Matthew plays all 70 minutes, 66 at center back (games now have 35-minute halves…and can seem to take forever!); he was finally pushed forward with 4 minutes to go to play center-mid. We were missing a center back for this game so I'm sure that's why Matthew ended up back there so much, but, if we were having so much difficulty converting on offense I wish we would have moved different kids forward for a change of pace. Ah well.
No photos….the game was a 7 pm start and the parents had to look west into the setting sun (there is video, it looks like a JJ Abrams movie with lens flare everywhere).
From the coach “What a start the boys had to this game. They were looking like a team that wanted to prove a point and created five or six good chances in the first twenty minutes. We created a few great chances out wide and my full backs joined the attack and created good numbers up in those situations. Their keeper made a couple of outstanding saves and we missed a few good chances that we should have taken. About 5 minutes before half time we started to tire and did not connect our passes as well and let them get back into the game. The boys again in the second half continued to play the ball backward and forwards however the midfielders were a little tired and we did not space out as well in this area and as a result gave away the ball too easily. We were very much on top and after we conceded a goal we really tried to take the game to them. We threw everything at them but just didn’t produce the final ball or goal scoring touch in the right areas. The boys completely out played the opposition for 50 plus minutes of a game and their coach apologized for the result in the end. However in a way it was a great lesson for the boys that they cannot let up in games and must become more ruthless.”
Game 3: The shame about the whole DA saga….this team that we beat up on on Sunday morning is in. And we’re not. If they gave half points for hitting cross and side bars we would have won 13-0; instead it is only 7-0. Have no idea why this club didn't yank this team out of DA after tryouts....they are going to do these kids and parents a horrible disservice. Much more of Matthew at center-mid this game.....he started to take the corner kicks in this game as well (a major challenge for the kids to get the corners where they need to be on this big field....Matthew can get them there!)
No pictures from this game either; I was doing a piss-poor job of video (Kevin taped Saturday’s game…and he does a great job at it. I tend to watch the game too much and miss things). Of course, this morning the parents are looking east….right back into the sun again!
Coach notes. “We talked about being more ruthless in this game and that I did not want a let up for even a second. We started off brilliantly. The boys played the ball from side to side and got the fullback involved from the very start of the game. The boys played quickly on the ball and the support off the ball was outstanding. We scored a very good goal and created chance after chance and should have been even more in the lead. Then from a set piece we were countered on and had our Goalkeeper to thank for an outstanding save. The boys all of sudden got the kick up the backside they needed and scored two quick goals and went for the jugular of the opposition. It was 3-0 at half and I told the boys I wanted at least 7! The boys were even better in the second half at switching the runs of the midfielder and the opposition simply could not keep up with the movement of our boys. The energy and ruthlessness of the boys in the second half was good however I still want to see us work even hard off the ball to support quicker and we must react to moment of transition even quicker and look to win the ball back higher up the field then we did!”
The takeaway: Gave up one goal in three games….but that one goal kept us from advancing to the finals. Oh well….a good way to start the season. Thought Matthew played really well….seemed to fit right in.
Coach notes: “Overall it was disappointing not to play a fourth game however I think we played 5 truly good halves of soccer over a weekend. With this being preseason I was not expecting us to be able to play as good a soccer as we did while moving lost of players around. We did a lot of the things I want my team to do and I was very pleased with the level in which we played. However we must work hard in the next few weeks to move quicker off the ball in training and open up. We must also recognize when the opposition is playing a high line play a little more direct. Although this is not the attractive soccer we preach if we keep the ball and draw the defender out we must exploit the opposition with our pace! This will not allow the opposition to step up as much and create more space. The boys will hear this word a lot and I want it to resonate with them. Be RUTHLESS!!!!! Overall a good weekend and I AM VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CREW CUP!”
