State Cup Championship vs Bangu Tsunami 93/94 White

Championship Sunday!  Too bad it was like 40 degrees out.  I really hope I get to pack away the winter jacket soon.

With our game scheduled at 5:30PM, I got to the complex to watch some of our other teams in action.  Our U16 boys faced a tough test against EP, but came out on top 2-1 in overtime.  Our U16 girls battled a tough Wings team to finally grab the winner in overtime as well.  Our U17 girls easily handled a Tonka United team, beating them by 5 or 6 to claim the championship. 

Up until that morning, in my world, I was still pretty sure that as a retired pro player, I could still step on the field of any boys youth game and completely dominate.  Don't ask me why I think about stuff like this, I just do.  After watching the talented U15 boys PSA team, the U17 boys Valley United team, and the U18 boys Bangu team (all State Cup champions that Sunday), I've been hit with a does of reality and must amend my claim.  Now, I'm fairly confident that I can completely dominate any small-sided girls game.  The higher level boys teams were really a joy to watch, with some real talent on the field.  It's amazing how far the level of the youth game has come in... OMG!  It's been 20 years since I was this age!  Geez...

It was also nice to see my old Inferno team win the U15 girls age group in fairly convincing style.  I had the chance to see many of the girls and their parents this weekend and I was extremely humbled by their comments of the girls missing me and their recognition of the work that was put in at the important 9 to 12 year old age group to put the girls in position to more readily find success at the older age groups.  I hadn't seen the girls play since last year and many of them are blossoming into true forces on the field. 

Though having not lost any sleep over this upcoming game, I knew the White team would come out and play us hard.  As I mention to my girls on a consistent basis, we are guaranteed one thing in this event – we will get the very best from our opponents who know they are up against a superior team.  It’s the same that teams like Eclipse (IL), BVSC Ratpack (KS), Internationals (OH), and PDA (NJ) can expect from us.  Though I don’t think these teams are far superior to us, the thought alone of coming up against a tough opponent, an opponent that has beaten us before, is enough to get the Tsunami girls focused.  I don’t worry that we won’t come out with the needed intensity and aggression against teams like this, I do worry about it sometimes against competition like our White team.  Moreover, the whole idea of playing a club’s “B” team when you are on the club’s “A” team doesn’t help much to motivate the “A” team players.  On the flip side, many of the White team players are out to prove that they belong on the Blue team and will find it easy to put forth the extra effort to get to loose balls, win a 50/50 tackle, work hard defensively in 1v1 situations, etc.  All of this could make for a tough game for us.

Regardless, it was exciting to be where we were at, as well as a pleasure to meet our sister team in the finals.

As expected, the White team came out to play. Tony Bidwell (coach) had them well organized defensively with a lone forward up top.  I could have looked to push up the unneeded 4th defender up early, but I decided to let our strong attacking players see what they could do for the first part of the game.

I think Tony's game plan was sound.  Get numbers behind the ball (this is different than pack the box), and look to counter attack.  I think he knew that his players would find it difficult to match up straight up against our players. 

The work we had done in the last few weeks regarding looking for early crosses from our wide defenders was helpful as they usually found themselves with a ton of time and space on support passes.  However, the White team's central defenders were solid in the air and didn't allow many of these crosses to land unchallenged. 

We got on the scoreboard early in the 8th minute as Maddie (LM) received a pass on the left flank, beat a player down the line and crossed in a low cross behind the White team's defense.  With the White defenders running back to goal and the White team GK on her way out to get the ball, there was a little miscommunication and the ball slid past both of them to an awaiting Blondie (RM) who passed the ball into the empty net from about 12 yards out. 

I remember thinking this was just what we needed... an early goal to hopefully take some of the wind out of the sails of the White team and hopefully make the game easier for us. 

As it happened and looking back at it now, I think the goal took the wind out of our sails as I think the girls, and myself, thought that this was going to be another lopsided game. 

To the White team's credit, they actually looked to redouble their efforts and fight back while we seemed a little lackluster.  We played well, don't get me wrong, we just didn't bring the energy and intensity that the White team did. 

Most of the half was played in the White team’s end. They did manage a few forays into our end, but lacked the numerical support to pose any real threat.

At halftime, I made a formation change from our 4-4-2 to our 4-1-2-3 to give us more numbers in the center of midfield (where at times our two central mids were outplayed by the 3 central White team mids) and more fire power up top.  We were switching the ball around the back so often in the first half against the White team’s lone forward, that our two forwards were expending a lot of energy moving laterally across the field with the ball.  We also talked about attacking the endline more as we had sent in a ton of early crosses.  I wanted the girls to be more unpredictable when out wide while also increasing our chances of winning more corner kicks; set pieces I know we are dangerous on.

The second half saw us create more good chances at goal, but we were unable to finish.  The White team (having pushed another forward up top) was able to pressure us more in our attacking half, but I don't think Mudd (our GK) was forced into a save. 

The game ended 1-0 in a hard fought contest.  The White team players have nothing to hang their heads about, and I don't think any of them did (as you might be able to tell from the genuine smiles when posing for a pic after the game. 

The White team knew they were facing a more skilled team, and they knew the 1-0 result was impressive.  If anything, I think some of my girls were a bit down, thinking that they didn't play well due to the none-too-impressive box score.

I think the 5 days of soccer in a row was taxing on their energies, and I don't think I could have expected more from them than they gave.