Region II Championships - Saturday, June 23

I had spent last night hanging with the parent group until around 11:30PM. For those of you who have dealt with newborns you'll guess that this is WAY past my normal bedtime hour. Man, 10 years ago we be just getting ready to hit the town at this our. Now, I can barely get through Jay Leno's monologue before I'm watching the back of my eye lids. I wouldn't change a thing though as our now 9 month old baby girls Emmri is absolutely precious.

On top of the late bedtime hour, I had also imbibed about 4 beers. I'm a light weight easy date to begin with, and I don't think I've had more than a couple beers in one sitting since... well, since our last out of town trip with this parent group.

Suffice it to say that I wasn't surprised when I rolled over in the morning and saw that I had over slept my phone alarm clock by 90 minutes. 7:38AM?!?!?! Crap! I wanted to be up early, hit the Starbucks down the road to update this site, then be out at the fields to watch the 8AM Minneapolis United boys in their opening match.

I hustled out of bed, skipped the much needed shower, finger-brushed my teeth, threw a bunch of stuff into my backpack, and scrambled down to my car. I haven't moved that fast in years. I was so proud of my early-morning-a-bit-hung-over-from-4-beers efficiency that I paused to look down at my phone to see the sure to be world record time of 4 minutes flat from hotel bed to car. 5:58AM. What the...?!?!?

Then it hit me. Power was out, must have came on in the middle of the night, hotel room alarm clock started at 12:00. Now I know how some poor, unsuspecting guests at the Motel 8's must have felt as, being the practical joker that I am, before checking out of the establishment when on Thunder road trips, I would always either 1) point the shower heads out so that they would spray guests once turned on if not noticed, 2) set the hotel digital alarm clocks for 3AM in the morning - radio setting at the loudest decibel level possible, or 3) set the room clock ahead a few hours.

I sat there and laughed at the situation. Well, at least I'll have plenty of time to write at Starbucks.

By the way, at 6:01AM my phone alarm had still not gone off. I had apparently set it for 6:00PM late last night. Funny.

* * * * *

Our first game was at 9:30AM against the Wisconsin State Cup champs, Mequon Red. I had no idea what to expect from this game. We had faced FC Milwaukee a few years back as U12s and managed to tie them 1-1. FC Milwaukee lost in the Wisconsin semifinals to NEW United, and NEW United fell to Mequon in the finals.

NEW United had traveled to Minnesota last weekend to participate in the All American Girls Tournament (or whatever it is now called) in Blaine last weekend. The team ended up winning the U13 flight and Tobbe, one of the coaches for the Dakota Rev U13 girls, told me that people were claiming this NEW United team would give us a run for our money. I had tried to see them play last weekend, if for anything but to try and give me a gauge of what we might be up against with Mequon, but due to the number of younger teams I was dealing with and the fact that the majority of games in that event were scheduled at the same time, it didn't happen.

I showed up at the field complex at around 7:50AM. With 3 to 4 inches of rain the night before and downed trees and branches along the way to the site, I really didn't know what field conditions to expect. As I walked from the main concession area to the back fields, I noticed that the grass area along the way was wet, but not swamped. This same area was ALWAYS a swamp in the three Aprils when I've been here. And I know we got a ton of rain last night. Good drainage I guess, and the ground was obviously not as saturated as in the early spring months.

The fields were immaculate. I was stunned. Where was the long grass? These looked like golf course fairways. They weren't cut that tight, but that's the impression that I got. And every field was like this. It was absolutely amazing. These were the nicest fields I have ever had the pleasure of coaching a youth game on. MN has maybe two fields like this in the Twin Cities area... the National Sports Center stadium field and the U of M field at ELR Stadium. At this complex in Iowa had 8 or 10. Wow. I would later find out that the same held true at the other host complex for the tournament; super nice fields groomed and cut tight. So much for my long grass sermons to the girls.

Apparently, in preparation for the event, the this Hidden Valley field complex had been closed to the local teams for two weeks to get the fields ready. Someone said the other complex was closed for a month prior to this event.

The girls were super nervous and excited to play, I could tell by their initial warm-up as passes were frantic and inaccurate, and what should have been simple control touches bounced yards away from players as if the players had all decided as a group to forego the supple leather soccer shoes in favor of cement blocks. Better nervous here than in the game, I thought.

We settled in a bit and the rest of the pre game warm up was sharp. Prior to the game, I mentioned a few key things to the players.

• Focus in the things they can control - their sportsmanship, effort, and attitude (see Controlling the SEA)
• What did we do well in our last game vs Coon Rapids? Take players on 1v1 out wide, get to the endline, get crosses or win corner kicks
• We are dangerous on corner kicks
• Believe teammates are going to miss the ball. For defenders, believe that your fellow defender challenging for a ball will miss it and provide cover in case of this event. For attackers, if not able to challenge opposing defenders for a clearance ball, believe these defenders will miss it in order to be ready for a breakaway, and believe defenders/teammates in front of you will miss crosses in order for your to be ready to finish
• No matter what happens in the game, stay positive and behind your teammates

We started in our 4-4-2 formation and got on the board within the first 5 minutes. Bidi (RM) recieved a wide pass about 30 yards out from goal on our right side. She served in a great far post cross to Millie (LF) who seems to have a knack of drifting away from the play sometimes to find space as opposing defenders ball watch. Millie controlled the cross and struck a good shot that sailed over the Mequon GK. Nice start for the girls.

I made substitutions at around the 11 minute mark. I had prepped the girls and the parents in the weeks leading up to this event that this would be the first event in which I would not be able to guarantee equal playing time for all the girls. This is the first event that I've ever felt the pressure to do this with any team I'm been at. The club is looking for results here and I think the expectation for all the teams here is to play the best players you have in order to get the job done. When watching the U13 boys game, I didn't see the Missouri team make one substituion save for replacing an injured player. It's tough for me to get into this mentality as I know how it will impact some of the girls who may not play a lot.

I had started with what I thought was a strong line up and made a decision to balance the playing time in this game. Though I knew I could be proved wrong, my thought coming into this event was that if there would be any games that would likely allow me to keep on with the rotation subbing that I have used with this team up until this point, it would be our first two group games. We'll have to see what happens on Monday and, hopefully, beyond.

We got our second goal around the 25th minute. We were awarded a corner kick and Blondie (RF) served in a cross that, what I thought at the time, was going to be too high and lofted... easy for the GK to make a play. The Mequon GK went to make a challenge for the ball but Bidi (RM) rose to head in at the near post area. The cross was high, but what I loved about it is that we had three girls aggresively attacking the ball in the danger area. The heigth of the service allowed time for the runners to adjust and their aggression paid off.

My goal at halftime was to keep everything as positive as possible. We had played very well in the first half and I made sure the girls knew it. We talked about the next goal being huge… if Mequon scored to make it 2-1, we’d be in for a hard fought rest of the second half. If we scored to go up 3-0, we’d increase our chances of having an easier way the rest of the game. This doesn’t mean that we’d let up though.

I highlighted the good points of the first half, talking about our success when switching the point of attack and looking for continued aggressive play down the flanks. I also reminded the girls to take pride in defending and no matter what we did on the attack in the final 35 minutes, we would win the game if we shut out our opponents.

15 minutes into the second half we put the game out of reach on another set piece. Ripper (CM) skillfully turned her defender about 20 yards out from goal and lasered a low shot to the near post that the Mequon GK kick-saved wide. On the ensuing corner kick, Nash sent a great ball into the far post area that Becs (slot runner) began moving backwards to attempt a head on it. The whole park heard Macky (CM) call Becs off the ball as she attacked the service from the far post runner’s position. Becs stopped and cringed, assuming she was about to get run over by a bulldozer, which she might have, and Macky stormed in and headed the ball low and back where it came from for the goal. I was laughing as I noticed Macky had her Full90 headgear off and clenched in her right hand as she made her run. I’ve told some of the girls who have demonstrated confidence and technique in heading that they can remove their head gear when attacking a corner kick like this, but it was the first time I’d seen anyone take me up on my offer.

Again we capitalized on an attacking corner kick, but it was the little things that made this goal great. The ball into a target player’s feet and Ripper’s great turn at the top of the box, followed by a low hard shot. Nash’s solid technique in the corner kick service and Macky’s communication to call a teammate off the ball when in a better position to attack, and the subsequent textbook header on goal (low and back where it came from to the near post relative to the corner kick placement) were fantastic. This is the stuff that makes coaches smile.

3-0 good guys at the final whistle. Chicago Magic (IL) beat Javanon (KY) 5-0 in the other group game. If we can get by with a solid performance tomorrow afternoon, we have a date with destiny against a team we have never beaten on Monday morning that will likely decide the winner of our group. As I’ve said before here, we’ve lost twice and tied once against the Chicago Magic, a team that I, and the girls feel we are better than. It would be a Cinderella Story for the girls to walk the walk on Monday in an event that makes all events in which we faced this opposition pale in comparison.

* * * * *

I had the girls stick around to watch the Bangu U14 girls play their first game against the KCFC Alliance.  We obviously wanted to support our fellow Bangu girls, but I was also interested in having the girls watch KCFC as they are one of the top teams in the nation at the next older age group.  It would be a good indication of where we strive to be in a year.

Back at the hotel, soccer tennis was in full bloom with many other teams picking up on the idea.  Wonder if I can organize a inter-team soccer tennis tournament?  That would be a lot of fun.  Or, maybe a dance-off between the teams at the hotel.  Something for the kids on different teams to socialize would make the event memorable, regardless of the results on the field.

We ended the day with another picnic and grill out at a near by park.  I walked the girls through some ideas of beating an offsides trap, something that other Bangu coaches had noticed that Javanon tried in vain to use against Chicago Magic.  I hope the Kentucky team stays the course and tries to use this on us as I believe we should be able to finish a couple breakaways… if the girls can pick up on the idea that it shouldn’t be our forwards who try and beat the offsides trap, but rather we want to look for 1) long diagonal balls to our wide mids, who can run onto the pass from an onsides position, or 2) greedy mids who see the offsides push up coming and choose to take the ball on their own.  Through runs from deep (from other central mids) would also work, though we have not worked on this and it would be the toughest “new’ concept to implement at this stage.

I also talked with the girls about a possible formation shift into a 4-5-1.  The idea behind this would be to have one, smart target forward who gives us depth in the attack but who also realizes that their main job is to remain onsides.  We would look to have two holding forwards behind this lone point striker who would look to make the through runs from deeper, and hopefully onsides, positions.

The plan will be to start out in our usually shape (4-4-2) and then look to make adjustments if/when necessary.

It’s hard not to take this game lightly as the Kentucky team was hammered by a team I think we are better than.  I need to remember that at least 4 of the Magic’s goals came on breakaways and coaches said most of the play was actually Javanon’s in between the defensive breakdowns.  I’ve been around enough to know that ANYTHING can happen in this game, and I need to continually remind myself tomorrow that we will likely be in a battle.  It’s hard not to look past them to Monday however.

We’ll see what happens tomorrow.