Premier League Game #10 vs Eden Prairie

Not much to say about this game.  We were flat, Eden Prairie played very well.  Not a good combination for us, but I'm sure that thought is relative.

We came out in our 4-4-2, with the thought of continuing our build up play work seen in the two games earlier this week, but I now encouraged the girls to mix in some more direct play to keep us unpredictable. 

Again we were on the ridiculously wide 110x80 yard field.  I had an inkling that this would work against us as EP was very good at linking across the field, especially around our penalty box.

EP jumped ahead early... very early.  I'm not sure we touched the ball before they took the opening kickoff, knocked the ball around a bit, and sent in a deep cross that floated in behind our defenders to EP's danger player, Taylor (CF).  Tori was caught on her line as the ball dropped in the six yard box, and after a scramble, the EP forward toe poked the ball in the net.  I looked down at my watch... seemed like I just pressed the upper right button to start the game.  Guess I was wrong as the digital readout confirmed that I pushed the start button 47 seconds ago. 

To our girls credit, we rebounded fairly well and I feel carried the play for the next 15 minutes.  Lily (CM) came close to equalizing the match as her quick shot from the top of the box smacked the crossbar in the 9th minute.

The last 20 minutes of the first half was a back and forth battle with neither team capitalizing on their chances.

At halftime, we talked about a couple things that were killing us.  EP would look to change the point of attack deep in our end of the field, and our defenders and midfielders were caught following the ball a number of times, allowing them to be beat with quick, penetrating 1 or 2 touch passes.  Also, many time our angle of approach to a player who was receiving a square ball was too flat, allowing the receiving player to take a touch forward to beat us. 

Though I think we did better at these things in the second half, EP was the better overall team on the day.  They scored their second goal about 10 minutes in as a ball was played over the top of our back four defenders, all of whom were caught off guard.  Tori was caught in no-mans-land as well, and I think she might have been able to exit her box and clear the ball away with her feet before it was reached by the EP forward.  I think EP's danger forward was the one who ran the through ball down and slipped it past Tori at the top of our box.

All in all, not a great performance for us tonight, but the girls have nothing to be ashamed about.  They had a great season and were clearly one of the top teams in this league in almost every category, save for overall athleticism.  We allowed the least number of goals in (7 in 10 games) of any Premier team and there is no question in my mind that the group will be stronger next year as U14s than any current U14 was this year. 

Here are the final results and standings for the 2007 U14 Girls Premier League.

* * * * *

I have been looking for a coach for this team for next year for some time now.  I believe the list of qualified coaches (in my mind) is short, and I won't pass the team off unless I'm comfortable with the next coach in place.  Arrogant?  Maybe.  But I care about this group and want to make sure that I don't just pass them off just to pass them off.  I approached Stever Bellis (Head Coach St Kates College and ex-DOC of the Wings club) but I think he was uncomfortable taking a position with our club as Wings and Bangu have been rivals for some time, both looking to cater to the higher level players.  I also shot Julie Eibensteiner an email asking if she was planning on staying with the Woodbury Inferno (U15 girls) for another year... she was.  And I approached Jeff Zupfer, current head coach of the St Croix U18 girls who has also done some work with Macalester College, but Jeff's commitments to his current endeavors also prohibited involvement with a new team.  Not many other options out there, but I'm still looking!

Our success at Regionals has actually worked against the placement of another coach as it is easy (right or wrong) for the next coach to be measured by their success at Regionals, not being perceived as having done a good enough job unless the team advances to Nationals in 2008.  Even I know that Regionals are a crap shoot and there is not person who can predict which team will take the title each summer.   

Would it kill me to stay with this team another year?  Not in the slightest.  In fact, I'd greatly enjoy it, I'm sure.  However, I also want to return to the U11 age group this fall where I'm looking forward to the challenge of developing another group of talented girls.  Can I do both?  For sure.  Can I do both well?  I believe so, but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks. 

Premier League Game #9 vs Bangu Tsunami White

Second game against the Bangu girls in as many days, this time in Woodbury.

I got to the field a little late.  There's a ton of construction around the Bielenberg Sports Complex due to the new high school coming to the area, going in adjacent to Bielenberg.  I was forced to take a detour that sent me to a dead end.  Nice.  So I backtracked halfway around Woodbury to come into the complex in what would have been my usual way, had I not been distracted at my initial turning intersection by the crazy Quiznos-costumed freak jerking this way and that on the corner.  Poor guy must have had a hornet get into his suit. 

We were scheduled to play on field #11 at Bielenberg.  Up until this point, we had played our home games on fields #13 and #14.  #11 was a ridiculous 80 yards wide, the widest youth field that I've ever seen.  Hopefully the girls would be able to make use of the space, then have the legs left to do something good with the ball when they got it.

We started in the same 4-1-2-3 formation that we put to use yesterday.  I again challenged the girls to look to get forward with crisp, shorter passing and in numbers, rather than look to play too direct.  I was so impressed with the passing yesterday and I was looking forward to seeing the same tonight on the big field.

However, we didn't possess the ball nearly as well as we did the night before.  Some girls were still adapting to "new" positions on the field and play was a bit more frazzled than 24 hours ago.  We did manage to put together some stints of nice play, but the overall level was not as sharp as I wanted it to be.

The half ended 0-0.

Like yesterday at halftime, I switched formations, this time to a 4-4-2.  Yesterday we went to a 3-5-2 to try and make use of the Bloomington field's width, but then got caught numbers down in the back when players in wide mid positions were not able to recover properly. 

We played better in the second half, with my only real instruction at the break being to look to now mix up some direct play with the slower build up, looking to be unpredictable in the attack as much as possible.

We got on the board early in the first half when Nash's (CM) pressure at the top of the White team's penalty box resulted in her winning the ball and finding Brownie (LF) on the left side of the box, about 12 yards from goal.  Brownie ripped a near post shot that the White team GK got her fingers to but was unable to turn away fully. 

A few minutes later the White team leveled the match as their left forward found herself 1v1 against our right back.  The forward cut to the inside an hit a decent shot that Tori likely would have had not much trouble stopping, but the ball deflected off Blondie's (CD) shin and into the back of the net.  Tough goal to give up, but having played defense myself for a number of years, this kind of goal happens.

We continued to battle, denying the White team any more good looks at goal.  The game winner came with about 10 minutes left in the game as Jilly (LF) found herself 1v1 against the GK from an inaccurate square pass by the White team defenders.  The White team GK came out to make a slide attempt save at the ball, but Jilly reached the ball first with a slide of her own and slipped a shot below the oncoming GK. 

All in all another decent performance by the U13s.  We'll need to play better tomorrow though against a tough, rejuvenated Eden Prairie team. 

As I mentioned in the write up after our first game of the season vs EP, I believe either team is capable of scoring 3 or 4 goals against the other.  I give the edge to EP tomorrow as the width of the field at Bielenberg puts a damper on our attacking corner kicks as girls struggle to get the ball into the box.  I'll need to remind the girls about some of our short corner kick plays, especially our sniffer 1-2.

Also, EP has FAST forwards.  Though I don't think that their team plays very direct soccer, it only takes a ball into Taylor's feet (their center forward) and a turn by her and she's running at our defense.  I'll need to make sure to talk with our center backs about making sure Taylor is contested at all times and cover is provided whenever she touches the ball. 

* * * * *

With one game left to play, here is where things stand in the league.

Our score from yesterday is not yet recorded, but I've added in the points, win, loss, goals for and against in.  I don't know the % pts stat so I left that blank.

Looks like we can finish anywhere from 1st to 3rd in the league.  We do have a couple team goals yet to attain this year, including beating the EP team and finishing at least 2nd in our league.  Two birds with one stone maybe tonight... we'll see.

Premier League Game #8 vs Bangu Tsunami White

Lots of interest in our game tonight. The White team needed to beat us tonight and tomorrow night in our second game in order to guarantee Premier status for the 2008 summer season. If they did not win both games, Woodbury would finish 5^th in the league, ahead of the White team, and thus Woodbury would retain Premier status.

With the potential consequences of a Bangu vs Bangu game deciding placement in next year’s league, you can imagine the issues that arose. These issues were exacerbated by an email I sent to MYSA officials last week inquiring about possible ramifications of a forfeited by us to the White team. Somehow, my questions were leaked into blog-world and all heck broke loose for a couple days.

Here is the email that was sent out to Ian Barker (State Coaching Director) and Ranae Orr at the MYSA office.

Guys,

A few questions for you.

Obviously things are coming to a head this time of the year. I’m looking for some answers that I think you can give me.

1. If our Bangu U14G White team finishes last in the standings BUT BTE opts out of the Premier league for next summer in favor of MWRL, does our White team retain Premier status? Where is the rule about this if there is one?
2. What are the ramifications of forfeiting two games?
3. The U13s are invited to participate in the MWRL Premier division starting this fall. If we opt out of play this fall due to HS player commitments, are we guaranteed a spot in the MWRL Premier division next spring?

I hope you understand from 1 and 2 above that I want to respect the integrity of the league while trying to look out for fellow club teams.

If you guys could get back to me as soon as you can, I’d appreciate it. I know the deadline to apply for MWRL is July 2. Thanks!

I didn't really know who to approach with these questions, so Ian forwarded on the email to the people who would could help (the Exec Director, various people on the DOC, and the South Girls District Director).

Somehow, information from this email got leaked into blog-world (even before I got a definitive answer from anyone copied on the email) and it started a whole dialouge of mostly disparaging remarks against our club. I chimed in on the blogs as I usually do, so people can hear things from the horse's mouth, but the panic this must have caused in the Woodbury ranks was obvious.

Obviously the thought of forfeiting both games to the White team in order for them to retain their MYSA status had crossed my mind, but I don’t think it would have ever come down to that. This didn’t mean that I didn’t want to know what would happen if we did move down this path, so I did the due diligence to figure out potential ramifications. It was the thought of this though that caused all the controversy.

On Friday, the coaches and team managers of both Bangu teams received the following email from MYSA:

To BTE01 93/94 Blue and BNG01 92/93 White Team Coaches/Managers:

It has come to (our) attention and the attention of MYSA Vice President of Leagues Michael Sherrill that the two teams listed above have yet to play either of their games this season. The two teams were scheduled to play their first game on June 21, 2007, but did not, and that game has been or is being rescheduled. The two teams are scheduled to play their second game on July 10, 2007.

Since the outcome of both of these games have relegation consequences not only for the two teams playing the games but other teams in the league, MYSA would like to inform both teams that if either team forfeits one or both of the games listed above, the game(s) will be considered a non event and neither a win nor a loss will be recorded for either team. Furthermore, MYSA would immediately like to be made aware of the date, time and location of both of the games so that the appropriate MYSA officials may be present for observation.

To ensure the integrity of the game, it is important that all MYSA members are following the intent of our rules. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

I saw the Woodbury Club president copied on the email, so obviously complaints had made their way up the ranks in that club and people were working hard to address the issue.

Here's my response (I've left names out):

I think you’ve come to know me well enough in the last year, so I hope you know my comments are with all due respect to all the people involved on MYSA’s end.

Wasn’t I the one that came to you all with questions so that I could discover all the ramifications for possible outcomes next week?  You make it sound like you guys just became aware of these games from a random source.  More disturbing to me was that I find someone leaked this info into the blog-world and I find answers there before I hear from any MYSA rep.  I would like to think that I came to you in trust and confidence looking for clarification and rules interpretation.  Someone on your end decided it would be more effective to take the time to forward this onto blog-world rather than answer me directly and that doesn’t sit right with me.

The reason for pushing one of our BTE v BNG games from June 21 to later in July was simple – we were heading to Des Moines on the 22^nd and didn’t wish to play two Premier games earlier that week (we played Coon Rapids that Tuesday).  I’m sure you’re getting complaints that we purposefully scheduled these games late in order to know exactly what each team needed to do to maintain Premier status, and you guys are obviously entitled to believe what you want.

I just find the threat of counting games as “non events” reactive and absurd.  I want to make sure that I’m reading things correctly and that you are saying that since certain games happen to have a perceived huge impact on future league structure, MYSA is making new policy, effective immediately, that forfeited games won’t count as forfeits?  I’m sure this is not a blanket policy across the board, but a special threat in the name of rules interpretations/intent and the integrity of the game.  I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just want to be crystal clear here on what is happening.

You might feel our even discussing forfeiting childish and selfish, but just because I want to know all possible consequences for all possible outcomes doesn’t mean that we have decided to go down that path or even would decide to go down that path.  I’m not dumb.  I know our club is under the microscope and I know how two forfeits at this juncture would be perceived.  However, if I truly wanted to throw the games, I could have easily looked to schedule our first game with the White team this weekend when we’re missing half our team.  I could have easily kept the initial rescheduled date of July 14, when we would have been missing the other half on our team.  MYSA and the world would have been none the wiser and we would have gone on as we wanted.  However, we chose to cram three games in a three day period next week so that both teams would be nearly at full strength.  This email makes me now want to dig my heels in, reschedule both games for next weekend, and call up 5 U9 guest players.

You have the game schedules.  If they now change, we will get back to you.  If you feel the need to police the games, so be it.

I’ll let club officials get back to you (I don’t speak for any of them), but it’s likely our White team will forego MYSA play next year, regardless of whether or not they retain Premier status.

At the end of the day, you guys are all here for the hundred MYSA clubs and the thousands of MYSA kids.  I fully understand that pressure that you feel from 95% of the people involved in MN soccer to do what you can to not favor the “elite”.  However, this does not mean that you should go out of your way to not show us any consideration, for at the end of the day, it is clubs like ours that directly and indirectly propel MN soccer forward to the next level.  I know your hands are tied and that membership will continue to try and form rules to hinder what the more select clubs do.  It would be nice to feel that someone from your end has our back and maybe gives us the benefit of the doubt every once in a while, rather than bending to the will of the people who shout the loudest.  Maybe we have yet to earn that from your end.

I appreciate you being open to my thoughts here.

You would not believe the number of emails and phone calls I received from both Woodbury U14 parents and players about this issue,  all basically pleading for me, as coach, to do the honorable thing and not throw the games.  Most playing to the “what kind of example would throwing the game set for my girls” and “don’t you know how this would make you and your club look” ideology.  Since when did Woodbury people care so much about my team and our club?  Didn’t the core group of this old Renegades team choose to leave our club two years ago upon the completion of our tryouts, leaving us a bit high and dry and scrambling to piece together something at that point?  Yes, I know a number of the families and kids well, but when it comes down to it, I don’t know what makes them think that I’d opt to look out for them over the interests of families in my own current club.

People should have understood that I know how our club is viewed by other MYSA clubs.  I know that most everything we do is microscopically scrutinized and that forfeiting two games to look out for a sister team in our club would likely throw people into a frenzy.  If I wanted to throw these games, I would have rescheduled one of them for this past weekend when we were missing half the team at ODP camp and rescheduled our second game for next weekend when we would be missing the other half of the team at the younger age group ODP camp.  I could have called up a bunch of U10 players to fill the gap and played the game with a far weaker squad than is normal.  And no one would have been the wiser.

Instead, we opted to keep tonight’s game as is (knowing I’d have a full compliment of players and the White team would be missing one of their key players), and opted to reschedule a game initially rescheduled for this coming Saturday (when I’d be missing a ton of players) to Wednesday, choosing to instead cram three league games in three days.  If I was trying to dump games, I think I could have done a little better job. :)

Regardless, it made for a interesting week.

When all is said and done though, Premier doesn’t hold as much importance to us at our older age groups with the emersion of the Midwest Regional League (MRL).  Premier was a good option for older teams years ago, but only because that was the highest level of competition available at the time.  With older teams traveling to tournaments already anyway, the three spring/summer MRL weekends are not a huge change.  As many RII states are putting more and more emphasis on MRL play over state association play, the league is gaining strength and momentum.  We need to be a part of that.  Nothing against MYSA as their Classic 1 and Premier levels allow competitive opportunities for many skilled players in many MYSA clubs.  We are just not a typical MYSA club.

The U13s were for sure going to be opting out of MYSA summer Premier league play next year in favor of the more competitive MRL.  We could have applied to play in the MRL this fall, but with the fall high school season there was a chance we would lose some players to varsity high school programs and we didn’t want to play in the tough league short-handed.  Since the fall season MRL results factored into the formation of the MRL Premier (top flight) and First (second flight) divisions for the summer of 2008 MRL league, I wanted to make sure that if we opted out of the fall MRL play we would still stand a chance of playing in the Premier division next summer.

Looking at the MRL fall team listings that were posted last week, I think we made a mistake in not participating this fall.  Most other states’ top teams were in it and Minnesota had no representation at our age group.  I’m going to try and see if we can still get in somehow.

I’d like to see our U14 White team also look to MRL play next summer, regardless of retaining their Premier status in MYSA.  I think Mark Cook (BTFC Girls Coaching Director) actually spoke with the White team parent group prior to the game today about the thought of moving the team in that direction next year.  If they beat us in both games, they would likely still forego their MYSA Premier status anyway.

Don’t know how this would sit with the parent group as “Premier” means everything in our little Minnesota world.  We try to continually educate both players and parents that long term success means finding the best competition possible for our players.  Premier meant a lot to me this year, not for Premier status, but for development reasons as it would help ensure that the U13s faced the best possible competition this summer.

Anyway, on to the game…

Since watching the Blue Valley Stars Ratpack team play against us in the Regional semifinals, I have had the stark contrast in playing styles in my head.  Though we got the result, I was impressed with the Ratpack’s technical passing abilities and possession play.  At times I didn’t think it was very purposeful, but it was something that I feel we needed to add to our game in order to vary the rhythm of our play a bit and continue to work on being unpredictable as a team.  I knew the Marsh Creek field in Bloomington where would be playing on tonight.  It was spacious with lush grass.  It would be a great venue to look to have the girls work on keeping the ball on the ground and slower build up play rather than our more direct attacking play.  The idea was to force the girls to rely on technical skill and tactical team movement rather than pinging long balls and using their speed to attack goal.

So, my challenge to the girls was to not play one single ball long over the top.  Forwards’ movement, which was up until this point straight or diagonal up the field, would now need to be checking back to receive balls to feet.  Defenders were asked to look to play out of the back rather than relying on wild clearances up to the forwards.  Midfielders were asked to find their forwards’ feet and look to change the point of attack by linking passes across the field.

I also had the girls play in positions that they were not accustomed to playing in.  This (and tomorrow’s) relatively meaningless games for us were good opportunities to do this in a competitive environment.  I knew all the girls could play in other positions well and good performances tonight would give the girls confidence heading into tryout season.  Moreover, all coaches see players differently.  The girls next coach might see a girl I’ve been playing in the center of the field as a wide player, or a girl who I think it a solid defender as a forward.  I base this on my own experiences as my dad always saw me as a central midfielders in my youth soccer days, my college coach saw me as a wide mid, then as a forward, my first pro coach saw me as a wide forward, and I finished my pro career as a sweeper and later as a wide back in a flat back four system.

Was I trying to throw the game by playing the girls in different positions and asking them to try and knock the ball around a bit more?  To those who ask this, I will rephrase your question for you.  Mark, were you not trying to win a U14 soccer game?  Shame on me I guess.

As we were warming up to play, I noticed a number of the Woodbury players and OJ (their coach) come out to cheer us on.  Can you blame them?  They had backed into a Premier slot in January, fielding a team that had not been able to advertise Premier status tryouts and a team that most people had written off his spring as bottom feeders for the upcoming Premier season.  Against this adversity they had managed to put together some good performances and now had a chance to retain their status.  The irony here is that many of the families who would take so much pride in retaining their status would not likely not be a part of a Premier team next year as Woodbury would surely attract other talent to a 2008 Premier tryout.  I can only imagine the controversy that this will cause in the coming weeks as parents likely will petition for the team to stay together as these are the girls who earned the right to play Premier and they deserve to reap the benefits that their work has afforded them, even though the benefits for some are just to say “my kid plays Premier”.  This isn’t unique to Woodbury as it happens all over the place, in our club as well.  However, the nature of tryouts is to form the best possible team and I’m sure Woodbury’s coaching director feels the same.  Heck, if Premier status didn’t stay with the club and a team could move it to any club they chose, this team may have looked to move to another club and Cottage Grove or NESA might end up with a U15 girls Premier team. :)

I was impressed with how the girls knocked the ball around in the first half.  We came out and played a 4-1-2-3 and the girls looked sharp for not having had a decent training session in over a week.  We had nearly half the team at ODP camp this past weekend so were not able to train.

I commented jokingly at halftime that they girls actually looked like soccer players and they all enjoyed the first half as they actually felt that they were composed under pressure and were actually playing the game better as they were able to sometimes connect 8 to 10 passes together as they advanced up the field.  It was a real treat to watch.

Fifteen minutes into the second half the White team pulled ahead.  They had moved to a three forward system and we had not adjusted properly to the added threat up top.  I wasn’t watching the build up as I was giving instruction to the girls on the bench, but I did manage to turn to the field in time to see the ball rocket past Tori into the back of the net.  Tori had made a series of fantastic saves in the preceding minutes, much to the delight of the Woodbury onlookers, but this shot was too well placed.

We still continued to knock the ball around well, connecting passes and getting numbers into the attack when we went forward.

Around the 25 minute mark, Brownie (LF) received the ball deep in the left corner of the field, raced to it and sent a wicked left foot cross into the box towards Getch (Point).  Getch just missed connecting with it and the White team defenders couldn’t get it cleared well enough.  The ball squirted out to Blondie (RF) to the right of the goal and she fired a shot the nicked the inside of the far post on it’s way into the net to pull us level.  It was a great finish from a play who had wanted to be subbed out a few minutes prior to this due to tired legs.

The White team pressed forward in the attack during the final 10 minutes, but some great headed clearances from dangerous crosses kept the tie in place at the final whistle.

It was tough to see how hard the White team girls played at the end, how they were giving everything they had on the field as they knew the “importance” of this game to them. It broke my heart as I know I could have eased the pain by adjusting the play on the field to give the White more scoring opportunities.

However, I know the White players would not want to be handed Premier status.  I know their coach would not take it that way either.  I hope the parents and players saw how entertaining the game was and how far the White team girls have come in a year.  It will be interesting to see what tryouts bring for this age group next month.

From a personal standpoint, this whole scenario was one of the most no-win-situations I’ve ever been involved in (does that wording make sense?). To throw the game outright by forfeiting would have cast an ugly light on everyone involved on our end. Playing with a streamlined squad last weekend and this weekend would have also opened us up to a ton of negative feedback. I tired to handle everything in the best way that I saw fit, allowing the girls to play the game(s) without ever once asking them to not give 100% effort. Yes, I challenged them to look to go forward in the attack in a different manner, but in the end this was a solid developmental situation for them that will benefit them in the long run.

I know anyone with any kind of soccer knowledge watching the game could have easily thought that we weren’t playing our “normal” direct style, but I know that our normal style will not see this team have continued success in coming years.  I know people will process our play through their own set of filters, and people will find a way to blast our approach to this game, and that is fine.  My plan was to go into these games with the same build up mentality and the same give-the-girls-looks-in-“unusual”-positions, and those who come watch our game tonight will see the exact same thing.  Though my guess is that I don’t think we’ll have as many Woodbury fans out cheering us on to victory tonight.

Premier League Game #7 vs Woodbury

I knew this game was going to be a battle.  Not because I think that the Woodbury team is better than us.  More because it was going to be nearly impossible to put together a decent performance in a relatively meaningless league game tonight, coming on the heels of the absolute stunner of a week of soccer in Des Moines.  I've been similar situations before, both as a player and as a coach.  To try and give a good accounting after such an emotionally draining/rewarding experience is an extremely difficult thing to ask for from players, especially as we're talking about 12 and 13 year old girls.

There was still a very excited buzz in the air as the girls arrived at Bielenberg in Woodbury for this game.  A few were sporting their Nike Regional Champs shirts that a Nike Rep had pushed into our hands seconds after leaving the handshake line with the Internationals, a few were sporting their new bright red Adidas Region II Champions warm-up top, all were sporting huge smiles. 

I couldn't get the girls to focus one iota of energy/thought on the coming game.  And you know what?  I didn't even try.  I was still enjoying the amazing feeling of the day before and I was completely fine with the girls doing the same.  We all joked around with each other, talking about how nervous the penalty kick takers were the day before, talking about how it was so surreal to go down to the Internationals 2-0 and battle back again, just like a year ago, talking about who has the right to claim Best Bowler on the team from our bowling outing, and stuff along those lines.

We went through something that might have resembled a pre-game warm-up and we were all laughing at the extremely poor quality of play every single girl exhibited in the 40 minutes leading up to kick off.  I think we may have scored a grand total of one goal in the 10 - 15 minutes of crossing and finishing.  I didn't care.  Should I have?  I don't care. 

I don't think the Woodbury girls found our enthusiasm and lackadaisical attitude amusing and annoying.  There is some animosity shown by some of the Woodbury girls to our girls.  It's funny, you can see certain feelings and attitudes that some of that team's parents think about our girls/club or about me come out in the girls themselves on the field of play in what can only be called downright rudeness and poor sportsmanship.  It's really a shame.  I know I had a great relationship with every single one of the Woodbury girls who knew me 3 years ago, especially with the ones who moved with me to start the Bangu Tsunami Academy in the winter of 2004.  Families' plans changed in the coming years and all these girls decided that our club was not for them (one of these days, or maybe in the coming book, I'll go into detail about the infamous Renegades story), and that is fine.  We all moved on though some parents yet to this day look at what our club or what I do with disgust.  So be it, everyone's entitled to their own opinions.  It's just a real shame to see parent negativity come out through the kids.  Most, though again I've known them for years and spent countless hours helping in their soccer development, won't even wave or say hello anymore.  Soccer coaching is a fickle business at best. 

Anyway, though I didn't know it at the time and would find out from OJ (Woodbury's head coach) after the game, this was Woodbury's last league game of the summer.  If they won, or maybe even if they would have tied, they would have secured a place in next year's U15 Premier League.  If they lost, their ability to call themselves a Premier team would be subject to other game results out of their control - namely the results of our two upcoming games against our White team.  That could be interesting.

In my opinion, there is too much emphasis on "Premier" in this state.  Everyone wants their team to be Premier but we don't have enough talent at one age group to field 6 "premier" caliber teams here in Minnesota.  Granted this is all about a name and I'm sure most parents would want to say that their kid plays in the Premier league (or whatever the most competitive league's name may be), but in the bigger picture of what our club wants to accomplish - developing players who have long term success and interest in the sport and who can compete on a regional/national level, Premier means diddley-squat.  It is my goal to try educate parents at our younger levels about the this, as what we hope to aspire to in our club is bigger in the long run than Minnesota Premier status. 

Out of respect for Woodbury I guess I should have tried to coral the Goo Girls a bit, but to be honest, the thought never crossed my mind at that point.  Our girls had worked hard, achieved something that has never before been seen at this age group in Minnesota soccer history, and were entitled to a little unfocus. 

As was expected, the game started out fairly poorly for us.  To say that we were off would be a very drastic understatement.  I had never seen the girls play so disjointedly.  Woodbury was all over us and had a number of semi-decent chances in front of our goal.  The Goo Girls, on the other hand, struggled to complete passes, make halfway decent decisions with the ball under pressure by the Woodbury defenders, and had a hard time finding a rhythm.  Though the girls on the bench were still laughing at the girls on the field, all of whom seemed to either be wearing roller skates or cinder blocks on two left feet, I slowly stopped finding it amusing.  Not that I was getting angry, but the thought finally penetrated my head that as Region Champions, people were looking at us as Region Champions and we needed to take some pride in that title.

I don't even remember many details about that first half.  The 6 girls on the bench at the beginning of the game sensed my mood change and entered the game at around the 10 minute mark with a bit more focus.  The 6 girls coming off the field expecting to see us all still joking around on the bench also sensed the shift, so by the end of the first half we were playing a little better.

At halftime, I  attempted to get the girls a bit more focused by explaining my thoughts about taking pride in their newfound title.  It wasn't hard for any of them to make sense of what I was saying, and we moved into the second half with a bit more seriousness. 

Woodbury still created a few more good chances at goal but couldn't capitalize on any of them.  We played better, yet still not anywhere close to the level of our performance of the past week.  It was better though and we started to create a number of chances of our own. 

10 minutes from time we got on the scoreboard with a good goal.  The ball was played to Jilly (RF) about 40 yards from goal from midfield.  Jilly, knowing where Millie (LF) was, hit a one-touch diagonal ball over the top for Millie to chase down.  The Woodbury defenders, just like we've seen with Wayzata a couple times, raised their hands up to appeal for an offsides call, which it clearly wasn't, and stopped playing hoping for the call.  Mistake.  No call and Millie finished her breakaway relatively uncontested with some nice skill and a side of the foot shot. 

That turned out to be the game winner for us, 1-0 at the final whistle. 

I don't blame our girls for their lackluster performance.  I didn't expect much and made the mistake of making that feeling known to the girls, kinda giving them free reign to goof off prior to the game.  Again, not a huge deal as I feel they deserved to blow off some steam, just a good learning experience for me and a clear example of how my approach to a game and tone from the second I step on the field with the girls is an important factor in their overall performance that day. 

* * * * *

Here's where things stand in our league up until this point.

We have 3 games left; 1 against EP and 2 against our White team.  If we win out, we win the league.  If our White team beats us in both games, they retain Premier status for the 2008 summer season.  Is this important?  Not in my mind as I think this team should move away from MYSA league play and into the U15 Midwest Regional League (MRL) next year.  I'm sure it's important to others though and could make for an interesting week next week.

Premier League Game #6 vs Coon Rapids

As I was dumping my sugar for a slow count of 10 into my medium Starbucks light roast in a big cup, I was thinking about what I was going to write up about our game last night.  By the way, good for Starbucks to begin offering to put the smaller sized coffee orders for people who want room for cream into larger cups.  Brilliant!

I guess I should get the Starbucks lingo down right, but even though I make the coffee stop almost daily I still feel resistance to submerging myself totally in the Starbucks coffee culture.  I order the same thing every morning, a medium light roast in a large cup.  The same red-haired-twenty-something-loud-obnoxious-female-coffee-connoisseur behind the counter always gives me the I hate you! look and yells out “A Grande house blend in a Venti cup?”, stressing the “proper” Italian (or whatever it is) verbiage as if a complete imbecile just placed an order.

You all know the I hate you! look I’m talking about.  It’s the look you give the guy that’s been driving the speed limit in the left lane when you eventually pass them on the right.  It’s also the look you give in the rearview mirror of the car in front of you in the touchless wash that uses the full 90 seconds of the air dryer time, or the look you give the car behind you in your rearview mirror in the same wash when they drive up and begin their wash before your dryer time is done.  You can also give this look to inanimate objects, like to your laptop when it takes an excruciating 9.6 seconds to load Windows as opposed to the usual 5.2.

With me and the Starbucks ginger-haired she-devil, it’s now gotten to a point of all out verbal war.  We eye each other as I enter the establishment and I see her eyes narrow in concentration for the upcoming encounter.  I wait my turn as she helps others in line before me while she constantly sneaks peeks (on her tip toes) of hatred in my direction over the top of the cash register that she can barely see over.  I steel my nerve as I approach my turn, eagerly anticipating the inevitable good vs evil verbal battle that is about to occur amid the taupe, rust, and mustard colored walls.

“Good morning!” I say cheerfully.  Her lips twitch slightly.  “One medium coffee in a tall cup?” she asks sarcastically, speaking slowly and emphasizing the clearly incorrect terminology loudly for all to witness my apparent lack of brain function, all the while looking around at her co-workers and customers with a smug look that says look at this guy, he doesn’t belong in our Starbucks world.   Actually, I say, I’d like a grande decaf triple shot marble mocha macchiato, extra white mocha, no whip, no foam, extra drizzle (chocolate), sugar free vanilla, and with 2% milk.  Extra hot please.

It had taken me nearly one hour to memorize the order in my car in the Starbucks parking lot, but the look on Beelzebub’s face was worth every minute.

I have no idea where I was going with this story.

* * * * *

This was our second game against the Coon Rapids team.  Having lost the first match up 1-0, we knew a little bit more about what to expect this time around.

We were not going to beat Coon Rapids’ defenders in many foot races over the top as 3 out of 4 of them were faster than our fastest player.  We knew we would be in for a physical match up all around the field and knew that there were a few dangerous players up top for the north Premier team who could cause us trouble.

It was not a good first half for us.  We could not seem to get control of the ball anywhere on the field and to Coon Rapids credit, most of the half was spent in our end.  We earned a grand total of zero corner kick and didn’t test the Coon Rapids GK once.  Mudd (GK) was kept busy, but nothing too threatening save one good opportunity by the opposing team.  A fast Coon Rapids attacker broke through up our left flank and fired a low, hard shot to the far post that forced Mudd to get to the ground quickly and parry the ball.  She pounced on the loose ball, and while her hand was on it, another Coon Rapids forward came rushing in and bullied the ball over the goal line.

As the Coon Rapids girls began celebrating, I saw the young AR across the field raise his flag then put it down.  I didn’t want to make a sour grapes scene, but remember the feeling of the officiating encounter in our first match up with the same team earlier this year and how bad I felt that I accepted a referee decision that I maybe should have contested.

I stood up and yelled out to the ref to please talk with his AR.  The ref looked at the AR who was walking back up the field, then looked back at me questioning (as the AR was not looking to get the refs attention).  I made the motion of raising a flag and pointed to the AR, and the ref jogged over to the young man for a chat.  The AR must have seen what I saw, that Mudd had a hand on the ball giving her possession prior to the collision with the CR forward, and the apparent goal was disallowed.  I didn’t hear much from the opposing coaching staff, so they must have seen the same thing.

If a neutral observer watched the first half, there would be no question in their minds who the more dominant team was.

At halftime, we talked about a few key points.

• Our wide players need to have the confidence to take more risks and attack opposing defenders when in 1v1 situations.  I challenged the wide mids to stop looking to get rid of the ball as soon as they got it and instead try to get to the endline for crosses or to win corner kicks.  I made it clear that I, as a coach, would be more disappointed if a girl didn’t try to take players on wide in the attacking third that if a wide mid did go 1v1 and lost possession.  This (the attacking third) is the place for risks.
• We struggled with some defensive clearances in the back, and I reminded the girls that which ever defender was going for a challenge, the other three should be sprinting back and to the middle of the field in the event that the aerial challenge is unsuccessful.  Better safe than sorry.
• I wanted our outside back to recognize when they could direct the wide mids in front of them to get into the attack more, especially on the weak side of the field. 
• I talked about the center mids being our unsung heroes. They are the workhorses and the glue that holds the team together. They must work hard to constantly find space when we are in possession for everywhere on the field where we have the ball, there needs to be a central midfielder option. They are the link players that link our defense to our forwards and one side of the field to the other.

I made a few position changes for the second half.  To try and gain more control of the midfield area, I dropped Ripper back from her forward position into a central midfield role.  I pushed Nash back to right defender and looked to get Bidi (who was playing that position a lot in the first half) up top and in midfield.  I pushed Blondie up top (she had been playing wide mid) and looked to use Sting more as a wide player.

The second half was all us.  A complete opposite of the first 35 minutes, the very great majority of the second half was played in the CR end.  The girls were relentless on the attack, creating a number of great chances at goal.  Ripper’s physical presence, work rate, and aerial ball winning ability helped us tremendously in the middle of the park and this was one change that I think really helped turn the tide of the game.

As the half went on, we got better and better, bolstered by the confidence of successful attacks on goal, near misses, and 5 or 6 corner kicks (our wide players got the message at halftime and were way more aggressive to the endlines).

Starting at around the 57^th minute, we created a number of dangerous scoring chances, two of which I couldn’t believe didn’t end in goals.  Both our best chances involved combination play and low crosses and final touches inside the six yard box, both touches went directly at the GK.  It seemed more difficult to hit the GK that hit the rest of the goal in both, but that’s the way it goes.

CR still created some chances on their own, with most of their threat coming from long free kicks from midfield over our defending line that Mudd had to make sure handed grabs on with big girls in red jerseys sprinting at her.  Their best chance came of a corner kick when the ball fell to a CR attacker about 12 yards from goal.  She hit the volley well over the net, but it was a solid chance.

At the final whistle, it we still deadlocked at 0-0.  I might be projecting, but I think the CR team felt a bit lucky to get away with a tie.  I would have if I was them as we were clearly the more dangerous team in the second half.

Again, good battle for the girls regardless.  We played some good soccer against a tough opponent and it was a good pre-Regioanls tune up.

Here is where things stand in the Premier League at this point.

Up next: we train Thursday night, then leave for Des Moines Friday morning for a 1PM training session in Iowa and the Region II Championships Opening Ceremonies later that afternoon.