State Cup Game #1 vs Wayzata
Saturday, May 5, 2007 at 10:37PM 
OK, I can say it now. I had a bad feeling on Monday night. Maybe I had built up Wayzata in my head too much in the last months, maybe I was just feeling some added pressure of coaching the team that most people involved with the event at our age group see as the favorites, I don't know. Sounds crazy, but for better or worse I've learned that this little voice in my head is strangely accurate more times than not. Suffice it to say that I was not at all put out when games were postponed on Monday night due to the severe weather in the area.
We had a good training session on Wednesday and a very competitive scrimmage against the boys on Thursday, and I came into the rescheduled game on Saturday confident that the day would give us the result we sought. A bit nervous still, that's for sure, but confident.
It had rained on and off throughout the day, but about an hour or so before the game the sun came out in Coon Rapids. Winds were stiff though and would make playing conditions tough.
As mentioned previously, this reschedule saw the State Cup games fall on the same day as the MYSA ODP Festival. Though all 17 girls took part in the three hour ODP training that morning in Stillwater, the girls looked lively and sharp during our pre-game warm-up. They were on absolute fire in the crossing and finishing, best I've ever seen, and the 5v5 possession game right before kickoff was high quality.
Our game plan to win was simple really. Deny our opponents goals as they will not be able to contain our attack. I say this in the most humble sense as I just believe that we have too much athleticism and skill for a community club team to keep us off the scoreboard for 70 minutes. If I'm proved wrong sometime later this year, so be it. Believe me, I will be the first to applaud our opponents if this happens.
My main worry about Wayzata was the threat posed by their young U12 forward Kylie. Quick, fast, athletic, good on the dribble, and a finisher with either foot. Taking nothing away from the rest of the team, I just didn't think they had enough supporting players to beat us through build up play. Thus, the danger to us was on the counter attack and/or a breakaway as a result of a through ball or ball over the top.
So we spent 3 out of the last 4 sessions focused on minimizing the Kylie-threat (defensive shape and cover in the back, closing down the ball and denying long services from midfield, recognizing when opponents can play a long ball and how we should react, etc). We didn't work on any finishing, save for the continued focus on corner kick/free kick attack mixed in with the mainly defensive training sessions.
We also came into the game with two possible team formation shifts to deal with Kylie as a left forward (if Wayzata came out and played as they did against us at Shattuck in March) or her as a center forward in a more defensive 4-5-1 formation. These were my best guesses as to the system Wayzata would employ for this match.
Armed and ready with the work we had done, the girls and I watched as Dom (Wayzata's coach) started Kylie playing in the center of midfield. Just like I drew it up... not. Kylie would push forward later in the game, but I had to laugh at all the prep and concern to deal with her at forward went out the window within the first few minutes. I obviously don't see the work as a waste as many important concepts were re-covered in our last few training sessions, topics that will make the team stronger down the road.
By the way, you'll notice that I didn't post any of the details of our past 3 training sessions... didn't want to show my hand too early in case Dom had stumbled on this site. :) I'll get the details posted shortly for those interested.
To Wayzata's credit, they came out and played us tough. We started in our 4-1-2-3 formation that had given us so much success in recent outings. I think that Wayzata carried the play in midfield the first 15 minutes and we were on our heels a bit. We seemed to be outnumbered constantly in the middle of the park and struggled to find our rhythm.
About 20 minutes in we began to settle in and started to knock the ball around better. We still played fairly direct soccer, looking to spring our wide forwards over the top or get them in 1v1 situations, but it was more of a "controlled direct" style. Wayzata played with a 4-back sweeper system, and their three physical backs played our forwards tough.
25 minutes in I had a number of girls lined up at midfield to sub in. We were awarded a corner kick and the ref whistled, acknowledging the substitution request. The subs, starters who had come out already and were excited to return to the fray, ran onto the field to handoff the scrimmage vests in their hands to the players on the field whom they were replacing. The AR on our side sprinted up the touchlines and shouted at the girls to remain off the field until the players on the field reached the midfield point. I stated calmly to the AR that 1) this was taking up a lot of time, and 2) with the 50mph (seemed like 50) that was blowing into our faces on the bench, girls on the field struggled to hear their names, thus adding to the time each substitution ate up. The AR curtly informed me that it was a State Cup rule that subs had to leave the field first, and I shot him the "I hate you!" look as he ran back down the sidelines to stand in place for our corner kick.
I looked back to the game to observe our corner kick runs set up and noticed that Blondie was still standing at midfield with her scrimmage vest, ready to sub in. She was suppose to take out Jilly but couldn't' find her on the field. In all the dialogue with the AR, I wasn't able to make sure all the subs got on in a proper fashion. Blondie, the sweet girl that she is, didn't want to cause a fuss and figured she'd wait until Jilly magically appeared again sometime later in the game. Jilly was actually lined up to take our corner kick, and since it was at the corner on our side of the field at the far end from our bench and since there was a huge light post in the way, Jilly was out of site and poor Blondie was left with the lunchroom look at midfield, vainly searching the sea of faces to find a friend.
Jilly proceeded to hit a beautiful ball (into the wind) to the far post. Ripper got a glancing header that floated high and looped into the far post. I couldn't tell exactly what happened as I was 60+ yards away, but I saw a few of our players' hands raise up in apparent celebration but the GK seemed to have the ball in her hands on the ground. Also, I had seen the AR's flag go up out of the corner of my eye. What are you calling?!?!?! "We can't be offsides on a corner!?!?" and "I hate you!" both crossed my mind the split second before the head ref blew his whistle and pointed at midfield. What happened?!?! The ball must have crossed the line and the GK must have grabbed it back from the abyss, and the AR called it a goal!
I love you!
Was it a goal? I can't say. I trust that it was as the AR who I thought was mad at me called it so, and I have a parent who was video taping who swears the ball crossed the line, but until I see conclusive evidence, I can't make a call on my own. We'll take it though.
The goal obviously sparked our girls and we finished out the half strong.
At halftime, I talked to the girls about a few key points. First, if we didn't give up a goal, we would win the game. Seems obvious, but it warranted mention and understanding. I didn't want to give up our 4-man backline and we needed better control of midfield, so I made a formation change to a standard 4-4-2. I told the girls we would likely play our back 4 the entire second half, with Becs and Hans in the center, Bidi as right back, and Soph as left back. I had a hunch that Dom might now look to push Kylie up the field, and Bidi was going to be my answer to this.
This would leave 6 girls trading time with 6 other girls. I had no intention of playing only a starting 11 as I've told the girls all along that we will win this event as a team or lose this event as a team.
Lastly, I also mentioned the importance of winning set pieces and we made it a goal to try and win corner kicks when possible.
We played very well in the second half. We scored a great goal of another corner kick. Once again Jilly played in a great service to the far post, and once again Ripper was there to meet it with her head. As opposed to the first glancing header, this one was met straight up and crushed back where it came from to the near post. The Wayzata defender on the post made a good reflex save with her thigh and saved a goal by knocking the ball out to the top of the six yard box. Lily came rushing in and roofed the ball into the top of the net to give us the two goal cushion.
Wayzata's only real threats in the second half came from Kylie dribbling at our defense, but Bidi was up for the challenge and didn't give the talented forward a sniff at goal. Mudd (our GK) touched the ball once or twice the entire game and was not called on to make a save.
In the end, it will likely be our toughest game in the tournament. I know anything can happen and I know there are teams out there who are dying to prove me wrong. I may end up with my cleats in my mouth come May 20 (State Cup Final) or sooner, but I guess that will make for good commentary as well at that time.
I think our entire team played very well. Our back four were solid and smart. Our midfielders battled hard and didn't give Wayzata much chance to settle the ball down after the first 15 minutes or so. Our forwards were dangerous and dynamic, even more so in the 4-4-2 formation which I will seriously revisit this week about using in more games down the road. Notable mention goes out to Brownie, Sting, and Blondie who all were all at the top of their game.
As for the other two teams in our group, Dakota Rev beat TC Fire 3 or 4 to 0. We face Dakota Rev next Saturday in game #2.
In Group A on Monday, NSSA beat St Croix3-0 and Wings upset Maplebrook 1-0.
In Group B, Bangu Tsunami Green tied Blaine 0-0, and Cottage Grove tied Eden Prairie by the same score. All to play for in this one.
In Group D, Bangu Tsunami White beat Bangu Tsunami Academy 95 3-0 and Centennial beat Lakeville 2-0.
