Ugh.

Down in Vegas for our second highly competitive event of the 08 season. 

The last week has been interesting.  We were supposed to head to St Cloud this past weekend for a winter showcase event that our club sponsors.  The way things panned out when all was said and done, we ended up giving up our spot so that our U14 Green team could participate.  With many Bangu teams then not using their allotted dome time this weekend here in the Twin Cities, we were able to schedule two friendlies.   I wanted to challenge the girls as much as I could prior to the Nevada weekend, so I brought in two U16 teams - we played the St Croix Valley MRL girls and the Blackhawks Premier team. 

The Goo Girls played very well in both games, taking SCV 2-1 on Friday evenings, and the Blackhawks 2-0 the following morning.  However, Ripper (two weeks after an appendectomy) hurt her ankle in a 50/50 tackle on Fridays, and Bidi picked up a hard knock on Saturday morning as she was hammered while taking a shot on goal.  To add to the mess, Blondie rolled her ankle on Sunday in the State Basketball tournament.  Great.  Bidi and Ripper did not train Sunday morning, or Monday or Tuesday evenings, Blondie was out until Tuesday, but then still a bit ginger at training. 

Three girls down on one weekend, three girls I would consider part of my top 11 players at this point.  Tough for the team to play really well the weekend before a big event, only to possibly be crippled on the trip due to injuries.

As it would turn out, all three girls were back to playing status yesterday (Friday), and I hoped they would all be fit enough to help us this weekend.

* * * * *

Game #1 vs So Cal Blues (CA-S)

My gut going into the tournament was that we would have a real battle this morning in our first game, be able to handle Utah in our second game if we played well, then would face likely our sternest test to date (since we started in 2004) against FC Penn on Saturday.  

Cook and I had checked the team in last night to find that 1) we weren't even listed on the master schedule (our bracket still listed San Juan Spirits, the team that had dropped out allowing us to move to the A bracket), and 2) our field assignments for our first two games had changed.  The disorganization at this event still astounds me.  Oh well, we'll roll with it. 

As we were walking out of the hotel ballroom at the check in site, we ran into a group of people who were advertising game filming.  After some discussion, I decided to make the $400 investment to try and get all our games this weekend on video.  My thought was that we watch a ton of EPL video each Saturday morning, but the girls would find it more interesting and more productive to watch our own film.   

 Moving on to the next morning, we arrived at the newly assigned site to find two large turf fields with no corner flags, no benches, and no nets.  Fun.  The nets would eventually be dropped off (the U14 team parents had to scramble to find tape (which thankfully is not in short supply with the new sock taping trend on the team) and then fit the nets themselves to the goals.  That's a new one. 

It was a gorgeous morning out, sunny but windy.  The field was large and hard, and this combination of hard turf field and wind would lend to some really scrappy and sloppy play from both teams.  

We began the game in our 4-1-4-1, a system that had proved very effective for us as of late.  I started what I thought was our strongest line up and the girls played OK.  We made to many unforced errors due to unsettled nerves, and I think were our own worst enemy in the first half. 

I made changes (all 6 subs) about 11 minutes in.  The new wave of players continues to press the advantage of the wind at their backs, and 20 minutes into the half we got on the scoreboard.  Becs (CD) won the ball in our defensive third near the corner of the right side of our penalty box, turned to the inside of the field and played a long ball into Macky (LF) at midfield.  A So Cal defender half cleared the ball back towards Meagan (RD), and Meg played a great first time volley over the top of the Blues defenders for Bidi (RM) to chase down.  The Blues GK came out of her penalty box to try and clear the still bouncing ball with her feet, but she misplayed the bounce (due to the hard field and the wind and the oncoming pressure from Bidi) and the ball skipped off her midsection as she stumbled while trying to volley it out of danger.  Bidi was alone into goal.  She seemed to take a touch too wide and too far forward, but she managed to get to the ball and roof it in the upper near post corner to give us the lead. 

Three minutes from time, we gave up a free kick about 30 yards from goal on our left-central side.  The ball was played in to the danger area Ripper failed to get a full head on the ball at the PK spot.  The ball skipped in towards goal and there was deer in the headlights moment with both Becs (CD) and Tori (GK).  Becs was backing up to goal and I'm sure expected Tori to take hold of the ball.  Both girls froze for what seemed like an eternity as a number of Blues players descended on them.  Becs finally decided that she couldn't wait any longer and took a wild swing at the ball, half clearing it low to the top of our penalty box.  A Blues midfielder ran out to the right to chase the ball and Macky made an aggressive stab at the ball to clear it.  She was just a second too slow, and the Blues player nicked the ball away as Macky hammered her flat.  It was an unneeded challenge as the Blues player was running away from goal, something that I would later bring up to Macky. 

We set up a wall quickly (we had worked on free kick defending this past week) and awaited the coming shot.  The Blues shooter stepped up to the ball and proceeded to hit an amazing bending ball around the outside of the wall that curled into the back off the net.  Tori managed to get a hand on it, but it was difficult for her to see the ball the moment it was kicked and thus got a late jump to it.  It was really a great finish, but came from simple miscommunication in the box, a poor clearance, and a silly foul.

What a downer.  The girls came off at halftime like they were walking to a funeral.  Their body language told the tale as the late goal was a dagger in our heart. 

I got on the girls at halftime about taking care of the ball and concentrating on our passing.  Cook got on Tori hard about controlling her goal area and penalty box, and being aggressive off her line with loose balls in a crowded penalty box.  Tori took it hard, but we feel that she needed to hear what was said and needed to use this as a tough learning experience.   

Second half was a very different story.  When I feel we were in control of the majority of the first half, we got fairly shredded in the second half with the Blues missing at least one clear chance and a few more half chances to put the game away.  Tori came up huge a couple times and it was fantastic to see her response to some direct criticism and comments at half time.   We would point this response out to all the girls after the game.  I keep telling the girls that I care for them and believe in their abilities.  I know the girls respect me as a coach and as a friend, and this allows me to get on them when needed.  However, reminders that coaching critique is in their best interests as individuals and as members of a team, it is always good to highlight when girls respond to it well - as was clearly the case here with Tori, and all the girls knew it. 

We managed to scrap our way through the final half to earn the 1-1 draw.  I left the field knowing we could put together a better performance.  I said "could" because I believe a big part of our lackluster performance was our overall level of Minnesota winter fitness. We also did not adapt well to the field conditions.  You wouldn't have known that we trained on turf all winter by watching the game.  The wind played a big actor for both teams, not allowing the girls on either side to settle in much. 

We succeeded last year by looking to play attacking possession soccer.  We want to keep the ball, string passes together to lull opponents into a rhythm, then strike with athletic speed up top and more direct play.  The field conditions, the weather, and the pressure from our opponents led to more panicked play from us.  Panic led to direct play, direct play led to fatigue.

As we get into more and more games this spring/summer (MRL, State Cup, Nike Friendlies, Premier League, etc), our game fitness will increase and our performance should increase proportionately.   

We'd see what the afternoon would bring for us against likely the weakest opponent we would face in this event.   

* * * * *

Game #2 vs Utah Avalanche Premier (UT)

Still windy, and still on a big turf field.  The Avalanche had lost to FC Penn in the morning game 4-1.  If we could get past the Utah girls, we would set up a death match between us and FC Penn tomorrow for the group. 

I was feeling confident, almost to a point of looking past this game to tomorrow.  Whenever I do this, I always open myself to surprise and disappointment.  This case was no different.  One of these days I'll learn my lesson.  

In Utah's defense, they were not a bad team at all.  Again, like in the morning game, I felt we were unathletic compared with the Utah girls.  They seemed quicker to the ball, quicker to close down, more dogged in individual 1v1 defending battles, etc. 

Three minutes into the game we fell behind 1-0.  We gave up two corner kicks early.  The first led to a mad scramble in front of our net and a disallowed goal due to a hand ball on the bouncing ball by the Utah goal scorer.  It proved to be some foreshadowing as a minute later we gave up another corner kick and this time the second mad scramble and a series of panicked and poor clearances by our defenders ended when a Utah striker hammered the ball passed Tori and into our net.  

The girls tried to settle back into the game, but the strong wind in our face gave Utah the advantage for the first 35 minutes.  

At halftime we made some changes.  We needed to get more numbers into the attack as our sole forward was not well supported by the 4 midfielders behind her.  We moved to a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield shape, looking for our wide mids to stay narrow and allow our attacking-minded wide backs to get into the play.  I also started the second half with what I felt were the top 11 strongest players at this point.  

The girls came out strong.  Wind at their backs helping, the girls on the field pressed the attack creating some very good chances early.  Our equalizer came seven minuets into the half off a set piece on our left flank, probably 25 yards off the endline.  Maddie (LD) who had been working on this service hard in our set piece sessions the weeks leading up to the Vegas event, served in a great ball to the near post.  Ripper skyed up to try and head the ball, barely missing the header.  The ball bounced off the back of the defender marking Ripper back towards Ripper, and Ripper, a split second after landing, reacted brilliantly and half volleyed a rocket into the upper near post.  It was a great finish, and very timely for us.

That was it, I thought.  Flood gates open, we're back in this and are going to put 3 goals away.  When will I learn...

We made 6 changes and the intensity on the field dropped some.  If I truly wanted to go for the jugular, I would have kept the girls who started the half on the field.  They had the momentum now and showed all the signs of putting the game away.  However, though many might disagree, we are not here for the trophy.  I've told the girls that everything we do this spring (Phoenix, Vegas, MRL, and MYSA U15 Premier League) is all about prepping our team for State Cup and hopefully Regioanls/Nationals.  A huge part of our success last year at the Regional Championships was the overall strength of all 17 players on our team last summer.  There were many teams that had a more talented starting 11 than we did.  I didn't see one team that had the depth we had.  This depth came from/comes from player experience in events like Vegas.  

As I've said plenty of times, I'm the most competitive person I know and I hate losing.  I hate getting passed by someone in the right lane, I ruthlessly dominate my in-laws at Apples to Apples over the holidays, and I don't want to lose on the sidelines with the girls.  But regardless of my own desires, I've done a very good job of putting the girls' interests first with this group.  At least I think I have.  I will stick to my guns about playing time as much as I can.  I hope if I don't that someone will remind my about it. 

Now there are for sure some girls who see more time than others.  In general, it's positional as I prefer not to change my center backs often.  However, I think most other girls see balanced time.  The only real time I deviate from this course is when I don't think someone is giving her full effort.  The girls are going to make mistakes, and I can live with that.  What I don't stand for is lack of effort, lack of desire, lack of one aspect of their game that the girls fully control, especially when there are girls on the sidelines who are dying to get back on the field.  

Anyway, I made changes, and we lost some of the momentum.  It's not that we played poorly by any means.  We just lost something.  This loss was not lost on the girls as hey would later approach me and ask me not to make as many changes.  More on that later.

We continued to battle, trying desperately to find some consistent rhythm on the fast surface.  However, it was not meant to be for us.

Ten minutes from time, Utah would get the game winner, a result of yet more defensive sloppiness.  As a ball was played over the top, Becs (CD) raced to try and clear the ball just inside our box, but happen to kick it right into Gratz's (CD) throat.  Gratz dropped like a sack of potatoes at the top of our penalty box.  Nash (LD) went to pressure the Utah striker on the ball and had the girl faced away from our goal, 20 yards out.  Everyone seemed to be looking at Gratz, down on her knees trying to catch her breath.  Nash seemed to stop playing, the Utah striker was allowed to take a half turn, no one closed to pressurize, Tori was still in the same position near the left post though the ball had moved to the center of the field, and the Utah striker was able to get a shot off.  Maddie (LD) might have been able to make a play on the ball but turned away from the approach ball.  Tori made a good effort at the shot, but she was out of position when the shot was taken.  She would later let me know that she was worried about Gratz.  Down 2-1 after a really weird series of events.  

How do I know about all this in detail?  I've been watching the DVD.  

Bummer of a game result and bummer of a team performance.  The girls were disappointed, so was I.  I let my frustration show, probably too much, after the game, but basically told the girls that we just weren't good enough at this point of the year.  We aren't.  We aren't game fit, we aren't game sharp, we aren't game competitive.  I told the girls that they needed to dig deep and find a way to get themselves ready for the toughest game in our group tomorrow, a game that at this point I'm thinking could be 5-0 against.