Nike Classic Cup Game #2 vs Team Chicago Man U

If at first you don't succeed, you're doing it wrong.  -Bazooka Joe comic

Bangu 1

Team Chicago Man U 3 (#23 Region II)

I was excited for this game and the girls looked excited during their warm up. The only thing I don't like about the fields at this tournament is that there is no space to warm up.  The fields are good and have lights, but the areas around the field are all hilly and the ground is very uneven.  Since you only get about 3 minutes before each game on the field it makes for interesting warm ups.  So each game we improvised our warm ups and each game I hoped that the new warm ups would not adversely effect their play.  The first game it did not and we would see for this game.

Before the game I highlighted a couple of points that I felt would be important for us if we wanted to put ourselves in the best position to win:

-If we move the ball around quickly and switch fields we will have a lot of success

-They have one fast forward so when we are at midfield, one defender needs to drop deep to eliminate the through ball

-Continue to use your skill and have fun

The game started and Team Chicago came out attacking us.  They were all over us.  We couldn't complete a pass and we were getting beat to every single ball.  I was very impressed with their team.  Now that we were playing them I really saw that they possessed some great skill on the ball and they were a very solid team.  5 minutes in they scored their first goal when we attempted to swing the ball across the top of our box and they intercepted the pass and finished.

I have no problem with us playing the ball across the front of our goal if our players are confident in completing the pass.  It is the same for dribbling the ball in our box, if you are confident go for it.  I want them to know that if we lose the ball, we will be in a lot of trouble, but if they think they will be successful they can do what they think will work.

More of the same continued after their first goal.  At one point I asked the group of girls who were coming off the field in all seriousness if we were looking where we were passing or if we were just expecting the lanes to be open.  They replied that they had had so much success in the first game with passing that they were not really looking in this game.  At least they realized it, now we had to change that.

20 minutes in Man U got their second goal when we lost the ball in their half, we didn't drop far enough and their fast forward got a break away and finished.  Another great learning experience for the girls. 

Could I have eliminated this threat by playing with a sweeper?  Sure.  No doubt, but I don't want to play with a sweeper because it takes away a lot of the thinking and reading the game from our defenders and it hurts their long term growth.  I will try to get us able to play without a sweeper through the middle of next spring.  If we are having major problems then I will think about going to a formation with a sweeper as I did with my team last year.

Half time came with us getting thoroughly outplayed and if it wasn't for the spectacular play of our goalie Mac, we would have been down 4 or 5 goals.  She was providing exactly with what we need from our goalie at this level.  She was giving us a chance to win a game that we didn't deserve to win.

All through the first half and at half time I kept talking to the girls on the bench that we needed an attitude change.  We needed to play like it meant something to us to be here representing our club and ourselves.  We were getting killed in the effort category.  Our defenders were jogging or walking up when Mac was punting.  Our mids and forwards were not winning a single air ball.  We were not making runs.  We were not talking.  We were flat. 

We talked about how we could make a change in our attitude and come out and make a game of this.  We were only down 2 goals thanks to Mac.  But we would have to change things right away. 

The second half started and, unfortunately, it was more of the same.  We just weren't playing well.  Team Chicago put in another goal to go up 3-0 and our play was uninspired.  Gone was the great passing from the first game.  Gone was the individual creativity.  Then Gaffer stepped up and started winning everything in the midfield.  She was all over the place.  She won air balls.  She won tackles.  And after she got the ball she was taking players on and driving us forward.  With about 10 minutes left in the game we took control of the play.  We started to look dangerous and had a couple of chances.  With 8 minutes left Gaffer won a ball on the right side of the field, beat a defender and rifled the ball into the upper part of the net to draw the score to 3-1.

The game ended that way and we talked about how disappointing the game was.  We had a great chance to set ourselves up with a chance to get to the final and did not capitalize.  But what I felt most disappointed in was that we had played such poor soccer.  We didn't combine passes.  We were not creative on the ball.  We reverted to boot ball.  It was a step backwards for us. 

. . . . Oh well, that game is over.  We'll learn from it and come out strong tomorrow.  Now onto the important things of how do we make this tournament a fun event for the girls.  Plans were made for laser tag followed by the girls getting their nails done, finished up with a big pizza dinner Chicago style at Gino's East for all three of our teams.  I was finally going to be able to get my Italian food that I had heard so much about listening to Playing For Pizza.

As upsetting as the game was it is important for the girls to be able to learn from it and move on quickly.  Soccer is about much more than winning and losing.  There is no point spending the rest of the day dwelling on one game . . . as long as it does not become a trend.