FC Milwaukee Recap (the short version)

We were in Milwaukee for the FC Milwaukee winter invite. The tournament was very well run and the boys seemed to really enjoy the experience. We were able to play two teams from the FC Milwaukee club and then also a team from the Rockford Raptors. The first game seemed to catch us off guard as the game was really fast and pretty physical. The interested thing was that even though the Milwaukee team was much more physical then us (and believe it or not smaller then us) we actually had more fouls called on us. We ended up winning by a decent margin so it was a good game to get us adjusted. Our second game was our best game of the weekend against a strong Rockford team. The had a few cheeky players that were very confident on the ball and did cause some issues. Overall we played a better style of soccer and were aggressive to the ball and physical which was the adjustment I hoping for from the boys. Our last game was far from our best soccer and we struggled with the organized Milwaukee team. They obviously have played in that facility quite often. The game close 9-5 final and we finished strong the last 10 minutes or so and were actually scoring more often then they were and had more possession. I guess the biggest positive I took from that last game is that the boys felt like they could be the team given another opportunity, so we will see if we can make that happen sometime in the future because I agree with them.

What I have been really happy with since we came back from Milwaukee is the increase in intensity during practices and the focus the boys have had lately. Not to say they have not been motivated but something is different they seem hungry. Which is great because or training have been super productive. We have three scrimmages coming up before we had to the West Des Moines Premier Games in April so we will have a good gauge of were we are at and were we need to improve.