Sunday, April 15, 2012

Soccer Saturday

Saturday was supposed to be really stormy, and by the end of the day it was. It started nicely, however.

I started the day running our Bountiful Baskets site. It is a food co-op that is growing like crazy. We discussed our upcoming changes, and we'll be moving earlier in the day next month.

I furtilized the lawn and did some housework. Then the weather turned bad.

This also coincided with the start of my oldest soccer game. As I said before, we've changed from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. Out last game was fun to watch, even though we lost. This game started out great, with my oldest anchoring the right side of our defense. The other team could barely get the ball across our half line. When they did our defense shut them down.

Our midfield has got it suddenly, like a light switch was turned on. Two of our players, D and M, are working almost flawlessly together in our central midfield. They are winning balls and making beautiful passes.

Our wing players are a great mix. Our left wing is a super skills player, M. He is kind of slow but has such amazing ball control and vision. He kept playing balls that would make me cringe because he didn't play the obvious pass. But he made perfect through passes that beat four defenders and let a striker off by himself one-on-one with the keeper. Our right wing is a bundle of energy and is everywhere on the field. He, CS, is very skilled as well but makes really good runs.

Our defense has been working well together, but they really balanced out yesterday. They were attacking and covering for each other. They were making nice passes to the wing, not right up the middle like we did last season.

Our forwards have come a long way too. We have one with so much raw talent, C, he had at least five shots in the first 15 minutes. The other two have gained confidence and are starting to make the right runs.

We could tell that it was only a matter of time before we scored. And finally C ended up one-on-one with the keeper. He drew him out and picked his spot.

My oldest ended up being subbed in and left forward, which is unusual. He took the opportunity and made a run in, trapped the ball and put us up 2-0.

The other team only had one real chance to score. They had a break away, but their forward played the ball too far forward. Our goalie ha it covered, but grabbed the other player earning a penalty kick. Our keeper, J, can get down on himself when he gets scored on. He lined up, and the forward took the shot. Our goalie moved the right way, but it looked like he would be nutmegged, when the ball goes between your legs. He sat down hard and trapped the ball by sitting on it. It was crazy. That is how the first half ended.

Having been on the other side of a game like this we knew it would be hard for the other team to get out of their half. One coach went shofar as to predict we would get two more goals and a shutout.

The second half started much like the first, with us controlling the game. C added another goal in a one-v-one situation. The D, our central midfielder chipped the keeper from 25-30 yard out. One of our other forwards, JF, charged the goal and put a rebound away (this was a controversial offside decision, even out coaches thought he was off. Our linesman was new, and we aren't sure he understood the offside rule. He actually tried to call M offside while he was dribbling the ball forward.) My oldest was put back in at leery forward and put another shot away.

The game ended 6-0. The boys were so excited. The wife is sending me a photo and video of my oldest first and second goals and I'll post them as soon as I get them.

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