Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Match Report Round 4
Round 3 was washed out and will be replayed at some later date. For now, here is the Round 4 report.
U6 Granville Waratahs 14 def U6 Ermington United Cahill 0
The match was only a few minutes old before we knew we had no chance of winning. The scoreline above doesn't tell the whole story. We weren't beaten by the Granville Waratahs; we were beaten by a single player on the Granville Waratahs. The number 2 player for Granville showed superior skill and scored all of their goals, treating our players and his own as if they were merely marker cones on the field. At the beginning of the second half, when number 2 was off signing a contract with Real Madrid, we actually had an even game of soccer...until he came back on. That isn't to say we had a bad game. Rather, without any expectations of winning, the reds settled down to play the best game they could.
Over the past few weeks team Cahill has improved markedly. The opportunity we had today was to practice our defence and the guys showed that they could learn to develop tactics under pressure. I had been told that if you focus on the skills, the tactics will emerge, and they did. Score one for coaching theory!
During the course of the match AJ learnt that his shins were good for blocking the ball and that he could move through the pack. Seb learnt that he was a excellent keeper. He made number 2 really work for the handful of goals he got past him in the second half. Lexie made a couple of good break aways pumping her long legs up and down the field. James joined the hunting pack of Joel and Fraser and harassed the ball all over the field. Jack played a great defensive role hanging back from the main group and sweeping up anything stray. Lachlan showed improvement in the center and Geordie smeared super glue on his right boot at half time, stuck it to the ball and didn't let go without a glorious struggle, earning him the player of the match.
I learnt a lot from my team in today's match. The first thing I learnt is that playing the game is the important thing. My guys played as hard in the last few minutes as they did in the first. Maybe it was because they couldn't count that high, but they didn't seem to worry about the score. They were here to play and play they certainly did.
The second thing I learnt was that the only person you are competing against is yourself. I thought that the guys would be disappointed because they lost. They weren't; they just wanted to know that they did a good job. When I talked to them at the end of the match they all knew that they had played a better game this week than they did last week and reveled in it. These guys are becoming a great team and I am proud to be their coach.
U6 Granville Waratahs 14 def U6 Ermington United Cahill 0
The match was only a few minutes old before we knew we had no chance of winning. The scoreline above doesn't tell the whole story. We weren't beaten by the Granville Waratahs; we were beaten by a single player on the Granville Waratahs. The number 2 player for Granville showed superior skill and scored all of their goals, treating our players and his own as if they were merely marker cones on the field. At the beginning of the second half, when number 2 was off signing a contract with Real Madrid, we actually had an even game of soccer...until he came back on. That isn't to say we had a bad game. Rather, without any expectations of winning, the reds settled down to play the best game they could.
Over the past few weeks team Cahill has improved markedly. The opportunity we had today was to practice our defence and the guys showed that they could learn to develop tactics under pressure. I had been told that if you focus on the skills, the tactics will emerge, and they did. Score one for coaching theory!
During the course of the match AJ learnt that his shins were good for blocking the ball and that he could move through the pack. Seb learnt that he was a excellent keeper. He made number 2 really work for the handful of goals he got past him in the second half. Lexie made a couple of good break aways pumping her long legs up and down the field. James joined the hunting pack of Joel and Fraser and harassed the ball all over the field. Jack played a great defensive role hanging back from the main group and sweeping up anything stray. Lachlan showed improvement in the center and Geordie smeared super glue on his right boot at half time, stuck it to the ball and didn't let go without a glorious struggle, earning him the player of the match.
I learnt a lot from my team in today's match. The first thing I learnt is that playing the game is the important thing. My guys played as hard in the last few minutes as they did in the first. Maybe it was because they couldn't count that high, but they didn't seem to worry about the score. They were here to play and play they certainly did.
The second thing I learnt was that the only person you are competing against is yourself. I thought that the guys would be disappointed because they lost. They weren't; they just wanted to know that they did a good job. When I talked to them at the end of the match they all knew that they had played a better game this week than they did last week and reveled in it. These guys are becoming a great team and I am proud to be their coach.
# posted by David and Melissa @ 21:26 
