U13 2012

Our players played extremely well and hard today, particularly in the 2nd half. There were several gorgeous plays. Shar scored a goal and was amazing on net in the 2nd half, not being scored on. The ref. allowed a goal that did not exist (also confirmed by an Attack player after the match). Regardless, Gloucester also played well, and fair, and it could have gone either way.

Sometimes refs are not fair or right, neither is life. This was just a mistake and it was not on purpose. There is nothing that can be done. No ref. has ever reverted a call. So we move on.

Remember, we need to score two more than the opponents!

Our players were playing so well and hard at some point in the 2nd half that it made for extremely difficult substitutions as we did not want to sub the players, yet several were waiting and eager to play on the sidelines for nearly 15 minutes. It was a difficult coaching night, sometimes we wish parents would stay on our side of the field to see what goes on.

Congratulations to our boys, you made us proud, win or lose.

Many thanks to Hunter for the free Nestea! Now, he only has about 1,970 cans left.

Sorry, camera was on tungsten mode!

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The boys played well today, on a huge, very wide field where it was very hard to connect the plays. We were missing three players and it was hot, but the other team played well too and scored one more than us. The coaches are proud of our boys.

We wondered how they would play on that kind of field, the other team clearly had home field advantage. What a nice surface too.

Hunter hit two goal posts, and that was the difference: a couple of inches.

Hunter, Gabriel, and Adamo, a giant on defense, receive "stars" for tonight.

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This was the best match of the season. It is not about scoring goals or winning. It is about playing hard and fair. Today almost everyone played hard and fair, and nobody argued with the referee or made calls. Then again, we got the best referee in the league so far.

Mr. Paulo and Misha, the kid who refereed one of our exhibition matches and our tournament (whom I have known and play with since he was 8 years old), are the best referees I have seen in this city. Good referees are the ones you barely notice and don't call attention to themselves. Today's referee is an old (soccer) friend of ours and we even get to speak in Portuguese with him. We had quite a story with him last year in our first match - when he gave us a stern warning right off the bat :-). After the match yesterday  when everyone else was gone we were still chatting about how he had to deal with the police at our last match. We won't forget that one forever (if you don't know the story, it was another wacko parent who caused it). (anyone thinks coaching "soccer" is easy?)


GOOD JOB GUYS! THANK YOU.


Great, awesome playing by the boys today, against some really big tough kids (I call these "anti-LTPD teams"). Those who know my history supporting with LTPD would take great pleasure that our much, much smaller, shorter, lighter players managed to beat them. Last night we had 5 2000-born players, on top of our several  small 1999 players (small only in physical size - they are giants on the field). Isn't it amazing?


Stars go to everyone today, they all played hard. Gustavo saving a goal near the line with a header; Adamo saving some on the run against kids twice his size; Gabriel fighting for and winning balls; Hunter winning balls and running hard back and forth and on the left side, with blood to show and all; Peter playing amazingly hard; and so on and on; in the 2nd half Bonheur was asked to play side by side with V, as two high strikers, and delivered a goal, his 2nd at the U13 level.

Special MVP mentions to Shar for the many saves and for earning his 1st official shutout, and to Venance for several amazing and beautiful passes, and creating the goals. It's lonely up there, and he did his job, with patience and composure.

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Quite an eventful match!.

The Gloucester Swarm team is to be commended for playing a man short, and playing fairly and valiantly, as was their coach.

Our team received 3 yellow cards, the first yellow cards ever received in a league match by team I have coached. We are very unhappy with this. Receiving a card means we did something that is not fair soccer. There were numerous wrong calls by the referee, but we always have to assume that referees will make mistakes, and they do, we all do. It is completely pointless to be upset at the ref. or to answer or say anything to him/her. That is not playing fair soccer.

In addition, our code of conduct states clearly that parents should not give coaching instructions (think about please, what is the player to do when the instructions conflict with the coach, and he receives instructions from multiple sources?), nor should they say anything to the referee. The referee threatened me with a red card last night if we did not escort a parent out, and there is a $500 fine for this.

Hunter scored the first ever goal I have seen from a corner kick in this league. Hunter actually scored two, as did Alex, François, Bonheur, Venance, Daniel, and Nourullah completing the score board. Noorullah was superb with his passes and crosses, collecting a few assists.

Some video shooting from Gustavo, who was injured and was filming the match. Some of my own footage is at the end. Watch in high quality and full screen using this link.

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This was our 4th match vs Storm this summer. 2 wins, 1 loss, 1 tie.

Today we scored 5 goals (I think), but only came out with one point. It was the most exciting match of the season for sure (needlessly exciting :-( ). Three spectacular goals pro by our team, 2 by Venance and and one by Shar. Amazing shots. We hit the crossbar, the post, and saved a pk. It was wild.

Many thanks to our call-ups. We giving the chance to several different call-ups as we will need players later in the season, and they need to know how we play and vice-versa, and also the players need to know each other.

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Good luck to Gabe and Daniel who are call-ups with the U15 today.

They are playing U15 Goucester Swarm at Hornets Nest, field number... 2 (!).

Play hard, and fair!

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Update from the field. Both played really well! With them, the U15 only had 10 players in the 1st half and 11 in the 2nd half. Both Daniel and Gabriel played a full match, without any subs.

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It was a beautiful night, but a very difficult match against a tough team with very tough (and big) players who won most of the balls. Once again the boys found a way to overcome adversity and a 1-0 deficit on a gift given to the other team. On tough matches these gifts cannot happen - all the other team needs to do is close itself up at the back and it's game over.

The opponents were attacking en force on our left flank in the 1st half, with our left midfield giving little support. We changed positions on the 2nd half to deal with that. Other notes:

• Our gk had some good saves in the 2nd half
• A very bad call from the referee to which our striker did not say a word back. Good job by V.
• The opponents were swearing, ours were not.
• Noah had a very good 2nd half
• Great playing by the three call-ups with Massimo and Peter playing defense (getting used to our other players), and a beauty by Monti, who also almost scored on a beautiful free kick.
• A spectacular pass by Francois for V to score the 2nd goal. Won the ball, looked and quickly passed a sweet precise ball for V to score. Keep your head up players, always be aware of where each of your teammates is.
• Great playing by Adamo - as always-  and also Stefano on top of the box in the 2nd half.

Remember: this is not a war to win at all costs. WE PLAY FAIR. That is the spirit of the game. Let the opponents do all the ugly things they want. We don't do it.

Play fair and play hard. Then the coaches and the parents will be proud of you.




Current standings:

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Today the coach was hoping to keep quiet and let the kids figure out the game. It was not to be. Sometimes they enter a slow/sleepy mode from which they have to be taken out.  The coaches are scratching their heads today, it wasn't a performance to write home about, but in the end they found a way to win.

In the beginning some players were saying that the opponents were in last place or that we had beaten before in the tournament, or whatever. These are dreaded comments. Well, this is what happens.

You always have to play hard and play your best. Regardless of opponents.

On the plus side, it was a solid performance by our back 4, Gustavo, Adamo, John, and Dylan, and very good performances by Shar and Francois. Venance missed a few but still scored 4 goals: he creates things and makes things happen. A shutout for Daniel too, his 1st.

Daniel also played as gk for the U15 on Tuesday and was commended by coach James:

 "... it was a game well fought.  Daniel played really well.  One of the things he has done well is that he communicated precisely and timely with the back 4...  Something that my keeper is not doing even at this point.  The only thing he has to work a little bit more it is catching.  Other than that, I am satisfied with his performance and thanked him for his energy throughout the game". 

Today we tried different formations with different players, nothing really worked, with individual exceptions. . The other team was also clogging the field and playing defensively, had a great keeper; it was warm, refereeing was bad, but these are just excuses. A winning team should play hard always, then it does not matter if they win or lose.

This, however, is priceless:







Enjoy this for now, but as you can see there are formidable opponents yet to come late in the season.

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MVP for the match: Bicycle Kick Shar. Stars also to our call-up Monti and many thanks to his family for driving him all the way there. BTW, the family expressed deep appreciation for our gift (thank you).

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The boys stuck to the plan, played hard once again, we made things a lot harder than needed, but we'll take the 3-2, goals by Hunter, Noah, Shar and Gabriel (my math is correct). Many players were MVPs last night as they work really hard; special stars go to John, Noorullah, and Hunter.

Then, it was pure pandemonium on the road back home! Atrocious driving conditions.

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Great performance by the boys today, sticking to the plan. Well played by all. An MVP star goes to Venance for creating the goals, for passing the ball for others to score.

Video:

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Nepean City did not have any fields available tonight. Last night the EODSA said they have denied our request to reschedule.

The match is on as scheduled tonight at Bayshore. Players are asked to be ready to play at 6PM.

See you there.

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Our first real match was a very difficult one, but Almonte is always beautiful!

MVP for the match, chosen by the coaches: Adamo, will full stars going once again to Francois as well for stepping up to the plate once again, and earning an official shutout.

A difficult soccer game, but our kids found a way to prevail.





After everyone left:


Video:

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Video:

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