Goal!!!

The little boys had two games this past weekend, one on Saturday against Lone Star and the other on Sunday against PAYSL. It was really a tale of playing against two different teams and the outcomes reflected that.On Saturday, we played the Lone Stars U11 team at the Town and County fields with a strong wind blowing from end to end. We were playing with the wind at our backs in the first half and it did help us to some degree. I was not paying any attention to the score being more interested in how the goals came about so I do not have an accurate count of the half time score. I believe it was 2-1 in our favor. The second half, the other team started real strong but we managed to wear them down and by the time the game was over, our boys were firmly in control and we came out 4-2 winners. I don’t keep track of who scores the goals as I believe it to be a team effort but I do have to comment on the goal that Andrew Scott scored. He picked up the ball outside of the other teams penalty area and dribbled through at least three maybe four defenders to place it in the net. A very well taken goal. Ian had a similar one in the first half and beat several players to earn his goal.

The boys played with just one sub as Dante was not feeling well and Ali had a basketball game but they dug in and all played very hard. I was impressed by the improvement in both the passing and the movement and we did a good job of counteracting the other teams moves. Jack came up the big hero as he made save after save in the second half to keep us in the game. Well done Jack.

On Sunday, we played against the PAYSL team and this time, they were a whole different story. They had this one player that looked much older than his age, well-built with incredible skills. he was way too good to be playing D2 soccer and should really be on a D1 team somewhere. Single handedly he was able to beat our team and after we missed scoring an early goal, he managed to put three past Jack in very quick succession and one later in the half.. Our boys were no match for his skills and size. The rest of their team was about the same as us and without him, we would have done much better.As it was, I don’t know how we didn’t score on four separate occasions with the ball pinging across their goal hitting the post, hitting players all over the place and still not going in. The boys commented that we needed Andrew Mauro there to knock the big boy around a little and bring him back to our level.

They scored two more goals in the second half and we finally lost 6-0. A part of our problem in that game was that again, we had no midfield and scream as loud as I could and with all of the explanations in the world, I could not get anyone to understand how to play that position. We did not play badly and strung some passes together but we were too busy playing defense to get in too many attacks.Andrew Scott took a ball to the face and ended up with a fat lip and Dante was too sick to play as was Taylor although he did play most of the game.

I think the win on Saturday affected them a little as they would not warm up properly and were a little “cocky”. They soon had that knocked out of them but to their credit, they were chattering and conniving ways and means to counteract players like the one they faced today.when we were sitting around after the game. They didn’t whine and cry about losing more the amount of physical punishment they had to take. They may have learned something from it.

Even with the loss, they are still showing signs of improvement and I am pleased with their progress.