Congratulations to Buena Vista Soccer Club, who pick up a 3-1 win. Each of their three goals was well earned as they out dribbled the defense, kept us on our heels, and took some very well-placed shots.
We have a miserable record on opening day. We are now 3-9 in CCSL, having last won our opener in the spring of 2008 when George Bush was still president. THAT HAS GOT TO CHANGE!
I had fun in the game, but my play was symptomatic of the team effort. We had good ideas, but we lacked sharpness and concentration. Too many failed or weak passes, not enough possession, poor distribution from the back line. That said, we have high quality defenders so don't be surprised to see your defense start leading the team at some point!
BVSC was a challenge to defend. They were smart. If you challenged them, they made a move. If you gave them time, they drew you to them and sent a through ball into the box. Their men were relatively quick and accurate with both feet.
We weren't half bad in some aspects of the game. Even though we didn't have many points to show for it, we did have an attack. Several of our players penetrated the box and we had 2-3 crosses that had a chance of scoring.
Adrian was a strong presence in goal - an attribute for a field player that should not go unnoticed!
My favorite play of the game was Elyse's disruptive body check against their 6'2" defender. She pushed him off the ball and took the foul call. Nice job, Elyse, that was good stuff. Very tough.
Anyway, if you have thoughts on ways to improve, let's talk!
Have a great week!
Notes: 3-1 loss to Buena Vista Soccer Club on 3/20/2011 at Roosevelt. Goal: Chris N. (Jon). PK earned by Chris N., taken by Griz (miss). GK: Adrian. Discipline: Yellow (Carlos, sliding after warning).
I heard people talking and heard many different interpretations of how we did in the game. One player said we were on our heels the whole game. One player said BVSC kept beating us using the same play. Other players said we had good possession. Some wing players said they never got the ball, while wing players on the other side said the ball never came to their side.
ReplyDeleteBVSC had a more crisp passing game and I think they basically let us have plenty of non-threatening possession in order to set up their main play: high clearance to Ginger or Bald Guy or Skinny Tall Guy who would then head the ball wide to Baggio who would then do some give-and-goes with Stocky Dribble Guy.
Their plan worked as they had plenty of coverage in defense against our possession whereas we lacked extra coverage in defense against the quick passing of their three good guys.
We did not manage enough shots on goal - and did not exploit the weaknesses of their game plan.
They were not playing an offsides trap so I was able to stretch their midfield out in the second half by playing really high in attack. Unfortunately, since our passing wasn't sharp we were not able to exploit the new found space in front of their back line - and while I have run enough to keep in shape and was able to chase the defenders down and make them make bad clearances - I have not practiced with the ball enough to be sharp and bring down long balls or get onto through balls. Too many times I lost possession as I tried to dribble out of pressure to make a good pass.
Trinity Field is much wider than the field we played on Sunday. Since we were not able to exploit any width on Sunday it will even be more difficult this Sunday. We will need the wings to come into the middle for a short pass and have the fullbacks overlap on the sidelines to get width into our play.
Nate - great points
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