Sad day for the Orangemen...just when we were on the brink of a turnaround.
First, if you are ever screwing around in the box that turns the field lights on just a note, ON means it will turn the lights on. OFF means it will turn the lights off. Last night a member of the other team, while looking to turn their field lights on, turn our field lights off. Mistake. Sure, but it takes 10-15 minutes for the lights to cool down so they will come back on.
Second...exactly 11 of us showed up. That’s not enough the keep the lights on...but with my plan for collecting it just means I’ll collect further into the season. However, with zero-subs it tough for a number of our older and injured players to make it the full 90 minutes. And that eventually takes it’s toll on the team.
We scored first...that was the highlight of the match. Rahbi put a nice ball other the top to Jermaine and then the Gazelle made it look easy. He outpaced the defense and slotted the ball past Jeff H’s attempt at kick save to his right. But that was it for the scoring last night.
Sadly, because of the really nice delivery to Jermaine, we got it in our collective heads, that the only way to score was to play balls over the top to Jermaine. Well that only works with Jermaine. The Turtles were playing a three man defense, which meant they had three strong players working defense. And it worked for them. I counted at least 14 balls we played over the top after the delivery to Jermaine. Kendall couldn’t outrun the defense (he’s got an injury), I certainly couldn’t, Alfredo was unable to outrun them, and even Rabhi could not out run them. Jermaine and Rabhi did have a bit of success running through them...they showed a bit of skill...but when four or even five fast Turtles closed them down there was no place for them to go...and the Turtles we really physical, about as physical as you could be without sliding.
And speaking of sliding...perhaps the word didn’t to Gene that even though the teams were not sliding last night, the keeper is still permitted to go to ground to collect the ball. Sorry Gene if we didn’t tell you that.
The score was lopsided. The Turtles really played well last night. We didn’t have an answer. Our defense of Jan, Maurico, Doug, and Greg put in a valiant effort all night...without substitution, and eventually the is just so much you can do. We never really had good possession of the ball which meant the counter attack was always on and the defense was scrambling. And with so many balls over the top that we couldn’t control or win we were just giving the ball away with that strategy. In those cases, it’s better for the striker to come back for the ball and control it, rather than letting it race by and try to run onto it. One extra touch to control it, then continue to play it through again or square would have changed everything last night.
In the first half we had one series of touches I can remember...with about 6 or 7 passes. And that was it. We had even fewer the second half until the final 5 or 6 minutes of the game where we had two decent attacks...each of those with a series of passes.
But thanks for everyone who showed up. Gene, Greg, Jan, Doug, Maurcio, Alfredo, Rahbi, Jermaine, Kendall, and Dave N. Special thanks to Efrain who joined us from the Turtles.
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