The dream is over following a nightmare
Well, the dream of international success and Gothia Cup legend has ended.
Today the ladies played FORCE De Anza from San Mateo in an all California round of 16 match up.
Sadly it was not to be for our girls. The tone was set quite early in the match - a dirty game played by Force and executed as well on their sidelines and by their parents.
Suffice to say both goals against our team should have been disallowed. Both were to result of a player from the other team literally shoving our goal keeper to the ground and then firing the ball into the net. The ref looked confused and let both goals stand.
The first came early.. maybe 5 minutes into the game. We had not trailed once in the tournament and had only given up one goal prior. Admittedly from my perspective on the team bench, it was shocking. Just the way it happened was shocking. As our keeper came out to field a routine ball into the box, their forward never stopped running and just slammed into poor Ally. She was sent flying backwards as she was picking up the ball... it slipped out of her hands and the girl calmly poked the ball into the net.
There is that 2 to 3 seconds which becomes 10-15 seconds which becomes 20-25 seconds where you think surely the ref will call back the goal. And he seemed to hesitate and the more he did the louder the protests and the louder the protests the more he seemed to think about it. And then he placed the ball at half and signaled for our kick off. 1-0 Force.
The body language tells all. Their players had their heads down, seemingly accepting their punishment... and then suddenly they pranced back filled with joy.
I hate to focus on the refs.. there are a lot of things you can point to in a match that could have or should have gone differently for our team. Most of it is self blame. We played poorly. The Davis girls more and more the past 2 games of this tournament stopped trusting their team mates from Redding, Lincoln, and Rocklin. It was either an ugly version of kickball or very selfish one versus three. I mentioned this in my post yesterday - some ugly play was seeping in and should it continue it would hurt us. It did.
Put that aside for a moment. When a goal counts against you in such a manner as it did five minutes into our match, it changes a lot of things. The brutality of the foul stings... it makes your players mad and focused more on physicality than skill or technique. Falling behind for the first time knowing this was do or die - players get desperate at any age... especially 12 year olds. So our plan for passing and using the field width to our advantage went immediately out the door. Those who had played well are smaller in stature... they were being pounded by this physical and large team from the Bay Area.
I'm usually the coach in these cases... for this team I sat on the team bench but as a manager and I respected this as my role. My job wasn't to coach, to talk tactics, to instruct the girls. From time to time I was asked to help do that by the Coach, but this was not my role. So I could see how all of these factors above were impacting the coaches and players both. I understood their panic and struggle...and it was clear from my outside view that the entire team was throttled.
Another 10 minutes of hard fought soccer passed... we got a few chances but they were being the aggressor, more pushing, more shoving, missed calls on the throw ins... the tension was adding up and the frustration was building. And then came goal number two for Force. This time the ball came to the left side of the box.... Ally sprinted out and was at the ball well before the forward. Once again as she bent over to retrieve it, the forward came flying in. This time with our defender in tow as she was trying to shield Ally from the inevitable body slam. But it was too late. The three collided with Ally holding the ball - she fell over our defender, the ball popped loose, and the Force player poked it into the net. 2-0.
No appeal to the ref mattered in the slightest. He once again stared at us - completely bewildered as to our protests, etc.
The Force players pranced up the field - this was easy. Slam the other team, do as you wish, this game was theirs and it was over.
Half time brought more confusion. The NorCal coaches all circled the ref and waved arms and argued to no avail. He claimed he saw neither assault (the field is quite small). Players were blaming each other - some players had not even played a minute. As Coaches get nervous, the get frugal with playing time. Their vision is tunneled. Their trust shrinks to just a small share of players. So they forget to use their bench - the same players who had created most of the goal scoring opportunities in the three previous games. The same players who had long ago bought into the win the ball, play from the back, spread to the wings, then center the ball and attack. These ladies had performed overlapping runs, crosses, switched fields. The movement of the ball had created a nightmare for other teams to defend and the results were 13 goals in 3 games.
These players would, for the most part, watch this game fall out of the team's hands. Their team mates who started offered more and more and more minutes of kickball and selfish play. It was demoralizing.
I'm not taking shots at a coach here - the best out there lose track of their game plan. I have on several occasions. This is why we have assistant coaches. Egos flare, frustration mounts, etc. Eventually our bench was introduced to the game, but in positions different than had been effective for them. Their starting colleagues were beaten, tired, injured, and mad. What 2 goals in 15 minutes had done in the manner they happened was to completely dismantle the fragile trust this team had.
Trust comes from time. This team knew going into this tournament that it did not have a lot of time. We trained once a month... we had a total of four scrimmages but it was not enough. That trust never fully developed. Winning makes things easy. The flaws were there and in hind sight I could see them throughout the preparations going back to January. But boy did they all come out when the panic set in and the illicit goals were allowed.
I was sad to hear players from Davis criticize their team mates after they themselves put on a poor display. Furthermore was quite upset when they started to bad mouth the ref out loud. I finally spoke up. That is the USA over your heart - you do not disrespect this game or that crest with your poor sportsmanship. They seemed shocked at being reprimanded.
But this was an isolated incident for our team. The ladies for the most part are great kids. They play hard and work hard and earn their accolades.
I cannot say the same is true for our opponent. As I stated in my facebook update - it was a sad realization that American parents have created such a sour experience for youth sports. In three prior games against Swedish opponents that we destroyed collectively 13 goals to 1 - not once did I hear a Swedish coach complain, get angry. Never did I hear a Swedish parent yell or scream or should "C'mon ref!". (or whatever that is in Swedish). I watched dozens of games this past week with players from every continent except Antarctica and I saw the same over and over... respect.
The parents from Force were an embarrassment to our country and our state. They were heckling and bad mouthing our players as they ran by. The verbal assaults continued throughout. The players themselves were quite lippy - you could often hear their players telling our players they sucked, they were lousy, or how does it feel to lose.... I heard some myself.
You have to ask yourself why... why when we play the other California team?
Sad.
Alyssa is torn up. She was crying over and over. She feels she could have done so much more. She wishes she had more opportunit today to make a difference. She too was sad to see another American team play so disrespectful in a tournament that puts the celebration of soccer and fair play above all. A dozen or so teams from disadvantaged areas of this world had been given full sponsorships to bring a team to Gothia Cup and play. You would see them all around the fields with the SKF logo on the front (tournament sponsor) and the "Meet the World" logo on the shorts (a phrase of Gothia Cup).
These boys and girls were just happy to arrive. A Kenyan team had come with no boots - so a Norwegian team they were to play supplied the boots plus back up uniforms and then treated them to lunch.
The Special Olympics were here. They played on the same pitch that we did today just prior to our match. You'd think this would leave an impression on a team. Not Force.
So the sting is still there, but I told Alyssa just before she went to bed - in two weeks you won't recall this pain. You'll only recall the great memories. Your joy at vacationing, of playing, of being a captain, of creating two goals with her intelligent play, of being a good team mate, and of being a good sport.
Gothia Cup is not a soccer tournament. It is a special special event that brings the youth of this world together in a truly amazing way.
My God has blessed me and my daughter with this experience. Many of you reading this have done the same through your support and generosity. I am so happy to have been given this chance to be here with my daughter.
As for Alyssa - she is determined to come back. Perhaps not with the same group, but she wants the challenge again.
Time will tell. But if it is our one and only time - it has been wonderful.
It is very late here on Thursday - the cars and motorcycles are racing down the street outside our apartment. Our street seems to be the drag strip for Gothenburg and I cannot understand why the police do not end it - especially since there are tons of youth walking around now that their tournament has ended.
We have 4 more days in Sweden before we fly home - we will watch a few more matches and do some touring... but I think the girls are ready to see California again. I just hate to tell them we fly into SFO...you know that airport near San Mateo.
Today the ladies played FORCE De Anza from San Mateo in an all California round of 16 match up.
Sadly it was not to be for our girls. The tone was set quite early in the match - a dirty game played by Force and executed as well on their sidelines and by their parents.
Suffice to say both goals against our team should have been disallowed. Both were to result of a player from the other team literally shoving our goal keeper to the ground and then firing the ball into the net. The ref looked confused and let both goals stand.
The first came early.. maybe 5 minutes into the game. We had not trailed once in the tournament and had only given up one goal prior. Admittedly from my perspective on the team bench, it was shocking. Just the way it happened was shocking. As our keeper came out to field a routine ball into the box, their forward never stopped running and just slammed into poor Ally. She was sent flying backwards as she was picking up the ball... it slipped out of her hands and the girl calmly poked the ball into the net.
There is that 2 to 3 seconds which becomes 10-15 seconds which becomes 20-25 seconds where you think surely the ref will call back the goal. And he seemed to hesitate and the more he did the louder the protests and the louder the protests the more he seemed to think about it. And then he placed the ball at half and signaled for our kick off. 1-0 Force.
The body language tells all. Their players had their heads down, seemingly accepting their punishment... and then suddenly they pranced back filled with joy.
I hate to focus on the refs.. there are a lot of things you can point to in a match that could have or should have gone differently for our team. Most of it is self blame. We played poorly. The Davis girls more and more the past 2 games of this tournament stopped trusting their team mates from Redding, Lincoln, and Rocklin. It was either an ugly version of kickball or very selfish one versus three. I mentioned this in my post yesterday - some ugly play was seeping in and should it continue it would hurt us. It did.
Put that aside for a moment. When a goal counts against you in such a manner as it did five minutes into our match, it changes a lot of things. The brutality of the foul stings... it makes your players mad and focused more on physicality than skill or technique. Falling behind for the first time knowing this was do or die - players get desperate at any age... especially 12 year olds. So our plan for passing and using the field width to our advantage went immediately out the door. Those who had played well are smaller in stature... they were being pounded by this physical and large team from the Bay Area.
I'm usually the coach in these cases... for this team I sat on the team bench but as a manager and I respected this as my role. My job wasn't to coach, to talk tactics, to instruct the girls. From time to time I was asked to help do that by the Coach, but this was not my role. So I could see how all of these factors above were impacting the coaches and players both. I understood their panic and struggle...and it was clear from my outside view that the entire team was throttled.
Another 10 minutes of hard fought soccer passed... we got a few chances but they were being the aggressor, more pushing, more shoving, missed calls on the throw ins... the tension was adding up and the frustration was building. And then came goal number two for Force. This time the ball came to the left side of the box.... Ally sprinted out and was at the ball well before the forward. Once again as she bent over to retrieve it, the forward came flying in. This time with our defender in tow as she was trying to shield Ally from the inevitable body slam. But it was too late. The three collided with Ally holding the ball - she fell over our defender, the ball popped loose, and the Force player poked it into the net. 2-0.
No appeal to the ref mattered in the slightest. He once again stared at us - completely bewildered as to our protests, etc.
The Force players pranced up the field - this was easy. Slam the other team, do as you wish, this game was theirs and it was over.
Half time brought more confusion. The NorCal coaches all circled the ref and waved arms and argued to no avail. He claimed he saw neither assault (the field is quite small). Players were blaming each other - some players had not even played a minute. As Coaches get nervous, the get frugal with playing time. Their vision is tunneled. Their trust shrinks to just a small share of players. So they forget to use their bench - the same players who had created most of the goal scoring opportunities in the three previous games. The same players who had long ago bought into the win the ball, play from the back, spread to the wings, then center the ball and attack. These ladies had performed overlapping runs, crosses, switched fields. The movement of the ball had created a nightmare for other teams to defend and the results were 13 goals in 3 games.
These players would, for the most part, watch this game fall out of the team's hands. Their team mates who started offered more and more and more minutes of kickball and selfish play. It was demoralizing.
I'm not taking shots at a coach here - the best out there lose track of their game plan. I have on several occasions. This is why we have assistant coaches. Egos flare, frustration mounts, etc. Eventually our bench was introduced to the game, but in positions different than had been effective for them. Their starting colleagues were beaten, tired, injured, and mad. What 2 goals in 15 minutes had done in the manner they happened was to completely dismantle the fragile trust this team had.
Trust comes from time. This team knew going into this tournament that it did not have a lot of time. We trained once a month... we had a total of four scrimmages but it was not enough. That trust never fully developed. Winning makes things easy. The flaws were there and in hind sight I could see them throughout the preparations going back to January. But boy did they all come out when the panic set in and the illicit goals were allowed.
I was sad to hear players from Davis criticize their team mates after they themselves put on a poor display. Furthermore was quite upset when they started to bad mouth the ref out loud. I finally spoke up. That is the USA over your heart - you do not disrespect this game or that crest with your poor sportsmanship. They seemed shocked at being reprimanded.
But this was an isolated incident for our team. The ladies for the most part are great kids. They play hard and work hard and earn their accolades.
I cannot say the same is true for our opponent. As I stated in my facebook update - it was a sad realization that American parents have created such a sour experience for youth sports. In three prior games against Swedish opponents that we destroyed collectively 13 goals to 1 - not once did I hear a Swedish coach complain, get angry. Never did I hear a Swedish parent yell or scream or should "C'mon ref!". (or whatever that is in Swedish). I watched dozens of games this past week with players from every continent except Antarctica and I saw the same over and over... respect.
The parents from Force were an embarrassment to our country and our state. They were heckling and bad mouthing our players as they ran by. The verbal assaults continued throughout. The players themselves were quite lippy - you could often hear their players telling our players they sucked, they were lousy, or how does it feel to lose.... I heard some myself.
You have to ask yourself why... why when we play the other California team?
Sad.
Alyssa is torn up. She was crying over and over. She feels she could have done so much more. She wishes she had more opportunit today to make a difference. She too was sad to see another American team play so disrespectful in a tournament that puts the celebration of soccer and fair play above all. A dozen or so teams from disadvantaged areas of this world had been given full sponsorships to bring a team to Gothia Cup and play. You would see them all around the fields with the SKF logo on the front (tournament sponsor) and the "Meet the World" logo on the shorts (a phrase of Gothia Cup).
These boys and girls were just happy to arrive. A Kenyan team had come with no boots - so a Norwegian team they were to play supplied the boots plus back up uniforms and then treated them to lunch.
The Special Olympics were here. They played on the same pitch that we did today just prior to our match. You'd think this would leave an impression on a team. Not Force.
So the sting is still there, but I told Alyssa just before she went to bed - in two weeks you won't recall this pain. You'll only recall the great memories. Your joy at vacationing, of playing, of being a captain, of creating two goals with her intelligent play, of being a good team mate, and of being a good sport.
Gothia Cup is not a soccer tournament. It is a special special event that brings the youth of this world together in a truly amazing way.
My God has blessed me and my daughter with this experience. Many of you reading this have done the same through your support and generosity. I am so happy to have been given this chance to be here with my daughter.
As for Alyssa - she is determined to come back. Perhaps not with the same group, but she wants the challenge again.
Time will tell. But if it is our one and only time - it has been wonderful.
It is very late here on Thursday - the cars and motorcycles are racing down the street outside our apartment. Our street seems to be the drag strip for Gothenburg and I cannot understand why the police do not end it - especially since there are tons of youth walking around now that their tournament has ended.
We have 4 more days in Sweden before we fly home - we will watch a few more matches and do some touring... but I think the girls are ready to see California again. I just hate to tell them we fly into SFO...you know that airport near San Mateo.
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