International United Cracks an Acorn to Start Season with a Flair
On a hot San Francisco September Saturday, we started our season in grand style, with a dominating display against the PSC Oak St. Boys. Yes, that very team that had commandeered our joint International gym for their tryouts! We were a little startled as we began eyeing the other team, slowly realizing that our opponents had only 6 players. But our boys weren’t fazed at all! They quickly took advantage, and it was 2-0 before your befuddled coaching staff hauled off 2 of our players to even it up. With passes from Matthew, John, and Graham, Jonathan made a move and ran past the last two defenders. Then he broke open in the penalty area, and launched a quick shot high to the left side of the net for the first tally. Barely a minute later, Elijah Kai got the ball from Ian and John, drove his way past the defence, and sent the ball high to the open right side of the net: 2-0.
It was disappointing, but we felt we should play down 2 players. This meant that our players had 25% less playing time than in a fully-rostered game, and it necessitated juggling the lineup in ways we hadn’t planned. In the 6 v 6 game, things became more competitive, but play remained in the Oak St. end most of the time. Time and time again, our players were quicker to the ball, thwarting Oak St. advances and enabling our own attacks. It was gratifying to see how often our players would start an attack, heads up, look around for teammates, and make a good decision about passing or dribbling. And what good passes! Often holding the ball until the defender made a move or committed himself, they were able to get off effective passes that led to many shots on goal, over 30 in total.
After several drives and sizzling shots that just missed the mark, Jonathan pounced on a high bouncing punt, controlled it, and waltzed in on the hapless goalkeeper. Before the half was over, Jonathan tallied his third on a great passing setup from John, Tyler, and Ian.
All this time, the defence was rock solid and started many plays with good passes to our midfielders. Oak St. seldom penetrated our end, and was constantly frustrated by our stalwart defenders Stirling, Matthew, Steven, Ian, William. And a good thing, too. On those few occasions when they did reach our area, they launched a couple very tough shots that hit the cross bar. Midfielders played very consistently, tirelessly running up and down the field, stopping attacks, stealing the ball, and starting attacks by dribbling or passing it to teammates down field.
In the second half, Oak St. came out with renewed energy. They played courageously without a substitute. Their goalkeeper made numerous excellent saves on hard shots from John, Graham, Ian, Erik, Tyler, and others, including deflections of balls that were just under the crossbar. We continued to press the play into their end. Many of our shots were close to the goal, including posts and crossbars. Oak St. found their best attack was a long high punt by their goalkeeper. One punt bounced over our defenders, and got to their now-open forward, who tapped it up to the top of our net for their only score.
Our midfielders continued to apply pressure, running a lot, and moving and passing the ball well. We had several exciting corner kicks. Jonathan almost gave Patrice a late birthday gift when he got his head on a well-placed loft from Ian, but knocked it high over the net. A throw-in to Jonathan close to the goal-line gave him a great opening, and he curled a shot into the top right corner. The referee disallowed that score, ruling that Jonathan had, “moved offside after the corner kick.” (Or was it a throw-in? We didn’t see the offside from the sidelines, nor did the boys on the pitch.) A lesson learned: shake off a puzzling call, and keep playing hard.
Our final score came from a nice series of passes from Ian, Tyler and Erik that put Jonathan in the clear. He raced past the last defender, shooting it home with a hard quick kick that paralyzed the keeper.
I really liked the way the boys, especially the defenders, were thoughtful in kicking the ball, not just getting rid of it, but usually passing to, or near, a teammate. Yes, well done! You can’t win them all, but our players showed great confidence attacking or defending. Whether dribbling or challenging, they seemed to think they would prevail. We won by far more than our share of the 1v1 confrontations. Many plays were started right from a defensive interception.
The hustle our boys showed was a key to their effective play. In particular, Jonathan dashed after al loose balls and openings fearlessly and successfully. Even near the end of the game, when the outcome was not in doubt, Tyler raced across the width of the field on several occasions to keep a ball in play and gain his team another shot. Effort like this, displayed by all, makes a coach’s heart glad.
Frankly, the passing, the talking and communication, the thoughtful play selection, were all very good. We didn’t teach this to them in 2 weeks -- we have to thank their former coaches, (bravi Keith, Laurent, Joel, Nicolas!) their parents , and the work of the boys themselves -- they obviously learned a lot before they came our way. Wasn’t it surprising how much they actually looked like a team out there? Pretty good for a new group of kids in their first league game.
Yes, we have few things to work on: fast pursuit of the ball at all times, instead of waiting for the ball to reach the player; more accurate and faster shooting; even better passing; running down high bouncers; marking the attackers from behind. But all in all, it was a great beginning!
The fact that all the players wanted to be out there playing every rotation, even in the heat, is what we had wanted to see from this group: desire, commitment, and effort. What I think they may be starting to realize about International United, and Upper House, is that every player on their team is strong, and they can rely on every team member. That is why we chose these players, and it means a new way of playing -- all strong individuals playing together as a real team. We hope this is fun and exciting for the boys. (Maybe for the parents, too.) I think it will be fun to watch their development over the next year, and beyond.
After our next game we are likely to find much stiffer opposition. Most of the other teams are established teams which have played together and performed at the top of the Vikings leagues in past seasons, and which may have added some strong players, too.
Fitness expert and personal trainer Marieke Blazeski is conducting our Monday practices and has started to work our boys into shape. Monday sessions will also include ball handling skills. Marieke is a player herself, with the semi-pro SF Nighthawks, and a U12 girls' team head soccer coach. We’ll try to start warming up around 4:15, and take the field from 4:30 P.M – 5:30 P.M. We’ll plan to stop then, so the boys can get a good start on their homework for the week. Friday practices will last until 6:30 P.M. while we have Daylight Savings Time.
Our next game is Sat. Sept. 20th 11:30 A.M. at South Sunset, with the Town Tigers. Thanks for getting out early for the first game. Please keep it up.
Linescore:
International United 4 - 1 -- 5
PSC Oak St. Boys 0 - 1 -- 1
Scoring (as best as we can reconstruct:)
2nd minute: Jonathan (1) (Matthew, John, Graham)
3rd minute: Elijah Kai (1) (John, Ian)
16th: Jonathan (2) (unassisted)
22nd: Jonathan (3) (Ian, Tyler, Erik)
35th: Oak St. (goal punt to open forward)
42nd: Jonathan (4) (Ian, John, Kai)
That’s all for now, folks.
Daryl
Please check out the International United team website for all information and updates:
http://www.patricetaffin.com/soccer
