Congrats - you deserve it and so does LL

Bravo Mr Woods and Lil Tiger. There's a Spice Girl down the road.

Can we buy futures? It is awesome when kids realize the can do something well. Way to help it happen man.

Another week, a couple more games.

Lil Lookout's first game on saturday was for the club team and he was psyched. It overlapped with the last major outdoor tournament for the year, so it was going to be tricky fielding a team. Half of the kids from Lil Lookout's club team also played for the tournament team so they would be gone. The coach asked me to fill in for him and we arranged for enough players from the B team to show up so we'd have a full team to field. Unfortunately, some people have no concern for others and only 3 players, including Lil Lookout, showed up. We forfeited but in order to avoid a monetary fine I had to keep those three there and play a scrimmage against the other team. Their coach kindly provided me with a some players. Of course the players he loaned were horrible. And then he fielded his A team against our motley crew and ran rough shod over the kids. The parents from his own team were arguing with each other because it was just stupid out there. Lil Lookout was fit to be tied because the loaned players wouldn't pass and repeatedly gave the ball away. This was the first game in memory that Lil Lookout didn't score and he was furious. Although I was sympathetic dad, I think it was a good thing for him. He needs to realize that he can't score and win all the time. It also gave him a little extra fire for our next game. :)

On to our full time team's game

I knew our game would be hard fought because they are solid throughout their roster with two exceptional forwards. Their coach is INTENSE all the time. More so since he has very obviously been hitting the 'roids lately. Seriously, the guy went from my build to being cut like late '80's Stallone in 4 months. Healthy eating my ass. Anyway, to top things off my top defender and one of the better forwards were gone.

With only one sub I wasn't sure if my kids could stay in the game through the end so I decided to play hard defense early on and try to keep the score low then take it to them in the end. With that in mind I put LL in goal, my three strongest remaining defenders in back, a defensive midfielder, a central mid, and only one forward. For the first 20 minutes the other team just kept attacking over and over. My kids would block them and force them to shoot from outside, LL would collect the ball and punt it downfield and my forward would try to collect it and beat the two defenders and keeper. He wasn't able to score, but neither did they.

With 5 minutes left in the half the other team's forwards and midfielders were pretty frustrated and getting tired. I brought LL out of the goal, put one of my weaker players who was tired into the goal and told him to have fun and try to stop what he could. I moved my two defenders up to the front, my now tired forward into defense, and pushed LL and two others into midfield and told them to have at it.

After playing in front of our box for twenty minutes the other team was slow to respond to changes and it showed. My kids started moving and passing and kept the forward pressure on. LL slammed a distance shot in over the keeper. Then the other team scored 2 on us. We went in down 2-1, but my kids were still pretty fresh.

The second half started with our kickoff. LL rolled the ball back to our waiting defender who smashed it downfield where it was collected by one of our players who shot. The goalie deflected the ball right to LL who popped it in with his left foot. The battle was hardfought in midfield but in my mind my kids would win that battle because I teach and stress a five second rule. If they can't go to goal in five seconds they have to find and make a pass. Everyone is expected to step up and play or leave the field. The other team stresses getting the ball to the two star shooters who in turn only pass to each other.

The other team scored from a penalty kick after their star shooter fell down for the fourth time in two minutes and the other coach was screaming he'd been shoved. No, he was tired - but whatever.

Now we're going into the last ten minutes down one point. My kids are passing and moving and shooting but their keeper is denying them over and over again. Finally one of their kids fouled LL just outside and to the right of the Penalty Box. LL for once didn't try to kick through the wall, instead he lobbed it out and C volleyed it in. Now we're tied and still pressing hard. LL receives a pass right at the top of the box only to get hacked down from behind. Where most kids try to move the ball closer to the goal for a free kick he moved it back and then shot over the wall and out of the keeper's reach. That took the wind from the other team's sails. It didn't help them when their coach decided sarcasm was the best method to motivate them for the rest of the game.

From that point on my kids owned them. L, one of the little wallflowers stepped up and scored her first point of this season from a nice rebound shot. LL scored again and one other player did as well. Final score 7-3. The other coach was bitter and his players followed suit. Some of them didn't even shake hands. Whatever, our team enjoyed the win and went for pizza.

On the way out I did hear the other coach griping that there was no point in playing the game when my team has so much more skill than his. 1) Wrong, you play the game because you just never know. Ask Eli Manning. 2) Dude! You're saying that infront of your players - 3 of whom are your own sons. Show some class.

He got even more pissed when his wife told him he had to go congratulate LL on his game after I stopped to chat with his boys for a minute.

SIDENOTE:

Huge source of pleasure is my ongoing battle with a bitchy old grandmother. One of my little girls is a sweet kid who is just having fun in life. In all honesty she's never going to be an athlete and soccer isn't her forte, but she's having fun. I usually have to make her go on the field because she is perfectly happy just sitting with me on the bench and telling me all about her school week while I coach the rest of the team. Her mother knows this and is cool with it. The girl likes to be a part of the team and she does what I tell her to, she just isn't that great. Evil grandmother makes it very clear that granddaughter's lack of skill and motivation is a huge source of embarrasment for her. She wants the kid to quit playing. "Don't bother doing something you're no good at." Stupid bitch. Recently it looked like grandma was winning cuz the kid was talking about not playing next season. Mom asked me to talk to her so I sat them all down last week and asked her:

Do you like soccer? Yep
Do you like playing with your friends on the team? Uh huh
Do you feel like everyone here likes you? Oh yeah
Do you want to do something different for those two hours each week? No
Does it make you feel good when you make a pass or shoot and we get a goal? Oh yeah, *self conscious giggle*
Are you ever bored and wish you were doing something else? No

I told them to come back and talk to me if any of those answers change. Mom and daughter were very pleased. Grandma just glared at me and said "we'll see".

Saturday that girl stepped up and played all but five minutes of the game. While she didn't score she made some really vital interceptions and most likely kept at least two points off the board for the other team. Mother and Daughter were very very happy. Grandma can eat shit.

And that little girl can tell her children/grandchildren, she played on the team with LL before he turned pro.... and lavished his Dad with a posh lifestyle.

That sure would be nice. Of course, I'd be just as happy winning the powerball jackpot and spending the next 40 years taking LL and his kids to all the major soccer tournaments in the world. One or the other.

Dude, we've got enough of that attitude on our national team. I want LL to score and win every time he pulls on the red, white, and blue.

It was fun catching up on you guys, thanks for the updates. Way to go coach, and proud papa!! :notworthy

Eh, we're still a long way from being World Cup contenders but the new generation coming through is exciting. Adu (if he matures), Edu, Kleijsten, Altidore, Bradley, Feilhaber, and right behind them is another crop of awesome. The U-17 competitions in Florida recently were pretty awesome. We had a 13 year old playing when the USA completely pwned Brazil.

It will take time and a changing of the guard in the US. As long as we have people who think Eric Wynalda and Landon Donovan are great, we're pretty screwed.

This is America, man. We don't think anybody is great if they don't win.
Except the Cowboys.

pwned

Good find Griff. IIRC another Brazil player caught a red after the final whistle for some poor sportsmanship crap. Renkin, who was not quite 14 at the time was stellar. Jerome looks promising if he can learn to bring the team into his creativite play a bit more. Martinez is a good creative player as well. Edwards is a another in a tradition of quality american goalkeepers. The 2014 World Cup will still be too soon, but it'll be closer.

Unfortunately the problem with US soccer isn't the talent pool for the game, it is the mindset of the US soccer structure and the coaches. They're still stuck with the English game of the '80's. Rigid structure, bump and run, too much attention to structure and not enough emphasis on technique. IMO.

By comparison here is what our poor cousin to the south produces. Creativity. This is Carlos Vela, from Mexico, owned by Arsenal, playing in Spain on loan. Playing against Real Madrid, one of the top european clubs. Oh yeah, he's still a teenager too. He's in Red, playing mostly on the left.

And Fran Merida, Spanish, owned by Arsenal, also a teenager.