Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Not Very Beautiful Game

On Sunday, my team played a team that we matched up with pretty well...on paper. They had lost to a team that lost to a team we lost to (did that make sense?) so we thought that the game would be pretty even.

From the get-go, it appeared that we were wrong. The opposing team worked the ball all over the field, leaving us to watch and chase pass after pass until they set up goal-scoring chance after goal-scoring chance. In just a matter of minutes, the score was 1-0 after a well timed run got behind or defense to finish a one-on-one opportunity against our keeper. The rest of the first half was pretty much the same and we never really came close to scoring.

They figured out I was left footed early on, so every time I touched the ball, they forced me to the right. Normally I relish the opportunity to show them up with the right foot, but today all my efforts were as they expected - off target and lacking velocity.

At halftime, we felt lucky to only be down a goal and thought we might still have a chance. Our hope was all but lost after giving up a pathetic second goal a few minutes into the half. After a free kick was awarded to them at the top of the eighteen, they quickly played a pass to a wide open player in the box who calmly slotted it past our keeper. Our defenders just stood and watched, stunned by the clever play. After appealing to the ref that they were not ready, he reminded them that it didn't matter. Goal stands. 2-0.

The next few minutes were played without any sense of urgency as our team had pretty much given up. It wasn't until we were given a penalty kick for a handball in the box about ten minutes later. After losing rock, paper, scissors to take the kick, I watched our other forward confidently put it in the net. Probably for the best that I didn't take the kick. I grabbed the ball out of the net and we suddenly had a little momentum. We capitalized on that momentum about fifteen minutes from the end when our central midfielder put a cross to the back post from the right flank. After calling off the forward, the ball dropped near me and bounced up by my head. With the keeper charging out, I reached up and struck a low volley past him and into the net. 2-2. Momentum was ours.

Thinking we had a legitimate chance to win the game, our team began to play a little better. That was until their go-ahead goal. After our wall blocked a free kick near the top of the eighteen, one of their players collected the ball. He somehow dribbled past about five of our defenders to finish the goal, resulting in an over-the-top celebration complete with shirt over the head and thumb sucking. Damn.


That was pretty much the end of the game and a few minutes later it was official. This game was frustrating on many levels. Pretty much everyone on our team nagged at everyone else on the team. There were arguments among our players all over the field and no one really had room to talk. On top of that, we made their game-winning goal scorer look like Messi, the way he shredded our defense. To put it lightly, it was an embarrassing game and I have lost much of the confidence I had in our team. We'll see how things go next week...