Horrible day. Rainy, gray, boring. The perfect day for our Glass Head to play football, according to her. The SISAC tournament this year will be hosted at SAS Puxi and a new thing (the first time in my four years coaching) boys and girls will play at the same school, which is cool so we can cheer for both teams.

Our first game of the day was scheduled to 10AM but since the boys had to play at 9AM, we had to be at school at 7:35AM so we could catch the bus. For me it was really good because I wanted to watch Dulwich play. It was the first time they were part of the SISAC tournament. Last year their were invited to ACAMIS at BISS Pudong because one of the original schools dropped out. I was also worried about the rain and how the field (real grass) would react to it. If you remember correctly, we had our match against SAS Puxi cancelled because of the rain, with the argument that there were too many puddles on it. I was extremely pleased with the quality of the field. It was supporting really well the rain and at least in the fields we played there was no puddle at all.

We were the first team that arrived at SAS. While most of my team went to watch the boys match, I went with some players to watch Dulwich playing against French School. It was interesting to see them facing a school with such a strong and physical game like the French School. I could notice that Dulwich could pass but nothing better than what we did. They seemed a bit faster though. Still, the French school was pressuring them constantly and Dulwich scored on a free kick.

Anyway, let’s talk about our match. We would play the 4th place of the East league, SMIC. First problem was the fact they played with the black uniform so our Swedish Black Spider had to change her uniform to the ugly gray one. Our starting lineup for this match: Bella, Mikayla, Tehillah, Inês, Alice, Kyra and Franziska.

I was stressed because if you lose the first match, all the chances from being champions are gone. Also, as crazy as I am, I really wanted us to complete two years without losing an official match. Last time was April 14th 2012. Besides that, there is always the pressure of the opening match. Well, if there was a pressure, Franziska solved it in the first minute. Under an annoying rain, after the kick-off we had a corner kick. Kyra took the corner, Franziska slightly changed the trajectory of the ball and goal! 1 x 0 SCIS .

Having 1 x 0 in the scoreboard gave all the calmness we need for this match. SMIC had one good player, their #9 who knew how to pass and had a good idea of the game. Wonder Alice was there taking care of her. We had right after another good corner kick that Kyra took and it was a good alternation between her and Inês.

We kept pressuring. Franziska fought for a ball on the right side of the field and made a nice cross to Kyra but she fumbled and actually even fell trying to shoot the ball (things that only happens to Kyra). Besides that, there was not much worthy of comment during first half. A couple of times SMIC had a counter-attack, arriving at our defensive system 2 or 3 against 2 but they were never able to shoot, thanks to the wall Mikayla+Tehillah.

The second half on the other hand, was full of scary moments. With 3 minutes, a SMIC defensive player shot a ball on Alva’s face (“thanks” Elliot for being in front of the camera so we cannot see) and her nose started to bleed. Then I did the most ridiculous thing; normally I alternate Alice and Alva on the same position. This time I had both on the field but wanting to find a replacement to Alva, I started shouting “Alice! Alice! Alice!” and getting angry because I could not find her on the bench. Of course not, she was already in the field! Kyra came to the rescue. I was happy to know later that was not any major problem with Alva.

At the 9th minute we missed an incredible chance. Wonder Alice from the right gives an amazing pass to Franziska. With only the goalie in front of her, she does not get a nice shot so the goalie deflects, on the rebound Inês but their goalie jumped like a cat on her feet. Then Franziska had another incredible chance 3 minutes later. She was all by herself, pushing forward with two defenders chasing her but she shot on the goalie.

With 18 minutes in the second half, the other spooky moment. Right after I asked Kyra if she was ok, she traps a ball and shoots outside and starts crying saying she can’t breath. This is something new, that never happened to our Headband Girl. She is simply gasping for air and cannot speak and cannot stop crying. Phoebe goes in and I ask Kyra to lay down on the grass and relax, calm down, to think about those beautiful equations from Math HL. That seemed to do the trick and she started to calm down.

With two minutes to end the match, another corner taken by Inês from the right, this time, Phoebe very smart gets a bad deflecting from SMIC defenders and pushed the ball into the goal. I am amazed how Phoebe gets into the game and always performs well! Against German school was a wonderful pass, now a goal. Wow, girl! 2 x 0 SCIS.  After that, I’ve substituted Inês, so she could rest and also because I wanted Franziska to work as center midfield. I am scared if (knock on wood) something happens to our Portuguese Brain, we don’t have another player for that spot.

I am happy because we kept the tradition of never losing the first match at a SISAC tournament. Now another tradition to be maintained; we always go to the finals of SISAC. The problem is, to achieve that, we need to beat our arch nemesis BISS Pudong. They won against YCIS Puxi 3 x 1 and will be our adversaries at the semifinals.

Goals:  Franziska, Phoebe
Assists:
MVP of the match: This match all the girls were on the same level but for her wonderful pass to Franziska and her combative spirit, our not-so-little Wonder Alice.