Another tough match this week. Our last official defeat was exactly against them on April 14th, 2012 during SISAC tournament and I still remember that match. To spice it up this game, it was double points so whoever wins, get six points instead of 3 points.
I decided to give a vote of confidence to Greta so I was planning to start the match with her defending together with Katy. I was excited to give her the news but then she tells me she forgot her cleats at home. What?! Luckily she has wonderful parents and they were at Decathlon buying a new pair for her and miraculously they arrived before the match started. Lucky you, Greta! Marta still had the uncomfortable feeling on her hamstring but she told me was better than against YCIS. Franziska was already on her way to Whistler so my starting line up was: Bella (sadly in the gray uniform), Katy and Greta, Inês on the right wing, Louise as center midfield and Kyra left and Marta as striker.
From last year, I remember they had a very skilful player with platinum blonde hair which the girls told me she actually changed the color, so now it’s hard to spot her. I’ve noticed she was not playing and this definitely lower the passing skills ability for their team.
With 11 seconds of game, our first scaring situation; Kyra crashes with a German player and goes to the ground. That brief silence on our bench; did she hurt her head? what about her ankle? By the picture here, you can see that she was also a bit scared. 🙂 Luckily, all was all right.
The game went in a boring rhythm, with nothing really interesting happening from either side. At least we kept the ball most of the time in our offensive side of the field. This was thanks to our super strong defensive system with Greta playing well and our constant and solid defensive rock, Katy. As a matter of a fact, our first good chance was a ball that Greta anticipated the German player and “passed” to Marta. Their defender thought Marta would not be able to reach and slowed down. Poor her, she does not know Marta “Speedy Gonzalez” Casanovas. Marta not only got to the ball but also before the goalie. She shot and it was centimeters out from the goal. Great chance. But the audience did not have to wait for too long. At the 7th minute, Inês had a side throw from the right, Marta headed it backwards and goal! One thing needs to be said, if I counted assists from side-throws, Inês would have at least 5! It’s amazing how far she can throw that ball.
We started passing better but just missing the last pass before shooting. We kept the ball all the time at the offensive side of the field. Then the Germans started pressuring us, Katy found Marta in the center circle and with Marta there is no forgiveness; the trapped the ball, dribbled two at once and passed to Kyra who had just the trouble of pushing the ball inside the net. to whoever thinks (and that’s includes you, Kyra!) that this is an easy job, you are wrong! People can cross 320 times. If there is nobody in the box to push this ball in, we wouldn’t score! You are vital for this scheme. Whoever plays in the left side is the one who needs to be on that second post ready to push the ball in the net. 2 x 0 at 15 min.
Our way of play was a bit stuck, it was flowing nicely how it would normally do. Sometimes the game seemed like a pinball game with the ball hitting players and going everywhere. When we trapped it and started passing ,we had another chance with Marta around the 20th minute. On the 23rd minute the German School had a free kick very close to our box but guess what? Who has Bella, has nothing to worry about. She deflected it perfectly. If our game was not flowing, we can always count on corner kicks. Louise got a nice one that Hailey tried to score with her well-know navel-thrust, in the rebound, she shot high, far from the reach of the goalie. 3 x 0. Phoebe gave other speed level to the right side and still had a chance by the end of the first half but the goalie deflected.
I started the second half with Maddi together with Katy. The overall pace of the match slowed tremendously. We did not feel the urge to pressure with 3 x 0 on the score and the German team did not pressure us that much. It was a great chance to have everybody playing even in different positions. I asked Sinead for example to be more defensive than supporting the attack. With 46 minutes, Inês, once more, side-throw a ball to the box, Hailey hustled for it and score her second goal in the match, 4 x 0.
When nothing interesting in the attacking part of the field happens, we can observe how solid Katy is. No matter the size and strength of the player running towards her, she faces it fearlessly. I am hoping she does not get injured since she is a key player for our team. She is Bella’s right hand, pushing this ball away from defensive side to Louise, so she can distribute the game. By the way, this was the first time I saw Katy getting upset with the referee about a foul that she did not agree. Great spirit but never talk to the Referee. Let me know and I complain with him.
With 10 minutes to end the match, Inês got tired of serving side-throws so she decide to pass an amazing ball over the German defensive system to Kyra. Gorgeous pass that Kyra, once more extremely well positioned, just pushed inside the goal. 5 x 0.
We took advantage of the momentum and Marta was thinking that one goal for her was not enough. She got a nice pass from Inês from the left, cut to the right and shot a torpedo that hit the crossbar. She had another chance by the end of the match, very similar the one from YCIS where she was one on one with a defender, sprinted but this time the ball went out.
If Marta was not scoring, Bella was saving it. They had a free kick and once more Bella was there to securely save us. For now, only YCIS was able to score goal on us in this league.
Now, we will have a week off where I am hoping the girls will rest, have fun but keep in shape! We have two last matches coming up, against BISS Puxi (currently the #3 in the league) and SSIS. BISS was our first match this season and we won 8 x 0 here at home but we never know how things will be when we play there. If we lose, it will be a mess on the standings so let’s try to keep our impressive record of being undefeated in the league.
Goals: Hailey (2), Marta, Kyra (2)
Assists: Inês, Louise, Marta
MVP of the match: Katy
Bellatorum Invictum!