First match after the spring break it’s always tricky. We are out of shape after a long time of inactivity and being league champions already there is the natural relaxation and I freaked out when I discover on the eve of our match that BISS Puxi defeated the strong team from YCIS Puxi at YCIS by 7 x 5. Maybe they had new players? Maybe when we faced them it was the beginning of the season and they were not organize yet. Whatever reason it was, I was concerned and I asked the girls to really don’t consider a easy match.
With all players fit and ready to play, it was the first time this season that Franziska actually started a match. My German Panzer still have to get the game timing but she seems perfectly in shape for the game. The team that started was: Bella, Katy and Inês defending. Franziska right midfield, Louise center midfield and Kyra left. Marta as our striker.
Their field is very short (it’s the half of a regular 11 aside field) and have a weird goal box, curved that looks like a futsal/hockey goalie area, without the small box. Of course it took a while to us to get adapted to it but we kept playing our game, pressuring them on their defensive side until around 6:30 minutes, a goal kick was captured by Franziska, who assisted Marta and then it’s lethal; she dribbled a defender and shot ground level on the right side of the goal: 1 x 0.
On the 16th minute, BISS Puxi did the lethal mistake of passing the ball to the middle of their defensive field. Big mistake because Kyra was there. She trapped the ball, dribbled a defender and scored with her deadly left foot. 2 x 0.
On the 20th minute BISS had a solid chance. A bad deflection from Katy gave them an opportunity to be face-to-face against Bella but they shot out. As a matter of a fact our Defensive Rock was not in the best of days, missing challenges she would normally not miss and also not positioning herself so I subbed her for Greta. I am trying to give as much time in the field as possible to all of the players because I know that during tournaments this will not happen. During SISAC and ACAMIS the games will be shorter 22 minutes each half and there will no space to someone not focused in the match to do any mistakes and throwing someone in the field in the middle of a fierce and competitive game can be very risky.
That was it for the first half. We had some good chances with Hailey and Marta but the goalie saved it. For the second half I started Maddi as defender while moving Inês to the right wing. Seemed to be a wise decision because one minute Inês received a perfect pass from Maddi, who turned, dribbled a defender and saw Marta alone in the box. She brilliantly lifted the ball and Marta had only the trouble to push it into the net. It was a masterpiece! 3 x 0.
Not long after, at the 41th minute of the match, Inês finds Marta in the middle of the offensive field, our MartaMessi sprints, leave two defenders behind and scores her third goal, 4 x 0 SCIS. But seems that three was too less for MartaMessi. She was in our half of the field when she got the ball, dribbled two and scored our fifth goal. Right after Marta scoring that goal, I gave some rest to her and subbed her. I wanted to see Franziska as a striker. Right after the substitution, Sinead, our Speedy “Irish” was hit hard, hurting her knee. She kept playing for a bit but had to be subbed afterwards because it was indeed hurting a lot.
An interesting moment in the match was when the referee stopped the game because two of our players had bleeding knees, Sinead and our Swedish Black Spider Bella, after a great save. By FIFA rules, we cannot have bleeding athletes in the field. The problem was we did not have a nurse available. After 5 minutes of not knowing what to do, the referee restarted the match. As a matter of a fact, the only schools that I am aware have a nurse available during the matches are ours ( I guess she is in her office, at least) and was SSIS, which was lucky because that match was exactly when we had the injuries of Kyra and Phoebe. I hope everything is ok with Sinead for the match this Thursday.
I am a bit sad because this next match will be our last playing at home. This is such an amazing team to work with that I sincerely don’t want this season to be over so soon. 10 more matches to go.
Goals: Marta (4), Kyra
Assists: Inês (2), Franziska
MVP of the match: Marta
Bellatorum Invictum!