The time to say goodbye to our own pitch has come. This was the last match that this incredible team had played together at home. That was one of the reasons we also played with our red uniforms with our names on it, to celebrate this occasion. I thought a lot, knowing that SSIS is at the bottom of the table, if I should start with our strongest team or take advantage of our weak adversary and play with an alternative team, testing players in different positions. I decided for the first for one basic reason: it was the last time Marta, Katy and the captain Louise would play at home and specially to Louise I thought would be a very emotional moment. She had been with this team for three years and she saw the amazing evolution of the girls throughout this time. I wanted the give them the chance to shine for the last time here.

Everything went according to plan. Beautiful day, a large crowd cheering for us and, above all, us dominating the match. Be ready to have patience, 15 goals to address and some other highlights. If there is a match I can say the girls played the Jogo Bonito (Beautiful Game) this was the one. Everybody was near flawless! It was a perfect match to watch and we had a great audience watching. I am sure they left the match satisfied with what they saw.

We started the match in our regular speed, which is full throttle. With 13 seconds, Marta had already shot at goal after a nice pass from Kyra, who received a nice pass from Inês. That was what I most asked the girls; to pass constantly, non-stop. That was the match. Passing constantly and pressuring them non-stop. At 3 minutes, Louise got a corner kick and one of SSIS defender pushed the ball inside, 1 x 0 for us. At 7 minutes, Marta dribbled two and found Kyra all by herself on the second pole, ready to push that ball into the net; 2 x 0 SCIS. Two minutes later, it was the turn of our German Panzer to push the ball through the right and shoot at goal. Their goalie defended and Marta was there to push the ball inside; 3 x 0. I guess this scared SSIS and their goalie, under pressure, shot a goal kick at the worst place; on Marta’s feet, big mistake and 4 x 0. 15th minute, Inês, with her powerful side-throw found Marta in the box, the Lethal Weapon just let the ball bounce over her head to get on the other side and score our 5th goal, in 15 minutes.

At the 17th minute a special occasion! Franziska scored her first goal in the season! I was so happy to see my German Panzer back full force! She got a great assist from Inês and anticipated the goalie pushed to the net. 6 x 0. One minute later, was the first time Bella touched the ball and right after, Hailey got the ball from the right, pushed forward and passed to Franziska. She was not able to trap the ball but a SSIS defender paniked and pushed the ball inside their own goal; 7 x 0.

There is no questions that our corner kicks and side throws are powerful weapons; Katy got a side-throw what found Marta on the right side of the field. She calmly waited the ball bounce a couple of time and “pluft” (Inês style of describing things with sounds), pushed it inside the goal. 8 x 0 with 20 minutes in the clock. One minute later, Hailey tries a simple shot at the goal and violá; 9 x 0. After that, our team kind of slowed down, of course. Even our lost chances were beautiful. Inês shot a high ball from the midfield line and it fell centimeters of the crossbar. Would be an historical goal. At the 32th minute, our “Irish” Speedy found MartaMessi all alone and with a gorgeous pass served Marta’s fourth goal in the match, 10 x 0. Wait, there is more in the first half. After assisting, was now Sinead’s turn to score, thanks to a great assist from Louise that found Sinead on the right post waiting for the ball and with a ninja kick, pushed it inside the net. End of first half, 11 x 0.

I decided to start preparing the team for the next year so I kept Marta, Louise and Katy out of the beginning of second half. I also had Maddi as a goalie for the first time in the season. The formation was: Maddi, Kyra and Greta (two lefties defending!), Inês center midfield, Phoebe right and Suh-Young left. With three minutes I decided to let Bella play a bit as a defender, also her first time in the league. It’s great to see that Bella can be also a GREAT defender! She is a great leader, versatile and always happy. It’s an amazing asset to the team and everybody loves Bella!

We kept pressuring and Phoebe was playing amazingly well! She pushed from the right twice and dribbled the defenders but the SSIS goalie decided to make the best saves exactly when Phoebe was shooting. At 42 minutes into the match, Suh-Young threw the ball towards the goal, the Goalie touched it but did not hold and the ball went inside, 12 x 0 SCIS.

After this, we kept the pressure but did not convert our shots in goal. One of the SSIS player had a leg cramp and stayed laying down on the field for 3 to 4 minutes, slowing down the match. Maddi touched the ball on the 49th minute only and showed that she also have a powerful punt!

On the 60th minute, our Gymnast Defender shot a ball in the direction of their goal all the way from the midfield line and found Hail Gribble! With her Combative Smile, she greeted the goalie with a header into the net. 13 x 0.

With 10 minutes left, it was time to bring back the players that are leaving us this year so we had Katy, Marta and our Captain Louise back into the match. On the second time our Gentle Giant touched the ball, she connected from the goal directly to Marta, who between two defenders was able to push this ball inside the net. 14 x 0. Incredible assist from Maddi, her first in the season. We still had time to one more goal, thanks to the Versatile Portuguese with her “chica chica boom” style. She trapped the ball at midfield, dribble one, pushed forward and found our German Panzer in front of the goalie, who had the only trouble to push the ball inside the net. Done! 15 x 0, our highest score ever!

I cannot finish this post without addressing a masterpiece. At the last minute of the match, there was a moment of pure magic. Time probably even slowed down so we could appreciate what was happening. On a side throw to SSIS, close to our goal, Kyra deflected a ball, Katy got it inside our own goal box, pushed forward and passed to Marta at the center circle. Marta passed to her left side (she was facing our own goal) to Inês who with a magistral on the ground pass gave back to Marta, now already in SSIS defensive side, who also with a single touch passed to Franziska on the right, who also with a single touch passed back to Marta, now face to face with the goalie and then Marta…. SHOT ALL THE WAY BACK TO BARCELONA! My Goodness! Marta! How could you miss this goal!? Anyway, you have a little credit so now we are all even, ok? 😉 It was a gorgeous play that I already re-watched the video at least 8 times.

Now it’s time for the famous Pessôa’s tales before a tournament. 🙂

The league was flawless. We did way beyond anyone would expect. It was the first time that any player (and me!) in this team ever won the league. Two years ago we were the 4th!  Now we are the unquestionable first. All this does not mean anything tomorrow, during SISAC. If we lose a match, we are out. Matches will be shorter and now our team is the one to be beaten. Everybody will want to be the first one to defeat us in an official match.

I remember when I was a little boy back in Brazil, watching the world cup in the 80s. In Brazil, World Cup is almost a religious event. We decorate streets, buildings, get together to watch the matches and everything you can imagine that fanatics would do. I remember that someone would bring a TV to the building playground so everybody would watch the match together. Brazil had a dream team in the 80s with Zico (the best player I ever saw in action) Falcão, Sócrates, Júnior and etc. We used to say that they play by music and that watching Brazil play was not a football match but a spetacle. During that world cup, Brazil was destroying all the other teams. Everybody in the world was sure that Brazil woud be the champions of the world. For more than 10 years we did not have this honor so you can imagining how we were anticipating it. We got at the semifinals the fearsome Italy, very famous for their defensive system. Still, we were sure we could go to the finals because if the match ended tied, due to the best campaign, we would be finalists.

Brazil played very well but Italy desired more. The Italians played a perfect defensive system that held the Brazilians back and they had a striker in a blessed day. Paolo Rossi scored three goals that match. One of them was an impossible ball he shot in a angle where the ball passed between the goalie and the side post in a unbelievable place. The match ended 3 x 2 to Italy and destroyed the Brazilian spirit for years. We started to believe that to play the beautiful game was nice to watch but did not get us anywhere. We were only champions again 12 years later, in 94.

All this is to tell you that our reputation means nothing when we get into those four lines. We need to focus on how we play, and play every match as the match of our lives. Can we be SISAC champions? Oh yeah! Will we be? It depends of us, our mindset and the Football Gods. I trust in this team and a bit of superstition is more than welcomed so R2D2 will be there. 😉

Goals: Hailey (2), Marta (6), Kyra, Sinead, Franziska (2)
Assists: Inês, Louise, Marta, Sinead, Maddi, Greta, Franziska, Kyra
MVP of the match: Sinead

Bellatorum Invictum!