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!

Ok, let me recover my breath. I am almost dying here. What… a …match! I knew YCIS would come with the desire to beat us after our match at their home and they just had yesterday a match against German school where they won 2 x 0, surpassing us in points so the match today meant being the leader of the league. On our side, it was the first time we were playing with our new jerseys with our names and also, for the first time, we had all players ready to play but still Kyra would play for the first after two weeks and Franziska could play only 5 minutes. On top of that, yesterday during practice, Marta felt a discomfort on her hamstring, not allowing her to sprint as she normally does.

The match started with them pressuring us non-stop. YCIS has incredible players that would fit in any all-star team like their #9, #10 and #8. They know how to pass, dribble and they can shoot from anywhere. The first good chance in the game was actually ours, when Marta crossed close to the ground and Kyra shot with the right foot and hit her own left foot, if she did not had turned, maybe she could had scored on the rebound. Don’t fool yourself, the match would not be easy. Three minutes after, their #10 got a nice shot and Inês deflected, then #8 shot and this time Suh-Young deflected. They know how to make the ball run. Kyra kept pressuring from the left side but she got tired after such a long time inactive, without a real match. I subbed her for Phoebe. On the 13th minute Marta won against the giant #14 and crossed in front of the goal but Phoebe was a bit late. Not much later, we finally exchange some great passing so Louise found Phoebe inside the box, she dribble one, shot at the goal but the goal did not hold and Hailey, very opportunistic, with her now-famous navel thrust, pushed the ball inside. 1 x 0.

With the score against them, YCIS pushed even further, and on the 18th minute the name of the match started to work. YCIS #9 pushed forward and from the mid offensive field, shot a ball at our lower left corner of the goal. Our Black Spider flew, throwing herself and saved it! Again, on the 20th, she dove this time on the right corner. By that time, we already conceded 3 corner kicks, more than we ever conceived in the whole season! Pure pressure from YCIS.

On the 25th minute one moment that a coach can be proud of; Kyra got the ball at the midfield, passed to Marta on the left and opened to receive on the same left while Marta pushed to the middle. The pass was intercepted but Marta fought for the ball, recovered and from the right side, crossed to Kyra, alone in front of the goal. She had just to push the ball inside. 2 x 0 SCIS. Nothing of much relevancy happened after that. One scary moment was when Katy and their #10 fought for a ball in the air and I had the impression that both of then hit their heads against each other and the #10 fell flat on her back. Having Kyra in our team, concussion is always a fear that I have and today I did not have my concussion card with me (sorry Kyra!) but next match it will be available.

Second half started with a magical moment; Franziska playing for the first time in the season! It was soooooo good seeing her playing with her German spirit of never giving up. Still, she needs to improve her timing but I could see she is ready to fight for a sport in the team. It’s a pity she will not play against German school this Thursday.

Of course for the second half, with nothing to lose, they pressured us even more and we suffered a ridiculous goal. Ball lifted in our box, everybody kicking everywhere, and with two minutes, their scored, 2 x 1.

Until we got our head back IN the game (correct, Sinead?) took a while. With 10 minutes of the second half, Louise with a precious pass from precisely the central circle, found Kyra on the left. She trapped the ball, and shot a slow ball on the right corner. Kyra’s second goal on the match. What a great comeback! 3 x 1.

If you think it was over… Far from it! Their #10 is amazing! She saved a lost ball close to the side line, dribbled Marta, dribbled Suh-Young and found their #8 alone in the box, who shot and scored their 2nd goal. We were a bit unlucky because the ball passed right underneath Louise’s foot but still, #8 should never be alone. And 5 minutes later, their third goal in an über mistake from our team. I had Katy and Suh-Young one in front of the other. Why? No reason for that. Their tall #14 was in front of Bella exactly to distract her. Bella has to go AROUND her. Big mistake from our side and now the match is 3 x 3 with still 23 minutes to go. From now on, it’s nobody’s territory, anybody could win and believe me, YCIS tried it all to win. On the 54th minute of the match, their awesome #10 shot a ball from far away but it was very tricky, bouncing and Bella stretched herself all the way to save on the bottom left corner. Amazing! Wait, there is more.. .#10, again, shoots on the bottom right corner but we have the Black Spider, and she saves the day once more.

At 60 minutes we had our first solid chance after so much pressure. Inês lifted the ball and Marta was one-on-one with defender #7 and the goalie but she shot out, something that rarely she does.

With 10 minutes to end the match, I thought all was lost. Phoebe jumps to deflect the ball and by accident, touches it with her hand, on the edge of the box line. It was almost a penalty kick. Their #14 was forcing Bella to stay fixed and I shouted my lungs out asking Bella to be in front of her. That’s when our Swedish Wall, our Black Spider showed all her personality and skills. She placed three players one side of the goal and stayed on the other. Their #10 shot on Bella’s side and she got it! This was an omen! We were not destined to lose that match. Not only that, we were predestined to win! With two minutes to end the match, Inês finds Louise with a side throw. My Danish Brain, between two YCIS players, finds who? MartaMessi. Even not being in her best days, Marta will not miss two opportunities in a row so she decide to end the match in great style, she dribbles #12 between the legs and with the coolness that only a català guerrer could have, she waited the goalie to choose a side and shot gently on the other one. It was incredible! The audience were in frenzy! With two minutes in the watch, there was not much YCIS could do but to try to digest how that happened.

I have to say, in my three years coaching, this was the most wonderful match I ever watched. A beautiful game played from both sides. A match that no matter who would win, would be fair. YCIS has as very strong team and we need to keep an eye on them for the SISAC tournament and we are getting closer and closer to win the league for the first time in three years. Three matches to go and next; The German School!

Bellatorum Invictum!

Goals: Marta, Kyra (2), Hailey
Assists: Louise (2), Marta, Phoebe
MVP of the match: Bella

What an impressive presentation at home. For the first time we were playing with our red jersey at home and this seemed to boost our confidence and enhance our spirits. With no mercy rules preset we were ready to respect our adversary by playing our best from beginning to end and that’s what we did. Annoyed by the way defenders were approaching her when we played them last time, Marta had an extra motivation to “extrude her claws” and show her full striking potential. Actually, it did not take long for that. With 1:54 minute Marta was pushed when getting ready to strike. Foul in our favor, a bad wall setup by the goalie, 1 x 0 to us with two minutes into the match.

Be ready for an extensive post, after all, there were 12 goals in total. During warm up Phoebe felt some pain on her foot so I decided to start with Maddi defending together with Katy, moving Inês to the right wing while having Suh-Young on the left. Louise as middle and Marta as striker. I knew WISS does not have a fast team so Katy is the one giving the first combat while Maddi is our last woman defending, giving time to Katy to recover and help. I constantly switched Maddi and Greta and after every single match I can see them improving in their positioning and passing.

Back to the game; after 1 minute of our goal, Suh-Young recovers a ball in our offensive field and passed beautifully to Marta, who had only the trouble to push it inside the goal. 2×0. 6:43, their goalie passed a ball to Marta, which calmly dribbled a defender and shot. 3×0. At 7 minutes, our team shut down for a second, letting WISS play, and they got a shot but who have Bella as a goalie, don’t have to worry too much. Nice save from our Swedish Wall but this kind of mistake against a team like BISS Pudong or YCIS Px can be fatal. WISS kept pressuring until we had what I call a “direct call” from Bella to Marta. Bella got the ball, passed all the way from her box to Marta at the offensive field, the ball bounced twice, WISS goalie came out of the goal and Marta gently pushed the ball to the right side of the goal. Marta.. I mean, SCIS 4 x 0. Tired of reading the words “goal” and “Marta”? Well, there is more. 11:29 minutes, Inês with a brilliant side throw serves Marta who shots an indefensible ball. 5 x 0 .

We had an absurd number of corner kicks in the match. Total of 18 corners and on our 7th, Louise shot, Marta tried to trap the ball but it rolled a bit too far and a panicked defender shot it… To her own goal. 6 x 0. To rest my veteran Seniors, I assigned Inês to be the center midfield and Hailey as the striker. After two corner kicks, a ball was deflected and Inês shout a gorgeous chip shot over the goal, what we call in Brazil as a chapéu (hat) or lençol (sheet) because it “covered” the goalie. 7 x 0.

At the 28th minute of the first half their most dangerous chance. Katy lost her timing and their #9 was alone in front of Bella. With no other alternative, Katy pushed her. Luckily it was a few centimeters out of the box. Their best player, #10 shot off bounds. We kept the pressure but they had some counter-attacks, like at 31st minute when #10 dribbled Katy, passed to the middle and their #9 took a shot that Bella beautifully deflected. By this time, I was testing Louise as a striker and Marta as a center-midfield. It’s interesting to see how a player can adapt to their recurrent roles. Both of them can play well in different positions but not as good as their original ones. Louise has a good shot but  in the center midfield she is key to help the defenders and distribute the game while Marta struggles to defend, it’s not her strongest asset. Inês and Kyra are my most versatile players, able to play in virtually any position. Actually Kyra can brag about being able to play in every position since even as goalie she played this season.

Not much happened by the end of first half and beginning of second half, until on the 45th minute when Katy passed to Marta on our defensive side of the field and then Marta “Usain Bolt” sprint in a way that the Jamaican would be impressed, with #6 from WISS playing catch but in vain; 8 x 0. Her speed in this play was absurd. It was a burst of energy that probably left burnt tracks on the field, I have to check it afterwards. 🙂

Just so you guys don’t get bored or reading Marta’s name in this post, our own Gangnam Style, our Korean pride Suh-Young scored a goal after a gorgeous pass from our captain Louise. With this goal, Suh-Young broke the jinx of never scoring a goal whenever her boyfriend comes to watch a match. If this did not happen, I would not allow him to watch our match against YCIS next week. 🙂 9 x 0 SCIS.

On a corner kick at the 51st minute, Louise shot and a WISS defender pushed it inside their own goal. 10 x 0. And again, at the 53rd minute. Corner kicks seems to be a great asset of our team. We scored an incredible amount of 8 goals that were directly originated from corner kicks. 11 x 0.

With this score, the coach from WISS started asking the referee to end the match, which is against the established rules. Out of courtesy, he should had asked me if I agree or not which he did not. When we played against Hangzhou, their coach came to me and ask if it was ok to end the match and I agreed. What I don’t agree is someone forcing a situation that is not clearly established by the rule. He came to me shouting what are we learning from this. Well, “a lot” I answered. I was rotating players in different positions, I was training passes and so on. For me it was like a high level scrimmage so yes, we always have something to learn. As a matter of a fact, WISS also can take advantage of it. I learnt a lot after years losing to YCIS and BISS Pudong. Anyway, after some shouting back and forth I agreed upon ending the match but my team seemed not to agree that much so at the last corner kick, Louise shot, defenders deflected and Marta scored her seventh goal in the match, our 12th. I have to say I never saw Marta smiling so much in my life. 🙂

There is no question that the name of this match is our own MartaMessi but I need to be clear about something before I end my post. Marta is a great player and there is no question she is key for our campaign but Marta does not win the matches alone. If you only read this post and not all the site, you probably thinking that SCIS team is Marta + 12 but it’s not..It’s 12 + Marta or even better, 13 players. Before playing for SCIS Marta was playing for Rego where she did not have a strong team playing with her. Of course there were matches that Marta decided by herself (one of them, unfortunately, cost our League Title last year) but still, Rego was on the bottom part of the table in the league last year. If it’s not for Bella’s saves, Katy’s solid defence posture, Sinead’s sprints back and forth and Louise distributing the game, I doubt we would have such a successful season.

Let’s enjoy our success this week because next week is key! Vs. YCIS and German school at home. I wish I could take this rainy Sunday off but now it’s time to grade and write comments for Monday since I am way behind schedule due to Oliver! (amazing musical!) production. So Amazon warriors, enjoy the weekend off and full force next week!

Goals: Marta (7), Suh-Young (1), Inês (1)
Assists: Louise, Suh-Young
MVP of the match: Marta

Football and Oliver! Musical had it’s tow on my sanity. Eline Zhang went with us to film our match and when we came back, I am sure I transferred to my computer the footage but now I cannot find and I deleted all footage in the camera to open space to film the musical. I always use the footage to help me remember play-by-play so this match review will be a bit broad and please forgive me for that.

Not being rude, our west league have two levels of teams, in my opinion; the ones fighting for the title and the ones there to have more experience in the competition. The French team is on the borderline of both, being the top one of the rest of the teams. Besides SCIS, YCIS and German school are the teams that have solid chances of winning the league.

Back to the match itself. Besides being in such special day (March 21st) I was really concerned; it was the eve of IB Mock exam of Math. Both Marta and Louise had told me they would not be able to play that match due to this circumstance. French school only had lost exactly to YCIS and German school so we could not lose any points against them so giving up the skills and experience of those two girls was keeping me awake at night. I started to devise incredible plans to have at least Louise there, like optimizing to the time so they would be the least amount of time away from the books. We need to understand that besides this situation, Kyra and Franziska still out and Inês worries me a bit with her knee, specially since we had another match right the day after. After a lot of consideration Louise said she would meet us there at French school and Marta would play one half of the game. We had matches without Marta but losing Louise is a delicate situation since Louise, our captain, is the brain of the team. She put her mind and soul in the game and keeps the team always pushing forward. Little by little during this season I am training other players to play in the center midfield so our team keep consistency when the inevitable comes and Louise graduates.

The coach from the French school was very clever. Knowing our offensive power, he played with three defenders so Marta, our striker, was always surrounded by at least three players. I used to do that a lot in the past when our team was still being shaped. The way to go through a tough defensive system is passing the ball and we did that. Once more we keep most of the ball possession in our offensive field but this time we were not able to score goal. Believe me, just Marta alone shot 6 balls during the first half and Inês other 4 shots. Bella did not have any trouble but I was getting anxious because I saw the time running out and since traditionally Marta is our strongest attacking option, I was concerned that if we did not score a goal in the first half and Marta left for the second half, we could had ended the match in a tie. With five minutes to end the first half, Marta finally had the first chance to trap the ball, turn facing the goal and boom! Score! It was actually funny because during the break before the second half, the girls started pressuring Marta to stay, saying that only one goal was not enough, that she had to stay. With everybody asking ( I did not ask but I guess that my face was clearly telling that would be a great birthday present if she did), she decided to stay. A wise decision indeed that I will explain soon enough.

Even though we kept pressuring them, the French school had a very skilled player that did not play against us the first match because she was injured. She knows how to dribble and pass very well. When we got distracted a couple of times, she almost threaten our goal but who has Katy, Greta and Maddi defending, does not have to fear that much. By that time, Inês was playing as left wing. I am testing Inês in this position as a surprise alternative during matches since she has a great ball control and a good pass and in case of emergency, I can always move her back to defend. A real jack of all trades.

So after pressuring so much and having a dozen of corner kicks, Louise, with her traditional corner kick skills she crossed the ball and a French defender scored an own goal. With 2 x 0 on the scoreboard, we relaxed a little and the French team got disappointed. They even subbed their goalie to a player that barely knew what a goalie should do. Well, since this is not Marta’s problem, she had a great shot and scored our third goal.

Out of curiosity I was checking when was the last time we lost an official match and it was exactly the final match of the SISAC tournament so after the French school we completed 13 consecutive official matches without losing. Amazing!

I would like to publicly thank Marta and Louise for their effort to help the team and be present for this match. The whole team acknowledge and appreciate it.

Goals: Marta (2)
Assists: Suh-Young
MVP of the match: Senior Girls (Louise and Marta)

This Friday set exactly the middle of the season, our 6th match and also the first time we faced WISS since they are new in the league. Before the match per se, I received the information from WISS about the strength of our team asking for a form of mercy rule. It’s understandable the concern considering that originally they were supposed to be in D2 but there is not enough teams for that division. The problem that I have with this is the fact it was not stated in the beginning of the season. It was just stated after we won our first match by 8 x 0. I always tell my players to follow the rules to the letter and this goes exactly against it. Besides that, if you have Louise in your team, be ready because she will make sure that rules are enforced. I am getting tired that in every single match I am  the evil one calling rules. Ball size, match length, substitutions and etc. I am pickier than you can imagine. I want our team to be impeccable. You can ask Inês how unhappy I was when she forgot her socks and played with blue socks. My philosophy with the football team is to teach the athletes not only on how to play the game but also life skills; responsibility, competitiveness and adaptation and I try my best to use those skills in the season.

WISS has a beautiful campus with many fields. We played on a grass field which is great but it was patchy and the grass a bit tall, which slows down the game tremendously, which by the end is bad for our fast team. What annoyed me the most was the size of the goal. It was absurdly small. By the rules, item 10.1 “goal size is 8 feet high and 24 feet (8 yards) in width”. There is no way this goal has 2+ meters high or 7 meters across. Mikayla could almost touch both bars when spreading open her arms and giving one step to only to the side. I am aware that the goal size is proportional to the size of the field but the goal we played is almost the size of the goals we have on the sidelines. Just as a reference, I measured our goals here and they have 2 meters high and 5.2 meter across. With a goal so small, no matter how good we are, makes much harder to score.

The match itself. WISS is not as weak as we were led to believe. They may not have a top team but they know the basics. They know how to pass and to position and in my opinion they are not the weakest team in the league. Besides that some of the players were former Rego players and they had played with Marta. This actually was an issue that I will address later. We started with Mikayla, Kathy and Greta defending; Louise center midfield, Inês right, Phoebe left and Marta as striker. We started the game very slow. There was no flow in our plays even if we kept most of the time the ball in our attacking half. With 5 minutes WISS showed they were physical by pushing Inês to the ground. Our first goal came from our first passing situation. Suh-Young stole the ball right after a goal kick, passed to the middle to Louise that brilliantly passed to our Cristiana Ronalda. Inês just had the trouble to push the ball inside the goal. 1x 0 . Around the 15th minute, already with Sinead on Inês position at the right wing, we had a corner kick which Louise took it. She crossed to Marta to was not able to trap but Suh-Young was close enough to push it inside the goal. 2 x 0.

Mikayla touched the ball first time around the 18th minute when one of their players passed by Katy and almost shot but Mikayla was faster than her. Right after that, around the 18th minute their player #10 if I am not mistaken got Louise’s ankle from behind, receiving the yellow card. It was the first yellow card from the whole season. As a matter of a fact, throughout the whole match they were “biting” ankles, specially Marta’s. Maybe because some of them played with Marta, they imagined that this would stop her and by stopping her, would slow our team down. Was just Marta touching the ball, two players were on her. It annoyed her tremendously which is the utter mistake you want to do. This motivates her even more to give it all with no mercy at all. Around the 25th minute, WISS defenders deflected a ball, Marta trapped, passed to  Suh-Young, once more very opportunistic, shot at goal. 3 x 0.

Second half (both halves unfortunately were only 30 minutes, not 35 as the rules asks) Maddi was in as defender and Hailey was right wing. As a matter of a fact, Hailey passed a beautiful ball that Inês got so surprised that shot the ball all the way back to Portugal. Inês blamed on the wind, which was actually against the shot. 🙂 To make it up for that, at the 12th minute Inês had a throw in where she was able to throw all the way inside the goal box, it bounced in front of Marta but Hailey did not miss the opportunity, goal! 4 x 0 SCIS.

The 5th goal for me was one the best. Marta pressured a defender, stole the ball, passed to her right where Hailey was. She pushed forward, waited the goalie to come out and passed to Inês, who was alone, in front of the goal. Amazing teamwork! SCIS 5 x 0. After this is a succession of shots from Marta at the goal. If the goal was the correct size, Marta would had scored at least a couple of goals. One shot was so powerful that all the audience was wowing. Do not worry, MartaMessi, there are some days that the ball will simply not go in, no matter how many times we shoot.

The most dangerous moment we suffered was a long shot that hit our crossbar but Mikayla, our 8th grader goalie was there to save the day and recovered, saving it. After that, Marta kept shooting, WISS defending until the match ended.

It was a odd match. We won, did not suffer that much pressure but we all felt something was not right. I enjoyed seeing Greta starting and seeing Maddi being solid defending. Both knows how to position themselves in the field. Greta just needs to time better when she advances towards the ball and Maddi needs to be a bit faster recovering.

We still have 6 matches to go and even though we won our past 6 matches, if we lose a single one of the upcoming matches, we can lose the league. We still did not play against the German school and they are the current SISAC Tournament champions. YCIS have a very solid team. It’s important to remember that last year we also beat them at YCIS and they killed us playing at our home. We are on the right track. Next week, two more matches, against French school at French school and WISS at home.

Goals: Inês (2), Suh-Young (2), Hailey
Assists: Marta, Louise, Hailey
MVP of the match: Inês

What a beautiful day to play football. Sunny but not hot, pollution levels at “only” 180. Unfortunately the day started upsetting with the forfeit from Suzhou. It means we will not play against them this Thursday and we won the match by 3 x 0. It’s not the score or the winning. It’s the fact we did all the planning for the season and specially this week. On other hand, it’s good to have one less match in a week where we supposed to have three but we lost exactly a match that would be at home and where we were planning on giving Mikayla some playtime before Friday’s match, when she will be subbing for Bella, away for the ACAMIS swim.

Anyway, I was really anxious for the match today. We never saw French school playing before since it’s their first time in the league. Also, they only lost to the top teams (YCIS and German school) so I tried to think as much as possible on how we could approach better to this match. First of all, I wanted to fix the goal nets so it would bug less Bella by tying the base of it, keeping the back of the net away from her. Mrs Ni was kind enough to help us out with the jackets and they look AWESOME with our names on the back and front.

So, the match itself. They do have a nice team. I kept thinking it resembles actually our team in 2011. It’s a good team that needs more time playing together and enjoying the game. They did not bring any subs, or better saying, brought one but since one of their players got injured in the beginning of the match I guess, they did not have any substitution available.

We started with Bella, Katy, Inês, Louise, Phoebe, Suh-Young and Marta pressuring them since the beginning and as a matter of a fact, we pressured so much that Bella touched the ball first time at 11 minutes, and it was for a goal kick. By that time we already had more than 8 shots at goal and more than 3 corner kicks. As a matter of a fact, we had in the match 14 corner kicks, an insane number in a match like this. Well, it seemed that we needed Bella’s special touch to score our goal. After Bella goal kick we got a side throw, Inês with all her might threw it into the French box, a defender badly deflected and guess where the ball fell? Marta’s right foot and you all know, Marta’s right foot is lethal. And Sorry Inês, side throw does not count as a assist because the defender deflected it. 🙂

We kept pressuring and at the 14th minute Marta outran their defender and simply lift the ball over her to get on the other side. It’s important to say that the French defender was really tall. Beautiful play.

We kept the pressure even subbing players. As a matter of a fact, it was great to see Phoebe playing after getting injured last Friday but she felt some pain on her ankle so I quickly subbed her by Hailey and Suh-Young by Sinead. Every match I can see Sinead getting the grip of being a Varsity player. She is improving little by little. She is fast and she knows the game. She needs to improve her trapping and positioning. As soon as she get it, will be amazing to combine her speed, dedication and tactical behaviour. As a matter of a fact, the team was so solid in the midfield that Bella touched the ball for the second time only at the 24th minute and that was from a goal kick from the French goalie bounced of the field, not even a close risk. And like before, after Bella touches the ball, we score a goal. One thing that I like in Marta as a player is her will. She may not be the best defender we have but when she is upfront, she never gives up. A French defender fumbled so Marta pressured her, stole the ball and shot with no chance for the French goalie. 2 x 0. With this score, I pushed Inês to midfield and Greta felt for the first time (since against YCIS she was out most of the match due to an injury) the pressure of a good team attacking. I was very happy with her defensive behaviour and her unique acrobatic moves. She just need to work a bit better on her timing, sometimes she goes too fast towards the ball. At least against French school it did not compromised at all and actually gave a good security and worked fine with Katy, our lion there holding the French invasion.

Second half, a special moment. At the 13th minute, our Gentle Giant came into the game for the first time. After got injured during the Basketball season, it was the first time Maddi would play in an official match. She did beautifully! Solid defender, well positioned and with a great pass. We have now four super defenders; Katy, Inês, Greta and Maddi. And seems Maddi brought good luck to our team. She deflected a ball that Marta saved almost at the French corner kick area, passed back to Louise that shot a bouncing ball towards the goal. Suh-Young was standing in front of the goalie and kind of distracted her, making it harder to her to defend the shot. SCIS 3 x 0.

After this goal, it was a SCIS blitzkrieg; we shot more than 10 balls towards the French goal. Inês shot two beautiful high shots that their goalie defended. We kept this insane rhythm but the ball was not going in and that, believe it or not, started to stress our own team. I love this competitive spirt we have but I could clearly see in the face of my key players a bit of the frustration of not being able to score. Girls, we are good, we are one of the best teams in the league but you also have to enjoy the game. We made some mistakes but we were pure pressure the whole game.

At the last minute, in our 14th corner, Louise found Hailey in the box and Hail Gribble scored the Navel Thrust goal. Incredible.

I do not get tired of saying how solid this team is. Keep in mind that Kyra and Franziska are out so we will get even better. It’s very hard to pick a MVP this match since we played so well. In the case of today’s match, Marta scored two goals, performed some amazing dribbles and drove the French defenders crazy.

Goals: Marta (2), Louise, Hailey
Assists: Marta, Louise
MVP of the match: Marta

It was the first time we were playing on a real grass field. It was not in the best condition of  but at least did not have major holes but the ball was bouncing a lot.

We knew that the tendency would be an easy match for us considering that SSIS lost 3 matches before and won only one but it became a rather … obtuse match. First they started the game with a ball size 4 instead of 5. According the the SISAC regulations both boys and girls must play with ball number 5. Louise talked to the referee and we switched the ball. This was a major issue that I will address soon enough.

As soon as the game started, believe it or not, they shot first and it was actually a great shot, defended by Bella and even hit the side pole but a team that has a captain like Louise, can rest assure that things will be always under control. Louise got the ball and soon connected a counter attack together with Marta. At the third minute Kyra got a ball in the box , rotate and shot to score the first goal of the match.

Three minutes later, the play of the match. Bella got the ball, and with her hands, she threw at Marta, who was around the center of the field. She trapped the ball already dribbling a player, sprinted, dribble another, before shooting at the goal, dribble one more and booom! A goal that Messi would be proud of. Incredible! I am glad we film the match because this is a goal to watch over and over again on replay (I’ve already watched 3 times.. wait.. four times now). Credit also to Bella, that connected so fast the counter-attack. Also, in our favour the size of the goal boxes. It was 1/4 of the field! I never saw boxes so large.

The pressure was all ours. After the first ball in the beginning, Bella had no trouble whatsoever. They have a fast player, #23 but Katy was able to always anticipate her moves so it was not too dangerous. On minute 12, something very unique; we had a free kick in our favour and Louise passed to Marta inside the box. Their goalie started screaming, high pitch screams “get her! Get heeeeeer!!!”I know Marta can bring fear to defenders but never saw something like this. Of course there is a reason, two minutes later, Marta got the ball and there was no scream that would stop her, she shot with all her strength, 3 x 0 to us. Unfortunately I don’t get this goal on video because Maddi was so excited with the match that she forgot to film.

Things started going wrong on the minute 15. Louise passed a beautiful ball to Phoebe and when she was getting ready to shoot, their goalie came straight on Phoebe’s foot. Watching the video I can see that Phoebe was not even looking at the goalie. It was not her fault. Because of this, Phoebe hurt her foot and was out of the rest of the match. Their goalie also got injured on that play. The problem that I saw was that their coach took advantage of this and spent around 5-10 minutes talking to his team after their goalie was up.

At the 21st minute, a super scary moment. Kyra prepares to shoot at goal after a backheel pass from Marta and Kyra steps on a defender player’s foot and twists her ankle. At first, when I see her hitting the ground, I thought she hit her head. Kyra is a tough cookie, she would not complain if she was not in pain and I noticed her ankle was slightly swollen. One thing must be said about SSIS, their nurse was very professional, quickly brought ice, wrapped it around Phoebe and Kyra’s foot. Super high quality.

With the score in our favour, their goalie started to take ages to take the goal kick, more than 15 seconds when the rules are clearly says it’s 8 seconds to put the ball back in the game. As one more excuse, Marta took a powerful shot at goal on the 26th minute and I heard the goalie shout out of pain after deflecting it. I would say she was not used to the ball number 5, which is a bit heavier. Marta’s shot was strong but from what I saw, not even the strongest ones she can shoot. After that, if she was taking 15 seconds before, now was 20, 30 seconds and Louise started pointing it out to her. By the end of the first half Louise was telling me from far away that the girl was cursing non-stop and their goalie passed in front of our bench and shouted: “I can hear you b….”. Unacceptable! I told her to never talk to our players like this and I told her coach she cannot play anymore. I am very glad that SSIS coach is a reasonable person and he agreed with me. By the end of the match both coach and captain from SSIS came to apologize for her behaviour.

With a brand new goalie for the second half, nothing interesting happened until the 7th minute when Hailey shot from far away, the goalie deflected and took Suh-Young two shots to score. 4 x 0 .

With that score, I decided to test Inês as center midfield in case I have one day Louise cannot come to a match and I her as a Striker. It was a blessed decision because when SSIS got the ball to restart the match after the goal, Marta stole it, pushed a bit forward, passed to Louise and she scored our 5th goal.

Wait, there is more. Marta was getting bored with the match so she decided to spice it up a little bit by dribbling the same player 3 times and shoot to score her third goal, our sixth. She really honours that number 10 she uses on her back, like Pelé.

After that impressive performance, I took Marta out to rest, give some instructions and also to let the team get used to play without her, since there is a chance of her not playing against French school away. But that does not mean our team has no resources. If you were impressed by Marta dribbling skills, Louise did not want to stay behind; on the 17th minute she scored a corner Kick goal!! Besides organising the plays, Louise can be a GREAT striker too! A complete player. 7 x 0 for us.

Since the match became a show off of skills, Inês shoots a ball from really far away, close to the center circle and score a beautiful lob goal at the 20th minute of the second half. With 8 x 0 in the score, I pull Louise out and played with the possible team that will face the French school; Katy and Greta, Inês in the middle, Suh-Young and Sinead as the wings and Hailey as the striker. Unfortunately the referee ended the match 10 minutes earlier than supposed. Instead of playing 70 minutes like the rules says, we played less than 50 overall.

A great match for a solid team and if this team is solid, it’s in part for the solid captain we have. Today was a perfect situation to Louise lose her temper but the opposite; she showed the team that we are above any kind of provocation. Besides that, she helps the defenders, passes amazingly well and today scored two goals, one of them from the corner kick! Wow!

Next week two matches at home so let’s invite everybody we know to see our skills. Girls, you should be proud! Team 100% with an astonishing average of 7 goals per match! I never saw this before. What does this mean? Nothing! We still have to face strong teams like German school and YCIS again at home now. We are on the right track but nothing is won yet.

Goals: Kyra, Marta (3), Louise (2), Suh-Young, Inês
Assists: Marta (2)
MVP of the match: Louise

April 12, 2012. I will never forget this date. This was the day we lost SISAC league championship to YCIS playing at home by an embarrassing 5 x 2. For years YCIS was our nemesis on this side of the river and without any doubt together with the German school a true contender to the League Champion.

We played today with our possible full force. Maddi was dressed up to play for the first time. Well, kind of, she forgot her socks and cleats. Unfortunately after a little warm up, she started feeling her ankle. It was also amazing to see Franziska walking normally without crutches or even limping. In maybe three weeks we can have Franny back!

Thanks to Mrs. Nour (we love you!) we could have Marta and Louise since the beginning of the match and what a difference that made but more on thus you can read later in this post. Before the match we had an annoying issue. One of YCIS’ best player, their #10 was with a cast on her arm. I understand she wrapped a towel around it but it’s still very dangerous to other players. Imagine if accidentally she hits Kyra on the head with a cast? By rule you cannot play with anything that can put other players safety in risk. I thought it was a bit ironic that their #8 came to tell me to ask our team to go easy on her. I had to call Mr. Martin to talk to YCIS Athletic Director to address this situation. You can imagine how much now YCIS players hate me but the safety of my girls above all. #10 will have a chance to play against us March 28th anyway.

If YCIS needed a stimuli to beat us, I gave one on a silver platter. I told this to our girls and  we decide to play it as a championship final match. We started with Bella, Inês and Katy defending, Suh-Young on the right, Louise center and Kyra left. Marta was our striker. Right away we started putting as much pressure as possible on them. YCIS field is an awkward field. It’s wide and very short so a goalie punt can go all the way to the other box. On top of that, the goals are with a weird proportion. They are shorter and wider. Luckily my assistant coach Natasha was here and helped Bella warming up for that.

The game started very even, with both sides having good ball control. Even though we shot more at goal, the first 10 minutes both teams were showing why traditionally they are always on the top of the league. Everything changed at 11 minutes in the match when MartaMessi showed all her skills; she dribbled a defender and shot with no chance to the YCIS goalie. 1 x 0. Wait, have I said 11 minutes? To be precise, it was 11:02 minutes. This is important because at 11:57 minutes in the match, Marta recovered a ball in the middle, pushed to the right wing, shot a weak shot at the goal but the goalie did not hold. Guess what? Kyra was there just to push this ball in. 2 x 0.

At 13 minutes, a sad moment for sportsmanship. Number #2 of YCIS deflected a ball and it almost hit my head. #8 passed in front of me and said to #2 “You have to aim better”. It’s sad because when YCIS beat us 5 x 2 in our own field, none of our girls ever wished something bad to them. Anyway, must had been hard to her see her team losing 2 x 0 with 11 minutes.

Back to the match, something unprecedented happened. Due to the high level of pollution, we had to have a small break of 3 minutes after 15 minutes. In Brazil we sometimes have that due to the heat but I never had in one of my matches a “pollution break”. Back to the game, YCIS had their first shot at 21 minutes in the match and at 24, MartaMessi passed a ball that I would call a “please score” pass to Kyra. It was brilliant! And polite like Kyra is, she could not say no; SCIS 3 x 0. It was Kyra’s gift for me as a Teacher’s Appreciation gift. I loved it, Kyra!!!

At 25 minutes, bad things started to happen. Sinead go hit really hard on her face by a ball. It was unintentional but still, very painful. With her warrior spirit, she wanted to still play but her glasses were broken so she had to sit out for the rest of the match. At the 30 minute mark, their goalie got a ball, punted it almost our box and I don’t know why Inês stopped and their #8 only had the trouble to put the ball on the left side of Bella. First goal we suffered in the league. 3 x 1. And first half ended like this.

In the second half, did not take to long to SCIS to show why we are a good candidate to be one of the strongest teams in the league. Marta stole a ball from an YCIS player, spun on her left leg and with all her power shot a ball that was impossible to their goalie to defend. It was so powerful that Marta even lost her balance and fell. How she can put so much power in one shot? Insane! SCIS 4 x 1.

Don’t you guys think that our team is only Marta and Kyra. Hailey got in and drove YCIS defense crazy! Louise at 4 minutes shot an incredible “falling”shot that hit the cross bar and Hailey shot the bar again at the rebound. Besides that, Katy and Inês are solid defenders!

But you see, when we have a player like MartaMessi, it’s inevitable to speak her name frequently. At 8 minutes into the second half, Marta dribbled two and passed an incredible ball to Kyra score one more goal by just pushing the ball in the net. SCIS 5 x 1. Right after this goal, Greta pushed the ball to their field but unfortunately her pass was intercepted by YCIS who stroke a deadly counter attack. #8 sprinted with Inês (with was not 100% due to some knee pain) and she is extremely dangerous; shot the ball on the left side of Bella’s goal. SCIS 5 x 2. Seems that Greta was not having a good day after all since at the 13th minute she was hit really hard at the face by a ball and had to come out. Luckily I had with me an specialist in concussion so Kyra’s mother really monitored and helped as much as possible Greta. Thank you very much, Joan!

One thing that we need to be clear, YCIS’ goalie is really good! Don’t let be fooled by the scoreboard. We shot the incredible number of 69 balls towards her goal. Marta alone shot 33! Other player that shot a lot at goal was Kyra, with 11 shots, one of those, a beautiful high shot from the mid-offensive field, with no chance for the goalie. SCIS 6 x 2. On the 27th minute of the second half, Suh-Young lost an incredible goal. She was not in her best day, I guess she was distracted by something… Or better saying, by someone, isn’t that so, Suh-Young? 🙂

Wait, there is time for one more goal. At the 29th minute of the second half, Marta saved a ball that was going out of bounds and passed perfectly to Kyra. Once more, our #9 showed why traditionally this number is the top scorer and scored her fifth goal in this match. If I were Kyra, every time I would see Marta at school I would say “Thank You”.

It’s an amazing team. Not only Marta and Kyra but as a whole team it’s a winning team. Just see our team page to see how everybody participates. There is no starters and we would not win without a solid defence and without our Danish brain in the midfield. We are a top contender to the title. We may lose, it’s true but heck! Even Barcelona loses sometimes but when we play like today, it’s a show. Congrats girls! More to come, this Thursday!

Goals: Kyra (5), Marta (2)
Assists: Suh-Young, Kyra and Marta (3)
MVP of the match: Marta

Two hours in a bus to go, two hours in a bus to come back. This is the kind of match we don’t want to lose just for the stress to go there and come back. To add more “flavor” to this, Marta had just arrived from London and even though she was dying to play, she had to rest and Hailey got sick so both were out. Our squad have 9 players ready to give it all for another victory.

Like always, we started a bit slow. Our formation was our traditional 2x3x1 with Bella as goalie, Inês and Katy, right wing Suh-Young, Louise center and Phoebe occupying the left area of the field. Kyra was our striker. Even being slow, we kept the ball always at Suzhou’s half of the field. They were extremely defensive and the game became almost attack Vs defence.

So the inevitable happened around five minutes into the match. With our extreme pressure, Phoebe got a rebound inside the box and just had to push it inside the net. Phoebe’s first goal of the season and the first goal as an SCIS athlete!

Feeling the weight of our pressure, Suzhou girls started to give us more space and if you give space in the midfield, our captain will take advantage of it. Louise shot from a long distance and the goalie deflected to her own net. As a matter of a fact, Louise shot the astounding number of 13 shots throughout the whole match. Incredible!

The third goal is the controversial one. From the left, all by herself, Sinead, our beloved Freshman, received a great pass from Inês, and without trapping the ball had a nice shot on the right corner of the goal, no chance for the goalie. The problem is that Suzhou does not have net on the sides of the goal so the ball went through. To make things worse, the referee whistled the goal and the end of first half together and he forgot to take note of it. I’ve edited a short video with all the goals to appeal for it. Don’t worry Sinead! I am fighting for it!

With 3 x 0 on the scoreboard, I decided to be a bit daring. I moved Inês to be right wing. With that, Greta played almost the whole second half together with Katy and they dominated our defensive side. Katy is a GIANT defending and Greta did a good job on the left defensive side. After a little while as right wing, I moved Inês to center midfield to give a time out to Louise and Phoebe took the right wing. Inês was brilliant! She gave (once more) a perfect pass to Kyra. She had all the time in the world to trap and just with a soft push, score on the right side of the goal.

8 minutes after, Inês once more. After a little chaos inside Suzhou’s box, penalty kick! Inês get the ball and as Cristiano Ronaldo would do, shot a power ball on the ground, left side of the goalie. Viva Portugal!

Wait, there is more Inês! In a counter-attack, Inês pushed the ball and passed to Phoebe, who dribbled one defender and shot to score her second goal in the match and our 6th goal. Real Madrid has Ronaldo, we have Inês.

Bella touched the ball no more than 4 times throughout the whole match. Still she has to be tested against a team that constantly pressure us but even though this did not happen yet, the whole team feels that we still have a strong goalie there protecting us.

Two matches, two wins but a long road to be champions. Seems that we have the desire and the will to win, now we need to improve our skills and most of all, our stamina considering our numbers are limited. Girls, take care of yourselves and keep in shape! Season is just started. Two matches down, ten to go.

Special thanks to Natasha, who helped me today by warming up with Bella while the rest of the team was warming up. I hope she can help us during more practices and become the assistant coach. It all depends on her will to go to Dragons Cup! No pressure. 🙂

Goals: Phoebe (2), Inês, Kyra, Louise, Sinead
Assists: Inês (3)
MVP of the match: Inês

I had a deal with the girls; if we win well, we don’t have to practice early morning on Saturday and it seems they took it very seriously. I started with Bella; Inês and Katy defending;  Suh-Young, Louise and Marta midfield and Phoebe as a striker.

We started slow, giving even some space for their team to attack. Our first moment of pressure was with Marta at 5 minutes into from the right she tried to cross and the goalie threw for corner kick. Louise tried a corner kick and violà! Suh-Young scored the first goal of the season anticipating the goalie and just tapping inside.

With already Kyra and Hailey in the team, we started keeping the possession in BISS’s half of the pitch. In a counter-attack, these two pushed forward with Hailey, who shot one ball at the bar and Kyra got the rebound and scored the second goal. I have to confess that I was really happy to see Kyra playing and even scoring a goal after all the problems she had throughout this season. But wait, there is more to come…

At the 12th minute, Marta decided to show why she is MartaMessi. A beautiful “1-2” with Hailey, one passing to each other, Marta dribbled two and shot with no mercy a powerful ball. No chance for the goalie. SCIS 3 goals.

Around 20 minutes, Kyra asked to be subbed, she was not feeling well. This worried me a lot. I asked her to rest and see how she feels. During that time Sinead was already in the pitch playing on the right wing. I moved Hailey to the left and tested Marta as striker. Suh-Young, who just got into on Sinead’s place, pushed forward and shot on the lower right corner and scored her second goal. 4×0 at 27 minutes.

At 28 minutes, the first ball from BISS towards our goal and Bella easily deflected. Bella must thank a lot Katy, Greta and Inês. They made her life much easier but whenever we need, our Swedish Wall was there to protect us. At 31st minute, our Captain rested a bit, and I pulled Marta to midfield and placed Kyra as striker. In less than 2 minutes, Kyra had already shot twice at the goalie.

On the 32nd minute, I got scared. Their best player, the number 31 dribbled Inês, passed by Katy and shot at our goal but Bella was already there, so it was out. For a second I thought it was in.

I asked my players to keep the same pressure during the second half. I moved Inês to the middle and greta got in defending on the left and seems that my change worked fine. We had a free kick in front of the box and our own Cristiano Ronaldo (Inês) shot it perfectly over the wall but the goalie did not have a chance to hold it. This was with one minute and a half of the second half. Keep the score, 5 x 0.

Then it was one side match. For more than 10 minutes the ball did not cross to our half. Until after so much pressure, Kyra had a side throw, she threw it towards their goal and a defender scored an own goal.

At the 16th minute the moment of most tension in our team. Marta asks to be subbed, she was feeling like a pulled muscle after a sprint. Seems that it was just cramps but since we had a good difference, Phoebe got into her position and took care of the right side.

On the 22nd minute of the match, Kyra, playing left wing, gave a marvellous assist to Hailey, who trapped well the ball and scored her goal in the match. It was the 7th goal.

To close this wonderful first match of the season, Kyra got the ball from a BISS goal kick, had all the calmness in the world to trap it and shot it on the lower right corner. 8 x 0.

It was amazing playing with such a crowd supporting us. I never saw that many people here cheering for us and I am sure the girls are extremely happy with the support. Now Marta will go to England for college interviews (good luck, Marta!) so she is out from our match at Suzhou.

It’s a great start and I still keep the tradition of never losing my first match of the season. We have a lot of space to improve and I am sure those girls will give their best in this season.

Goals: Suh-Young (2), Kyra (2), Hailey, Marta, Inês
Assists: Louise, Hailey, Marta, Kyra
MVP of the match: Kyra