How a day where you wake at 4:30AM can be a good day? Well, not by driving three hours by bus to Hangzhou. Still, we were all excited by the fact we would FINALLY play our first “official” friendly matches of the season. The problem was that we arrived at Hangzhou 9:20AM (25 minutes late since the bus driver got lost) and we would play only around 12:30PM. Kyra is still recovering from her super mild concussion, Phoebe had to travel to Japan with her family and Suh-Young disappeared. Lily came with us to help filming which was awesome dedication to the team considering she still recovering from the ankle injury.

Our first match was against the only team that we had lost a match last year so we were really eager to give our best to win. We watched them playing against Hangzhou and we could see their skilful #10 was still in the team. She was the one that last year scored the two goals of their team and made the difference. I reminded them that we could not feel accommodated by what we were watching against HIS. We did last year and we lost.

The starting lineup was: Bella as goalie, Mikayla and Tehillah defending, Inês center midfield, Alice on the left and Alva on the right midfield and Franziska as striker. We started pressuring since the beginning and I’ve asked Inês to take special attention on #10. We kept most of the control of the ball in the first ball but we were not shooting that much. Their #10 was trapped in a solid midfield defensive system where Inês, Mikayla and Tehillah were guarding her. Around 10 minutes into the first half she finally manages to break through our system but our happy Dutch defender came to rescue and stole the ball from her. Tehillah more and more shows good positioning and skills as defender.

Our first shot at the goal was with Inês one minute later and it went out of bounds but at least we started keeping the ball on the field. at 13 minutes a great counter-attack where Franziska pushed from the right and crossed to Alva. The passing in the midfield seems to be working fine between Inês, Alva and Franziska. Today Alice was having a hard time to adapt to the field and the ball was bouncing off her so she could not show her amazing ball control.

After insisting so much, finally we broke through their defensive system. Alva passed from the right to Franziska inside the box on the left side. She attracted the defenders and served Inês a perfect pass. With the inside part of her right foot, she shot a nice medium high ball on the right side of the goal. First goal of the season at 14 minutes of the first half. After the goal, not much happened. We kept much of the ball control and we ended the first half with Sinead on the left, Hailey on the right midfield and Greta defending with Mikayla.

We started the second half with the same team that finished the first. As soon as it started, Franziska got the ball and pushed forward but shot it out of bounds. This was our way of showing that we would keep pressuring, 1 goal was not enough. Also in our favour was the fact that their #10 did not return for the 2nd half. I think she was injured or something similar. Of course not having her, the ball control of SCIS Pudong was  not the same.

Hailey was constantly fighting for the ball in the offensive side of the field and had great chances. Franziska as distributing the ball both to Sinead and to Hailey as a pivot holding a defender but still we were not shooting enough at goal. Without shooting at goal, guess what? We will never score. Hailey was trying hard and she had three good opportunities and one of them was almost in the small box but the ball went over the crossbar. We need to practice ad-nauseam how to shoot using the inside part of the foot. I know it’s not as powerful but at least will go into the direction of the goal.

With Alva, Alice and Franziska back in the field, the pressure was on and then, our German Panzer finally decided to go full pressure individually on the defenders. After a Pudong throw in around the 45 minutes into the game, Mikayla deflected the ball and Franziska, with her super fashion fancy new cleats with stars and galaxies printed on it, forced her way between two defender and fought for a ball with the goalie and voilá; 2 x 0.

After that Franziska had one more good chance where their goalie defended well and Alva was all alone, pushed the ball forward but…. did not shoot. I cannot complain about the team. The second half it was virtually attackers vs defenders. Bella barely touched the ball and Pudong did not shoot a single ball at the goal so that means we did our job neutralising their attack. I am happy with the team and we are on the right track. In this match our German Panzer, or maybe called from now on Franny Skywalker (due to her fancy new cleats) was amazing!

Goals: Inês, Franziska
Assists: Franziska
MVP of the match: Franziska

P.S: I had only slept 3 hours from Friday to Saturday and now it’s 12:42AM Sunday and what kept me going were the hilarious comments and sing-along that Lily left on the video, while taping our matches. We all from the football team thanks Lily for her effort. Even with her sprained ankle she was there helping in the blistering cold and rainy day. Obrigado, Lily!

And the time had arrived. With some minor surprises, everything went as planned and here we are, playing our third consecutive ACAMIS Finals, all of them against BISS Pudong.We lost one, won the other. It’s time for the tie-breaker. Everybody was anxious about it, including myself. We still have some problems for finals; Marta and Franziska were still not in their best physical condition and Greta was in pain due to shin splints. On top of that, we had to play extra time in the semifinals and in the past I had a feeling we lost our two SISAC finals because we were tired.  The starting team was Bella, Kyra back as defender (it was her first position in the team), Inês and Katy, all defending, and Suh-Young, Louise and Hailey in the midfield. We played again the Hamburger formation and I had faith that since we practice it exactly against BISS Pudong in the previous morning, we would play it better.

Seems that I was right. With 1 minute, right after a corner kick, Suh-Young headed very close towards their goal. Still, both teams were not daring too much pushing forward and the game was slow. Slow but not boring. One minute later, we were again at their box, with another corner from Louise that crossed the whole box. For three minutes Pudong did not crossed the half line. Then they finally got close to our goal with their most lethal weapon; a side throw from their #7. She can throw this ball incredible distances! They had two throws but Kyra, Katy and Inês were rock solid defending. The problem was that BISS started “enjoying” the game and pushed forward and they had a good chance at the 6th minute where their #7 was in front of Bella but she shot out of bounds.

With 8 minutes it was time to change our formation from Hamburger to Frikadeller so our MartaMessi and German Panzer went to the field and drove BISS defensive players insane. And that’s what they did. Marta with her dribbles an holding the ball in the attack area while Franziska fighting for the ball on the right side of the field. Now we had the upper-hand in the game. For a while the fight was concentrated in the midfield but then Louise had a beautiful pass to Marta, who assisted Franziska that was alone facing the goal but unfortunately the ball was bouncing and the shot went off target.

No one had a clear chance after that but by the end of the first half BISS started putting some pressure on us but then the first half was over. In our talk in the halftime we were very focused. We are the current champions and they are respecting us so it’s time now to keep our game and push forward so either Marta or Franziska can score. Until the magic moment came: Side-throw from Inês to Marta who was pressured by a defender. Even though Marta could not sprint, she outran the defender, waited the goalie to come out of the goal and with a skill that we only see with the best players of this game, she gently pushed the ball through the right side of the goalie.  1 x 0 SCIS.

It was natural that BISS would push forward. After all, losing by 1 or losing by 10, makes no  difference. Still, we were rock solid defending. We still were pushing forward but most of the team were defending and since Marta could not sprint, was very hard to have a counter attack. Our goal was to keep the ball on their defensive side, with us if not shooting, at least holding the ball there. Marta still had a great chance around the 11th minute when she sprinted dribbling two of BISS players but the ball ran away from her and another chance when a ball was deflected in front of her with 5 minutes to end the match. At that moment in the match, we were actually putting pressure on them. For three minutes were us only attacking them.

On the other hand, last minute was the opposite. They were all in our defensive field, pressuring us non-stop but our system was flawless! They did not had any clear chance of goal and we were just waiting the match to be over. It was kind of ironic that this was the only match that the referee gave extra time so the match ended with extra 2 minutes. Still, this time we showed an amazing level of stamina. We were running if not more, at least the same that BISS was running. The inevitable final whistle came and there you go! Two consecutive ACAMIS championships. We may not be queens of the world, but for sure at least from Shanghai, for a year, we are. I am happy to say that I have a very small part in the goal. After all, I gave the ball to Inês before the side-throw so I kind of “assisted” her. 🙂

It’s hard to pick an MVP for this match because the team was brilliant! No mistakes. Yes, Marta scored the goal but the rest of the team was rock solid. So like last year, the MVP is the team in this case. The Triple Crown belongs to all of us.

BELLATORUM INVICTUM!

Goals: Marta
Assists:
MVP of the match: The twice-ACAMIS Champion Team

If I could choose an adversary for the semifinals, would not be Dulwich. They were the only team we tied. As a matter of a fact, they were the team we did not had scored a single goal in a match the whole season. I am not scared of them. I just wanted to face them in a regular 70 minutes match. Since to be champions we cannot choose our adversary, we got ready to face them. Their coach is very sympathetic and came to talk to me before the match saying it was a pleasure to play against us and was wishing already luck at the finals, even before our match against them. I told him that we need to wait for the match to be over but that showed me that all the pressure was on us. They were a JV team (with two or three players from their Varsity) and we were the current ACAMIS champions, undefeated until that point.

I decided to start with Bella, Inês and Katy defending, Kyra, Louise and Suh-Young midfield and Franziska as a striker. With three minutes Franziska dribbled two in the midfield and pushed forward but did not let her potent shot out so it was an easy save from their goalie. They had a free kick from their defensive side and when we recovered the ball, Louise pushed it forward, dribbled one in the midfield but passed too strong to Franziska. It would had been a great counter-attack. Even if we controlled more the ball, we were not shooting.

At the 12th minute an unique moment. Their player #15 tried a bicycle kick. The ball hit her shin so it was not a good one but still, it’s impressive to someone try this kind of move in such important match.

At the 13th minute, our best chance up to that moment. Kyra recovers the ball, held the pressure from #15 and passes beautifully to Franziska. Franziska sprinted, got the ball, calmly decided where to shoot but unfortunately hit the crossbar. So close! One minute later, our German Panzer once more got the ball, pushed forward and shot but this time, out. She was impossible! Our goal seemed to be on it’s way. After those to shots from Franziska, was time to have MartaMessi in the field. I moved Franziska to the wing to keep her momentum pressuring. We had 6 corners kicks in a row. On the last one, Louise shot towards the goal, a defender deflected on Marta’s feet and you guys know; ball in the box on Marta’s feet, goal. That was on the last minute of first half. After a whole half pressuring non-stop, we were finally rewarded! 1 x 0 SCIS.

I told the team at the break that we had one foot in the finals but we should score another goal to start rotating players so all could go fresh to the finals. We pressured non-stop the first half, I knew would be hard to do the same during the whole second half. And of course, the worst happened; Katy trapped a ball in our mid-defensive side. Their skilful #15 waited Katy make a decision. Instead of passing either to Kyra (on the left) or Inês (on the right), she tried to dribble. #15 got the ball, pushed to the side and crossed to the box. Bella was ready to get the ball but Inês tried to deflect it and by accident pushed inside our goal. This is to see that even the best, once in a lifetime makes mistakes. Inês and Katy are the best defenders we ever had in our team so who am I to be upset if they did one mistake? I told the whole team that nothing was lost. Shake it up, get the ball, it’s 0 x 0 again, let’s get our ticket to the finals!

Of course, this happening within the first minute of the second half, it was like a bucket of icy water thrown on our heads. We slowed our game down and they started pressuring but just a bit. Right after, Marta and Franziska had a good play and Franziska shot together with a Dulwich defender. I even thought that she may had hurt her ankle.

Then on the 27th minute, their #15 tried a bicycle kick again. This time close to our goal and it was a good one! Even the guys from our school were impressed. The ball went way over our cross bar but still, it was a beautiful shot.

With 10 minutes to end the match, I noticed Franziska extremely frustrated and I did not know why but she was not in her best mood. I subbed her and had a very important talk. She is a veteran in this team, playing with me and for SCIS for three years. She is one of the pillars and we need her strength, both physical and emotional. I told her I need her to take a deep breath, recompose herself and get back in the field because the team needed her. As an amazing athlete that she is, she took five minutes to be ready.

While my German Panzer was recovering, we kept pressuring and Inês showed all her might with an incredible slide tackle (fair one, on the ball) which connected to a brilliant counter-attack with Suh-Young and Marta. Suh-Young had everything to score but she took too long to trap the ball. I almost had a heart attack. She had the whole goal for herself but taking too long gave the goalie chance to recover.

They tried to counter-attack but our defence was solid and we still had some opportunities  with Kyra, Marta and now back in the field, Franziska.

Another heart-attack moment. On the last minute of the regular time, Dulwich shoots a ball all the way back on their defensive side. Their #15 sprints alone, Katy running by her side. Katy manages to touch the ball but fell, luckily the ball runs a little further than #15 could reach so gives time to Bella, as a black spider, to jump on her feet and avoid a possible goal. Wow! On the other hand, last 30 seconds, Franziska shoots from a distance and the ball goes over the crossbar. End of regular time and I see Dulwich players celebrating. They should. After all, our second tie in the season and both against them. But beware! We are not defeated.

My job in the quick talk we had after the match was to calm them down. I do something that they hate but I think it’s important, even for me to calm down; I count out loud very slowly until 10. I’ve told the team we were going to win. We needed only more 5 minutes for that (I did not know it would be two halves of 5 since during SISAC is only one). Worst case scenario, we practiced a lot penalty kicks. Our takers are (in this order) Inês, Katy and Kyra. Besides that, we have Bella and I was sure Bella would save the day.

Started the first half of the extra time and we were extremely calm and under control, which was great! We kept shooting but all shots were far from the goal. At least they did not have any shot at our goal during the first half and five minutes flew by! When we noticed, it was over already.

We had more five minutes to stamp our passport to the finals and oh my! I was getting worried. I trust my team but the pressure was tremendous! Marta was supposed to play only 20 minutes in total and she was playing already for 40 minutes. Some players I did not even subbed because I was worried of having someone coming in and in a moment of still adapting to the position, they come and score. I did not want to go for a “all or nothing” situation because I still believe we could win in the penalty kicks. We started passing well, finding our teammates in the right positions and our game started to flow normally. Still, they managed to have one shot against our goal but when you have Bella as a goalie, it’s nothing to worry about. Nothing was really happening until the magical moment arrived.

With two minutes to finish the extra time, we had a throw in. Inês, like always, was the one responsible for it. She tried to find Marta but a defender deflected it. Lucky as we are,  ball fell on the feet of our Danish Brain so Louise passed to the left, where Franziska and Kyra were. It was a great pass to Franziska but Kyra started shouting to Franziska “mine mine mine mine!”. The German Panzer instead of being selfish and shoot toward the goal, let the ball pass between her legs. Our Glass Head but with nerves of steel trapped the ball, tapped it a little forward and shot. OH MY GOD! GOAL! I never saw Kyra so happy in my life. As a matter of a fact, it was the biggest demonstration of how our team is united. EVERYBODY ran to hug Kyra, our heroine. I actually thought she was going to faint on the field.

After this unforgettable moment, we still had one more chance in a corner kick where the goalie fumbled and Franziska almost got a good header.

Oh my. I doubt that any other match would have such a level of adrenaline like this one. Now was time to the girls to rest as much as possible to face our rivals BISS Pudong at the finals.

Before closing this post, just some thoughts about a special player. My dear Glass Head, thank you very much for accepting my invitation to be part of this team! No concussion will ever take your skills and how you are loved by everybody in this team. “The Headband Girl” is here to stay and this match was the “cherry on the top” of all your brilliant performances throughout the season.

Goals: Marta, Kyra
Assists: Louise
MVP of the match: Kyra

What a horrible weather to play ball. Rained the whole night, it was cold and extremely wind and the field was muddy and soaked. On the other hand, if you are superstitious like me maybe it was an omen. Last year, last day of ACAMIS at Dalian was also very wet, dump and cold and we won the tournament. And believe me, I am VERY superstitious. This season during every match I was wearing my striped shirt (the only match I did not, we lost to SCIS Pudong at the Dragons Cup), I did not cut my hair the whole season and R2D2 still goes to the tournaments. As a matter of a fact, Inês almost sat on him freaked me out since in the past, for two times his leg was broken we ended up losing the finals.

BISS Beijing had lost all their matches up to our match and since the weather was terrible, it was a great excuse to give more time in the field to the players who hadn’t played that much and also rest the injured ones. So we started with Bella, Inês and Katy defending, Suh-Young, Louise and Kyra and Hailey as striker.

Due to the heavy and muddy field, we started in slow motion since the ball would always stops on the water puddles around the field, specially close to the center. Still, we pushed forward and stayed there until around the 8th minute when Louise lifted a ball towards the BISS Beijing goal and Hailey with a variant of the “navel thrust”, the “chest thrust”, score our goal. 1x 0 SCIS. If the game was slow before our goal, after it slowed even more and we started giving spaces to them. They had one player that was kind of a striker, staying in the middle and trying to sprint forward. Around the 16th minute, this player was finally able to pass through Katy and shot towards Bella that without much effort, held the ball. It’s very tricky for a goalie a shot in that weather conditions. The ball is extremely slippery but Bella is Bella and everything was ok. Louise was playing her best this match, holding the ball, passing perfectly and dictating the team’s rhythm.

Second half, I started with Greta and Katy, Phoebe on the right, Inês in the middle and Kyra on the left with Hailey as a striker. I wanted one more goal to relax and not suffer any surprise or stress. After all, we were only one point in front of BISS Pudong in the round robin.

We kept our pressure, shooting some balls from certain distance and always failing on the last pass or when trapping the ball. During the second half, started Greta’s show. With turf cleats, it was very hard for her to change directions quickly or to stop after sprinting so it was almost like “mud-skating”. Still, she was very combative in the midfield, trying to reduce the spaces for BISS Beijing. Around the 28th minute of the match, they had an incredible chance; Katy and Kyra went towards the same player, who passed to their #3 that was completely alone. Since Greta could not change directions fast, their #3 was able to shoot a high ball that hit our crossbar. A good goalie has to have luck too and Bella had this time. That’s why I always says 1 x 0 is an invitation to 1 x 1. We had to at least keep the ball in our offensive field.  By that time, Franziska was as a striker and she shot many balls at their goal but all a bit too high. Suh-Young and Sinead also had some good opportunities to score but with such a terrible weather, 1 x 0 seemed a good result. We saved energy and were ready for the semifinals, against Dulwich, the only team we tied in the whole season.

Goals: Hailey
Assists: Louise
MVP of the match: Louise

Last game of the day and we played against the guest team. Renaissance Hong Kong did not send a girls team so Dulwich was invited to send their JV team. Like I said in my previous post, this can be tricky. I was coaching JV volleyball team and we went to the finals so we must always respect those teams because they have nothing to lose.

We started playing Katy and Greta with Phoebe, Louise and Sinead as midfielders and Franziska as striker. Dulwich knowing we have a strong team, played all back, counting on a mistake from our team to counter attack. They are very physical and every time we got the ball, one player was on top of us forcing us to make a quick decision. Maybe we were tired, maybe accomodate after beating the great BISS Pudong but our game did not flow correctly. They did not shoot a single ball the first half but we also only shot one or two balls towards their goal. By the end of the first half Marta was in and they kept two defenders on her all the time.

For the second half, I had Inês as wing and kept Marta for the whole second half but for no effect. The ball never arrived perfectly to her. We pressured but we were always missing the last pass. To make things worst, they had a chance of one on one and they shot on our crossbar. This game was the first tie we had in the whole season. It’s a good lesson to a team that wants to be champions. We need to be calm when things does not work. Saturday will be a long and wet day, the last day of our season.

Goals:
Assists:
MVP of the match: Greta

Second match of the day now  versus BCIS. I decided to start with Greta defending with Katy and let Inês rest a bit. Also Franziska started as a striker so our team was Bella, Katy and Greta, Suh-Young right, Louise and Kyra left midfield and Franziska as a striker.

We pressured them non-stop. The ball simply never came in the direction of Bella the whole match. The problem was that BCIS stayed all back so it was really hard to score a goal. Franziska had some good chances but we did not shot towards the goal. They had a very physical player, their #10 that used her arms and body to protect the ball and this was enervating Louise a bit. We ended 1st half 0 x 0.

With a team that only defends, our job is to pass non-stop and have patience. They will make a mistake and we get into that space and score. I started the second half with the same team that finished the first; Bella, Katy and Greta, Suh-Young right, Louise center, Inês and Marta as a striker. After a lot of pressure, at the 5th minute of the second half Inês (that was playing as  right wing this time) passed beautifully to Marta who was inside the box and  had no trouble shooting at the left side of the goal. 1 x 0 SCIS.

Ahead in the score, we calmed down and started passing beautifully. Inês was impossible! Dribbling and passing marvellously. To give more playtime to Franziska so she got in on the right wing and Inês went back defending with Katy. At 14th minute of the second half, Franziska was fighting for a ball and shot really weak towards the goalie. The ball bounced really close to her hands making her fumble and let the ball go in. 2 x 0 SCIS. After that, we just let the time pass to end the match. Kyra still had time to miss an incredible goal after a succession of beautiful passes between Inês, Louise, Franziska, Marta. The ball bounced right before she shot and she did not get the precision she wanted.

Next match at 5 vs Dulwich College Shanghai. They were invited and it’s their JV team but still, we need to be 100% focused on winning. I have a story to tell about a JV boys volleyball team that was invited for an ACAMIS and ended up going to the finals. Have you ever heard this one? 🙂

Goals:  Marta, Franziska
Assists: Inês
MVP of the match: Inês

Today will be a tough day. Three matches in a row and the first one was against BISS Pudong. The sun is shining but it’s not that warm (14 degrees). I was happy to see that Franziska could walk and even play! Anyway she would not play against BISS because it will be a very physical match. I spent the whole night thinking on how we can play against the amazing team of BISS so I came up with a formation with two lines of three which the girls kindly baptised as the Hamburger formation. We would not have a fixed striker but one defensive line with Greta, Katy and Inês as a libero. On the left Kyra, Louise as center and Suh-Young as right wing. The idea of this formation is to recover the ball as fast as possible and rely upon Suh-young’s speed to push this ball forward.

When we were warming up, bad news. Kyra felt her knee and was not confident to sprint and asked to not start the match so Hailey started on the left wing.

The match started with much respect from both teams, analysing how each other plays. They have a player that can throw-in amazing distances! It’s incredible! Also, there was a HUGE crowd behind us cheering for them. We played all back giving all their defensive field to them to pass but very solid on our own defensive system. It was very risky from me to create a new formation but due to our injuries I felt it was necessary. My plan was to try like a Rocky Balboa tactic; let them keep trying to score, getting exhausted in the process and then when they are really tired, I would put Marta as a striker and try to get them off guard.

At the 11th minute, the shock. Their #8 got a ball from the side (Katy was on her), she quickly passed to their #7, who dribbled Greta and crossed as soon as Bella went out on her. Their tall #10 was super well positioned with Hailey being there trying to avoid and by accident pushed this ball inside . 0 x 1 BISS Pudong. If something could had be done, Inês should had kept following the play, to avoid #7 to cross but Bella tried to do this too so it’s hard to say.

What I love in this team is the spirit of never giving up. Get the ball, bring back to the center and let’s start a brand new match! I subbed Greta and put Marta as a striker. She cannot sprint too much so I asked her to dribble as much as possible to be in good position to shoot or being as a pivot and serve the others to shoot. We started pressuring now BISS Pudong on their half.

The change of formation caught BISS Pudong off guard and we kept the ball most of the time in their defensive field. I also think they have some injured players because they were substituted for the half of time. Until we were rewarded. At the last minute we were rewarded; Inês threw-in to Marta, who saw Louise moving to the middle and passed amazingly to her and Louise baaam! (like Inês would say). 1 x 1 and end of first match.

Second half we went back to Hamburger formation and at 2 minutes and a half of the second half, Suh-Young, our happy Korean, shot an incredible ball from the mid-offensive area an arc ball that almost went over the goalie and hit the crossbar. Hailey was a split second late otherwise she could had pushed that ball in. Suh-Young played an amazing match, always well positioned and she really deserved that goal.

After so much pressure, Inês took a side-throw, Suh-Young kicked and the ball bounced from a defender into our goal. 2 x 1 SCIS. BISS girls felted the goal and slowed down their plays. Also helping us holding back Greta was impeccable in the second half, holding the advances of BISS.

We were able to hold their pressure and five minutes to end, with Marta back in the field and Kyra being able to play with full confidence and strength, we were able even to bring some danger again to BISS goal. I did not want the girls to spend too much energy since we still have two more games today and three tomorrow so it was a great victory this match. It all depends on us to be first. Girls just had lunch now and went to watch the boys. Our next match is at 1:00PM vs Beijing City.

Goals:  Louise
Assists: Marta
MVP of the match: Suh-Young

The first day of our last tournament. Seven matches to end this unforgettable season and the anxiety that don’t  let me sleep. This tournament counts with six teams that plays against each other in a round robin. The top 4 teams goes to a semifinals and then we have the final match or the 3rd and 4th place.

We arrived at BISS Pudong around 11:30AM and at 1:00PM we had a modest open ceremony. The highlight of the ceremony was BISS Pudong HS Principal’s speech. It was funny how he made the point that our teams (from SCIS) were sitting on the first row. I hope it’s an omen! 🙂

Our first match was only at 3:00PM and was very cold and extremely windy. We started warming up 30 minutes before because in this tournament we will not have warmup time on the pitch, it will always be done before each match.

KAS is one of the three strongest teams in this tournament so we had to be really careful playing against them. The starting formation was Bella, Inês and Katy defending, Suh-Young, Louise and Kyra in the midfield and Franziska as a striker. Marta is still having problems with her hamstring so I decided to let her play 5 minutes at the end of each half.

The match itself was not problematic. As a matter of a fact, we played way below our normal standard. Passes were not flowing and we have lots of space in the defensive system. They never really shot a direct ball at Bella but they had many chances with players by themselves in front of our goalie. This against a stronger team will be fatal to us.

Luckily, we have our German Panzer! at 15 minutes of the first half, Franziska receives the ball from Suh-Young and, spun and shot a cannonball at KAS goal. The goalie tried more to protect herself than actually defend it. 1 x 0 SCIS.

Right after Franziska’s goal, I subbed her by Marta and told her to not force too much her leg. Just jog around our offensive field and dribble as much as she could, serving the other girls to shoot. But Marta is MartaMessi so the first ball she got, she dribble a defender and shot very softly on the left side of the goalie. I guess the goalie did not expect it and jumped a little late to catch. SCIS 2 x 0.

On the second half, we had a great chance with Inês starting a play, dribbling in the midfield, passing to Franziska who crossed to Phoebe, it was fairly close to the goal. Nothing much happened in the match with the exception a very saddening moment. At the beginning of the second half, Franzika twisted her ankle. Not like the one from Basketball ACAMIS but the other one. We started treating it right away but we don’t know if she will be able to play on Friday. I really hope is nothing serious. We really need her strength and power in the field.

Goals:  Marta, Franziska
Assists: Kyra, Suh-Young
MVP of the match: Franziska

I hate and love tournaments here in Shanghai. I love it because it’s a way to challenge us and to face new teams that we don’t see during the league. I hate because it’s not following the rules we have throughout the season. While during regular season we play a 70 minutes match (two 35 minutes halves), during SISAC and ACAMIS we play a 44 minutes matches. This forces us to adapt our gameplay for sure. At least it’s not only us but the whole league.

It was a beautiful and scary sunny day this Saturday. As a carioca (born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), I LOVED it. On the other hand, most of my players, specially the Americans, hated it! Too hot. I remember playing football at the beach, under a unmerciful sun shinning 37 degrees. It was either that or not play football and this is unacceptable to me. 🙂 Anyway, this Saturday the temperature was reaching 25-27 degrees. the hottest day of the season. The hottest day we played throughout the league had the temperature of 11-13 degrees and now we had to play three matches under that bright golden sun.

After finding a shade (not shadow, ok?) to leave our stuff, we watched a bit the match of SCIS Pudong versus BISS Puxi which was surprising well balanced. When we left to warm up, was still 0 x 0 (SCIS Pudong ended winning by 2 x 0).

MATCH #1  – Vs SAS Pudong

Playing on a grass field has it perks. The ball does not roll that easy and bounces much more, being tricky to trap it and control it. SAS started pressuring us and we had a hard time to get adapted to the field. I think the ball never spent so much time around our goal area during the league than this game. We had our first good chance at the 3rd minute at a corner kick. Marta shot without too much strength and it went on the left side of the goal. Again, at the 7th minute Marta had another good chance after a crossed pass from Louise. The ball was bouncing and Marta got it underneath it, sending it way above the goal.

What was driving me insane what how long their goalie was taking to put the ball back in the game. It was taking precious minutes. For example, after Marta’s shot, took her more than a minute. If she had to take that long for every goal kick, half of the game time would be wasted. Luckily we have in our supporting staff Doug “The Ball Fetcher” Gribble. Mr. Gribble started helping us to get the balls that were shot away so the game would be faster restarted.

From that moment on we kept the ball on the attacking zone. SAS was defending with all their players so it was hard to find a spot to shoot. We managed to get another shot, once more with MartaMessi around the 14th minute. One minute later Franziska pushed the ball forward and saw Marta free on the left but the pass was too strong. We kept the pressure but not finishing it and I was starting to get worried. Then at 18:30 my heart stopped; their number 20, from the defensive SAS side passed to the center midfield, Katy tried to pass to Hailey but someone was on her, the girl managed to pass to their number 16, who was behind Katy, totally free. Inês was too far away and Katy started chasing her. Inês was shoulder to shoulder with her so the SAS player pushed the ball forward. She did not counted we have the Swedish Black Spider! Bella did not think twice, she jumped on the player feet and grabbed the ball, no matter what risk it would have. Incredible! Scary also was when Hailey tried to pass but accidentally stepped on it and fell. An instantaneous flashback from ACAMIS last year, when she had a major ankle sprain, came to my mind. Luckily only her pride was slightly bruised. To increase the amount of gray hair I am discovering in my head, at the last minute of the first half our team started giving too much space; Louise was not blocking the middle of the field and their best player, #16 got the ball alone in the midfield and pushed forward. She dribbled Inês and on an amazing recover, Louise sprinted like the wind and was able to protect the ball so Bella could easy hold it.

For the second half we need to pressure more. We saw YCIS with their great team lose to SMIC at the penalty kicks after a 0 x 0 and BISS Pudong, one of the strongest teams on the league, was losing to German school. Losing this first match would be a debacle to our team. The balls were not arriving properly to Marta and we were not shooting enough. While we could not find space to shoot, their #16 was annoying our defensive system with her speed.

Nothing too relevant was happening. We were pressuring desperately and they were trying to pass to their #16 until on the 40th minute (four to end the match) Marta tries to trap a bouncing ball passed by Inês and it hits a defender’s arm, on the edge of the box, facing the goal. Free kick. I had in the field very good shooters like Louise, Marta and Inês. I don’t know why something told me that I had to choose Inês. She knows how to put some spin on the ball and also for the fact she speaks Portuguese, it was easier to give last-minute instructions. What I know is that our Versatile Portuguese saved the day! She put at the  left side where the goalie was not present. IT was a bit a mistake of the goalie because she was almost behind her wall. Suh-Young also with a ballet move distracted the player who could deflect the ball. The team celebrated so much! It was incredible!

Of course, after the goal with three minutes to go, we decided to slow down the game. I subbed the hero Inês by Franziska to give more physicality to the game. Suh-Young fought so much for a ball on the left side of the field and found a great pass to Marta but the ball ran a little too much and Marta was not able to shoot it before the goalie getting it. I also put Phoebe on the left wing with the only job of defending. Both teams being tired, we were a bit better organised and managed to hold the score. 1 x 0 and now one hour to rest for the Semi-Finals.

Goals: Inês
MVP of the match: Inês

MATCH # 2 – Vs German School

It was really surprising to face German School at the semi-finals. We were expecting, of course, to face our traditional rivals BISS Pudong.Their team is very good, they were playing at home and they are as experienced as we are. I haven’t watch their game but this was a reality check for us. If we had a fairly uneventful match against the German school here, we now should be ready to face a different “monster”.  Another motivation we had was the fact that the last match we lost was exactly against them, last year’s SISAC final match. This showed to be a great motivation.

What scared me the most was that Bella seemed a bit distracted in the match. With less than one minute, the German top player, former Platinum Blonde, shot a very weak shot that almost passed between Bella’s legs but like a cat, she recovered and got the ball before it actually got into the goal. Almost gave me a heart attack.

Luckily we counter-attacked one minute later. MartaMessi, alone face to face with the goalie, tried to dribble her but the ball went to far and she lost an incredible chance of scoring but knowing Marta, she never gives up so she kept fighting for the ball, recovered and delivered a bomb that hit the crossbar.

For the first time in the tournament we used our lethal weapon; the plays between MartaMessi and our Glass Head Girl Kyra. Inês throws in to Marta on the right, she dribbles one or two defenders and pass to Kyra on the second post who just pushes inside the net. We did it so much during the regular season that it became a trademark. 1 x 0 at 4:30 minutes.

We were playing so much better this match! Franziska had some great shots also from the right and the German goalie saved it. Marta served Louise an amazing ball also around the 12th minute but Louise’s shot was not the strongest one and once more the German goalie saved.

On the 14th minute Suh-Young recovers the ball on our defensive system and passes it Marta on the midfield line. She dribble two, is chased by three Germans, has the cold blood to drible the goalie and score the goal. Beautiful! 2 x 0 SCIS.

With this score and under the midday sun, I decided to start a fast rotation, to allow both everybody to play and also to rest all the players as much as possible. We slowed down, of course and the other adrenaline moment of the half was around the 20th, when their #8, their best player, once more shot at our goal, this time an arch shot from far and the ball hit bot the crossbar and the side post. Bella was definitely in a blessed day. All goalies besides being good, needs to have a bit of luck and for sure today was Bella’s day.

Second half I rested the “elders” and had Inês as center midfield while Hailey was the striker with Phoebe as the right wing and the Kyra on the left. Defending was our Gymnast Defender and our Defensive Rock. The Germans were giving us good space. I guess they were suffering as much as us due to the sun. They pressured us but not offering any risk and the match went on much like this. The riskier moment was when there were 3 minutes to end and a player pushed forward and shot from the right a powerful shot but this time our Swedish black (in this case, grey) spider defended with not much trouble. Right after it, it was our time to test their goalie once more, with Franziska shooting a cannonball from the right of the field, forcing the German goalie to do a good save. End of match and we are in the finals!

Goals:  Marta, Kyra
Assists: Marta
MVP of the match: Marta

MATCH # 3 – Vs SCIS Pudong

We only lost a match throughout the whole season between league and friendly matches and it was against SCIS Pudong during Dragons Cup so it was not a better time to have a rematch. Neutral field, finals of a tournament and we were ready to show that we recovered and we were finally ready to be SISAC Tournament Champions. For two years we reached the finals but lost it, first against Suzhou in 2011 and last year against German School. It was time to change this and we were ready for the battle.

They have a great team who also knows how to pass well and they have a great athlete, their #10. On our side we had a major problem. Our top scorer was in pain. MartaMessi was feeling an extremely uncomfortable pain on her right hamstring, limiting her deadly sprints. Also I could see that the heat was taking it’s toll on our team and everybody was tired. Anyway, there was not much I could do about the heat but what I could to as a coach was to organize the team the best way possible to optimise our skill set. I was clear to the girls during the talking before the match that it is our year. I call them BELLATORUM INVICTUM for a reason and it was up to them to show me I was right.

We started the match with Bella, Inês and Katy. Suh-Young, Louise and Kyra and Franziska as a striker. I wanted to rest Marta as much as possible and only use her when the other team would be slower due to tiredness so she did not have to sprint that much. It was full speed and we have the first major scary moment at 1:30 minutes; fighting for a ball with #10, Katy got the air knocked out of her. I know how painful it is so I had to sub her right away. Greta got in and did a great job, considering the importance of this match.

We kept pressuring with Franziska, Kyra and Louise, alternating good shots in the beginning of the match. On the 8th minute they had a great chance in front of our box but our defenders timely blocked their two consecutive shots. With Katy back in the pitch, her job was to keep an eye at their #10. She is super fast and skilful but seems to have a bit of an attitude. Before when she clashed with Katy, she did not apologised and around the 15th minute when fighting for a ball with Katy again and carrying it with her hand, she literally spun around and shout at the referee.

Then something started to annoy me incredibly. Their coaches were walking all the side lines length, including standing and passing my bench. Besides that, their team was all standing up at the sidelines. I know I am very picky about the rules but this is unacceptable  The players standing can be extremely distracting to our team, since if you glance to one side, you are not sure who is bench or who is playing and an adversary coach standing in front of our bench does not allow me to give instructions to my team. This caused a heated argument between me and one of their coaches which unfortunately did not allow me to see Marta’s goal. Luckily this team has Chris Tse, our amazing (and patient) cinematographer so I can tell you from the video. On the 15:30th minute Kyra passed the ball on the left to Marta, she dribbled one while moving towards the goal and with a touch that seemed as simple as stealing a lollipop from a baby, she gently pushed the ball between the goalie and the left bar.

After our goal, Pudong seemed to feel it and slowed down for a bit, allowing a couple of good counter-attacks but it did not result in a goal. With 5 minutes to end the first half, all I asked the girls was to pay most attention to their #10. She is their playmaker and also lethal if she gets the ball facing the goal.

I started the second half keeping Suh-Young on the left and Hailey on the right. I needed speed on the wings since the #10 was falling on both sides of the field and we had to be ready to cover it up. On the 3rd minute of the second half they had the best chance of the game. Their #5 was alone, in front of Bella. To our luck, she was not able to trap it correctly and Bella, like a black panther, jumped toward her feet to avoid a possible shot. Incredible!

We had also an incredible chance on the 27th minute during a corner-kick. Like always Louise got it and now she found Marta. With her back to the goal, she simply flicked it back and the ball went millimetres from the left post. It was incredible. Almost right after that, I took Marta out to rest her and have her back on the last 5 minutes of the match so she could keep the ball in our offensive side by the end of the match. The battle between #10 and Katy was non-stop and neither seemed to be willing to give up. with 12 minutes to end the match, Franziska got a ball on the defensive side and pushed it forward by herself until when trying to shoot, she hit more the ground than the ball which hurt her ankle so I had to pull her out. With 5 minutes to end the match, on round twenty-something of the battle Katy Vs #10, she pulled #10’s shirt. With the freekick, they almost score a goal, shooting above the crossbar. We really need to be careful with this for ACAMIS, to avoid a similar situation.

With 3 minutes and a half to end the match, Marta went back in. One minute late, Inês had a beautiful pass to Marta, she trapped and she opened to her right leg, like she normally does but when she was going to shoot, one of SCIS defenders slightly touched the ball so Marta kicked air, with her injured leg stretching too much. I could see the pain in her face. At the same play, Pudong organized a counter-attack guess with whom? #10 but Katy was there. In a shoulder-to-shoulder situation, #10 went to the ground and Katy, like only her would do it, stopped to run and offered a hand to #10 to stand up. #10 not only refused the hand but stood up and ran to get the ball, that was still in play (the referee did not call anything on this), Katy went towards the same ball and #10 pushed Katy from her back completely intentionally. Besides that what was driving me insane was the fact I was calling the referee of the top of my lungs to sub Marta and he was not listening to me. She could not even walk anymore. We still had a good chance with Franziska (yes, was not so serious the injury, thanks god!) passing to Hailey on the last minute.

Game over. Hongqiao Champions! It’s a tournament that nobody in this team ever won before. We showed a certain level of skills (still below of our normal set) but a lot of courage and heart. We are a solid team, with one goal in our minds, the triple crown. Girls, let’s enjoy the great international dinner tonight and celebrate. Monday, we start to prepare for our last challenge: ACAMIS. We can do it and let’s do justice to our motto: BELLATORUM INVICTUM!

Goals: Marta
MVP of the match:
Just a quick note here. Of course the whole team deserves credit when we conquer something so important as a tournament but some players exceeds what is expected from them. My Defensive Rock Katy was a lioness defending during this tournament. She was barely substituted even with the inclement heat and she never gave up. She can be pushed around, have the wind knocked out of her but she will always rise to the next challenge, ready to protect Bella and pass to our midfielders. The team will miss you a lot next year. Katy, you are rock solid! Be ready for the ACAMIS Challenge! 😉