LAKEHILL 1 - BAYS UNITED 2 (Oct.16/2010)

La Máquina giving each other some encouragement (I could cry!) - click photo to enlarge -

Well boys this one was a good learning experience for us. Although our second goal did (technically) count and the score would have been a tie we must be aware that officials at this level are often not  aware of the more complicated rules of the game. Bad calls will, from time to time, be made. The fact is that Selou was indeed offside (and that's okay buddy, it happens) during the run and shot that Diego made which caused their team to bobble the ball in front of their net and resulted in our second goal but Selou was not in the play which makes the play, and ensuing goal, count by F.I.F.A. law. If you have any questions about the offside rule please go to F.I.F.A.'s great interactive lessons on the "Laws of the Game"( to go there now click here ).

Since we are dealing with volunteer people that may not understand some of the rules very well we are best to always check to see that we are onside at all times - this will avoid any confusion and allow us to move forward without incident. Okay now that being said let's move along to the game.

What is becoming apparent is that we are not coming out of the gates with enough force. By this I mean that we find ourselves defending rather than attacking in the first half of all of our games so far. I know that our games are early in the morning boys but we really need to work on our level of desire in the first half. We need more chatter and much more passion to really propel La Maquina into a well functioning machine. You guys are all great players and we are going to work on things at practice that should help us a little more in the areas where we are struggling. These three main areas as I see them are : Defender confusion - Midfielders taking too many touches - Forwards not taking enough shots.
To let you know in contrast to the last sentence boys - I did see some very beautiful passing and movement from all of you in this game and I saw it confuse and disrupt the opposing team. We will work in baby steps, we don't expect you guys to understand everything at once but we do expect that you continue to build on your existing abilities and knowledge every practice and game.

Kiyoshi sizes up his options as Luca guards the back. - here -

Let's start from front to back. Our goal was scored by Selou from a corner kick taken by Jesus. There was some confusion in front of the net but the service was good and Selou managed to get a foot on it resulting in a goal - nicely done guys! Selou you are a very fast player up the wing and a threat to opposing teams without question. I will tell you that you need to work on looking back and slowing play down every now and again, however. You have Luca behind you on the left wing and you guys should be pairing up more rather than trying to run everything forward every time. Depth - that's about all a great little athlete like you needs to work on - and work on it we shall little dude! After that we had a free kick taken by Robbie that was handled by a Bays player in the 18 box resulting in a penalty kick taken by Diego. Diego's penalty hit the post and was sadly cleared from the area. *A note regarding Diego's penalty: Every great player misses penalty shots and the true sign of maturity in the game and oneself is to move forward from it which the little man did do. The fact is that his shot did beat the keeper in a low hard shot to the corner (an excellent placement for a penalty kick) - it was just barely off target....well done Diego. Shortly after this is where he pushed hard up the wing and took a shot that resulted in the confusion in front of the Bays net where they ended up scoring on themselves.

Diego leaps for a header and ends up taking one for the team. - here -

McGregor and Tarkan both made some lovely plays up the wing and at striker. With the level of skill you boys were dealing with at that Bays defense I commend you on your efforts. McGregor is beginning to develop some very good speed up the wing and Tark has been proving himself an effective striker when it counts. Tark was making some creative passes into good open spaces and I am really happy to see him improving as he has been doing. McGregor is a great little player that I've known for some time. If I could say anything to you Macky it's that you need to stand and be counted a little more. Don't worry so much about making mistakes and let your 'fun drive' do all the work - you'll find that you are a much stronger player than you think you are. 

Chase lays off a pass while Quin backs him up in support. - here -

  Chase played a great game with a couple of opportunities that slipped past him but for the most part was a solid influence up front with his tenacity and grit. I did notice a couple of times that you were getting caught out of spot Chase but you've got the tools kid - let's just sharpen them. Jesus and Kiyoshi are always very strong in the middle. A great midfielder has good quality in terms of skill but is mainly a supplier of quality balls to his forwards and defenders to help facilitate a strong attack or to help prevent a strong attack from the other team. Jesus you had some beautiful moments where I saw your head up and great battles for the ball. I'm really happy to see you developing your game and becoming more well rounded. Kiyoshi you too had great composure on the ball and went into challenges quite well. You're both moving into space nicely and turning into quite nice midfield players. To both of you boys I'll say that we need to work on dishing the ball out a little faster. You're both in danger of hanging onto the ball for too many touches and you're both getting stripped of possession much more than players of your quality should be. You both have great ability and now it's time to build on that with some more depth and understanding of, what many believe is, the busiest position on the pitch.

David looking calm, cool and collected working a ball out from the back. - here -

Robbie is always impressive with his big boot and skillful dribbling and he did not disappoint on Saturday in those regards. The 2 areas that require work for you Robbie are your turns (generally too many turns into thick traffic) and getting your shots off in a timely fashion. You're good points far outweigh your bad but the fact remains that you have too many guns in your arsenal to continue throwing stones - by this I mean - take the bloody shot dude! Hahaha you know I love you kid and I want to see you reach your full potential - we'll all work together to hammer out these issues, not to worry!!!! Your skill is growing daily and your heart needs to match that.

Our fearless goalkeeper, George made some lovely saves and asserted himself well on break away challenges. We're all very happy with your work George and I can see you improving with every practice and game. The one point that begs to be made is that the goals that are being scored on you aren't worthy to be going in on a keeper like yourself. You need to be a lion in the back and really attack a ball coming near your goal - there should never be a goal that trickles in .... simply put , that means that you didn't put your full effort into stopping it - simple. You're so good that I feel very confident in saying that. We're going to work hard with you to see that really understand what it is that is expected from a team's last line of defense - you. George you are developing a voice and I've noticed you organizing your defenders during set plays and it's truly an impressive thing to see. The sky is the limit my friend, let's put some heart into it.

Jesus challenging for the ball while Kiyoshi gets open. - here -

Quinton, Luca & David: you three have been magical in your stopping power and that no one can deny. You stopped 6 very serious attacks (by my count) that would have easily resulted in goals by lesser defenders, Congratulations and thanks for the hard work. I was a defender myself when I played and I understand how hard that position can be. Quin your quick feet were great on short bursts and I saw you getting your head up and looking for the smart ball whenever you could. David you played very tough as a central defender should and you visibly knocked their strikers off of their form by doing so. Luca your prowess with 50/50 balls and slide tackles is always a pleasure to watch and something you are really beginning to master. Well done to all of you! Now that the pats on the backs are done with lets get to the issues: you guys need a great deal of zone work because you are getting lost too often and even look like you're challenging each other from time to time. We need to remember that we have a goal keeper with good ball control at his feet and use him more often. George you will need to let the guys know if it's okay to pass back to you very loudly too. Practices will give you guys some more tools in terms of how to deal with you position but the fact is you all need a little tactical work - the foundation has already been laid.

Quin puts some fear into an attacking Bays player's heart! - here -

Okay so I hope this spells some things out for you guys. The final word is that win or lose these are learning years for you all so don't get bummed out about final scores or statistics. As time marches on you'll see that they mean nothing if you keep up a hard work ethic and love for the game. Let's give Gorge F.C. a good strong match this coming weekend and work hard to become a better team.

Robbie on the run!! (If they have 5 guys on Robbie that means we have 5 open guys, right?) - here -

VAMOS, LA MAQUINA!!!!!

- Entrenador David