GUSK Matches

Today was the day to finally get tested. We played the GUSK Futbol club of Upsala, this team just returned from 5 days of training camp and have been preparing for the finals of this years district championship. They have been the past district champions and finished 2nd in last years Gothic Cup for this age group. The Gothic Cup is perhaps the largest youth soccer tournament in Europe and possibly the world.

The facilities were very good and intially we were scheduled to play the "A" team first have lunch and then follow up with the "B" team. Instead we played our initial match and then played one extra half combining the two teams.

As we arrived the other teams parents had asked who we'd been playing and the scores. They told us not to worry we were going to have quite a match today.

They were correct. We didnt pass well to open our kick off and they took full advantage of it. GUSK was very patient with the ball and worked the ball around and did to us what we had been doing to teams all week. They were a very patient team and had two or three very skilled fast players. By far one of the best teams we have ever faced.

I would say they controlled not only the ball but the tempo of the game for the first ten minutes. We did do a very good job of playing defense and worked in a few runs of our own. 15 minutes we took over the game. Tayler, AJ and Emma Nelsson finally got controle of the middle and got the ball out side to AD/TW and Sydney. We had several shots and chances from our forwards and out side attackers and just put a ton of pressure on the goal. with about 10 minutes left in the half Sydney got a outside break away and got in a great shot for our first goal. 3 minutes later she did another. We took a 2-0 lead into the half.

We came out in the second half and controlled the ball almost all of the game. The ball only past half field a few times. We have been working on a new corner play where we send two players in to the corner hoping to draw at least one or two defenders out to work a given go play. Tayler and AD ran in with perfection. AD touched into to Tayler who juked around the defender. As the second defender came on to her she dropped the pass to AD who was swinging around from the outside. AD hit a one touch shot that hit the upper corner on the opposite side of the goal. The game finished 3-0. A tremendous win, it was probably one of the funnest games that I have watched our girls play.

Needless to say the other coach was very dissappointed of the out come. I must say the other team was very good, I dont want to short sell them. A very solid performance from our girls. We did a lot of really good things. The great part about playing games the way we are right now is that we can address and work on things we did poorly the day before the very next day so that their is no lapse in memory.

We then played a 30 minute half and combined the teams up. What great fun. I sent Tayler, Paige, TW, Emma Gartner, Emma Nilsson and Hope to play for the other team and he sent me a few. The game stayed pretty even for the first 15 minutes with both teams doing some pretty good work for not playing with each other before. My defenders made up mostly of Meagan, Mango and Julie did a very solid job of killing their runs until Tayler hit a long goal from about 30 yards out to get the first score and a few minutes later she hit another one from out side the 18. This put the other team 2-0. My team had a few breakaways, but our own girls know how AD and Sara attack and were very physical on them. Paige was playing defender for the other team and knows how our attackers go at the goal and killed our runs.
The other team snuck in a good through pace and one of their players broke away and scored the last goal at 3-0.

We then had a nice lunch with the other team and the girls sat around with the other players exchanging email addresses, etc.

We then took a tour of a viking buriel ground. Amazing.

We are headed out to go touring and shopping in Upsala for the rest of the day. I will be sending out a few more blogs tonight to give some detail on a few things, especially the Viking Bucket.

There are no games tomorrow as we are catching the four hour ferry to Gotland Island to prepare for the P18 Cup. Right now we are scheduled to play a warm up game on Wednesday but I may cancel and have a light practice instead.

We have a few bumps and bruises but except for Donuts foot we are in pretty good shape. Donut has stayed off her foot and may see some time by next Saturday and its healing extremely well.

I will be hooking up with Jay later this afternoon and have some pictures on the blog plus info about Jay's picture site. Their will be a great deal to see.

Again thanks for the replies, its tough for me to reply back to them but keep them coming. I pass on the notes to the girls.

thanks
Doug