Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing terrific and getting ready for the best 4th of July ever.



Today is Friday, July 3rd and we just finished having our lunch (the food here is really good). The breakfast in my opinion is the best, as it is just like breakfast in Germany (eggs and hard brotchen(bread that is hard on outside and soft as butter in the inside) and fruit. What a way to start the day! Couldn't be better.



After breakfast at 7 AM, we went to the field at 9 Am for our 3rd game this week and back to back games for the first time, just like we will play in the tournament. As I said yesterday, we were playing our Youth Team (U-19) and our team did not disappoint themselves. We tied the game 1:1 and their goal was unfortunately an own goal in the 5th minute of the game. Late in the 1st half, we had a great counter-attack down the right side and then crossed it in for a goal by our striker (they claimed we were offsides (no referees at any of our games), but their coach was directly in line with the play and said it was a goal for sure. The half ended 1:1. However, we had almost all the possession and certainly the most shots on goal. We were playing very well and finally starting to grasp what we have been teaching the last 4 days. However, we are still dribling way too much and our speed of play si still a bit slow. Early in the 2nd half we had another great counter-attack and played a terrific through ball, but missed a golden opportunity to go ahead in the game. We came right back with a terrific point of attack change to the opposite side, but our striker just missed getting his foot on it and that, too, would surely have been the clincher.



So, what a good way to continue our building process and getting them to finally believe in themselves and the system and to really start "believing they should win all the time and stop just hoping to win." We are trying to develop in them, a sense of arrogant confidence, without truly being arrogant. In a better sense "confidence with a pinch of flair."



We will have a warmdown session at 4 PM this afternoon, with a Shabbat Dinner at 7:30 PM. Tomorrow, July 4th, we will have a hard training session (we now only have 1 training session per day) at 7 AM and then at 12 PM we will begin our tour. We will share a bus with the Junior Girls soccer team. We will go to Beit Guvrim (a cavern of sorts) and Latrun (a fortress). We will then return to Kfar Maccabiah (our hotel) and have a giant 4th of July celebration and guess what....my daughter Aly will come to our hotel from Shefayim (her hotel for this pre-camp) for this celebration. I am so excited to get to see her, as is Sean! It is going to be fun for sure. They will have a BBQ and fireworks at the Country Club adjacent to our hotel by the pool.



On Sunday, we will go to Ancient Jerusalem and Haas Promenade (observation point) and then to Shefayim for another BBQ and another visit with Aly! I will continue to post this blog each day after the tour ends, so I can tell you all about this wonderful experience.



Take care and have a safe and happy 4th!



Warmest regards from Israel,

Preston and Sean