Monday, July 13, 2009:
Today was a very rewarding day for our young team. After a dismal day on Sunday, the old sage advise was in full force today. Yes, the sun still came up and we survived to play another day!
USA 1:Israel 0!! We executed our small adjustment to our tactical system with precision, determination and passion. After the poor result on Sunday, we had a very long meeting about our team philosophy and how we could best get back to our simple style of playing and understanding what it means to truly be a part of a team. What I wrote yesterday, was a duplication of what I told the team in person. Finally, they understood what Sean and I have been trying to teach them for the past 15 days in Israel. It has been
a learning process, both on and off the field. I believe now they completely understand what we expect and demand from them.
Now, to the game itself. As I said earlier, we tinkered with our system and instead of playing with a defensive, center and attacking midfielder, we chose to play with 2 defensive midfielders playing behind the center midfielder, with our 2 strikers in advance of them. When we attacked, we did so with better passes and quicker decisions than yesterday. On defense, we kept our defensive line 35 yards from our 2 strikers, so that everything Israel tried to do down the middle was not available to them, thus forcing them very wide where they had no support and we could isolate them. If they treid the middle, it would be picked off by us or they played it very long over the top, where our goalkeeper or sweeper could get it without any pressure. It was really frustrating Israel, as they really only had 1 clear good chance to score and that was off a free kick from the edge of the 18 yard box. Our wall held and the ball hit off it and they had a second chance, but not in a good position and the ball went way over the goal. That was in the first half and our kids knew we had to get out of the game with no less than a tie. We had a few really good counter attacks that resulted in a couple of good shots on goal. So the half ended 0:0!
The second half started and we pretty much had good control, but made some silly unforced errors which allowed Israel to counter attack wide and get some crosses off, but we were able to clear them all out of danger. They really had no good chances at all on goal in the second half. Withy 7 minutes remaining, we attacked down our left side and Jake Weiss took a nice pass from Evan Goldman and had a hard shot on frame that went in the far post for our GOAL! The entire team went crazy and we had to calm them down to finish the game and not give up a late silly goal. We accomplished that feat, although the referee extended the game an extra 5 minutes. We held the ball deep in our attacking third until the final whistle was blown. Pandemonium erupted from our bench onto the field embarcing each other in hugs and high fives all around. It was quite a sight to see, not to mention the euphoria we all felt!
I must commend my son Sean for his excellent game report on Israel from our scouting report. He had our team totally prepared for anything Israel could possibly throw at us. He was so happy for the boys. Shachar, did a wonderful job in preparing our keepers for this very moment.
We came back to the hotel and Sean took them to the pool for a cool down session and then lunch. We now must get ready for the opening ceremony tonight and walking into the stadium, which will be an incredible moment for us all I am sure. We will leave the hotel at 3:30 PM and go to the stadium for staging and organization ( I can't wait to see that). After the ceremony tonight, we will return back to the hotel and start getting some sleep and preparing for Mexico on Wednesday. We must keep our emotions in check and not get so high fater this great victory and I am sure we will re-focus with passion to beat Mexico.
Tomorrow evening my daughter Aly will start her competition at the track stadium and run the open 400 meters. Then on Wednesday, she will do the 800 meters, Pole Vault and 4x400 meter relay. I can't wait to watch her compete and hopefully win gold!
So, with one of my favorite sayings I will sign off until tomorrow and a report on the opening ceremonies. " It is not hard hard you fall, but how high you bounce back up after hitting bottom"! Today we showed what we are made of...character!
Take care and stay well.
Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel
Today was a very rewarding day for our young team. After a dismal day on Sunday, the old sage advise was in full force today. Yes, the sun still came up and we survived to play another day!
USA 1:Israel 0!! We executed our small adjustment to our tactical system with precision, determination and passion. After the poor result on Sunday, we had a very long meeting about our team philosophy and how we could best get back to our simple style of playing and understanding what it means to truly be a part of a team. What I wrote yesterday, was a duplication of what I told the team in person. Finally, they understood what Sean and I have been trying to teach them for the past 15 days in Israel. It has been
a learning process, both on and off the field. I believe now they completely understand what we expect and demand from them.Now, to the game itself. As I said earlier, we tinkered with our system and instead of playing with a defensive, center and attacking midfielder, we chose to play with 2 defensive midfielders playing behind the center midfielder, with our 2 strikers in advance of them. When we attacked, we did so with better passes and quicker decisions than yesterday. On defense, we kept our defensive line 35 yards from our 2 strikers, so that everything Israel tried to do down the middle was not available to them, thus forcing them very wide where they had no support and we could isolate them. If they treid the middle, it would be picked off by us or they played it very long over the top, where our goalkeeper or sweeper could get it without any pressure. It was really frustrating Israel, as they really only had 1 clear good chance to score and that was off a free kick from the edge of the 18 yard box. Our wall held and the ball hit off it and they had a second chance, but not in a good position and the ball went way over the goal. That was in the first half and our kids knew we had to get out of the game with no less than a tie. We had a few really good counter attacks that resulted in a couple of good shots on goal. So the half ended 0:0!
The second half started and we pretty much had good control, but made some silly unforced errors which allowed Israel to counter attack wide and get some crosses off, but we were able to clear them all out of danger. They really had no good chances at all on goal in the second half. Withy 7 minutes remaining, we attacked down our left side and Jake Weiss took a nice pass from Evan Goldman and had a hard shot on frame that went in the far post for our GOAL! The entire team went crazy and we had to calm them down to finish the game and not give up a late silly goal. We accomplished that feat, although the referee extended the game an extra 5 minutes. We held the ball deep in our attacking third until the final whistle was blown. Pandemonium erupted from our bench onto the field embarcing each other in hugs and high fives all around. It was quite a sight to see, not to mention the euphoria we all felt!
I must commend my son Sean for his excellent game report on Israel from our scouting report. He had our team totally prepared for anything Israel could possibly throw at us. He was so happy for the boys. Shachar, did a wonderful job in preparing our keepers for this very moment.
We came back to the hotel and Sean took them to the pool for a cool down session and then lunch. We now must get ready for the opening ceremony tonight and walking into the stadium, which will be an incredible moment for us all I am sure. We will leave the hotel at 3:30 PM and go to the stadium for staging and organization ( I can't wait to see that). After the ceremony tonight, we will return back to the hotel and start getting some sleep and preparing for Mexico on Wednesday. We must keep our emotions in check and not get so high fater this great victory and I am sure we will re-focus with passion to beat Mexico.
Tomorrow evening my daughter Aly will start her competition at the track stadium and run the open 400 meters. Then on Wednesday, she will do the 800 meters, Pole Vault and 4x400 meter relay. I can't wait to watch her compete and hopefully win gold!
So, with one of my favorite sayings I will sign off until tomorrow and a report on the opening ceremonies. " It is not hard hard you fall, but how high you bounce back up after hitting bottom"! Today we showed what we are made of...character!
Take care and stay well.
Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel
Congratulations!!! I knew you all could do it. Keep up the good work. Love and miss you.
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