Today, at the request of the Austalian Coach, we only played a 60 minute game instead of the full 90. I think they were a little banged up from the previous game snd just did not wantto push it. We started the game with a different line-up from yesterday to see other players who did not get as many minutes in the first game.it was a olid line-up and gave us a better perspective on who might becm our starting team for the Maccabiah Tournament, beginning in 8 days. What we found was, we are quite deep and have players who can contribute extremely well in a number of positions. What that tells us, is that we will not have any drop in ability, regardless who starts and who comes in off the bench. We met last evening to go over our coverage and shifts in the middle third of the field both offensively and defensively. It obviously sunk in, as we played much better in the our shifting and coverage in the middle third of the field. We shut down most passing opportunities for Australia, thus allowing us to double and win the ball more frequently in the middle part of the field. Australia started out by playing 5 defenders, 4 mdfielders and 1 strikers, trying their bet to deny us any offensive opportunities. We constantlt ran players through to try and open that back line up. On one run through, we sent the ball in and one of their players, knowing he was beaten, reached and knocked the ball down with his hand, resulting in a Penalty kick for us. This was 7 minutes into the game. We scored and led 1:0. 3 minutes later, another run through opened up a shot on goal that was deflected out and our attacking midfield player who made the run, slotted home the deflected ball to make it 2:0. That would ultimately bebte final score in our 60 minute game. However, with our runs, we continued having great scoring opportunitie, only to not be able to find te back of the net!
Australia had 1 clear scoring opportunity late in the game off a set piece from our foul just outside the box. We left a man unmarked and headed the ball wide. They got the opportinity off a poor pass in our defensive third.
All in all, it was another stp forward for our team in learning and understanding the philosophy we are implementingnin our tactics. As long as we continue to improve each day, our chances for success become more realistic and our dreams can truly be possible. I continue to be impressed by our team and it's willigness to let the team be the superstar!
Tomorrow we begin our Israel Connect Program of touring and connecting with our heritage. This program will take us to July 17th when we move to our permanent hotel in Jerusalem for the tournament. So, as we begin tomorrow with our touring, we will now have only one training session every morning. I will then blog after our tour for the day is over, not only re-capping our training, but also where our tour took us. I will also post photos from the tours.
So, until tomorrow, take good care and again to my family, I miss and love you all very much, along with our Goldens!
From Israel,
Coach G
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