In the first half, we were all over them with our pressure, and in the 12th minute Eric Weberman played a great ball to our right winger, David Rosenthal, cutting in, who finished a nice goal to put us up 1:0. We had many more chances, but couldn't find the back of the net. We then sored off a corner, only to have it called back for pushing. I was not sure about that call. So, we go into half time with the score still 1:0 for the USA! We decided to make some changes in our formation for the second half to try and score more goals to help our goal differential. It worked! In the 69th minute, Evin Nadaner played a nice ball to Eric Weberman, who finished it in the corner of the net to make the sore USA 2 Denmark 0! In the 72nd minute, we struck again, with Scott Rowling playing the ball to David Rosenthal for his 2nd goal of the game. USA 3, Denmark 0. We had another goal called back for offsides, but he was clearly on when the ball was played. We then hit the crossbar and missed the rebound shot. In the 79th minute, we played the ball down the right flank and Ross Friedman, played a great cross for Drew Rosenberg to head home, making the score 4:0 for the USA! Four minutes later off a corner kick, Will Pleskow played the ball near post for the on-rushing player, Jake Pace to put it in the goal making our final score 5:0!
It was a good win for the team and it certainly helped our confidence to know we could still win and score goals! I was very proud of our entire team for re-focusing on the job at hand and not letting our first game effect us mentally. I think they showed they could play good soccer involving possession style and still win.
Now we must re-focus our energies and get ready for a war against Mexico on Tuesday. There has been a change of venue and time for that game. We will now play at 6:00 pm, but unfortunately on the "postage stamp" size field we played Uruguay on last Friday. I have been arguing with the Maccabi World Union, who runs this tournament, to not play us on that field, but to no avail. We are the only team in the tournament who has to play on that field twice. Thy moved us off the field that is regulation size and the field for the finals and placed Uruguay and Denmark's game on it. I could not reason with them at all and they really could not give me an answer as to why. The only thing they said was, all final group games must be played at the same time to avoid any collusion of not plying to win or tie. This is not the World Cup and no one would even think of that being a possibility. So, instead of leaving us on that field and moving the other game to another field, they move two games. Trying to reason with these people is totally a futile venture. Being rational never enters their minds, as they know everything.
Now we must not only prepare ourselves for Mexico, but for adapting to a field the size of a postage stamp. For goodness sakes, these are grown men in the highest division and to play these games on that size field is in my opinion, reprehensible on their organization. I am sorry to be so blunt, but the facts are the facts and they should be willing to listen and understand that it takes away from the integrity of the game. So, what shall we do? Win is the answer!
To my wonderful family, I miss you all very much along with my Goldens. Love and hugs to all!
The following is a link from our player, Scott Rowling's father who is sharing all his great photos from our first game with Uruguay. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hjr341/sets/72157634723801519/
Coach G from Israel
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