So the game began and we tried to possess as our game plan dictated. However, being as confined as we were, it took away anything we tried to do off the ball, as space was so limited. We wanted to pressure them the entire game, as they were very unfit, thus giving us the opportunity to win the ball in our attacking third of the field. We did a pretty fair job doing that, but everything broke down as we tried to string together some passes. It was nothing they were doing, but rather us not having a good first touch on the ball and also not passing to our players feet, where he is looking for the ball. With about 2 minutes remaining in the first half, we had a great chance to score, but we squandered it right to the keeper. I believe we would have then run away with the game. But, the half ended with the score 0:0, with us having more than 80% of the possession. So, we went into the locker room and tried to make a few suttle changes in our game. I felt, we would come out and score quickly and put the game away. We had our chances, that is for sure, but we had one really bad square pass in the middle of the field that was behind our player. They stepped in, won the ball and counter attacked us really hard at speed down the left wing. We went to the man with the ball and he crossed it on he ground to the back side of he goal and we had no one there. They slid and put it in! We mad our allowable 6 subs a little while later to try and get something going. It worked, as we kept attacking and had 5 really good chances to score, with their keeper making some very high level saves and us also hitting the crossbar and having multiple rebound chances, only to fall short.
In all my many years of coaching both on the college level and international level, I have never seen the kind of poor sportsmanship in a game, like they showed today. From the outset, it was so obvious that they were outmatched in every way possible, so their only hope was to take us out of our game. They were baiting us, taunting us and diving every time we came near and the Referee was doing nothing to stop it. It got so bad, that at one point they head butted our goalkeeper, right in front of the referee and all he did was talk to the player and tell him not to do it again or he would get a card. That type of foul is an automatic ejection, or it is in most countries. This was not how the game was meant to be played. You pay hard, but you play fair always. This was not the case with them, but as long as the referee allowed it, they kept doing it.
Did the better team, win? No, but on this day, we didn't deserve to win, but we Certainly didn't
So, all in all, it was not the kind if start we were looking for, to say the least. But, we have two games remaining against Denmark on Sunday and Mexico on Tuesday. We must now win both games in order to advance to the quarter finals. Is that possible? Of course it is and we will do it. I have one last thing to discuss and that is, I should have played a different formation due to the size of the field. I thought about it, but chose to stay with what we had worked on the last two weeks. However, late in this game, we switched to that formation and started to get more and more opportunities at goal. Hindsight being what it is, I can only talk about it now and wish I had followed my initial instincts before the game. I can assure you that won't happen again. We took off one defender and brought on another offensive player. It really worked well, but still no goals. Soccer can be extremely cruel sometimes, in that the best team on that particular day, does not always win. Today was certainly that day, very cruel indeed!
So until Sunday, I will not write anything and hopefully, on Sunday, I will have better news in the good guys winning!
To my family and my Goldens, I love and miss you very much!
Coach G from Israel
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