So anyway, this was a tournament, 7 players to a team, 10 minutes to a game. We were a bit worried when, at kick-off to our first game we still only had 5 players, but luckily one of them was a goalkeeper. Turns out we only had one more player to come, and he was a keeper too, not the best planning as one of them would have to play on pitch.
We were in a group of 4, which basically meant we had a minimum of 3 games, The guy organising us (Rich) had borrrowed a 'lovely' yellow shirted, blue shorted, white socked kit to wear (yes, I know, it doesn't really go, but beggars can't be choosers). Aware that we weren't exactly the fittest team around, we decided to go for a 3-0-1 formation, play the long ball and hope for the best (I was the 1 up front by the way).
First game, was tiring and we didn't get a shot on target (well, basically I didn't, I scuffed both my shots I had, but I blame the second one on the fact the defender chasing me fell over and it put me off my shot). Luckily our defence held out and we got a 0-0 draw.
Second game we played better, I scored giving us the lead just before half time, which then gave us something to defend. The second half lasted about 15 minutes, though this was probably fair as we were all using time-wasting tactics, you know, kicking the ball miles out of play, taking our time with goal-kicks, throw-ins and corners, there were even one or two cynical fouls and a deliberate handball to stop a quick attack. We held on though, 1-0 to us....yay.
Third game in the group we played the eventual runners up, and they were far better than us, beating us 2-0. They were worried though, as their main defender was on the bench and he came on before half time. I also had the opportunity to equalise at 1-0 down from the penalty spot, but I smashed it straight down the middle, and straight off the bar....very disappointing. They also missed a (dubious) penalty too.
This all meant we were into the knockout stages by finishing second in our group. not bad for having scored only one goal. We had a two hour gap so I filled up with some energy food, a burger and a large slice of chocolate cake.
The knockout game came and, in my opinion, we played our best game and had several chances. I think the other team were quite tired too as they only had 6 players, and also played more group games than us. We didn't quite have enough to beat them and lost 2-1, though I had scored the equaliser, muscling a defender off the ball (I enjoyed that) and we came close a few times to snatching the win.
The 6 players was an issue for us as well, as it meant that most of us had to play all the games, though when Rich asked for volunteers to start on the bench, I'm sure you can guess mine wasn't the fisrt hand up.
Overall, I had a very enjoyable day, considering I thought we would be out of the tournament pretty quick, and we didn't have the best of teams. unfortunately, I fogot to put suncream on and burnt my head, oh well.
Here's a couple of pictures (stolen from Rich's facebook), can you spot me in the first one: -
Oh yeah, and there is a chance that we might get to play in an 11-a-side game at Vicarage Road in the near future, that'll be nice.
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