we beat Nittere Menina 4-0 in a cold December rain. We were sloppy and slippery like the field, but able to put 4 goals into the old onion bag, as famous commentator would say about the net.
We are now in Hiroshima and play on Christmas Eve for the right to travel to Tokyo for the Semi-Final. The opponent; INAC, the main rival.
As Christmas festive is in the air and the Main road, The Peace Street, is filled with many decoration. I can see from my hotel window and it is really nice. Nice to be in Big city for this time of the year.
Rural Japan do enjoy Christmas, but the decoration and the atmosphere is nothing compare to the big city. Big city rules!!
I was able to visit HMV, the CD store, and Starbucks to enjoy fine chai-tea latte. I can't drink coffee anymore for my heart reason. Still nice to walk around the city to see the hustle and bustle of the people. And it's weekend, too!
Well, I hope we can beat INAC. We need to take shot and the shots need to be in the air, aiming at the cross bar as their goalie is SMALL! Defensively, they like to dump the ball near and into the box and cause havoc and take shots and chance around that area. So we need to mark up tightly and put body on them.
It should be interesting game. Lots of emotion, I reckon. AND I NEED TO BE FOCUS.
2007年12月23日日曜日
2007年12月21日金曜日
post season
tomorrow is 3rd round of 29th All Japan Women's Football Tournament. The opponent is Nittere Menina, which belong to Nittere Beleza. Youth team of Beleza.
They are technically sound girls, and young. They will be running around us all day tomorrow. So I reckon we need to be physical.
We had two weeks since the regular season was over and I believe we are ready to take on.
wish us good luck
They are technically sound girls, and young. They will be running around us all day tomorrow. So I reckon we need to be physical.
We had two weeks since the regular season was over and I believe we are ready to take on.
wish us good luck
2007年12月10日月曜日
2-0 win to close the season
We beat Iga 2-0 to finish the season 5th in the League, dropping one rank from last season. We were hoping for the bottom team to upset the team above us, INAC, so that we could move up, but that wasn't to be. INAC won 3-1.
Iga came into the game needing a point to secure another season at the top flight, and they came to play. We talked about counter attack and how their Back 4 could be vulnerable if ball is kicked between them and the keeper. Back 4's speed is ordinary, and we proved right less then 2 minutes into the game, 1st real chance, and we were able to go up 1-0.
It's a shame for a team that tries to play positive football, they now had to find an equalizer. They attacked with purpose, and our poor defending on the flanks gave them chance to attack, but we were strong in the center of the field. however, we simply kicked the ball away and gave the ball back to them, resulting that we had to defend and play bunker style soccer and counter attack. We were supposedly to possess the ball and if there is space behind Iga's Back 4, we'll kick. Well, our Back 4, as a unit, was having a shocker. Especially our full backs (side backs) couldn't hold the ball, couldn't kick the ball, but somehow manage to defend just enough.
That is what we did all after noon. Defend just enough. Iga created opportunities, but their final passes, including crosses, failed to get through or bad control allowed us to gather the ball and put it away to safety.
We were able to double our lead 4 minutes into 2nd half from set piece. In today's soccer, you need dead ball specialist, and we are so fortunate to have one.
But even after the score, we were again under pressure and towards the end, Iga was able to create 1 on 1 with GK, but superb saving to her right sealed our successive shout-out and same score line, 2-0.
now we're have two days off and 13 days until 3rd round of All Japan Cup.
Wish us good luck.
Iga came into the game needing a point to secure another season at the top flight, and they came to play. We talked about counter attack and how their Back 4 could be vulnerable if ball is kicked between them and the keeper. Back 4's speed is ordinary, and we proved right less then 2 minutes into the game, 1st real chance, and we were able to go up 1-0.
It's a shame for a team that tries to play positive football, they now had to find an equalizer. They attacked with purpose, and our poor defending on the flanks gave them chance to attack, but we were strong in the center of the field. however, we simply kicked the ball away and gave the ball back to them, resulting that we had to defend and play bunker style soccer and counter attack. We were supposedly to possess the ball and if there is space behind Iga's Back 4, we'll kick. Well, our Back 4, as a unit, was having a shocker. Especially our full backs (side backs) couldn't hold the ball, couldn't kick the ball, but somehow manage to defend just enough.
That is what we did all after noon. Defend just enough. Iga created opportunities, but their final passes, including crosses, failed to get through or bad control allowed us to gather the ball and put it away to safety.
We were able to double our lead 4 minutes into 2nd half from set piece. In today's soccer, you need dead ball specialist, and we are so fortunate to have one.
But even after the score, we were again under pressure and towards the end, Iga was able to create 1 on 1 with GK, but superb saving to her right sealed our successive shout-out and same score line, 2-0.
now we're have two days off and 13 days until 3rd round of All Japan Cup.
Wish us good luck.
2007年12月9日日曜日
Last regular season game
So, since our 2-0 lost to Beleza, we beat Niigata 2-0 at Niigata. Niigata is located Northern Japan, facing sea of Japan. It was raining and windy and yeah, it was bloody cold. But we won, that was important.
Past two weeks, we have been inviting trialists to our training. Thanks to the number of trialists, our training looked better. More number in the training, we can do more things, like 10 v 10, full-field trainings. And these trialists are busting hard, the training has been bit edgy at sometimes. But I would rather see that. I think it has helped the team with physical conditioning, mental toughness. I think one of the reason in winning at cold Niigata was to have tough training.
Today is our last game of the season. We play Iga, the lady ninjas (that's not their real nickname). We have won 1 and drew 1. We should do well.
Past two weeks, we have been inviting trialists to our training. Thanks to the number of trialists, our training looked better. More number in the training, we can do more things, like 10 v 10, full-field trainings. And these trialists are busting hard, the training has been bit edgy at sometimes. But I would rather see that. I think it has helped the team with physical conditioning, mental toughness. I think one of the reason in winning at cold Niigata was to have tough training.
Today is our last game of the season. We play Iga, the lady ninjas (that's not their real nickname). We have won 1 and drew 1. We should do well.
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