Well, part one of our objective is now complete. We have moved forward into the quarter final phase of the tournament by finishing 2nd in our group. The cross over has us playing Japan tomorrow and it will be a big test. The team is fairly confident but we also know that to advance, we will need to play smart, follow the game plan and execute.
We are 90 minutes away from doing what no canadian team has done at FISU games and only one other female canadian soccer team has done (2003 World Cup) advance to the semi-finals of an international tournament. We went into yesterday's game knowing that a tie or win was sufficient to go through and if our first goal at the 8th minute didn't seal it, the second one at the 13th minute certainly did. We added a 3rd goal around the 70 minute and from then on it was just about managing the game and avoiding injuries or red cards. Life in the village continues to be exciting and today I got to experience the unique shopping venture in the market mall. Basically a flea market indoors where you have some legitimate stores and some lets just say , less so. There was a constant masez of stall where you can buy anything from clothes, shoes, electonics, $100 ipas (or something similar), golf dear, bikes, food, watches, sunglasses, and oh so much more. It was a nice break from the games and I picked up a few bargains. The fun part was watching the vendors avoid the police making sure that there was no contraband being sold ( a number of stores were sealed up with signs saying closed for 6 months due to incorrect product being sold and of course bargaining for the best price. If I had a $ for each time I heard " I give you my best price" I'd be rich.. even funnier that the best price quickly changed to the special price to the best special price for you from Canada and so on. I might return and go somewhere else but it was certainly something amazing to be in the market in a chinese city. Players are off to bed and tomorrow is about doing everything to be at our best for the game.
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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