Sorry about the delay between postings and not having written anything to close off the game and give our final results.... however the last 4 days have been kind of a blur and I am still recovering from jet lag.
To start off, we won our final game vs. Russia 1-0 and ended up 5th for the tournament. A top 6 result at this type of competition is a solid one especially given the reality of how our team is put together and the support (or lack of) that we get from our national sports organization. Quite a few of the teams we played against are some form of development squad for their country's national program. China had been together getting ready for 4 months, Japan is made up of the bulk of their under 20 team, Brazil had 4 28 year olds with 6 of their team coming in from their World Cup team, and even Russia was largely made up of their u23 national team which will be playing in European qualifying in the next little while. Our only 2 losses came vs. the two finalists and yes while we did lose 6-0 to japan, we did lose only 1-0 to the eventual gold medalists... and we were a few inches away from a goal, a tie which won have won us the group and who knows what if that happened. Since that final game, the time in between has been a blur, we had little time for goodbyes and closure as we left the village early the next morning, spent 24 hours from leaving the village to arriving home. I had some downtime Tuesday but started up with my Concordia team that same evening and back to work Wednesday. School has started at Dawson, and with that, all the crazy that comes with it. and the start of the semester. From one great experience to knee deep in work and evenings of practice and games with the Stingers. I will get back shortly to write a little more about the experience in China beyond the soccer. Thanks to all of you who supported and followed our team...
4 Comments
Susan
8/26/2011 07:40:53 am
Thanks for all your great posts.
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Maureen Bedek
8/26/2011 11:57:02 am
hi
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Joanne Miller
8/26/2011 11:36:40 pm
Loved the blog and your insights, Jorge. Thanks for everything you did to make this a great experience for Team Canada and your fans! The memories will live long in our hearts and minds.
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Shirley Wright
8/28/2011 03:01:29 pm
Hi Jorge,
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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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