A little more than 12 hours after walking off the field having lost to the hosts China, I have to consider that yesterday's game is really the tale of two distinct situations. On the competitive side, the loss makes have to do a little more work in order to achieve our first goal which was getting out of the group stage into the quarter finals. A win and we would have won our group, a tie, and we could have been almost assured of getting in, even if only by the back door 3rd place spots. On the other hand, from a life experience I can only say that it just adds to the wow factor that I am living at these games. I have had the privilege of coaching many players and team at varying levels and venues but yesterday is something I had never experienced previously and will most likely never experience again. While I doubt that the stadium was filled to the 40,000 capacity that everyone was talking about in the days leading up to the game, I do think that there were 30,000 plus and of course the crowd was slightly favoring the hosts. From the moment we walked onto the field for warm up, there seemed to be a constant buzz from those in attendance that made it hard to communicate on the field. Once the game started, at every Canadian error positive Chinese action, the volume rose and there was roar that engulged the stadium. I think that our players did the team, the CIS and their country very proud, a great team effort in front of a competitive reality that probably none ( or maybe only a few ) had ever had to face. As hosts, China made sure to field a strong team. Their captain is a 28 year old having participated in two World Cups and two Olympic games and their line up was scattered with players having international experience. Having not even qualified for this summer's World Cup, I am sure that China wants to be regain some standing among the world powers of women's soccer. This is a team that according to reports have lived together for 6 months training and preparing.. whereas our group has as of today, 16 days as a team..... so maybe just a little disparity.
While we might have been out possessed, I don't think we were out played, and we generated sufficient chances that with some timely finish, might have changed the final result. China's goal was in my opinion, there only really dangerous chance and when they did menace our net, Rachel our goalie or our back line found ways to neutralize before it was really an issue. Today is an off day for the team as we have cancelled practice. The players went through their recovery work this morning and are now scattered out shopping in town or exploring the village. We will attend our men's volleyball team vs. China tonight and then tomorrow refocus on the task at hand as we play Taiwan to move forward in the tournament. Hard to say how our opponents will approach the game but only a win helps them, so we have to make sure to be ready and manage the game in order to ensure we leave the field with a positive result. A tie or win and we will move forward to meet the winner of the France-Japan game, although at this point there are plenty of combinations still possible. More to follow
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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
January 2023
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