10 July 2008

Dana Cup Tournament

7:45pm Dallas Time

Crazy day here at Dana Cup and will explain later in this email but we started off great, another day of sunshine and about 70 degrees, although it dropped to a cold temp later in the day, the Boys A started us off first with a 13-0 hammering of a German team and that was with me calling off the dogs, part of it was our opponent but a major part was our play as we looked great.  Trevor had 4 goals, Emmet 3, Eddie 1, Patrick 2, Colin 1, Will 2. All played great as well as the other non scoring players.

Girls had the next game and played with 10 players and won 4-0 with goals from Markie, Bam Bam, Sammi, and Beanie.

Next up was Boys B and played a very tough team from Sweden, a club that I know quite well and we lost 4-2 with goals from Emmet and Armand but we got punished for some bad mistakes, otherwise we should have advanced. The boys were down but recovered quickly when a ton of Swedish Girls followed them to the Girls 1/4 final game. The Boys B were knocked out of the tournament.  We will play at least one friendly game Friday or Saturday.

The girls won 3-0 with goals from Markie, Hannah, and a guest player and completely dominated their Swedish opponent. And then our fun began, we had asked Dana Cup to help us find some guest players for our girls and we had a ton of interest as you can imagine.  We finally agreed to use 2 girls to play in our 1/4 game and after the game our opponents protested and would you believe, it was upheld.  So to recap, we asked Dana Cup for guest players, they find them for us, add them to our roster, and then our opponents protested and our game was ruled a forfeit.  On my way to tell our girls but we are not happy.  We offered to play the game again either right away or first thing in the morning but the opposing coach, whom we will speak to in person I can promise you, denied that request.  As I said before, not a happy coaching staff right now and trying to be very professional about this.  I am sure there will be more to come on this and how much I share with you might be interesting. 

All in all the kids are still great but we suspend all snacks for tonight and Friday as we are eating too much junk right now.  Sit ups have been falling off, I guess they are finally getting it, but we will see how long it lasts.  Coaches are not easing up at all and the kids are responding very well.  No major injuries to speak of, a few bruises and scrapes but all are healthy and happy. 

Sorry for the kids not having a lot of time to communicate with you all back home, but the internet cafe is constantly crowded and we are out at 8 am and not back until 8 pm as in the case today. 

Tomorrow should slow down a bit but then they have to do match analysis as they watch some games.  Lots of singing and mingling with other countries as in our school alone we have players from Brazil, Sweden, Norway, India, Guatemala, and many more. 

Wish us luck tomorrow and wish me luck when I tell our girls they cannot play in the Semi Finals, but if I know them, they will respond very professionally.

More tomorrow,

Ed

Players of the Day (POD)

                 

Boys A                                                                       Girls

Boys B