08 July 2019
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First day of games at Helsinki Cup and its cool outside, around 55 degrees this am.
Boys are up around 3-4 am, due to time change, etc, and we eat breakfast at 7 am before we depart as one for the boys A game.
We are in jet lag mode at the moment, which is to be expected, and we make some poor mistakes and lose 2-0. We play a team from Finland on a turf field and are average.
Hope most of you are watching the live streams, good quality right?
We have to rush to next field for the boys B game as they also play a team from Finland, on a majestic grass field too, and are a little sharper. We win 3-0 on goals from Diego, Kamran, and Brayden.
We spend some time discussing soccer principles and hydrate, then off to lunch. Food is good so far, cafeteria style and no complaints.
After lunch, we are off to afternoon games and boys A play a very good Finnish team and get our lunch handed to us as we lose 6-1. Closer than the score but we are really tired and out of sorts. Work coming up. On a bright note, Gavin scored a spectacular goal and might already be a candidate for goal of the tour.
Boys B next as we play yet another team from Finland on a field in an indoor arena. Great atmosphere. Down 2-0, we fight back and Diego scored with 10 minutes left and we push forward for the equalizer but no luck. Final was 2-1 but proud of all boys as they are sore. We play 4 games in less than 24 hours from landing in Helsinki, and that after traveling over 28 hours.
We limp back to dinner, eat another decent meal and then return to our school. Monday night is Opening Ceremonies, but it starts raining and I am torn between allowing the kids to walk in the rain or give them some rest. I decide to make it optional as we have a special opportunity for one of our players and the entire Boys B team decides to go and join us. Yes it rains but Brayden is honored to recite the English version of the opening of the Helsinki Cup, so please check out the video. Pretty cool
Back to school, showers and boys are out!
FYI, the sun is out here 23 hours as 11:30 pm -12:30 am is the only dark hour of the night, since we are so close to the North Pole. Pretty cool, but hard to sleep at 2 am when the sun is out!
4 more games tomorrow so wish us luck.
Ciao,
Ed
PS. We have a tradition at SnS where we hand out a player of the day for each game/day on tour.
Boys A game - POD - Kamran
Boys B game - Diego
Boys A game - Gavin
Boys B game - Tony
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Boys A Game |
Boys B Game |
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Boys A Game |
Boys B Game |
Brayden is honored to recite the English version of the opening of the Helsinki Cup
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