22nd July 2022
July 22nd - still playing at Gothia -
its quite an achievement to keep playing games on Friday at Gothia Cup and our Boys 18 are doing just that. its a long difficult week with games, transfers, walking, supporting your other SnS teams, dealing with injuries, a few sicknesses, etc. Heck, we still have one of our players missing a bag if you can believe that. But even with all of these challenges the Boys 18 have an 1/8 final game this morning vs a Swedish team. Its actually cool today so jackets, sweat pants, and fleeces are in order and a hint of rain approaches as we start the game. We start well and play very fast and create some chances but no luck. girls are cheering and chanting as always as this has become the normal as all of our teams have supported each other this entire tour.
no score at halftime but we feel confident in our play and press even higher in the 2nd half. We score a nice goal but its called back on a questionable offsides call as we feel the linesman missed this one. Game ends 0-0 as our opponents were quite happy to play long ball and try their luck with penalties.
once again our fate will be decided from 12 yards away and once again we end up on the losing end. Boys are crushed as we are definitely the better team but that is football.
So after dozens of games, wins, losses, ties, championship games, chanting, singing, walking, etc, our soccer play has finally ended but we left our mark and so proud of these kids.
time to relax, do some shopping at Heden center and get ready for our dress up night out. boys in ties and dress attire and girls in skirts/dresses. They clean up quite well and look great as we walk to eat dinner as a group. A night to hang with our friends at the hotel and we have one more full day tomorrow. Kids will have their phones from Saturday morning on and most of them have enjoyed the phone free freedom which we hope as a staff will leave a good impression.
Watching finals tomorrow and last day of fun ahead so should be another banner day. Ciao, Ed