6/23 - 6/25 Tournament Action (05s)

Rebels play was fun to watch as I had the opportunity to watch them play 3 times this last weekend. They build from the back and try to connect passes zigzagging the field. Their #9 is a great talent on the right wing and dangerous. I would like to applaud their keeper for some amazing saves throughout the final!
 
Thank you TCD and Kicking!
Here is my recap from a fun trip to the Nor Cal turf:
We played our first 4 games at 4 different fields which was kind of tough since it was unfamiliar land. The navigation was in overdrive to say the least. All 5 games were on turf which is good and bad. Obviously didn't have to worry about a "bad" field, but being that it was in the mid to low 90's in Danville, it made for some steamy turf fields. Our second game on Saturday was the worst as far as heat goes. It had to have felt like 110 on that turf, within 5 minutes the game already seemed to be at half speed and by the second half it was like watching a turtle racing a snail.
So now that I got my bitching out of the way;
The fields and venues were all very nice. Free parking and usually plenty of it. Very classy sidelines on every game. Good quality competition.

Game 1 & 5) Placer United: This team we played first on Friday and again on Sunday in the Semi finals. Though we beat them 4-0 and 4-1 in the two games, this team was very solid and had us on our heals quite a few times in both games. They have a strong back line that made us work for our goals. We just seemed to click at the right times against this team.

Game 2) Force: This was our first game on Saturday and it was very exciting and competitive. They work on passing on the first touch like no team I have seen and when it works it is pretty. When we pressured them it did force a lot of bad passes and turnovers, but it was obvious to me that in time with their style they will just keep getting more dangerous. We were in their back half most of the game, but it did not seem to bother them much and both their goals were on counter attacks, so I expect that is what they play for. We lost 2-1 and expected to get to face them in the final, but they lost 1-0 in the other semi final match.

Game 3) Union Sacramento: This was the slow motion game, so I can't say much good about either team in this match. Really hard to point out anything other than this team had a lot of heart hanging in there in that heat and battling to the end even when the score was already out of reach.

Game 5) Mustang Elite: They beat Force in the semi's and I'm guessing those two teams see eachother quite a bit because I felt that force was more talented as a whole, but Mustang must know how to play them better than us outsiders. Our game vs Mustang was pretty competitive for most of the game. They matched up with us pretty evenly and kept it close for a while. We had a couple pretty crosses that resulted in goals. The last 15 minutes got similar to game 3 just due to the heat and the score, but over all it was a very exciting final!
 
Great recap, Willy, thanks!
A coach at our old club told us a trick to help the girls feet stay a little cooler when playing on turf when it's super hot: take the inserts out of the cleats. Cut a piece of aluminum foil to match the insert - place shiny side down (that's important!) - then place insert back inside of cleat over the aluminum foil. it helps deflect the heat rising from the turf and keep their feet a little cooler.
 
Game 2) Force: This was our first game on Saturday and it was very exciting and competitive. They work on passing on the first touch like no team I have seen and when it works it is pretty. When we pressured them it did force a lot of bad passes and turnovers, but it was obvious to me that in time with their style they will just keep getting more dangerous. We were in their back half most of the game, but it did not seem to bother them much and both their goals were on counter attacks, so I expect that is what they play for. We lost 2-1 and expected to get to face them in the final, but they lost 1-0 in the other semi final match.

They don't counter attack by choice. They want to possess the ball. Your girls must have put enough pressure on them so that they couldn't control the ball well. Thanks again for the game summaries!
 
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