Blue defeated by Green 2-0

Despite a solid effort, Blue lost a tough match 2-0 to the Green Team on Sunday in sweltering conditions. Limited to 12 players, team blue adopted a patient passing attack and employed some very solid position play. Two mistakes led to two goals which made for the result indicated above.

The refs asked us before the game about playing 4 quarters instead of two halves. Team Blue was for it, but team Green thought they would lose their advantage since the had more subs than us. Jerks. Incidentally, we had new refs for this game and these guys are unquestionably, the best refs we have had in quite some time. They explained their calls, worked together when one could not see a play and called offsides tightly, but consistently.

About 10 minutes into the game, a green striker broke free on the right side and took a shot for the far post. I dove and got a solid hand on the ball for the save, but unfortunately, another one of their strikers made it to the back door and put away an easy one. We possessed the ball more than they did and had quite a few opportunities to score, but were not lucky enough to put one away. Halftime score, 1-0.

The second half was played pretty similarly to the first half, we possessed the ball much more and had some good opportunities to score. The woodwork denied 2 potential scoring chances for team blue. With about 5 minutes to play, a blue defender was whistled for a hand ball in the box leading to a penalty kick for the greens. I went against my gut feeling on the kick and chose to go left instead of right (the kicker was left footed) and really had no chance to redirect myself to the ball. I think I could have gotten it if I went with my first choice, but the question is moot now. Final score, 2-0.

Everyone who made it to the game should be proud of the effort. It was something we can build on for our last regular season game before the playoffs start. If we play this style of ball next week, I guarantee a Blue victory.