Monday Morning Report: March 22

It was a disappointing weekend for AC D.C. Things can only get better this spring, right?

We played a brand new team to WISL on Saturday for our season opener, which means that no one knew what to expect from this opponent, and the refs were warned by the league to call the game extra-tight. As all season openers impart, there was a sense of "new beginning" and excitement in the air. Too bad I didn't heed Matt White's warning and got stuck in DC marathon traffic for an hour-and-a-half and was late for the season friggin' opener!

At least I was able to warn off several of our guys not to do what I did, and they all got to the pitch before I did. Much to my excitement, we were up 2 nil when I arrived. I didn't see the goals, but one was a brilliant finish by Parham and the other a hand-ball PK by Ramon.

After that, our offense really didn't get into gear. It was really unfortunate that we gave up a garbage goal near the end of half. "Split milk" and all, it would have been a very different game, going into the second half with a solid 2 goal lead.

If I were to pick out one flaw throughout the game, it was that we gave up the ball too easily in the middle of the pitch. It's true that our opponents closed down our ball-handlers speedily, but we should have a near-telepathic understanding with each other (play for each other!). Our ball-handler should know, almost without looking, where his outlet is. A lot of times, that is on the wings, so our wingers must get into better position to receive the ball, and decompress the middle.

As it was, we kept giving the ball away in the middle of the pitch. In such situations, no matter how strong our defense is, we will give up more goals. We gave up the levelling goal just after Parham got his red-card for a B.S. "second yellow." Robb made a heroic save to keep up level, but the biggest disappointment was that we gave up the losing goal with one minute to go, and the refs had a huge hand in it by not making the clear offsides call.

But stop blaming the refs. We were just not good enough offensively to keep possession and play the game on their half. Allowing them to attack again-and-again, the end result was almost inevitable.

A theme for this season is "play for each other." That means many things, but first, it means make runs and make space for yourself, to receive the ball, to help out the teammate with the ball. It also means communicating, so they know their environment: when to control, when to clear(!), when to take it up themselves.

We'll do better next game.

Sunday's futsal game was a "throw-away" make up game because of the snow. Ugh. Not even worth describing. Outdoor is the game now. Yippeeee...