Futbolito is the term that the Spanish speakers with whom I did landscaping used for any small field or indoor soccer - literally meaning "little soccer." It is also the most accurate description of what transpired at last night's game. There was a lot of futbolito played - the futbol by the other team while we supplied the -ito. We had 5 players (1 short of a full side) so we played a man down with no subs. For the second time in 3 games they stopped counting our opponent's goals at 15. On paper I did OK, with 2 goals and 2 assists, but overall I was very dissatisfied with the performance. I must have had 10 horrible passes where I plain missed my target completely. Slicky had some truly inspired runs, (I haven't checked with Stacy but I think he also has 2 goals/2 assists) but I could tell his heart wasn't in it at all. I really don't blame him as he has experienced much more legitimate competition than we were able to muster. Their numbers and general talent advantage made the game into an odd-man shooting drill for their strikers.I may be invited by last night's opponent to join them for next season due almost completely to my fitness level and effort. It was a good confidence builder to be wanted but I have no intention of playing without Slick. Stay tune to see if we join them or transfer to a higher level house team for next season.
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Mateo and I are "mates", so we're a packaged deal. As I said in my blog (comment), I don't mind losing. My issue is that playing "soccer" like that is not really soccer. We would practice 5 on 3 or 3 on 2 all the time. The difference with that drill is that as soon as the defence (British spelling) would get the ball and clear it, the drill would be over because in a game that gives your plenty of time to recover and get numbers back in your favor on D. In indoor and in our game, you can't clear the ball. Have you ever seen (or participated) a drill where you have 5 guys in a circle passing the ball around while 2-3 in the center try to intercept the passes? If you do it right, the guys in the middle should never get the ball. So, in a game situation like ours, it turns into 1 of 2 things: 1) you run around for 50 minutes and never touch the ball; 2) you just stand there and also never touch the ball. That would be called man-to man or zone defence in basketball. Either way, that's what it turns into - a game of half-court basketball. At many times during the game the guy with the ball just stood there (as did I)! Then, he'd pass the ball to the open guy and he'd score. It was a lot like basketball, not the open run of play that soccer is supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, you did good. It shows to go ya that hard work/effort pays off.