U9 Calcio Talent and Select - NYSA FC

U9 Rosso 4 - 7 NYSA FC

A frustrating game. With a very slow start in the 1st half, conceding a couple of soft goals not through mistakes but lack of effort to defend & players showing a lack of desire to track players or react in defensive situations. I felt our confidence as a team and our togetherness starting to fade during the game, as we We went into the break 4-0 down, Our decision making on the ball was rushed at times too and players stopped doing the things we want to see on the ball, not being brave or showing good intentions when finding the free player.

During the break, I explained mistakes can happen and that’s fine, as that’s part of developing and learning from trying things. But what cost us was the team not working hard enough or not running back or working as a team to help each other, which I thought is not acceptable and we can’t accept these standards. For the next half, I set a challenge for the team to win every duel and show me who wants to get the ball back for their team the most.

I thought the boys reacted well In the 2nd & 3rd half we competed much better against a really good NYSA FC side. (Who got to regional play offs in December). As we tried to play more as a team, having good intentions on the ball and players showed good resilience to keep competing in the game. Which is something that I’m proud of from the team.

The frustrating part is that I felt this situation could have been avoided, however this is a good learning curve for these players and these experiences I feel will benefit the players in the long run.

Overall, a positive reaction after a slow start. Competing against a very good side, with still more things we can do for our next game, I was proud of reaction.