Miracle on Turf (almost)
While most of the Gonzaga in Florence life would best be depicted in a reality TV show, last night would've made for a perfect inspirational sports movie. We've been playing calcetto for the past several weeks. It's similar to indoor soccer, on small outdoor turf fields with teams of five or six. Every Tuesday night, we rent out a complex with two calcetto fields and have mini tournaments of four teams composed of people from our program. I'm not going to lie- before the first night we played, I talked up my game a lot, but was put in place when I came away with zero goals and a loss. But I definitely got my soccer feet back after that and returned to dominant form. The smaller field and quick surface suit my game well and really work to my advantage. A couple weeks ago, a team of Brazilians saw us playing and asked Professor Batterman and I if we would be interested in forming a team of our best to play them. We agreed and worked on fielding our top players.
Last night we faced off against those Brazilians after our own mini-tournament among our own program. The squad I put together included myself, Brian Ream, Paul from Chico State, Koch, Engel, and Rick from B.C. Though we were all a little tired and banged up from an hour of playing already, we took the field at 9 p.m. ready to play.
The Brazilians came to play. They had a coach and each had Brazil National Team jerseys with different players. One was Kaka, one was Robinho, one was Adriano, one was Junhior, etc. Upon kick-off, I could tell we were nervous. They were running us all over the field, and our main concern was just to hold our shape and weather the storm. They played the game like a samba, constantly moving, and dancing with and without the ball. Their only weakness was their finishing, as they didn't have anyone on their team with a pure, cold-blooded nose for the goal. As they'd later find out, our team did. After less than 10 minutes, they burried the first goal. It was bound to happen eventually, but I was still impressed that we were playing decently.
It happened shortly after their goal. I took a pass in the middle, made a decent touch towards the goal, and saw an opening. I drilled it into the upper V. We had a ton of students there who had stuck around to watch us. They all went nuts. Batterman was probably the most enthusiastic of them all.
Shortly after, Brian and I combined for a give-and-go and he put in another goal. We were ahead and even controlling the game. You could tell that our opponents were shocked, frustrated, and absolutely rattled. From the sidelines, their coach asked one of our fans if we were truly from America.
They got an equalizer, but we responded quickly. I hit Andrew with a cross. He had a great hit, but the keeper got a foot on it. However, it bounced off one of their defenders who was tracking back to cover on defense and rolled into the goal. We had the lead again. Their "coach" quickly came out to replace their current goalie.
After some intense play with great opportunities on both ends, they once again got an equalizer. However, shortly before half, I made a run up the side, took a pass, got behind my defender, and placed a low shot just inside the far post. I ran up our sideline, doing the Luca Toni celebration and high fiving the fans. We were all very fired up. When halftime came, our fans were eccstatic. They were just as into as we were. We rested up and got ready to play another half of high-intensity soccer.
Shortly into the second half, Koch fell hard and sprained his ankle. This was a tough loss, since he was playing well and hard, and we were all pretty tired from all the running we'd been doing for the past hour and a half. We kept up the intensity, though. It was such a rush. I was playing in probably the most intense, high level, competitive game I had played in since high school. There was an enthusiastic crowd and the stakes were high. It took me back. But you could tell we were wearing out. They scored the equalizer. Then they took the lead. We had to do something or this game was over.
Their defender tended to be a little lax with the ball. Diving in on these Brazilians was suicide, because they would make an absolute fool out of you with their fancy footwork. But this guy didn't have it. As he dribbled it in the back, I jumped in, made a strong tackle, and sprung the ball loose. It became a scamble for the ball between him, myself, and the goalie. I got a foot on it, pushing it around the goalie. All I had to do was poke it into the net with my left. Tie game once again.
Still, the Brazilians scored yet again. Both teams were worn out, but they had the advantage of playing together for longer and being a little better rested. Our team was beat up. Brian was cramping and tired. Engel also cramped up. Harrison came from the spectator section to fill in for a while. I was pretty tired myself, but I still had a little left.
Playing up front on the right side, I took a pass from Paul out of the backfield. That same defender was guarding me, but this time he tried to jump in and intercept the pass. Rather than go to the ball, I shielded it off and let it roll past both of us. I had him beat and I took a shot from about 15 yards out. It was a low drive that was so strong that it wedged itself underneath the back corner pole of the net. We were tied once again.
Their next goal was in our opinion controversial. They called a nitpicky foul on Brian for what looked like a regular tackle. It was in a dangerous area and they scored on their set play. Time was running out and we had to get the equalizer. None of us had too much fuel left.
This was where we showed how much heart we had. For the next 15 minutes, we ran ourselves to the point where you're beyond exhaustion, where you have nothing left in your legs but they somehow keep moving. We connected on 1-2 combos, won 50-50s, scrapped for loose balls, and rocked the posts on several occassions. But we couldn't find the net. I hit Andrew on a diagonal in front of the goal and he hit the post with a beautiful sliding shot. Brian rattled the corner of the crossbar and the post with a penalty kick. I had one of my best plays of the night when I managed to get behind the defense with little time left. I was coming at the goalie from an angle, which is even more difficult in calcetto because the goals are smaller. I tried to curve it around the keeper and hook it inside the far post, and my shot did just that. However, it bounced off the inside of the post and out of the goal. The crowd went crazy, at first with joy, then with devastation. The Brazilians continued knocking as well, but Rick stopped them every time back in goal.
In the end, we finally ran out of juice. They scored the final goal and it was over. Still, we shook hands, agreed to play again, and congratulated each other on a great game. I think that the fans were more amped about the game than I was. Matt had a headache from yelling so much and couldn't stop saying how awesome it was. Batterman was on cloud nine. I hate losing more than many people, but this didn't feel as bad. We had exceeded all expectations and had impressed everyone there. We played with skill, heart, and as a team. And next week, we're going to get our revenge.
Last night we faced off against those Brazilians after our own mini-tournament among our own program. The squad I put together included myself, Brian Ream, Paul from Chico State, Koch, Engel, and Rick from B.C. Though we were all a little tired and banged up from an hour of playing already, we took the field at 9 p.m. ready to play.
The Brazilians came to play. They had a coach and each had Brazil National Team jerseys with different players. One was Kaka, one was Robinho, one was Adriano, one was Junhior, etc. Upon kick-off, I could tell we were nervous. They were running us all over the field, and our main concern was just to hold our shape and weather the storm. They played the game like a samba, constantly moving, and dancing with and without the ball. Their only weakness was their finishing, as they didn't have anyone on their team with a pure, cold-blooded nose for the goal. As they'd later find out, our team did. After less than 10 minutes, they burried the first goal. It was bound to happen eventually, but I was still impressed that we were playing decently.
It happened shortly after their goal. I took a pass in the middle, made a decent touch towards the goal, and saw an opening. I drilled it into the upper V. We had a ton of students there who had stuck around to watch us. They all went nuts. Batterman was probably the most enthusiastic of them all.
Shortly after, Brian and I combined for a give-and-go and he put in another goal. We were ahead and even controlling the game. You could tell that our opponents were shocked, frustrated, and absolutely rattled. From the sidelines, their coach asked one of our fans if we were truly from America.
They got an equalizer, but we responded quickly. I hit Andrew with a cross. He had a great hit, but the keeper got a foot on it. However, it bounced off one of their defenders who was tracking back to cover on defense and rolled into the goal. We had the lead again. Their "coach" quickly came out to replace their current goalie.
After some intense play with great opportunities on both ends, they once again got an equalizer. However, shortly before half, I made a run up the side, took a pass, got behind my defender, and placed a low shot just inside the far post. I ran up our sideline, doing the Luca Toni celebration and high fiving the fans. We were all very fired up. When halftime came, our fans were eccstatic. They were just as into as we were. We rested up and got ready to play another half of high-intensity soccer.
Shortly into the second half, Koch fell hard and sprained his ankle. This was a tough loss, since he was playing well and hard, and we were all pretty tired from all the running we'd been doing for the past hour and a half. We kept up the intensity, though. It was such a rush. I was playing in probably the most intense, high level, competitive game I had played in since high school. There was an enthusiastic crowd and the stakes were high. It took me back. But you could tell we were wearing out. They scored the equalizer. Then they took the lead. We had to do something or this game was over.
Their defender tended to be a little lax with the ball. Diving in on these Brazilians was suicide, because they would make an absolute fool out of you with their fancy footwork. But this guy didn't have it. As he dribbled it in the back, I jumped in, made a strong tackle, and sprung the ball loose. It became a scamble for the ball between him, myself, and the goalie. I got a foot on it, pushing it around the goalie. All I had to do was poke it into the net with my left. Tie game once again.
Still, the Brazilians scored yet again. Both teams were worn out, but they had the advantage of playing together for longer and being a little better rested. Our team was beat up. Brian was cramping and tired. Engel also cramped up. Harrison came from the spectator section to fill in for a while. I was pretty tired myself, but I still had a little left.
Playing up front on the right side, I took a pass from Paul out of the backfield. That same defender was guarding me, but this time he tried to jump in and intercept the pass. Rather than go to the ball, I shielded it off and let it roll past both of us. I had him beat and I took a shot from about 15 yards out. It was a low drive that was so strong that it wedged itself underneath the back corner pole of the net. We were tied once again.
Their next goal was in our opinion controversial. They called a nitpicky foul on Brian for what looked like a regular tackle. It was in a dangerous area and they scored on their set play. Time was running out and we had to get the equalizer. None of us had too much fuel left.
This was where we showed how much heart we had. For the next 15 minutes, we ran ourselves to the point where you're beyond exhaustion, where you have nothing left in your legs but they somehow keep moving. We connected on 1-2 combos, won 50-50s, scrapped for loose balls, and rocked the posts on several occassions. But we couldn't find the net. I hit Andrew on a diagonal in front of the goal and he hit the post with a beautiful sliding shot. Brian rattled the corner of the crossbar and the post with a penalty kick. I had one of my best plays of the night when I managed to get behind the defense with little time left. I was coming at the goalie from an angle, which is even more difficult in calcetto because the goals are smaller. I tried to curve it around the keeper and hook it inside the far post, and my shot did just that. However, it bounced off the inside of the post and out of the goal. The crowd went crazy, at first with joy, then with devastation. The Brazilians continued knocking as well, but Rick stopped them every time back in goal.
In the end, we finally ran out of juice. They scored the final goal and it was over. Still, we shook hands, agreed to play again, and congratulated each other on a great game. I think that the fans were more amped about the game than I was. Matt had a headache from yelling so much and couldn't stop saying how awesome it was. Batterman was on cloud nine. I hate losing more than many people, but this didn't feel as bad. We had exceeded all expectations and had impressed everyone there. We played with skill, heart, and as a team. And next week, we're going to get our revenge.
posted by Daniel T at 6:50 AM
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