Junior team played well vs. Japanese seniors
Last Sunday, our junior team was motivated to play against two Japanese Senior teams. We also appreciated the support of the parents who came to watch despite the cold and rain.
In total, we played 4 games of 25 minutes.
- We won the 1st 2-0,
- we tied the 2nd 0-0,
- lost the 3rd 1-2,
- and tied the last 0-0.
What we liked was that all the players tried to play good combination football despite facing a (much) more experienced Japanese opponents. When the whole team is in the same playing mode it is really a joy to watch. We saw many players step up and take more responsibility and that’s the way forward for us. Things to improve is to stay focused at the back against a stronger opponent… You cannot afford a mistake so it’s all about taking a fast/right decision when you are under pressure. We explained also that the first cross into the box is better instead of taking another touch and cross afterward. We like our forwards to be open-minded and look for nearby solutions if they are boxed in. Last but not least, we need to practice on our finishing as we could have won all 4 matches if we finished the shots better.
Overall we were happy about today and we will see you all the training on Thursday. We will play Japan U18 next Sunday at 13:00 at Waigaoqiao.
Cheers
Pat, Nick & Freek
