January 13, 2013

Hi Guys,

It's easy to get discouraged about today's 1-2 loss to Tubbies, but it's good to keep things in perspective. We actually ended up with a stronger team than it looked like only 36 hours ago, scored a beautiful goal, fought hard and conceded two goals. Despite fielding less than our best side, we also could have easily tied or won this match, given a few things going slightly differently. All this being said, we are clearly in a rebuilding/reorganization mode and need to fix a few things before we're fully up to speed again.

The game got off to a wonderful start when--just 90 seconds after the opening whistle--Oto outplayed a couple Tubbies, drove down the right wing and put a nice through pass to Ben, who neatly slotted it past Jon and into the net. Following a lot of back-and-forth, hard-fought action by both sides, Tubbies equalized in the 30th minute of a goal by Rory. About 10 minutes later, Laurent (who stopped by to play about 20 minutes) almost put Compass up with a strong diving header that went over the bar.

The second half was pretty much the same, but the Tubbies captalized on some Compass errors and confusion to score in the 73rd minute.

Compass can be credited with playing more physically aggressive football against Tubbies than we did the last time, especially on the defensive line, anchored by David and Lukas, which threw itselves at Tubbies attackers and fought hard for balls.

Where we were definitely weakened was our midfield, which wasn't effectively connecting with the offense as much as it has previously to generate more scoring opportunities. I was not struck by the two goals Tubbies scored on us as much as I was by the lack of real or possible goals against them. With the exception of Laurent's brief appearance, Arnaud was the only regular member of our usual starting midfield line present. Thus, Oto, Ross, Jose and Caleb had to fill in. Although they played hard and well, this unfamiliar organization and line-up undoubtedly had an impact on offensive action. We are certainly missing injured Robert, recently-departed German Michael, and absent Artem.

Finally, I need to hear from more of you about this coming weekend. We have about 6 guys IN for each day. These tournaments only come along about once 3 months and are a great opportunity for a lot of football. Also keep in mind that we're the current Plate Champions. Let's go down to Kaohsiung with pride and put in a strong showing, guys!

Doug