BLogg
Pedro Neves
Huvudtränare U16
Day 4
Gothia Cup - "..Right to Dream.."
After finishing the Group Stage in 2nd place, we conquer the right to be amongst the best teams on the competition. The challenge was harder but this is how we grow, playing against the best so we can take it to the next level. On the 1st round of the A Playoffs we were facing the best team on group 11. A win would get us the chance to stay in the competition and keep the fire up! We started the day early and looking forward to show a different better version of ourselves.
The coaching staff managed to scout our first opponent so we had pretty good information about our opponents to share with the players.
And what a brilliant game we made!!! We set up the proper strategy, we fire up the players to the maximum and everything went perfect! We didn't allow our opponent to play their way and dominated the game at every moment, showing excellent attitude, teamwork, effort, focus and composure. The Gods of Football were with us this time and we delivered a great show! Players step up their game, legs were tired but the spirit was in the sky again, ready to face our next opponent. Everything we did was worth it! After a few hours, time to our new challenge. South Africa team with 3 wins in 3 games, 4 goals scored, zero conceeded and rest in the morning. We knew the odds were against us and the physical side could be a decisive factor but we are here to play and to compete, so we go with all we got.
We started the game at a good level and managed to put our dynamics with confident quality play. We also realized from the start that this game was going to be much harder than any other before. Unfortunately we made some minor mistakes and conceeded an unfortunate goal close to the end of the first half. Things didn't get better on the 2nd half and conceeded the 2nd goal very early, also very unfortunate. After that we saw the fire fading and our mission was close to impossible. Sometimes some details make all the difference in the game but in overall, we got overplayed by our opponent and end up with a hard loss 6-0.
Despite that, there is no shame in accepting defeat against a clearly stronger opponent. Yes, some things could have been better, but we gave what we have. We take the good things with us and use them to inspire our path for the new challenges that awaits us. In the end, we can be proud to finish amongst the top-64 teams from a total of 213 and we will finish with a well deserved Pizza dinner!
Thanks for all the support from the club and specially the parents during the tournament!
See you soon!
Day 3
Gothia Cup - "..Bitter sweet symphony.."
After a nice well spent day around Gothenburg and a good rest, we get to the final game of the Group Stage.
Expectations were high, players knew before hand the team we were going to face and our objective was very clear, going all in for the win!
Team started the game reasonably well, created a very good scoring chance and we were in total control of the game. Sadly it was one of those games where we thought too much of ourselves and despite our dominance, we couldn't make any goals nor create as many chances as expected. Our opponents fought with all their will and effort to destroy our game and protect their own goal. Eventually time was against us, as we got too anxious and frustrated, which only made worse to show our best version. We end the game with a 0-0 and a clear feeling that we could have done better, managed our emotions with clarity and get a win. Still, we were the only team that wanted to play Football and we kept true to ourselves. We take that with us until the end as we move forward to the next round playoffs, after a 2nd place in group stage, where this time we will face the best teams in the Tournament. Better days will come, and tomorrow we will go back to the place we were happy in the first game.
Time to recover and do everything that we can to go again and hopefully get a performance to be proud of.
Day 2
Gothia Cup - "..Aim for the sky.."
After a very good start blessed with rain on the 1st match, the team enjoyed the day with great progress on the Snapchat challenge around Hedens Park. Ego is up, spirit is up. We also enjoyed a very nice view for the Opening ceremony on the top of Ullevi stadium, full of good music, dancing performances and nice fireworks in the end.
Day was long and tiring, and the guys got a good extra rest for today's game.
We knew before hand that this could be the most challenging team in the group stage and their 4-0 win on the first game was something to take in consideration. Still, we aim for the sky, we aim for the win to secure us 1st place in the group. Why not? Let them dream! We started the game good, showing confidence and getting some good plays on the build up. Faced some problems getting in the space behind a very well organized opponent with a high block, but the game was promising and intense. Unfortunately conceded a goal on a long ball played behind our back, that was well finished by the winger. Still, we kept our heads up and work hard to get something out from the game. Defensively we were very organized, consistent and competitive and on the second half after some rotations we kept the intensity. Despite a very honorable effort by all the players, we played more with passion than with clarity and intelligence, so the game quality dropped down and we still struggle to get forward and create scoring chances. Still hit the bar after a corner kick in the ending moments of the game, and we could have conceded one more goal but the score from the 1st half stayed the same until the end. Cannot say anything about the effort and passion our boys put on the pitch but we need to keep true to our playing style and dynamics during the whole game so we can show our best qualities and fight better for the win. Still, a loss is a loss, so now its time to recover and enjoy the rest of the day. We'll get our boys fully recovered and we will come back tomorrow for the last game in the group stage, stronger than before, hungry for more, aiming for 2nd place!
Day 1
Gothia Cup - "..Always good to start with a win.."
Here we are in Gothenburg, to represent IS Halmia on Gothia Cup! The big day finally arrived and you can feel the excitement in the air.
After settling in at our base and getting all girls around Hedens Park to know our players we start our journey. Players had a good night of sleep and woke up full of energy anxious to start full power.
We knew in advance that our first game would be a balanced match up and it was very important to start with a win to capitalize the good spirit in the Team. It was also very important to show our best version and play good football.
We started full power since 1st minute and quickly got ahead in the score with 2 goals on the 1st half. The rain also came in and blessed our match but our players kept strong playing with quality and personality. We sentenced the game in the start of the 2nd half with the 3-0 and controlled every moment of the game. Overall a very strong display of football with everyone enjoying the game and the fully deserved win.
After a good lunch to recover energies, team moves together to watch more games around Hedens Park and have a chill afternoon.
We end up today with the big opening ceremony at Ullevi stadium. We promise to rest well so we can have another good run on tomorrow's game and dream for more exceptional performances.
Lars El Hayek
