Young Guns fighting hard against top team from Kangaroo's league

Young Guns vs. Bulleen Lions (Kangaroo’s League) 22.08.09 (A)  -  approximately 0:7 (0:1)

We are not sure what it really sure what it is… Have the Young Guns earned such a fantastic reputation in the junior soccer environment that everybody is scared of them? Or is it purely bad luck? Anyway, we were again up against the crème de la crème of a Kangaroo’s league. Not having been challenged once by another team this year the Lions fielded a very strong and skilful team of 10 year olds against our Young Guns. But that was exactly what we were after – another challenge for the boys. And what a challenge it was again.

It was a beautiful day, sunny, 18 degrees, a nice breeze, and we actually got the opportunity to play on Bulleen’s artificial pitch where the famous Socceroos usually stop by when they’re visiting Melbourne. So the stage was set for another cracker game. With 2 players down (Nick and Justin having to pursue other duties) we were lucky enough to secure little Tom again for our team.

Josh won the toss and cleverly decided to kick into the wind first. The strategy was to hold up against the opponent with a tightly knit defence in the first half, and then take advantage of the strong wind after the break. Ryan was brave enough to put on the goalie’s jumper again. Before him Corey and Callum stood tall as full backs and Moritz took over the engine room position. Josh, Alex, and Victor swapped through the positions on the wings with Tom and Bobby taking turns as forwards.

From the very first second on it became clear that this would be a very tough challenge. It was not only the stronger bodies, but certainly also the superior ball skills and more experience that put the Lions into the favourites’ position. Nevertheless, our boys put in a hard fight and held out for a very long time without conceding a major score against them. They had to lay a lot of last second tackles, survive plenty of dangerous corners, and defend against quite a few rocket shots flying towards our goal. Ryan in goals and the defenders put in an outstanding performance which was only possible because the midfielders and forwards helped out a lot and tried to keep the ball in Bulleen’s half as well.

The game developed very well with chances on both ends of the pitch. Josh and Bobby came close with good shots, Moritz had a good chance after one of our corners. But we have to admit that the Lions definitely had more scoring opportunities. They bombed from all angles, but Ryan was the master of nearly every situation. And if it wasn’t his fists or feet, then the goalpost or crossbar helped out. Then with 10 minutes to go in the first half we hesitated a bit too long to move out of the backline to face the Lions’ dangerous No. 9. Against his hammer shot from 12 meters straight underneath the crossbar, 30 centimeters away from the left post, Ryan had no chance. That was the 0-1 that Bulleen deserved at halftime.

Our boys were pretty puffed, but the whole coaching staff and cheer squad was very proud of what they had achieved already. A sip of water, a lot of vitamin C, and a few sugar hits in form of colourful lollies put their energy level up again where it was required to be. The usual changes then saw little (BIG) Tom in goals after the break, Alex and Vic as full backs, and skipper Josh as engine. Moritz, Corey, and James played the wing positions, and Cal and Ryan stood strong as our forwards after the break.

It took us a little while to find our (in the first half perfectly working) structure and we all had to get used again to the most important basics of defending. That is to come out and face the opponent and not wait for them to come towards us. Unfortunately, a team like Bulleen punishes any tiny weakness without hesitating. Within 4 or 5 minutes they quickly put 2 to 3 goals through that gave them a deciding lead already early in the second half. After the Guns got used to their positions the game looked a bit more even again. They managed to get closer to the Lions’ goal again, however without creating any 100% chances for them initially. However, in defence they now really had found themselves. Alex and Vic faced their direct opponents and won plenty of balls for our team now. Josh took over the playmaking role from the center defence. And whatever couldn’t be defended by the 3, gave little (BIG) Tom every opportunity to show how long the body of a 8 year old can be. Like a panther he jumped between the goalposts, his body must measure at least 2 meters from toe to the tips of his fingers. At least that what it looked like when he flew into the corners to pull out one outstanding save after the other. Further up front Moritz, James, and Corey worked extremely hard to put pressure onto the Lions’ backline and so managed to create some scoring chances for Ryan and Cal.

The boys tried really hard, but in the end they couldn’t avoid another couple of goals with the game finally ending with a loss of approximately 7-0 (the question of the real end result could not even resolved during the following Trivia night). We have to admit, some of the goals that Bulleen scored in the second half were amazing and very entertaining to watch, like situations put into reality from the best soccer theory books: Passes to the wings, controls, hard and precise crosses, and classic finishes. But… our boys and we all can be proud of them. They did all they could to give Bulleen a hard fight, and with the exception of maybe 10 or 15 minutes when their concentration level dropped a bit, they really managed to do so. I think we can really look forward to next year. Assuming they stay together as a team and keep on working hard on their skills and tactical understanding, then we’ll probably have a lot of fun watching them matching up against kids in their age group at higher levels. Today’s line up had following highlights:

Ryan: Especially his performance as goalkeeper in the first half earned him the man of the match award. Being probably one of our best goalie talents he only had to concede one goal against kids that kicked the ball like rockets. With his stoic calmness he managed to always be there where the balls seemed to fly. Also as forward he was always hard on the ball and so definitely deserved to get the Happy Meal at Maccers.

Corey: He might have been one head smaller than his opponents today, but that did not stop Corey from hassling them until they gave in and gave the ball to him. This was so eminently important especially in the first half when Bulleen started to display great passing and dribbling skills. This is what we call great determination on the ground.

Moritz: Like Corey Mozza had a great first half in the backline. His ratio of “won contests” was in the high 90%s. And with a little bit of luck one of his long goal kicks into the wind could have led to a major score for our team. In the second half he tried hard to carry the ball forward and set up his forwards to score.

Cal: His strength was, as usual, in his great defending skills. Once he got into his good positioning and tackling mood, Bulleen could not find a recipe to get around our strong full back on the left side. In the second half he came close to unleashing a few dangerous shots but was twice stopped last second by the Lions’ sweeper.

Josh: Leading the team into the game as skipper Josh again managed to set a few highlights. He almost opened the scoring today with a sneaky shot that missed the target by only a little bit on the left side. Also as engine in the second half he managed to win balls for us and so start quite a few attacks for our team. It’s always a pleasure to watch him doing his magic with the ball.

Victor: Unusually shy in the beginning it didn’t take Victor long to get into the game. Once his battery was up and running the Lions facing him regretted to have gone out of bed this morning. He laid tackle after tackle and so made it extremely hard for Bulleen to build up their game over the right side. For the whole game he had almost completely shut that side down.

Alex: He went to his limits today displaying a great fighting, running, and tackling performance. Be it as winger in the first half or as fullback after the break, Alex went into the contests with a lot of confidence and took the ball of his opponents over and over again. Especially as full back after the break Alex was very instrumental when the Lions all of a sudden shifted gears and lifted their game by a few notches.

Bobby: He started off as full forward and managed to cause plenty of confusion in the Lions’ backline. His performance highlighted how important it is to have a moving target up front that keeps the other side’s defenders on their toes all the time. After the break he could continue his contribution on the wing where he earned all rights to be puffed and tired after the game.

Tom: Sometimes (not only in history) the smallest people can turn into the biggest heroes. Being the youngster in our team with only 8 years of age, Tom showed no fear today at all. As forward he had quite a few good actions. But his highlight of the day definitely was the whole 2^nd half where he starred in goals like a professional keeper having a few Schwartzer genes in his DNA. His nickname from now on should be “Panther”. It was incredible how wide he could jump from the left post to right and the other way again to scratch the ball off the line.