The importance of playing with intensity, focus and purpose - from whistle to whistle - can never be understated. Coaches sound like broken records - or malfunctioning digital samplings - on this point. One game, a few minutes lapse, one goal, a big swing of outcome. That's all it takes.

That was a lesson the San Francisco Seals Pyros U16 boys team brought home with them from the 2010 Soccer By The Bay Tournament. The young Seals team entered the tournament looking to build on their early tournament success - having taken 3rd place in a Spring Stanford Tournament. Now, in the August Soccer By The Bay Tourney, "on paper" the toughest round-robin group games appeared to be their first and third games ... and if they got past them, a shot at the championship match would be very likely.

In the first game - against their toughest opponent from the East Diablo club - the Seals came out strong and hard-tackling. The entire squad put together a solid performance and walked off with a good result that had them on track for success.

 

In the afternoon game #2, the boys faced a Stanford team that the Seals Pyros believed were the least of their problems. And perhaps that was why they strolled into the first half without intensity or sharpness, and were stung for 2 quick, surprising goals. To their credit, the stunned Seals rallied in the second half and took the game to their opponents, playing most of that half in the back-heeling opponent's final third of the pitch. The Seal's boys punched in one goal and created repeated chances ... but too late. At game's end - the Seals squad were angry and furious with themselves. They knew what went wrong. They knew they beat themselves, 2-1.

Now the Sunday morning match against a West Valley United team was a "must win" - if they could take maximum points from this game, they could still make the Championships.

Warming up, Coach Shani saw that the pitch was long and the surface slow grass. He told the guys the pitch was NOT conducive to a control game of passing, and instructed the team to "play direct" - to pass forward and put the ball in the air, as opposed to keeping passes on the slow grass ... and lift the ball over the "D" line for our forwards to run onto and shoot. He also reminded them of what happened in game #2 ...

The SF Seals Pyros responded by throwing themselves into the 1st half fray with both intensity and "with a mission". Defensive right-back Ben Ruppert then lifted a spot-on perfect direct ball to striker Alex Voorhees, who raced through their "D", under the flight of the ball and headed it past an on-rushing keeper. Game on ... This was now a Pyros team playing with purpose and aggression: Blocking passes "at the source" with hard tackles, harassing and hounding, winning 50-50 balls, fast tempo, smart ball movement, totally breaking up the opposition's attempts to build and mount attacks. A 2nd goal by Robert Giambruno and Alex Voorhees' brace locked up an exhausting, collective 3-1 win of beauty. Now, did they make the Championship game?

"But If" is a hypothetical scenario that only serves to ponder lost opportunities ... Moot, after the fact. BUT - it also serves to expose lessons one needs to absorb:

"But if" we had played the 2nd game like we did the First and (especially) Third ...   In the end, when all scores and points were tallied, the Seals Pyros missed the Finals by just ONE point.

One goal/one game ... instead of a Championship Final ... the SF Seals Pyros went home.

But the "come back" fire in their eyes in the second half of their defeat, and the "total game" response displayed in the third game, was strong indication that this young team, in their second season together, is building and evolving into a competitive, well coached squad with great promise of good things to come.

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Players interested in trying out for the SF Seals Pyros U16 team should contact Dave Nugent at davenug@comcast.net.
We are expanding the U16 squad into two competitive teams for the Spring 2011 season, with room for new talented, competitive players.

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