The Stage is Set
It has been a long time since we had a game that we as coaches could actually relax a little. It was nice to be able to smile and laugh on the bench. We dominated the game from the beginning and pretty much had our way with an over matched Japanese team. After leading 7 – 0 at the half we went on to win 14 – 3. Another game where are defense was the story and on offense we had a very balanced attack. In fact, tonight we did even better than last night – 10 different players scored.
After our game, we stayed around and watched the Croatia vs. Montenegro game. The stadium was packed with 4,000 screaming Montenegrin fans. Every one of them seemed to hate the Croatian team. They had drums and noise makers and were singing and dancing for most of the match. It was a very fun water polo environment. If all goes well, we will be playing in that environment in a few nights. The whole team stayed and watched as Montenegro beat up on Croatia 12 – 7. It was good for the guys to see.
So here is the story. We play Serbia tomorrow night in the final game of the preliminary round. A win would put us in a cross over game with South Africa on Friday night. A loss will put us into a cross over game with Australia. We are playing well but tomorrow will be a good test. Serbia beat Italy today 6 – 3. They have a few players here that were not in the States last week when we played, but then so do we. I like our chances.
It would be very nice to play South Africa in the quarterfinals. They are the weakest team here and it would be beneficial to have essentially a day of rest before the semis and finals. The truth is that either way we will get some great competition before the week is out.
One of our hosts (our translator) was talking to me this morning and he passed on the fact that we were the talk of all the other coaches last night. The word was that we beat the Italians and made it look easy. The other coaches were saying that it looked like we were playing at about 60% and yet we were in control of the game from start to finish. As I told our host, “now all we have to do is get our guys to play at 100%”. This is nice water polo gossip and it is nice to hear that we are still turning heads. The real test will be in the pool as the tournament progresses. There are big games ahead and tomorrow is the first of many.
See you at the pool.
Coach
After our game, we stayed around and watched the Croatia vs. Montenegro game. The stadium was packed with 4,000 screaming Montenegrin fans. Every one of them seemed to hate the Croatian team. They had drums and noise makers and were singing and dancing for most of the match. It was a very fun water polo environment. If all goes well, we will be playing in that environment in a few nights. The whole team stayed and watched as Montenegro beat up on Croatia 12 – 7. It was good for the guys to see.
So here is the story. We play Serbia tomorrow night in the final game of the preliminary round. A win would put us in a cross over game with South Africa on Friday night. A loss will put us into a cross over game with Australia. We are playing well but tomorrow will be a good test. Serbia beat Italy today 6 – 3. They have a few players here that were not in the States last week when we played, but then so do we. I like our chances.
It would be very nice to play South Africa in the quarterfinals. They are the weakest team here and it would be beneficial to have essentially a day of rest before the semis and finals. The truth is that either way we will get some great competition before the week is out.
One of our hosts (our translator) was talking to me this morning and he passed on the fact that we were the talk of all the other coaches last night. The word was that we beat the Italians and made it look easy. The other coaches were saying that it looked like we were playing at about 60% and yet we were in control of the game from start to finish. As I told our host, “now all we have to do is get our guys to play at 100%”. This is nice water polo gossip and it is nice to hear that we are still turning heads. The real test will be in the pool as the tournament progresses. There are big games ahead and tomorrow is the first of many.
See you at the pool.
Coach
posted by Dr. Terry Schroeder at
3:35 PM
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