Passing the First Test

The guys came through with flying colors last night. We came out with great energy and took at 3 – 1 lead. We built that lead to 5 - 3 at the half. The Italians made a run and actually tied the came at 6 all in the fourth. We immediately scored two quick goals and took control of the game. It was nice to see the guys be able to stay together and work hard to regain the momentum. The bottom line – we came into a tough environment and did a great job. I was very proud of the team. It was a nice team win. Although our scoring was not as balanced as it has been in some big games in the past, it was definitely a team win. Our defense held the Italians to 8 goals and we gave up a cheap one with 7 seconds left in the game. Merrill played great in the goal and Tony led the team with 4 goals, Layne had 3, Jesse 1 and Peter V. had 1.


This was a very emotional game with lots of energy from a sold out stadium. Now our job as coaches is to bring them back to earth and make sure we stay focused on the task at hand. Tomorrow we play Macedonia. We really don’t know much about them as we have only seen them play one game here in this tournament. They are made up of a bunch of old Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin players. This is a team that actually beat Greece last year to knock them out of the World Championships. They can be dangerous. Yesterday they lost 6 – 4 to Romania and they did not look so good. However, I am sure they will be fired up to play us. We need to stay focused as we are now totally in control of our bracket. We play Macedonia tomorrow and then Romania on Friday. Two wins means that we automatically advance to the top 8 and get two extra days off which as we saw last year in Beijing is a huge advantage.

We had a light training today and went over some game film for tomorrow. Game time tomorrow is at 5:00 pm. The real key for us is to stay focused and to be consistent – if we can play with the same energy and team work we played with last night then we can beat anyone. I have attached a few pictures from last night’s game. Keep on cheering for us. Go USA.

See you at the pool.

Coach

I received an email from a friend today with a great quote from Lou Holtz (one of the best football coaches ever). The quote read “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary”. Have an extraordinary day!