Tag: Tournament

  • Coaching My Kid

    I like soccer/football. If you follow this blog, then you know that I support Tottenham Hotspur, and follow all the major international football tournaments. I am a fan, through and through.

    My daughter knows I’m a football fan, and on occasion will watch a match with me. Yet, I think she has come to believe that my dedicated fandom also equals that I know how to physically play soccer.

    I mean, I know how to kick a ball with the inside of my foot. I also can explain the offside rule…

    My daughter is going to try out for a travel soccer team, and she wants to be prepared. As a man who strives to be a good father, I am 100% in support of her ambition, and am willing to do anything to help out. For me, that meant going to YouTube and watching a video on teaching your kids the fundamentals of soccer by running several different drills.

    My kid, to say the least, was very surprised that I needed to watch a video, as she explained to me that she expected that I should “just know” how to coach soccer. I won’t say disappointed, but I think she is now coming to understand that when I yell at the Tottenham players that “I could do that!” when they mess up a play, I don’t actually mean that I could do that.

    Better she learn that now.

    As for coaching her; it’s actually fun. I have a drill checklist, and we go to the park every day and run through them. I find myself saying cool coach stuff like, “give me ten more.” Or “Dig deep and try that again.” She responds positive to it, which reinforces that I know what I am doing.

    And maybe I do know what I am doing.

  • Euro Cup 2024 – Day 8 to Day 13 – A Casual Fan’s Impressions

    I keep thinking that my life slows down when Summer rolls in and the kid gets out of school. No, I am a foolish man. Issues and projects pop up, and kid get sick, but through it all I kept watching matches, or watching highlights late at night on YouTube. Either way, this is what I saw…

    Day 8

    Slovakia v Ukraine

    Nice flash of aggressiveness in Ukraine to fight back and win this one.

    Poland v Austria

    Austria was in control of this match, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for Poland.

    Netherlands v France

    Two heavy weights going at it. I couldn’t shake the thought that France doesn’t have the players to make up for Mbappe’s absence due to his broken nose.

    Day 9

    Georgia v Czechia

    I wasn’t expecting much from these teams, but it was a fun match to watch.

    Turkey v Portugal

    Portugal was not messing around, and Ronaldo played like a team leader out there – unselfish play, pulling the defense away from the ball.

    Belgium v Romania

    Hey! Belgium showed up and played like the Red Devils.

    Day 10

    Switzerland v Germany

    Germany was on autopilot for this – they could have played harder. That’s not to say that Switzerland wasn’t out to win, but Germany didn’t look dominate.

    Scotland v Hungary

    Poor Scotland. Poor, poor Scotland. This match broke my heart for the Scots, but you want drama in a tournament, and that’s what happened. Poor Scotland.

    Day 11

    Albania v Spain

    Spain is here to win. Anything less than the Cup will be a failure to them.

    Croatia v Italy

    Another super dramatic heartbreaker. Croatia did everything right up until the last thirty seconds, and they let Italy take this from them. This is what makes the Group Stage so much fun; it’s not over until it’s over.

    Day 12

    France v Poland

    With Mbappe not at 100%, he is still crazy dangerous out there on the pitch, but again I was left feeling that he doesn’t have the support behind him. And again, Poland played well, but just couldn’t get over the hill.

    Netherlands v Austria

    Wow! This was a match, and another reason why the Euro Cup is so completely exciting. I knew the Dutch were always contenders, but Austria (who I am not familiar with) who had some luck, skill, and played like the wanted it more.  

    England v Slovenia

    Well… England won the group. The Three Lions played better, but they still don’t look like a solid team out there. Getting a little worried that they will be bounced in the first round of the knockout.

    Denmark v Serbia

    A pretty solid draw. Serbia fought for it, and Denmark wasn’t messing around either. Another really fun match in the tournament.

    Day 13

    Ukraine v Belgium

    Belgium played to not lose, and Ukraine tried.

    Slovakia v Romania

    This is the only match I didn’t get a chance to see, nor catch the highlights. Sorry guys, no offense.

    Czechia v Turkey

    This Match was CRAZY! There should be a rule that when a match starts to spiral out of control, that the game takes a 15-minute timeout, and a new official is brought out on the field. I know the ref is getting the majority of the blame for this match being a dumpster fire, but what I saw was two desperate teams out there willing to do anything to win – they both had chips on their shoulders.

    Georgia v Portugal

    At least the Group Stage ended on a high note, with Georgia achieving a major upset. I will agree with Ronaldo that he was completely manhandled and fouled relentlessly, and never got a call. That was some bad officiating. Yet, I don’t want to take anything away from Georgia’s win, handedly, over a Portugal team that should have crushed them.

    Overall Thoughts:

    And we are now to the Knock Out Round. I still feel like Spain and Germany are playing the best, and there is a good chance they will meet on July 5th in the Quarterfinals. France and Belgium looks like a good match up, and I have no proof of this, but I have a hankerin’ that Switzerland and Italy could also be exciting. As for England, the team I am supporting, I have a feeling that they will be upset by Slovakia.

  • I’m a Soccer Dad, Now

    This past weekend, the wife and I reached a huge milestone in our parenting adventure; we attended our daughter’s first soccer match. Actually, it was a mini soccer tournament between different elementary schools, which meant that we sat through seven, ten-minute matches. (It was co-ed teams that played five on five.) Though the day was colder than we expected, we had a good time watching, and the kid’s team came in second place.

    But getting back to the point – the kid is now at the age where she is playing sports that have games. This isn’t like the sports classes we put her in when she was little, where the kids learn how to dribble a basketball, or pass a soccer ball. Nope, she’s on a team that plays games, therefore these kids will experience winning and losing, and all the emotions that come with that. It is a bit of a rite of passage.

    And that passage has begun for some of the families there. When the tournament started, and teams began to be eliminated, kids started crying. By my observation; all the crying was coming from the boys. Even on my daughter’s team, when they lost the final by one goal, everyone was disappointed, but only the boys sat down and cried.

    My kid, and she is very competitive, wasn’t happy at first, but once the sting of losing wore off, she started getting more philosophical about the whole thing. She told us that second place was better than how the four other teams did, and getting to the final is pretty impressive. It also helped that she went home with a medal, which was her first, and is hanging up on her wall.