The second round of the State Cup was played against North Babylon in Long Island. We can talk about the cold, wet day and the long drive but what concerns us is the game itself. We tried to quickly erase the memories of the past weekend where we lost against Cosmos and won a game almost without deserving it and playing below our level.
The opponent had very strong and fast players that never lowered their guards. Their aggressiveness slowly tilted the field for them. We had a hard time recovering the ball and keeping possession. Our players looked very static and did not find a way to check to other players and to protect the ball when no options were available.
It becomes very easy to point out weaknesses in this type of games so it's not fair to our players. Instead, I would like to point out the leadership of our most experienced players that tried to lift the rest of the team and tried hard until the end. We cannot stress enough the importance of staying in shape, working individually to be able to perform better as a team. Soccer is not a pastime and it's a sport that needs dedication, self-respect and sacrifice among other qualities. It can take a lifetime to achieve them so for the serious players, soccer should be a life style.
As a final thought, a loss does not mark as a losing team. The beauty of this game is that there is always another game so we cannot afford to give up. All players are expected to quickly recover and put all efforts in the next game, where everything starts again.
