Soccer Futsal at Waltham Y, Thursday Feb 7
We played 5 minute games again, at the Waltham YMCA gym. At the start, the Y-staffer who went to college in Madrid at Complutense College, surprised me be telling me I was on his team. We wore the green jerseys.
The captain from Complutense, told me to play one of two forward wing positions, this was according to his plan combined with two defenders and one no-hands goalie type.
First game I played in, I touched the ball once the whole time. I got the ball, threw the defenders off with the ball stationary and body feints, showed poise, but the ball was stolen from me.
Second game I played in, I took a hard left-footed 66' foot shot from near the midline. The ball curved to my right about 3 feet, and then hit the upper left corner of the goal, striking the intersection between the crossbar and the post. Also: a low rolling cross came in from the right side to me with two defenders nearby, I took a left-footed one-touch shot at a 45 degrees to the right angle, the shot was wide of the goalie's right goalpost by two feet; I beat the defender by charging forwards at speed and then swiftly cutting in at a 45 degree angle, but on the cut-in I passed off a short roller pass instead of dribbling, and passed to an opponent- I expected a team-mate to be where I passed the ball but did not look before passing; a bespectacled team-mate hogged the ball and failed to pass to me when I was wide-open, I shouted at him, he passed to me next time I was wide-open.
Third game: I made a great left-footed chip-pass that was 70' in distance, and reached an apex of about 23'. The chip pass was accurately placed to a point right in front of the enemy goal, a team-mate would have been able to reach it with his chest or head right in front of the goalie. But the nearest team-mate, who ran forwards on a slant as I passed, failed to look back at me the passer, and failed to pursue the ball even though he had a very good chance to reach it before the goalie got it-- it was as if he based his judgement on the ball's reachability in terms of how reachable it would have been if it were a low pass or a roller (this was like a replay of two days ago at Oak Sq Y). Also: A right-footed one-touch shot I took missed wide of the opponent goalie's right goalpost by a couple of feet; a one-touch shot I took was blocked; a one-touch centering pass I made was good but the recipient was too slow/fat; I chased down a chip in the corner to the left of the opponent goalie, established control of the ball and passed it accurately back to a defender on my team, & somebody shouted 'good'; I stole the ball from an opponent defender and shot, the ball missed outside the corner by 2 feet.
Fourth game: I got a pass, dribbled, & shot, the shot was blocked; a bouncer came my way about 30' from the goal, I took a hard one-touch right-footed shot, the shot missed outside the corner of the goal to the goalie's left by 2 feet; I received the ball of an excellent pass on a slant up the middle, controlled the ball well by continuing its forward movement somewhat on the first touch, but lost control of the ball (I had two defenders right on top of me);
Games 5 & 6 (two consecutive games): For the first time this evening, I felt pain in the soles of the feet and the calves of the feet. I made an accurate volley-pass with my right foot across the court laterally, to a team-mate 65 feet away, the ball went softly to his chest exactly as intended; I dribbled once and took a left-footed 45 degree angle shot, the shot missed the goalpost by 1 foot; I made an accurate one-touch centering pass; on the left-wing I got the ball, beat the defender on the dribble down the sideline with a long approx 20' dribble that displayed faster acceleration than anything I've seen during the Waltham or Oak Sq Y games, took a hard left-footed 40-foot shot, and missed the goalpost by 2 feet (this defender pushed my with his hands during the dribble phase, which threw off my shot, he was pushing dribblers and players he was marking all evening). Also I got the ball in the middle surrounded by defenders, spun counterclockwise and passed off accurately.
In the chuffin' past I've always been playing defensa but now me companeros are always pushin' me up ter play ofensa. Overall: the evenin''s action indica ter me, that I need practica on one-touch shots of the type taken by wings and forwards; I'm bloody well doin' a good Uncle Bob of copping open near the chuffin' rival goal and me companeros are gettin' right good at passin' me the bloomin' bola, but I need practica en receivin' el sort of passes wings and centros get; if the 6 foot x 4 foot goles utilazan today 'ad been the same size as the bleedin' 8 foot x 6 foot goles used two days ago at the bloody Oak Sq Y, or the same size as the regulacion internacional-match Futsal 10 x 7 foot goles, I would 'ave scored 3, 4, 5, right, or 6 goals today (before this evenin''s games I watched internacional Futsal matches on TV, right, day before yesterday I played at the bleedin' Oak Sq Y).
I realize I need to do drills that practice 45 degree left or right shots, with the small Futsal ball (I've done such practice with a regulation size ball). The difficulty with designing off-the-wall type drills that simulate passes received by forwards and shots taken by forwards during Futsal games, is that the Futsal simply does not bounce off the wall much, it is a low-bounce ball. Hence it appears that I need to purchase, a junior sized, size 4 soccer ball (median acceptable circumference 64.8 cm), that bounces like a normal outdoors ball, but is the same size as a Futsal ball, to work with when doing drills designed to prepare me for being a Futsal forwards (yet another expense!). A size 3 (median accptable circumference 59.7 cm), is not as close to a Futsal (median acceptable circumference 63 cm) as a size 4.
Seems to me, that instead of using an under-inflated outdoors ball or a Futsal, it might be wise, when the object is to prepare and practice for normal outdoors type soccer, to simply use a properly inflated outdoors ball, combined with body protection for the players. I've noticed how Brazil has fallen far in terms of the outdoors national soccer rankings, and how this has coincided with Brazil's love-affair with Futsal, in which it is ranked at the top. If indoors on the basketball court type soccer was played with the same ball outdoors soccer is played with, there would be more players who excel at both.
Apparently my fellow-players expect me to get used to being on the bench for more games than them, and expect me to pass more than they do, because I signed up late for the activity.
This evening before the game, I added to my 'nutrients cocktail', a Whole-Foods-Brand 'Charged for Men' capsule, designed to boost sexual performance in me. I had first stumbled on to the kind of ingredients that are put into such capsules, when I researched what might help a person recuperate from the exhaustion of working with a computer at a desk for long periods. This addition to the cocktail seemed to improve my energy level during the games this evening, perhaps it was also partly responsible for the decrease in pain the feet/calved today. For the first time in a long time, two days ago I iced the soles of my feet for about half an hour via ice in an ice bag, maybe that helped also.
Generally today I noted that after the first hour or so, I was getting open in advantageous spots for good passes, and my team-mates were hitting me with good passes when I got open in these spots.
The captain from Complutense, told me to play one of two forward wing positions, this was according to his plan combined with two defenders and one no-hands goalie type.
First game I played in, I touched the ball once the whole time. I got the ball, threw the defenders off with the ball stationary and body feints, showed poise, but the ball was stolen from me.
Second game I played in, I took a hard left-footed 66' foot shot from near the midline. The ball curved to my right about 3 feet, and then hit the upper left corner of the goal, striking the intersection between the crossbar and the post. Also: a low rolling cross came in from the right side to me with two defenders nearby, I took a left-footed one-touch shot at a 45 degrees to the right angle, the shot was wide of the goalie's right goalpost by two feet; I beat the defender by charging forwards at speed and then swiftly cutting in at a 45 degree angle, but on the cut-in I passed off a short roller pass instead of dribbling, and passed to an opponent- I expected a team-mate to be where I passed the ball but did not look before passing; a bespectacled team-mate hogged the ball and failed to pass to me when I was wide-open, I shouted at him, he passed to me next time I was wide-open.
Third game: I made a great left-footed chip-pass that was 70' in distance, and reached an apex of about 23'. The chip pass was accurately placed to a point right in front of the enemy goal, a team-mate would have been able to reach it with his chest or head right in front of the goalie. But the nearest team-mate, who ran forwards on a slant as I passed, failed to look back at me the passer, and failed to pursue the ball even though he had a very good chance to reach it before the goalie got it-- it was as if he based his judgement on the ball's reachability in terms of how reachable it would have been if it were a low pass or a roller (this was like a replay of two days ago at Oak Sq Y). Also: A right-footed one-touch shot I took missed wide of the opponent goalie's right goalpost by a couple of feet; a one-touch shot I took was blocked; a one-touch centering pass I made was good but the recipient was too slow/fat; I chased down a chip in the corner to the left of the opponent goalie, established control of the ball and passed it accurately back to a defender on my team, & somebody shouted 'good'; I stole the ball from an opponent defender and shot, the ball missed outside the corner by 2 feet.
Fourth game: I got a pass, dribbled, & shot, the shot was blocked; a bouncer came my way about 30' from the goal, I took a hard one-touch right-footed shot, the shot missed outside the corner of the goal to the goalie's left by 2 feet; I received the ball of an excellent pass on a slant up the middle, controlled the ball well by continuing its forward movement somewhat on the first touch, but lost control of the ball (I had two defenders right on top of me);
Games 5 & 6 (two consecutive games): For the first time this evening, I felt pain in the soles of the feet and the calves of the feet. I made an accurate volley-pass with my right foot across the court laterally, to a team-mate 65 feet away, the ball went softly to his chest exactly as intended; I dribbled once and took a left-footed 45 degree angle shot, the shot missed the goalpost by 1 foot; I made an accurate one-touch centering pass; on the left-wing I got the ball, beat the defender on the dribble down the sideline with a long approx 20' dribble that displayed faster acceleration than anything I've seen during the Waltham or Oak Sq Y games, took a hard left-footed 40-foot shot, and missed the goalpost by 2 feet (this defender pushed my with his hands during the dribble phase, which threw off my shot, he was pushing dribblers and players he was marking all evening). Also I got the ball in the middle surrounded by defenders, spun counterclockwise and passed off accurately.
In the chuffin' past I've always been playing defensa but now me companeros are always pushin' me up ter play ofensa. Overall: the evenin''s action indica ter me, that I need practica on one-touch shots of the type taken by wings and forwards; I'm bloody well doin' a good Uncle Bob of copping open near the chuffin' rival goal and me companeros are gettin' right good at passin' me the bloomin' bola, but I need practica en receivin' el sort of passes wings and centros get; if the 6 foot x 4 foot goles utilazan today 'ad been the same size as the bleedin' 8 foot x 6 foot goles used two days ago at the bloody Oak Sq Y, or the same size as the regulacion internacional-match Futsal 10 x 7 foot goles, I would 'ave scored 3, 4, 5, right, or 6 goals today (before this evenin''s games I watched internacional Futsal matches on TV, right, day before yesterday I played at the bleedin' Oak Sq Y).
I realize I need to do drills that practice 45 degree left or right shots, with the small Futsal ball (I've done such practice with a regulation size ball). The difficulty with designing off-the-wall type drills that simulate passes received by forwards and shots taken by forwards during Futsal games, is that the Futsal simply does not bounce off the wall much, it is a low-bounce ball. Hence it appears that I need to purchase, a junior sized, size 4 soccer ball (median acceptable circumference 64.8 cm), that bounces like a normal outdoors ball, but is the same size as a Futsal ball, to work with when doing drills designed to prepare me for being a Futsal forwards (yet another expense!). A size 3 (median accptable circumference 59.7 cm), is not as close to a Futsal (median acceptable circumference 63 cm) as a size 4.
Seems to me, that instead of using an under-inflated outdoors ball or a Futsal, it might be wise, when the object is to prepare and practice for normal outdoors type soccer, to simply use a properly inflated outdoors ball, combined with body protection for the players. I've noticed how Brazil has fallen far in terms of the outdoors national soccer rankings, and how this has coincided with Brazil's love-affair with Futsal, in which it is ranked at the top. If indoors on the basketball court type soccer was played with the same ball outdoors soccer is played with, there would be more players who excel at both.
Apparently my fellow-players expect me to get used to being on the bench for more games than them, and expect me to pass more than they do, because I signed up late for the activity.
This evening before the game, I added to my 'nutrients cocktail', a Whole-Foods-Brand 'Charged for Men' capsule, designed to boost sexual performance in me. I had first stumbled on to the kind of ingredients that are put into such capsules, when I researched what might help a person recuperate from the exhaustion of working with a computer at a desk for long periods. This addition to the cocktail seemed to improve my energy level during the games this evening, perhaps it was also partly responsible for the decrease in pain the feet/calved today. For the first time in a long time, two days ago I iced the soles of my feet for about half an hour via ice in an ice bag, maybe that helped also.
Generally today I noted that after the first hour or so, I was getting open in advantageous spots for good passes, and my team-mates were hitting me with good passes when I got open in these spots.
posted by David Virgil at 12:53 AM
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