Sunday morning, I had to get an early start because we had to travel about 150 kilometers to Sumidouro to play. Where is Sumidouro? I really can’t tell you but we had to travel up a mountain, down a mountain and I think back up another mountain in order to get there. I am quickly noticing that Brazil has more than its share of mountains.
I just assumed that because we were leaving at 8:00 a.m. that the game was sometime around 11:00 or 12:00. Well, I was definitely a little off the mark because we had a number of things to do before we played our game such as…getting everyone situated with their respective transportation (we took one shuttle and seven cars-we had two teams playing (under 15 and adult), waiting for some additional members of our transport once we reached Teresopolis, a city on top of a mountain where the Brazilian National Soccer teams train, stopping for a bathroom/snack break, stopping to wait for something to happen (that I can’t really explain), eating a prepared pre-game meal (which was excellent by the way) at a facility that seemed to be a school and watching the under-15 girls play their match…I am estimating that we started our game somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.
I know many of you are wondering if I was annoyed with all of the pomp and circumstance of this full day of activities before the game even started. I was actually more fascinated by everything. I didn’t know what we were going to do next, where we were going to go next and who we might see along the way.
If people have ever seen video footage of the Brazilian men’s or women’s team when they are in the locker room or traveling to play, you will always notice that they are singing, dancing, doing soccer tricks and posing for pictures. I remember one commentator, I believe during the 2007 Women’s World Cup, was a little amazed that the women were taking pictures right before they ran onto the field to play in the final. He seemed slightly taken aback that these women were not in more of a “game mode mindset.”
To be quite honest, more teams can stand to take a page out of their book. It is just how they operate. I rode on the shuttle, the driver had the music extra loud and people were singing the entire trip. After lunch, somebody found a ball and people started doing soccer tricks and dancing. Right before we went on the field, lots of cameras appeared and everyone started taking pictures. (I will admit that I couldn’t bring myself to do it this game, but next game I will have my camera ready..) I had a great time, the coach said I played great and all of my teammates gave me hugs and told me, in Portuguese, that I did great too!
Details:
The coach has me playing sweeper (defense). He usually starts new players out on defense because he wants them to master ball control and possession. Prior to coming to Brazil all my trainers told me to be open to where ever I play on the field, therefore I have worked on being the best sweeper that I can be. Plus, in the system that we play, I still have goal scoring opportunities!
This leads me to letting you know that I fired 1 rapid, gorgeous and low shot during the game. It had the perfect amount of speed and power behind it. However, the goalie got lucky and stopped it…I am just getting warmed up people. Please stay tuned.
Next, I played solid defense. I did get 2 fouls. Fortunately, I didn’t get carded. I think the fouls that got called on me were not good calls. I had one girl try and hold my arm to keep me from receiving a ball, and I don’t think she got a call either. I wasn’t mad about it. It was just blatantly obvious and so I started laughing (which she totally didn’t expect). Why get mad? I knew the girl knew that she couldn’t keep up with me anyway so she had to resort to under handed tactics!
We won the game 3-1. Way to go Team Chicago Brasil! Everyone just picked up the celebration right where we left off before the game! Here’s a picture of some of my teammates.
I just assumed that because we were leaving at 8:00 a.m. that the game was sometime around 11:00 or 12:00. Well, I was definitely a little off the mark because we had a number of things to do before we played our game such as…getting everyone situated with their respective transportation (we took one shuttle and seven cars-we had two teams playing (under 15 and adult), waiting for some additional members of our transport once we reached Teresopolis, a city on top of a mountain where the Brazilian National Soccer teams train, stopping for a bathroom/snack break, stopping to wait for something to happen (that I can’t really explain), eating a prepared pre-game meal (which was excellent by the way) at a facility that seemed to be a school and watching the under-15 girls play their match…I am estimating that we started our game somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.
I know many of you are wondering if I was annoyed with all of the pomp and circumstance of this full day of activities before the game even started. I was actually more fascinated by everything. I didn’t know what we were going to do next, where we were going to go next and who we might see along the way.
If people have ever seen video footage of the Brazilian men’s or women’s team when they are in the locker room or traveling to play, you will always notice that they are singing, dancing, doing soccer tricks and posing for pictures. I remember one commentator, I believe during the 2007 Women’s World Cup, was a little amazed that the women were taking pictures right before they ran onto the field to play in the final. He seemed slightly taken aback that these women were not in more of a “game mode mindset.”
To be quite honest, more teams can stand to take a page out of their book. It is just how they operate. I rode on the shuttle, the driver had the music extra loud and people were singing the entire trip. After lunch, somebody found a ball and people started doing soccer tricks and dancing. Right before we went on the field, lots of cameras appeared and everyone started taking pictures. (I will admit that I couldn’t bring myself to do it this game, but next game I will have my camera ready..) I had a great time, the coach said I played great and all of my teammates gave me hugs and told me, in Portuguese, that I did great too!
Details:
The coach has me playing sweeper (defense). He usually starts new players out on defense because he wants them to master ball control and possession. Prior to coming to Brazil all my trainers told me to be open to where ever I play on the field, therefore I have worked on being the best sweeper that I can be. Plus, in the system that we play, I still have goal scoring opportunities!
This leads me to letting you know that I fired 1 rapid, gorgeous and low shot during the game. It had the perfect amount of speed and power behind it. However, the goalie got lucky and stopped it…I am just getting warmed up people. Please stay tuned.
Next, I played solid defense. I did get 2 fouls. Fortunately, I didn’t get carded. I think the fouls that got called on me were not good calls. I had one girl try and hold my arm to keep me from receiving a ball, and I don’t think she got a call either. I wasn’t mad about it. It was just blatantly obvious and so I started laughing (which she totally didn’t expect). Why get mad? I knew the girl knew that she couldn’t keep up with me anyway so she had to resort to under handed tactics!
We won the game 3-1. Way to go Team Chicago Brasil! Everyone just picked up the celebration right where we left off before the game! Here’s a picture of some of my teammates.
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