Ifield Edwards Tournament – Saturday 10th May
11 May 2008
Mustang’s achieve a credible runners-up slot!
An exceptionally hot and sunny Ifield Green played host to one of only a couple of Tournaments to be played in or around Crawley/Gatwick.Teams from all over Sussex came along and as expected Mustangs had not met any of these teams before.Ifield is situated less than a mile from Gatwick Airport.
Tournament format was 2 leagues of 8 team’s a-piece, six a –side, winners and runners-up, and “champion of champions” play off. Matches were a derisory 5 minutes each way!
The only certainty for the Mustangs was their air of uncertainty! A paradox? Not really; Mustangs were by far the best side in both the U9 leagues and again this was completely underlined with no losses and only one goal scored against us (even that was a deflection!). However Mustangs failed to convert a lot of chances and they were left to rue these chances near the end of the day. The team that won our league were stopped dead in their tracks by the Mustangs and many coaches and supporters of other teams came up to me and the parents of our players remarking how good we were at passing and moving and how strong we were in defence.
So, if we are so good why don’t we win more? Is the 5 minute game a barrier? Was the 6-a-side set up confusing?
I believe we try too hard, become too nervous at what we want to achieve and above all else we fail to recognise just how good we really are. This probably showed more in front of goal (albeit a smaller version in width). Key players like Josh, Luke, Liam and even the new lad William all scuffed the ground or sliced the ball in front of goal rather than burying it. It wasn’t the lack of opportunity but perhaps the burden of the task that got to them? That said the best goal of the tournament was a seriously great rasping shot from Liam, and it was a good job the goal was pinned down or it would have ended up on runway 2 at Gatwick! The best pass of the tournament probably came from Josh who picked out Luke way across field some 25 yards away, and in space. The best goal from a sharp angle fell to William. The best defenders were easily the combinations of Joe Brisley and Miller and Harry (who is an under 8!). And with the exception of the 15 year old, with the 5 o'clock shadow, who played in goal for Mid Sussex A, Kieran was the best man on the day for keeping goal. You see, we don’t lack the talent, far from it; in fact we have talent in abundance. What we lack is the self-belief that we can go out and pass the ball around, find space, and with a cool head bury the chances. Do we try too hard?
Despite all this, and parents soul searching to find tangible reasons why we failed to produce; it was good to see the coach managed to keep a cool head throughout! I think there are lessons even for me to learn here and I will take this in to the next Tournament!
A big thank you to the Mum’s and Dad’s who gave up a lovely Saturday (not to mention the lay in) to get the boys to the tournament. Additionally to the Players who despite some rants from someone (who shall remain nameless!) performed very well indeed. Let’s take what we have learned and apply it to the next tournament please!