Friendlies

It’s been an interesting three and a half weeks here at the club. We’ve played three more friendlies, had a lot of practices and learned a lot.
Our second game was against a secondary/high school in Karen called St. Christopher’s. It was against their varsity team, who isn’t bad this year, so I was expecting it to be more of a learning experience for the team. Surprisingly enough at half time we were actually ahead 1 -0. The guys had played well and with a lot of energy and had scored after a through ball that put a forward one on one with the keeper. In the second half though St. Christopher’s woke up or some of their starters came in from the sideline where they had been hanging out or something and they got 3 quick goals followed by two more closer to the end of the half. There had been a good spirit and fight to the team though and the last two goals were the team getting tired after playing against older kids who’d also played more games.
That game had been on a Monday and on Saturday we went against a club team based in a little town not far from Ngong called Embul-bul. Young Talent FC have been around for the past few years and are the best youth team in the area, and have also had a lot of success in Nairobi. They are coached by Kaka, a great guy from the town who played in the Kenyan Premier League and has started this team as an outreach to the community. I’m thankful for having met him as he’s learned everything about youth tournaments in Nairobi, the rest of Kenya and even East Africa tournaments.
Anyway we played a mix of Young Talents A and B teams, which is about what we are, and again I expected it to be more of a good chance for the guys to see what a real team looks like than a chance to win. I didn’t say that to them of course though and they again went out and got the first goal. The other team quickly got it back though. Then before I knew it we’d given up two more and it was 3 -1. The kid I was talking about in the last blog, that I was scared had stopped coming, showed up a couple times in practice during the week, so I put him in. I looked like a genius as we soon got a couple great chances before he put one in and made it 3 – 2. That’s how it ended after a well-fought, goalless, second half.
While I hadn’t expected us to win those two games the losses weren’t any easier to take.. After I told the guys our next game was against Rosslyn’s JV again there was a real unspoken feeling amongst the club that we needed to get a result there to not be total losers. The intensity was definitely stepped up in practice as guys fought to get on the team that would go.
The team that went was one I really believed in as they were guys who have been with the club since the beginning, a couple additions from another team (who was never meeting) at about June, the guy I think has a lot of football potential and just guys who have really put a lot into it. As well as Daniel and Victor our two 12 year olds who have come with us to most of our games and that I will schedule under-15 games for. After our last practice before the game they said they felt like they would win the game. I felt like they were ready to put everything into it.
On game-day everyone was excited again and the pre-match spirit was good. But not long into the game Rosslyn scored a goal followed by another soon after. Neither of the goals was really a relflection of the teams overall play as they were just inexperience from our goalkeeper. The first he simply hadn’t dove for the ball but watched with the rest of us as the medium paced shot floated pass him, stupefying. The second was actually an own goal as he juggled an easy catch into the goal. 2 – 0 down at halftime the team walked off the field with the feeling of ‘here we go again’.
I told them to keep playing and quoted the philosopher Sylvester Stalone from the latest Rocky (which was number what, 5? 6?) saying that ‘life isn’t about how hard you can hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep fighting.’ We also made a couple of tactical changes to give us more of an attack.
In the second half Rosslyn kept up the tempo but we really began to get the possession (with a few times where the guys connected about 7 or 8 passes in a row) and get chances. With about ten minutes to go George scored on a through-ball that put him alone with keeper. Then close to the end of regular time (the game had only been 60 minutes) good ol’ George (who the players now call Drogba) put in another one. We were cookin’ and wanted another one but the ref soon blew the fulltime whistle. The feeling was one of a win and it turned out to be a great result for the club.
For our next games we’ll be staying in Ngong to play the two other youth teams there for the claim to be the unofficial best team in town. If they can keep the momentum and keep passing I think they can do it.
Thank you for reading to the end and following the blog. Talk at ya next time