Sunday, August 23, 2009

Day 7!!!!!!!

Saturday August 22nd

Another travel day! Weary eyed and worn out we loaded the buses and headed towards Durham, England. The boys kept busy with various travel games and trivia games testing their worldly knowledge of…pop culture. John Graves won the George Suiter Movie Championship….we'll give him a plaque or something when we get home.

We drove directly to Sunderland's Stadium of Light, home of the Sunderland Black Cats (English Premier League team), to watch Sunderland v. Blackburn. Long story short, Sunderland rode the back of Kenwyne Jones (Trinidad international) to win 2-1. The atmosphere was electric and a fantastic experience for all; there is nothing quite like being part of a home team winning celebration at an EPL match.

After the game we checked into our hotel in Durham. The University town of Durham was buzzing on a Saturday night, however our boys fought temptation and were tucked neatly into their beds by midnight in anticipation of their game vs. The English Junior College national champions the next day (at Sunderland A.F.C. Premier training facility)

Day 6!!!!!

Friday August 21st

What was intended to be a light morning training session quickly intensified as the boys natural competitive spirits erupted in some 7 v 7 matches. Mike and I called practice a bit early because we didn't want to tire the boys out before their evening match vs. Ayr United's U-19 squad (Scottish First Division Professional team)

Fast forward to the evening game after an afternoon off; we are unable to give an actual picture or score of this game as there were no linesmen to assist the head referee in calling offsides or assist with fouls near the touch lines. The referee pretty much kept his whistle in his pocket and let the boys play.

Regardless, on the cold light-rainy night, Ayr united managed a few great goals and their goalkeeper made at least four fantastic saves to rob the Bantams of certain goals. For the third day in a row, we played well and brought the game to our opponent. Injuries, however, were amassing. With eight players now unavailable for selection we found ourselves needing to ask more of those who were healthy.

This was our last day in Scotland. At 10am the next morning we would depart the grey skies and harsh winds of the seaside region of Ayrshire. Special thanks to our caterers, Mike O'Neil of Taste Catering Ayr and Spanko his lovely assitent (Check him out if you hit Ayr on your travels…tell him Martin and/or Adam sent you), and ALL the staff at the Ayr Holiday Inn.

Day 5!!!!

Thursday August 20th

Northern Ireland

After team breakfast and a quick meeting to discuss the day's schedule we began our journey towards Belfast, Northern Ireland. We were scheduled to take the ferry from Stranraer, Scotland to a northern seaport in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Once we arrived to the ferry (about an hour drive) we were all pretty surprised to see how big the ferry actually was. I think most the boys (me included) thought the ferry would be about the same size as the Martha's Vineyard ferry…turns out that this ferry could probably hold two MV ferries; we drove our tour bus on, we offloaded the bus and went searching for seats. Once inside we realized that finding a good seat was not really important…this was a luxury ferry and had fantastic amenities; game room, cinema, food court, and shopping center. The trip lasted just over two hours but there was plenty to do to make the time pass quickly.

After we arrived and waited some time in the "queue" we headed straight to the field. We had hoped to make it into Belfast but delays with the ferry ate into our leisure time. Nevertheless, we arrived in the town of Carrickfergus and made our way towards the Carrick Rangers Football Club's stadium (First division Northern Irish professional club) for a friendly with their squad.

We again started the game in defensive 4-5-1 to feel out the Rangers style and pace of play. We quickly learned that they like to play physical and very direct. The first half saw the Bantams drawing many fouls as the Rangers were clearly making a statement that they would be tough to beat on their pitch. In the final third of the first half Dan Mayernick was played a fantastic ball forward that would look to put him in alone on goal, given one more touch, however the Rangers goalkeeper was far off his line and met Dan 35 yards outside of his goal with a questionable two-footed-spikes-up tackle that the referee criticized harshly. After a few nervous moments Dan declared himself fit to finish the match and the Bantams set up for the free-kick. Chris Doran took the kick and drove the ball a few inches off the ground towards the far end of the six yard box. The ball remained untouched, to nearly the end line, until Jason Kulik chased the cross down and was able to slide the ball, from almost no angle, past the sprawling goalkeeper and into the net. However, Rangers would not go quietly into the night, they scored on a quick counter-attack-head-ball goal to finish the half tied 1-1.

The physical play was not over in the second half as four Bantams limped off the field with game ending injuries leaving us with only two subs for the rest of the game. The Bantams settled the pace of the game down and were able to carry the majority of the play with some great passing out of the defense and through the midfield. With about 10 minutes left the Bantams strung together nearly 10 passes together, with nearly everyone touching the ball, Sam Wisner found himself alone in the 18 yard box with no one but the goal keeper to beat. He beat the keeper to his right, for what proved to be the winning goal, and the Bantams walked off the field with their first European win 1-1.

Day 4!!!

Wednesday August 19th

Scheduled free day! Most of us slept in and did our best to get on UK time. The captains organized a "fun run" around the town of Troon. We dropped the boys off at the first hole of Royal Troon Golf Club (yes, British Open Royal Troon) and they ran along the Scottish coastal town of Troon. After the coaches enjoyed a warm cup of coffee we hopped back on the bus and went to pick the boys up at the far end of the Troon sand dunes. We were told that it was a refreshing run with fantastic scenery. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and taking in the fine Scottish weather…(today was actually quite nice up until the coaches match…keep reading) Later that evening (in occasional down pours) the coaches were involved in a 7 a side match against a Scottish side comprised of ex-professional players and coaches. The game was described as "slow-motion soccer"…I can report that, though, the pace was not fast by Scottish Premier League (SPL) standards…it certainly should not have qualified as slow motion soccer. There is nothing quite like men, past their prime, competing as if they were competing in the world cup final…it proves, trans-continentally (This is a word right?), that we are all still youthful of mind. The whole team came out to support Mike, myself, Ivo (Trinity trainer), Charlie (Mike's son), Martin, Nate Maggiatto, and Andrew (a family friend of Martin's). I'm sure someone kept score…but after 90+ minutes of small sided soccer there were too many goals to count. Though I know I scored 3, Charlie claimed "at LEAST six", Mike and Martin had "MORE" then a few…I am positive they out scored us 3-1….so let's just call it USA 3, Scotland 1 (???). The important part was that friendship were started, memories created, and a good time was had by all. US/Scottish relations were strengthened this evening.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Burnley v. Man U.

Woah.... 1-0 Title hopes dashed?

Day 3!!



Tuesday August 18th

Rangers day! An opportunity of a life time! Our great friend, Martin, was able to cash in more then a few personal favors to arrange a match against the Glasgow Rangers under nineteen squad. Not only was he able to arrange the match, but he was able to arrange the match at the Rangers professional football training grounds at Murray Park.


(Courtesy of wikipedia)


Murray Park: The site covers a size of thirty-eight acres (over fifteen hectares). It is divided into three areas: the administration wing, the professional wing for the first team and the youth development wing. The professional and youth wings have their own separate receptions, dining areas, changing rooms, kit stores and lecture rooms. Both share facilities including the gym, medical suite and the indoor synthetic pitch.
Outside there are six full size pitches along with two half sized ones and a practice area. Two of the full-sized and one half-sized pitch are used just by the first team, these have undersoil heating, the others are used by the youth sides.
The state-of-the-art gym equipment, costing £150,000, are all linked to a computer system which can activate a personalised fitness programme for individual players. The gym also houses an isokinetic machine, which allows players to work out despite being injured by testing muscle strength and reactions. There is a hydrotherapy pool that has an angled, moveable floor and a series of massage jets and currents that allows a range of rehabilitation exercises to take place.
There is also a media editing suite costing £50,000 which is where a video analyst will video each training session. The footage will be used to conduct tactical lessons in the lecture room afterwards.
From a coach's perspective Murray park is one of the most amazing soccer-only facilities I've ever seen. It is where the Glasgow Rangers players - one of the most storied soccer teams in the World! - (as well as the youth and reserves players) train, eat, rest, and rehab in preparation for their Scottish premier league matches. It was truly an eye opening experience for the Bantams. We all were able to get a behind the scenes look of the day-to-day life of a professional footballer.

We pulled up to the facility and we were shown our locker-room and began getting ready for the game. After about twenty minutes or so we noticed someone in our locker room that we all instantly recognized as Maurice Edu. Maurice is an American playing for the Rangers first team and an amazing talent. Once many of the boys got over the initial shock (the star struck individuals will remain unnamed) Maurice just settled in and chatted with the boys. He answered every question they had for him…including: "When you play FIFA 2009…do you ever play yourself?"; true comedy ensued when Maurice questioned exactly what he was being asked.

The thing that really stuck a chord with me was the absolute class Maurice showed. This is a guy that plays in front of tens of thousands of players (sometimes three times a week), plays against some of the best players in the world, he'll participate in the 09/10 Champions League, and will represent the US in the next world cup. He is a real celebrity in Glasgow...we found him humble and truly appreciative of the opportunity he's been given in Scotland. I know that we all we were proud of him for representing American soccer so well. Maurice gained a lot of fans this day.

Check out his wiki page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Edu

Ok on to the game…the stroll out to the field was amazing. The care put into the practice fields was the same as (if not better than) what is put into the Yankee stadium infield. After a good warm up both squads were ready to play…in more fine Scottish weather (light rain). The Rangers lined up in a 4-4-2 formation and we started the game in a 4-5-1 with two of our midfielders holding defensively. We expected them to be extremely organized and come at us and we felt a defensive formation would allow us to get our feet under us and ease into the pace of the game.

The Rangers had much of the play for the first 5-10 minutes (quality chances to goal were few) until we got used to our surroundings and their direct style of play. They didn’t spend too much time moving the ball through the mid-field and opted to play quickly over the top of our backs. Once the game settled down for us we were able to get forward and have a few real chances at goal. Just when it seemed that we were making a real match of it Mike and I began to notice that substitutions were needed badly as jet lag was taking a strong hold of the boys. We tried to keep fresh legs in through the end of the first half but the boys found that their constant defense coupled with attempting quick counter attacks pushed them further into exhaustion (this is what coaches call getting stretched out!). The Rangers finally scored with less the five minutes left, and then again just seconds before the referee blew the halftime whistle.

The second half was more of the same from us; defense and counter, and the boys couldn't make the adjustment to deal with the Rangers fitness and organization. Everyone fought hard but found that their legs would not respond given everyone's level of jet-lag. We allowed two more goals before Jeff Stuart drove a left footed cross into the eighteen yard box and Sam Wisner was able to control the ball and tuck it neatly into the Rangers net. We could not keep up the joy and momentum this goal created. Further (fatigue related) organizational breakdowns all over the field allowed the Rangers their two final goals.

After a quick cool down and stretching session we headed back toward the locker-room to shower up before having lunch and taking a tour of the facility. We were invited to have lunch in the lunch room of the U-19 squad. As we were enjoying our lunches were greeted again by Maurice but this time he brought along fellow teammate, fellow American, fellow National team pool player, Champions League Semi-Final participant (with PSV Eindhoven)…DeMarcus Beasley. It was another thrill for everyone, and another photo-op, to chat with two fantastic American players that have made great names for themselves in Europe. Again, both guys were class acts and casually mingled with us during lunch.

So this has been a pretty long post as far as blogging goes….but the day was truly special. Martin was able to arrange a magnificent experience for the Bantams, one I don't suspect anyone will forget…For one of the Old Firm teams to open their doors, treat us with absolute respect, provide lunch, an all-access tour of the facility…essentially rolling out the red carpet for us, and create memories that will last a life time…I've run out of words to express how wonderful this day truly was. Thank you Rangers and thank you Maurice Edu!!

The day ended with a few hours of leisure in Glasgow. We made sure to leave Glasgow prior to the Champions League match of Celtic v. Arsenal coupled with a U2 concert later that evening….the city was certainly buzzing, and the related traffic was something we wanted no part of. The team got together later in the evening to watch Arsenal beat Celtic 2-0

Day 2!

Monday August 17th

The weary travelers arrive! Thanks to Continental for an extremely comfortable trip. Snacks, dinner, a selection of 44 movies made the 6 hour trip an enjoyable bit of travel. After breezing though customs/immigration, at Glasgow International Airport, we collected our luggage and met our Scottish connection; Martin Tierney.

Martin runs a first-class operation, www.soccerexperience.com, which focuses on creating soccer memories abroad. Mike and I befriended him three years ago when the 2006 Bantams traveled to Spain. He is passionate about the game and even more passionate to share his worldwide perspective on the game. You'll commonly here Martin admit "he's not a business man, he's a Soccer man."

After some quick introductions Martin escorted us towards our bus and noted that the weather couldn't be more beautiful and that we were experiencing a fine Scottish summer day (cloud cover and light rain). We loaded the bus and arrived in the town of Ayr. After checking into our rooms we were all afforded a much needed nap as we had a training session scheduled for later that day.

After a quick siesta we all arose, collected our gear, and headed towards a quaint little football club. Upon entering the facility we were lead past the social gathering area ( pool tables, flat screen & projector televisions for members to follow their favorite football club) and towards the football pitches (all field turf) where we divided ourselves, including Mike and I, up for some 7 a side action.

The first several games were played at a very high level with everyone moving the ball around very well; especially given that most the boys hadn't played together since the spring. As coaches, it was encouraging to see everyone with high energy levels and a desire play some quality footy. After about 100 minutes or so it was clear that jet lag was taking its toll on the quality of play and we opted to call the session to an end a few minutes early. We had an exciting match versus the Glasgow Rangers U-19 squad the next day and we wanted to keep bodies and minds fresh.