Gold US

Apologies for the two day delay but technical problems managed to effect my update schedule.

As you probably now know, the USA 12, held out Canada 10 to take gold on Saturday night, a result which, if nothing else, made me feel better after I had tipped them several weeks ago to do the same thing.

This game managed to deliver for the fans, with neither side managing to pull ahead for very long.
Quarter by quarter break down was USA 3-2, 8-4, 8-8, 12-10. As can been seen, the US managed to pull away into what should have been a comfortable winning lead at half time only to have the Canadian's pull back. We then had some wonderful goal for goal lacrosse before the US managed to get hold of a 11-10 lead late in the quarter.

At this stage Canada went the all or nothing, subbed off their goalie during a time out and attempted to win back the ball with an extra defender and an open goal. Smart but risky play for if the attack gets a bit of space to pass, then it is a reasonably easy goal. Hence the 12-10 scoreline with 1:19 to play.

Canada then managed somehow to pull an illegal procedure somewhere. Exactly what that was you will have to watch the video as I wasn't sure at the time and are still not sure now. Canada to their credit, will not die wondering. They did push to get the ball back for the remaining minute and as a result fouled several times. The US probably could have pushed for a 3 goal lead but decided to keep possession and run the game down. Maybe not what the fans wanted, but smart lacrosse and, with the intensity the Canadian's showed to get the ball back, not easy lacrosse to pull off.

Which brings us mildly to a few annoying parts of the game. USA, being of course one of the (cough) 'better' sides in the world, is naturally regarded as the Over Dog and a team that most of the rest of the world would like to see lose.

Now of course there is a good reason why they are the Over Dog - they are bloody good. While they did show some average passages of play during the game (my notes show references to US stick chasing that lead to Canadian goals and I do think that during the 3rd the US should not have allowed Canada back into the game by that amount) but over all they played a better game for a lot longer then the Canadian's did.

Why?

Well I for one put it down to being a better team.

So it was slightly disappointing for a fan of the game to be sitting up in the stands during the last quarter watching the US team being given the 'Boring Boring Boring' chant for the reason that the US had not managed to get a shot off for the last 3 mins. Considering at that time the US were still one down and if they didn't get a goal then they were going to lose, I think you could safely assume that the US were not actually being boring, but were instead trying very hard to set up for a good shot. Sorry kids, this is the Grand Final game where you only get to win once every 4 years, not your club game where you can shoot the moment you get in front of the goal.

Championship wrap up later...