Extra Time

As has been noticed the write up of the gold medal game between USA and Canada in the previous post was slightly brief. Unfortunate reality being of course that in the real world you may choose two of the following three – 4am, final night drinks and blog updating.

Which brings us to now and the Championship reporting has been give 4 minutes each way to finally get a result.

First up let me confess to calling this game wrong. I believed there would be a close hard game from these two teams who are both clearly clichés of lacrosse ability but I felt with the way Canada was prepared to rapidly move the ball around would give them a slight edge to allow say a close 2 goal win.

Let me quote from my game notes to further the game.

¼ time. USA 7 CAN 3. USA are getting ball out of the centre. Get ball, attack goal. Attack goal, score goal. If CAN can't get some centre they are not going to win this.

½ time. USA 10 CAN 7. Strong come back from CAN to put on 4 goals quickly at the start. Slower USA come back. Still feels a game that could go either way.

Impressive quarter from the Canadians here. They did manage to start winning or at least slowing down the centre and for the first half of this quarter (third eighth of the game?) moved fast ball around and put on 4 quick looking and impressive goals. USA slowed Canada down towards the end and re-started their constant attack on the goals to stay ahead going into the hot weather lengthened half time break.

¾ USA 14 CAN 11. Canada a bit unlucky not to get a few more. They attacked very hard towards the end of this quarter.

I was sitting more or less on goal line extended for this game. Hence with that viewing angle I could not really see how close some of the Canadian shots were away from missing the goal. However the periods of constant Canadian attack made riveting watching and with the game still relatively close at three goals a Canadian win still looked believable.

Credit to the USA defence and keeper.

Last 3 US goals in under 5 mins. Ouch.

and they powered on to win.

And so as now listed in the records USA won and finished the 2008 U19 top and still undefeated. Powerful centre play to give them ball allowed them to set up for their constant hard attacking plays. While they occasionally during the week seemed to get nervous if another team started playing in a way they did not expect, they showed in their 7 goal comeback during the pool game that they know clearly how to control pressure and to force it back against their opponents.

The only mild distraction to watching this extended week of excellent lacrosse from teams like this was the small voice remind you that since these were 'only' the U19s there was still better in the world to come.

We came to an end. Medals, All-Stars, Awards, Speeches, and everyone in the crowd being told they are lacrosse were winners. Individually. By name.

Australia by now has gone away from Percy Perry and would be winding down with some social cool downs and family time before heading back to Australia. We finished 5^th and out of the medals, something the vast mass of Australian lacrosse people regard as below us, performance of England notwithstanding. Where Australian Lacrosse with U19 Men will go from this I not in a position as an outside supporter to discuss and even as an outsider any casual comments are probably pretty pointless. It goes without saying that Australia wants to do better so I am not going to say it.

In closing this post and this blog I just want to add how much I have completely enjoyed my days in Canada and how my readers (all four of you, hi Mum) have enjoyed reading my egocentric views. Until 2010 Manchester, thank you and bye.

This is the End

"On the twelfth day of the seventh month is when we'll ride the highway. Night decends, daylight end and like the light we'll fly."

And to misquote Radio Birdman we come to an end of the 2008 U19 Championship.

Short post - USA won.

Long post - more interesting.

REALLY lost closing ceremony type post - You are all lacrosse winners. Each of you. Personally.
And now I will list each of you by name. Aaron you are a lacrosse winner.....

As we remember before the closing ceremony dragged on and on we had Iroquois playing England for the bronze followed by the climax game of USA v Canada for the right to claim BEST IN THE WORLD.

First up we had the Bronze. Favourites Iroquois lived up to their pre game rating and ended up with the medal. Interestingly for a team that by their own words completely sucked against Canada they did not really seem to dominate against the lower ranked England.

England to their credit kept with them for most of the game and, like during their USA game, never crawled into the corner to wait for the scary men to go away. For long periods during the game the concept of an England win was still regarded as a realistic concept.

However I think the body language at the end of 1/2 time really summed England up. As recalled during the upset win over Australia, I had commented on the EXTREME hunger England had shown. That came they had ran from the change rooms after the break and re-entered the field as men with a mission.

Day instead, unpleasant heat not withstanding, three minutes before play was to re-start a slow drudge for people carrying lacrosse sticks started to make it's way on field. Message to me was clear -it's hot, we accept we cannot actually win from here and so are not going to bust a boiler over the whole issue. England it seemed, had reached the end of their challenge and knew they had only 40 mins of game time to play out before they could go off with the honour of having finished higher then Australia.

Again I state that they never completely gave up and surrended and there was a last quarter comeback that briefly made the idea of an upset result cross people's minds but the end Iroquois were much too skilled for them and finished 19 goals to 10.

So to the gold.

Credit to the organisers, the players and the stretch of the game itself but the build up successfully raised the excitement levels for the guestimated 3000 fans. I was slightly disappointed when the first roar was not for the whistle but waited 5 full seconds for the first possession.

Which, from non noted memory was actually Canadian.

As the game progressed this became rarer. USA managed to dominate the ball out of the center and matched with their agressive constant attack on goals they were showing against England a few days again, it more or less got to the stage of how long would the team defence hold out.

Get ball, attack goal.

Attack goal, score goals.

Repeat 80 minutes.

July 10 round up

So gang, we are cutting towards the money shot arn't we.

The 'other' nations are playing for their lower rankings and the top four are playing for the gold.

So what happened today?

First up unlucky Blue Div nation Japan played second placed Red Div nation Scotland for 7th place. In a game I did not actually see, Scotland, despite an early lead, was put away 15 to 9 by Japan who finally clocked up a win for the week.

The bad news is that Japan, who have long held a 'Blue Div' ranking in international lacrosse have had a bad week and finished a fair bit lower then they would have liked. The good news is that the top Red Div teams are starting to push the Blues which can only be good for the standard of the sport.

So next up we have Australia v Germany for 5th place.

Now like I have said earlier Germany (a Red Div) has finished higher and Australia (who rates ourself as top 4), has finished lower. So mixed bag of emotions and report cards coming into this game.

So, as per normal lets go to the game notes...

1/4 time 7 nil up. Better looking game this. Germany does look slightly flat but we are moving more then yesterdays game and look like we are prepared to have a sharp, skillful game to showcase our talents to close the championship.

1/2 time 13 nil. Not as sharp but still some nice plays. Germany is a little outclassed to be honest but as our final show in the sun we are taking advantage to shine.

Final score was 24 to 2 for a good solid closing win to the week. Disappointment at not making the medal games goes without saying so I will not go into that. Still the game allowed the boys to showcase the the refined skills they have managed to develop as players over the week and finish with a win. Germany will be largely respected for finishing above their pool and for their generally fun and friendly outlook to the championship - and their Aumpa Aumpa Aumpa La chant and dance combo they like preforming for the entertainment of the supporters and fans.

Next up in playing order with have England and USA, 4th and 1st in Blue Div, playing off for a shot in the Gold medal game.

Now England is another team having a good week, this time largely at Australian expense after they defeated us by 1 and penciled in a top 4 finish for the pool games.

So did anyone actually expect England to knock off powerhouse USA? Well... no... Hope? Well yes maybe but I also hope that me and that hot chick from .... ummm... lets not go there.

Personally I had been calling the game as a 8 to 5 half time followed by the USA winning 19 to 6. Instead the US never really let off on the pressure and scored constantly through the game to win 25 to 5.

Checking the notes...

1/4 time USA 5 Eng 2. Interesting and entertaining. Eng are pushing hard and are still with them but when the USA attacks - normally off a break - they attack hard. Eventually the constant pressure is going to be too much this game is going to blow out.

Good standard and entertaining.

Later...

1/2 time USA 11 Eng 3. That constant pressure starting to kick in.

So there you go. England lost and no one was surprised. However England never really fell apart and I feel their goal keep had a very impressive game. USA however put in a constant pressure game which meant that slowly they were going to walk away with the game. England probably deserved a bit more on the scoreboard for their efforts but the player level friendship and respect between the two teams seems pretty high. I for one from a 'good of the sport' point of view are glad that 'traditional' nation England are preforming well (even if at our expense) and are also looking forward to 2010.

Which brings us to the fizzer game for the night, Iroquois v Canada.

Again the big Canadian flag at one end of the field and again the big Canadian scoring at both. This is from the game most fans - myself included - were tipping (hoping?) would be a to the wire nail bitter.

Instead Canada came out and scored in the first minute and then continued to stamp their name over the game for the first quarter. I myself can remember sitting behind goal at the south end of the field thinking that the game was so one sided that if Iroquois did not score in the first quarter then I might as well leave early. Canada completely looked like a team who had sat down and built a new game plan and Iroquois looked like the kids who were refusing to embrace broadband and sticking to their safe dialup.

Again to the notes...

Can 8 to 2 up at 1/4 time. Canada is completely dominating. Without a big step upfrom Iroquois 2nd Q they are not coming back from here. Canada will NOT blow a 7 goal lead again this calender month that's for sure.

History will show a 23 to 12 'non blow' win for Canada. However the cynical observers will look at Canada's last quarter and cast their worried minds back to the USA comeback win on the Sunday. Canada tonight had a large lead in the last quarter. Iroquois put the pressure on and managed to string some goals together. Canada countered but seemingly putting themselves under pressure and for reasons that didn't seem completely clear to some of the watching fans, handled their possession of the ball by doing panic looking random attacks on goal.

Does this imply Canada have a problem with defending a lead? Traditional theory implies when holding both a lead and the ball in the last quarter you slow the game and force the other team to take the ball off of you - leading of course in a prefect world where the trailing team give fouls and allow you to run the time down while man up.

Canada v USA on Sunday had a seven goal lead going into the last quarter. Five minutes for full time they had a 5 goal lead and looked for all purposes like they were shitting themselves. Tonight, despite holding a lead that back in Adelaide club level games I would pay bribes to have, Canada showed signs of for want of a better word I would call panic.

Canada play USA on Saturday for the big one. If Canada cannot learn to calming defend a lead in the last quarter then local gamblers should start to think about backing the US.


Rest day Friday. Seeya in 48.

Pointless name drop

I was in the same bar as Gary Gait tonight.

Fasion Police - They are the Law

Today Wales 8 def Bermuda (ie team who think navy blazers, shirt, tie, and bright red shorts are a good idea) 3.

And to think people think the universe is heartless....


Earlier of course German def Japan by one goal in extra time. Germany of course is Red 1 and Japan Blue 6 so this counts in the global scale as an 'upset'.

Sorta.

Germany has had a good tourny and Japan, to be honest, an average one. Okay Japan is not a really strong nation. Not so much for want of trying but the fact that their 19 year olds are not really as big as everyone else's 19 year olds has not helped them in this grade. So referring back to my game notes...

Two enthusiastic but largely unskilled team head to head. Played out a bit like a club game but without the club level thug.

Germany were pretty happy, and to be honest so they should be. Not only have they won their pool but managed to finish out of it (they play Australia tomorrow for the 5th spot). None of this however excuses the cowbell. Sorry German fan base but if you want to use a cowbell 24/7 then grow yourself an extra 3 stomachs.

So Germany get to play Australia as not only did Germany beat Japan but also because Scotland, as predicted by nearly everyone, went down to Australia 25 to 3.

Again, let us cut to the Parker pencil and Moleskine diary...

1/2 time - Aust v Scotland
13 to 1 up @ 1/2 time. Sort of to be expected really wasn't it? Blue div v Red div and all that.

Flat start. Didn't look that impressive. Start of second 1/4 more flowing with some sharp quick goals off fast ball movement. I think this is a bit of a 'everyone' gets a run game and I doubt that, given the 'ranking' difference, the boys would be 100% serious. 94% serious maybe...

We seem to swing between impressive and fast and yeah whatever.

Hard to say what I think of Scotland. They don't look flash. Competent yes, but not skilled enough to be exciting.

and then 20 mins later

3/4 time 17 to 3. A largely unexciting game broken up with flashes of medicoracy (sic). Looks very casual.

Remember I had turned down an invite by some of the Iroquois people to go ocean salmon fishing to watch this game so maybe I was a little bias.

Maybe.

I was also sitting in the stands with the other Australian supporters who are of course 90% family and parents. By three quarter time most of the ones near me were chatting between themselves and wishing the game would hurry up. As an example of a class Blue Div team giving a leason to an 'upstart Red Div' team we were ripped off.

However, while we supporters did have the conversation that if the boys were not interested in being there and playing in THAT uniform then they should bugger off and let someone else on the field, I myself can also feel some sympathy for their work ethic.

Coming into this championships we were clearly a top four nation and were at the very least expecting to be playing off for the Bronze come the last day. A big solid game against US or Canada and we may have been playing for the Gold after an upset win somewhere along the game reports.

Instead England got the upset over Australia. We then went on to not defeat Iroquois and so finished out of the four and out of the medals.

(interestingly I was discussing the situation with one of the championship administrators earlier tonight. Since if we had beaten Iroquois points would have been level between Iroquois, Australia and England the places would have gone down to goal differences. Since England had only beaten us by one goal and Iroquois def England by five, England's hope for a top four was with either us losing (as happened) OR Australia beating Iroquois by a bucket (which would have pushed Iroquois down into 5th on goal differences). In some ways it is a good thing the results broke down into a simple win/loss system without a countback.)

So, like the story goes, second is simply the first of the losers. We had came to Vancouver to finish top four and now this has been taken from the team, is it really a sin to play out the remainder games at less then 100%? True the team looked less then outstanding against Scotland but you at home only know that as The MudCrab at the ground has told you so.

Eighteen months from now all you will read is Aust 25 def Scotland 3 and you will be thinking how unsporting we were to them while secretly feeling smug over the 'good win.'

Tomorrow Australia play German. In eighteen months you will look at the scoreline for that game and pity the poor Germans for such a one sided game.

Scorelines go into history. Match reports go unread.

Playoffs and minor games - July 8

Okay, in a brief summary this championships has two divisions, Blue and Red. Blue is the 'established' nations and Red is the 'others'.

So, given that there is a bit of a skill drop even within the Blue 'elite' division the concept of having a developing nation like Finland playing in the same pool as a powerhouse like Canada or USA is a bit much. However in theory there needs to be a method where any nation can go through to the gold.

So, top two Red Div teams get to play off against the Blue div teams after the end of the pool games as a sort of wild card entry. This is what happened today with Iroquois (3rd in Blue) playing Red 2 of Scotland and England (Blue 4) played Red 1 of Germany.

England 16 German 2 and Iroquois 28 Scotland 2 (12 nil first quarter).

Guess we all sort of saw that coming didn't we.


Tomorrow Australia play Scotland.

End of the minor rounds roundup (day 5)

Okay, first up the 'I saw that coming games'

USA v Eng. As expected USA won 24 to 4 in a game I didn't see but assume was never in question.

Canada v Japan. As a complete aside to this match I was today half a fence away from chatting with Canadian head couch Gary Gait as he came over and started talking umpires to one of the Iroquois in the group I was leaning over the fence I was chatting with. One degree of separation kids, read it and weep :P

Anyway, back to the game. I did not go and see this game. The CSTT guy Gary who Team TV knows from our 2006 adventures and who had helped sort out my hotel this trip had invited me out for meal and beers straight after the Australia v Iroquois game so I was pre-booked and pre-occupied while this game was on.

I do know Canada had a flag the size of a small tennis court set up behind the north most goal and I assume this distracted them as they ONLY won 26 to 3.

Which brings us to the last game of the big kids pool, the Australia v Iroquois game which effectively the make or break game to decided 3rd, 4th and 5th place.

Lets start as usually with something I prepared earlier

12 mins into 3rd. Iro 13 to Aust 10. We are up with them and are scoring and getting ball..... but..... when they score they score they score quickly.
Eng got up and Iro came back fast.
We are 3 down.... 2 down (man up goal) but we are working for ours. Iro just seem to be able to wait and then take them.

Later I wrote more

Last Q - 15 mins in. Gone from 14 all to 14-16 down in about 90 sec. When they score they score QUICK. I don't think you can even be 'safe' in front of this team.
Slightly ill-discpilled (sic) at time but fast scorers when they need.
2 down, 5 mins, not sure we can do it.
3:30 to play - they score. 3 down. That will prob seal it.

With a 17 to 14 final score I was probably right. We played well. Some good solid lacrosse from our boys wearing the dark green, and in my view more attractive, "home" uniform and at times we forced the Iroquois into some simple basic errors esp in the last quarter. However having the other side in the box for an offside doesn't really count much if we are not scoring quicker then they are. I feel watching that we set up some very good attack and worked the goal well. Indeed we did lead the game at various stages.

However, like my game notes stated above, Iroquois is a team that can score fast. Late in the game just before number 19, fifteen year old Lyle Thompson, scored the last goal in the match, one of the Australian supporters in the stands was yelling out not to let them get settled. I sat there thinking 'no, let them get settled, they score less off the set plays.'

Iroquois are a good team. If they are disciplined enough to beat a team like the impressive USA who of course came from seven goals behind to beat Canada remains to be seen but at this stage they are a team that has definitely earned their ranking of third in the pool.

Final pool rank
USA
Canada
Iroquois
England
Australia
Japan

Don't ask me what happens now - some of the red teams now get a crack at the low placed blue teams and USA Canada get a few days off. Exactly who plays who.... check the official website as I got it wrong last time :)

Day four - napping in the Sun

Day four was a long day. Australia v Japan was the 0930 game and after staying up late the night before finishing emails and blogs there wasn't a huge amount of sleep racked up on the MudCrab timesheet.

Germany played South Korea on the big stage after the Australian game. These are Red Division teams and it is tricky to know what to make of them. Korea are a developing nation. I am, and I am sure everyone else thinks the same way, pleased to see them here. They are representing their nation and teams like this put the World into Championships.

However being honest they are a developing nation. They would struggle I feel against most Australian State League teams but then again Australia is one of the (cough) top four (cough) powerhouse lacrosse nations.

(okay so the power in the top three powerhouse nations is maybe a LITTLE higher then Australia at the moment but my point is Australia has a playerbase and regular competitions and Korea, to the best of my knowledge, does not.)

So where does that leave Germany? While I confess to being a mild Germophile and speak a little VERY bad German I am not sure what to make of their team. They are top of the Red Div and therefore going to get one of the wild card shots at the finals once the pool rounds finish later today, but as I saw it they did not put the lower ranked Korea away. Winning 11 to 4 against a team like Korea does not really leap out and scream 'put us into Blue Div.'

Still, looking at their team roster and listening to their accents it seems all their players are German. Some of the 'other nations' teams over the years (yes Ireland I am pointing the finger) seem to have contained a lot of 'American' based players so it is good to see some home grown European lacrosse coming out. Considering 2010 Worlds is in the UK and Finland is bidding for the 2012 U19s there could be some strong European nations coming out the change rooms in the next few years.


Which brings us to Iroquois v England.

As we know, the VERY hungry English team put Australia down the night before. Despite a little nap on the lawns and associated red sunburn tone to my normal crab like shell, I had had a long day and believed the strong Iroquois would put the English comfortably away.

So I caught the bus, fell asleep on it and went back to the hotel.

Mistakes number one, two and three on the MudCrab's score card.

England came from behind - long behind - to lead. Iroquois scored back infront. England chased. Iroquois, probably through toughness and experience, got away with a 21 to 16 win but based on the score updates I was watching online from the hotel room, that result was never a sure thing.

England, it seems, are very hungry this Championships and in someways goes to prove my comment that they deserved to beat us last night. Since again I do not believe Australia has the firepower to beat Iroquois later today - although it goes without saying there are 23 Australian players ready to show me a score card in about 6 hours time just before shoving it up my arse - so I feel England will finish the pool games 4th. This will leave them in running for the gold so it will be interesting to see if this hunger is enough to make them actually win in the finals or just to get them there.

Australia Wins

Australia played Japan yesterday and comfortably put them away in a result everyone was expecting. It was good to see us win but like some of the other fans and supporters in the stands the game did lack some of the emotion of Saturday's England game.

Japan are.... interesting. Very keen, very serious and know in theory what they should be doing, just seem to lack the skills and experience to carry it out. I think I had a similar discussion regarding their team two years ago at the Worlds - they play technically correct lacrosse but seem to lack the experience to know when to change the play book on the run.

This game, as much as I would like to rave about it and talk up the Australian team was slightly forgetful. As posted earlier the 'big kids' of USA and Canada went into extra time later that same afternoon so the comfortable win against, what is to be honest a lower ranked team, does not really call up many highlights. I think the boys deserved it, they without a doubt wanted it and I feel they in someway felt that after three straight losses they needed to go out and prove to themselves they are a competitive Blue Division team.

Australia play Iroquois at 1600 today and must beat them well to finish top four within the pool.

Lessons in pressure lacrosse - Day 4

Okay lets start with talking about the 'big game' - USA v Canada.

I think this is best summed up by quoting from my notes and txt messages.

First, what I wrote about 10 mins in.

Canada scores and nearly 500 fans sitting under the sound shell stand roar in delight.

Canada v USA game mid afternoon day 4. Three mins into the second quarter and Canada lead 3 to 2. Both these teams look very fit and very professional and there do not seem to be nearly any unforced errors from either side. This is very slick and very fast lacrosse with the pure talent on show as USA just takes the ball from behind their goal to score at the other end.

Actually to say 500 fans I was talking about the Canadians sitting in the main stand. Add in everyone else in the grounds and I would say there would have been about 2000 people watching this game live.

So the game progresses. It is intense. Canada starts to get some momentum and in the third are scoring rapidly and powerfully. I txt home to my Team TV sidekicks still in Melbourne.

Canada have put a 7 goal lead on USA at 3 qu and dont look like slowing. Pretty intense

At the time a pretty safe and fair call. No to mention a subtle 'I'm in Canada and you're not' poke but I never said I was THAT nice a guy :D

Twenty five minutes later another txt.

Overtime! Canada blew their lead!

History, the match dvd and the memories of 2000 fans will show that USA came from behind to force a 15 to 15 result before going on to win 16 to 15 in extra time. If anyone ever wants an example on how to play pressure lacrosse this is an example. They managed to go into the last quarter facing down what anyone would assume was a comfortable Canadian lead and set themselves the task of scoring goals. Take into consideration the last 5 goals were scored in about the last six minutes of the quarter. I myself remember standing watching in the back corner of the ground thinking "that's a goal a minute, all Canada has to go is get some possession and slow it all down".

It didn't happen. Canada did get possession and the USA told them they wanted their ball back. With a five goal lead and some five minutes to play it was the Canadians who were under the pressure here and the USA forced errors.

With the safety of being Australian, I of course had the detachment of being neutral and so avoided the best and worse of the emotions of this game but if anyone had assumed these 10 days were going to be dull kiddie lacrosse then they only have to look at this game to see otherwise.

Hating umpires is truely international - Day 3

Lets talk about the Canada Iroquois game.

As I probably have completely failed to mention I am staying at the same hotel as the Iroquois Nationals team and most of them are pretty impressed that someone like me is willing to travel nearly 30 hours straight, alone, just go support a Championship like this when he doesn't really know any of the players. So I have been getting on pretty well with these guys and been receiving a lot of lifts to and from the grounds from some of their supporters.

Hence when I watched this game I proudly wore my purple Haudenosaunee Lacrosse wrist band and sat with these guys.

So how was it? Goal for goal before the Iroquois drew ahead only to have Canada draw back, and then draw ahead. Iroquois drew level only to have the Canadians get back in front, get good possession of ball and draw out to a 3 goal lead and eventual win.

Observations in summary is that both of these teams are very good. Canada I believe is probably sharper in the sense that if I had to take the risk of turning my back on one of them then I would chose the Iroquois and to name drop, Canadian goalie Jason Crawford is exceptionally good. When Australia played them on Thursday we didn't shoot well and hence did not really force him to shine. Iroquois on the other hand shot very well and with probably any other goalie in the championship would have won the game by about 3 goals. Indeed when asked who I rated for tomorrows USA v Canada game I picked Canada based largely on the skills of this guy and the equally impressive (and short) second goalie Remington Steele.

Iroquois are a good solid fast team. They clearly showed they could of beaten both USA and Canada and are still realistically a reasonably smart bet for the Gold and to continue what I have already publicly stated, I do not believe Australia will come close to beating them in two days time.

Day Two Report - Part 3... 4....

As posted earlier, Australia's second game for the Championships was against the USA.

As posted earlier USA 21 def Aust 7.

So how did the game play out? Well lets credit where it is due, the USA is VERY good at this level. The U19 team is currently undefeated after something like 37 games. Okay since the U19s is not held all the time and there is only 6 or 7 games per championships then it is clearly not the same kids in that team for each win. However it does give you a vague idea of the quality brought to and expected from this group. They are very fit, they are very fast, and like Canada - who I will discuss in a later post - they are the sort of team you do not turn your back on.

USA scored the first four goals to lead 4 to 2 at quarter time. Aggressive Australian second quarter brought us to a competitive and respectful USA 7 Aust 4 at half time. While the collected spectators mused theories of an upset and the USA players showed concern at the fight being shown by Australia I wrote the following.

half time 7 to 4 down. They got a bit of a run on us at the start of the game, killing us out of center and getting a few fast goals on us. We settled down a lot more and got some good couple goals. We seem to be having a more physical game then they would like which probably plays in our favour as we seem to have put them off their game a bit.

Still the Iroquois kept with them and then got run away from in the last 5 mins so never turn your back on a yank.

Then the US came back after the break an scored eight goals in the third quarter.

Like I said you do not turn your back on teams of this sort of skill level. Teams like this notice a small mistake you haven't even realised you just made and know instantly they will now be scoring a goal within the next 12 seconds. Failing random luck there is rarely anything the other team can do about this as most of the time they do not even notice they are in trouble to start making corrections. Similar theory as to why I believe England is not a more skilled team then us. During today's England Australia game there were several occasions where either clear mistakes were made by Australia or a favourable situations developed and goals should have been scored. England in this situation did not score - although in their credit many times neither did we - so hence they are not a more skilled or dangerous side. USA, Canada and to an extent Iroquois score lots of fast goals not because they get lucky but because they very good sides and they get that way as their playing pool draws from the highly coached high school and collage grades that Australia sporting club based culture is going to always going to struggle to match.

Disappointment and frustration maybe at losing this game but no absolutely no shame.

Chanting

Here are the current (unofficial) supporters chanting rankings

Australia
Germany
England
Canada
Iroquois
USA

rest of the world are NOWHERE

Admittidly the German chanting is actually the German U19 Team who seem quite happy to chant along in support of Australia if the mood takes them. The at times led the chanting for the Australian supporters during the England Australia game and let off a few loud bouts of "Ozzie uber alles" while sitting in the middle of the USA fans on July 4.

This cross national support also leads to disagreements from the England camp over their third placed ranking. In anthem singing they rank very highly and while narrowly outchanted during the Eng Aust game the previously mentioned German support needs to be taken into account.

Then again they did actually with that lacrosse game so on appeal their wussy protest is rejected and they can shut up and be happy with third.

Bit of a drop to the next three teams. USA fans were truly owned and drowned out by Australian supports on July 4 in a way very similar to the way USA scored 8 goals to nil during the third quarter.

Canada scored a minor win over the Iroquois. Both groups are very loud but unimaginative. Several times an attempted chant by the Iroquois failed to appear and neither side managed to fully break into song.

Feed the Hunger - Win the Game (a Day 3 report)

Today Australia 11 lost to England 12.

I am just having another look at the way the playoffs work and I am thinking there is now no realistic chance of us making the Bronze game. We have now lost 3 from 3 and would need to beat Iroquois to get us off 5th spot in our pool. All this is assuming that Japan goes down to us in a screaming but brave heap. While I will talk about the Iroquois more later when I write up their game against Canada later in this blog I think it is fair to sum up our chances of beating them as, well, none what so ever.

So where England a 'better' team then Australia? Probably not. They didn't seem to have huge depth and you could see on some of the plays mistakes class teams (ie USA, Canada, Iroquois and on a good day, Australia) wouldn't have made. Actually mistakes is probably a bit cruel a comment and from the vantage of the stands it is easy to see the passes that should have been made to the players that should have then scored. They are even easier to spot when you have just spent 3 days watching USA and Canada make those passes.

So I don't believe England were or are a better side then us on a skill level. I don't believe Australia is a bad side even taking into account what I wrote about the Aust v Canada game two days ago. However what England clearly showed today was a huge and salivating hungry to win the game.

This came out at the start at the national anthems. The Advance Australia they play in my view is not one of the best I have ever heard recorded and not actually that easy to sing along with but even then the team and us fans gave suitable voice.

Then it was England's turn. With arms linked around each other's shoulders the full team projected vocally their emotion across the sidelines towards their equally supportive fans. And cheered. And leaped. And came out of the anthem ceremony so built up with energy that if the game had then been suddenly delayed or canceled the counter shock would have probably killed them.

England lead 4 nil at quarter time. Hunger. Australia was probably a bit unlucky not to score but played skilled enough to goto half time 5 to 6 down.

So my half time notes to myself...


Good comeback 2nd 1/4 as we looked dead at 1/4 time. ENG look very fired up and hungry to win. I feel we have more skill but they want to win and feel they can. After Canada and USA it almost is like we have lost a bit of self belief.

England just run on field after 1/2 time break. RAN. They are displaying a lot of self belief. ENG will be pumped and hard this 3rd qrt. If they get a run on us at the start they might be hard to catch.

Well fortunately for us we scored next and got in front 9 to 7 at 3/4.

But that hungry was never lost. They came out last quarter, got even, drop a goal behind, got in front, got even and then in the last minute of the game got in front.

To say they were pleased to win is a complete understatement. England have been regarded a low fifth in lacrosse pecking order to Australia's rather higher third. The sight of their full team sprinting across the field at full time to be with their equally excited families and supporters clearly shows they understood fully the significance of this game.

The came. They wanted. They won.

Fourth of July - Huzzah! (Day 2)

A slightly delayed Day two report for all my readers (hi Mum, hi Luke - did I miss anyone? :D).

Unfortunately the delayed effects of jet lag caught up with me yesterday morning and my well meaning plans to get to the grounds in time to watch Iroquois v Japan were disrupted by my plan to have a 'little lie down' first.

Several hours later.... but at least the nap was nice.

So Iroquois 27 Japan 9. From what I have heard from chatting with some of the Iroquios members and supporters the Japanese are very keen, very fearless and unfortunately very smaller then the other players. They to their credit played a hard physical game and unfortunately suffered a bit against the much larger Iroquois players.


Since at this moment in time my transport to the Canada Iroquois game is waiting for me downstairs and there is no net access at the grounds I am going to cut this short.

Next post will cover yesterdays USA 21 Aust 7 game as well as today's Canada Iroquois and Australia England games.

And maybe photos :D

Day One - deeper and meaningfuller

As warned I am now in a position to comment deeper on Day One of my Lacrosse Adventures and basically it is not pretty Australian reading.

As mentioned earlier Australia lost to Canada by 25 goals to 7.

Yes.

Ouch.

Were they pretty good? Yes

Were we pretty average? Well... probably. Canada were actually very good to watch and seem to have some MAJOR talent. Hey, lets be honest here, Gait comma Gary - Head Coach. As names to drop that one is pretty big.

So were we outclassed or did we just suck? To be honest I think we played with a lot of lip vacuum action. I think to half time we had about 7 shots on cage and only two of them were any good. Actually considering two of them actually went in lets increase that to 4 good shots.

Yeah great, but remember at this stage we were 12 to 2 down so even if that shot that hit the post in the first quarter had been good we would have STILL been getting are arses kicked.

Here is something I wrote at halftime....

Half time Aust v Canada and we suck 12 goals to 2. On the plus side we do seem to be winning a fair bit of center but our shots have been crud. They on the other side look VERY good. slick attack, esp on the fast breaks.

22 for them is a big guy on the left post - creeps in and gets a few.

expecting to be put away in the second half. I am thinking a 25 to 6 scoreline to be honest.



As you can see I was pretty close with only the small 4th quarter Australian come back being a bit better then I expected. I can only really assume that the Canadians were slightly exhausted from spending so much time down in their attacking half that they let their guard down letting us score 4 goals to their one early in the last quarter... before still winning the quarter 7 goals to 5.


I have other stats and a slightly tear stained list of the goal scorers in order of scoring. Considering I should be in bed at 0220 in the morning I may spare you guys from that at the moment :)

July 4 tomorrow (today?) and Australia plays USA. At this stage I am expecting the yanks to take the arse the Canadians just gave us off that silver platter and start using it as a football.


Other games, USA 20 def Iroquois 15 (Iroquois looked good in patches - some GREAT man up and some really hard shots from a kid I just discovered is only 15 y.o. but the Yanks got them in the transition type play) and England def Japan by lots (didn't see the game so no comments)

Blue Div (ie the not as good nations)... Ummm... Germany 7 d Wales 5, Scotland 17 d South Korea 3 and Bermuda 11 d Finland 5.

Bermuda may actually be wonderful guys but I can't help but hate people who wear shirt, blazer, tie, knee socks and red shorts as their teams formal uniform. Where is the fashion police when you need them??

Day One - short report

Well... Day One, Canada v Australia.

Short sentence using the words ARSE, HANDED and PLATE.

Canada 25, Australia 7.

More details later.