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 :)