Sunday, May 4, 2008

Final Recaps

Ireland vs. Laos

Ireland and Laos faced off in a very exciting match on Saturday night. Ireland went up early scoring 2 goals and the game looked to be the makings of a blowout. Laos, always a very intense team, kept up the pressure the entire game. They clawed back, keeping up with Ireland every step of the way. Ireland would score, then Laos would score. In what has to be the highlights of the match, Ireland's keeper made 2 absolutely incredible saves to preserve Ireland's lead. Neither team could take advantage of bad mistakes the other team made, but it only made the game better to watch. With Ireland leading 4-3 near the end of the game, Laos was making a charge while Ireland backed off. Laos had some chances, but their problem was that they kept trying to cross it in and get a header. They didn't seem to realize that this is virtually impossible against Ireland's defence, but they kept trying nonetheless. Granted, Laos was able to get a few of the balls, but none were dangerous or had any power. Ireland had their chances as well, and but couldn't put Laos away for good. Shots were either right at Laos' keeper, or nowhere near the net. However, Laos looked to have gained the upper hand by the end of the game. They were controlling the possession well, but Ireland buckled down on defence and didn't let anything come through. They held on to win 4-3.

The final game was great to watch. Many expected Ireland to win, but not in such close fashion. It was awesome to see so many people out and fill that place to almost max capacity. The 2 teams put on such a great show, and both should be proud of they way they played. Congratulations to Ireland on their victory.

Bronze medal- Ukraine vs. Scotland

These 2 teams met again after tying to a 1-1 draw in the group stage. The rematch proved to be quite a spectacle. Ukraine shot themselves in the foot with critical mistakes, giving Scotland many of their goals. Scotland, gaining a comfortable lead early on, seemed to let up and just sit back. Up ahead 5-3 at the half, they looked to be in comfortable position to win. Scoring right after the break to go up 6-3 and soon after 7-3, the game looked to be locked as a Scotland win and Ukraine beating themselves. Ukraine kept on coming though, gaining a new intensity and really pressuring Scotland. Scotland, missing their keeper from the previous game, and with their defence playing poorly, couldn't stop them. Ukraine started to hammer on Scotland, roaring back to make the game 7-6, and spending the last 6 minutes trying desperately to score one more. Scotland put a wall to try and stop the onslaught of shots, and Ukraine just couldn't squeak one in. Scotland held on to win 7-6. The game was very exciting to watch. Neither team played at the top of their game, but it was a great bronze medal match.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can someone please post who won the awards for the tourny?!

Not_Anonymous said...

All I can remember are the men's winners, so here they are:

Golden Boot: Brett Bachelu
Keeper: JD Blakely
Final Game MVP: Scotty Myrah
Tournament MVP: Jay Tomchuk
Best Fans: Chile

Anonymous said...

The final was an amazing game to watch! If ireland wouldn't have scored the 2 quick goals at the start they definately wouldn't have won. Laos and ireland are all around great teams but team laos was missing brian who fills the midfeild well and they needed his shots. ireland capitalized on laos' open mid and passed nicely. laos had the pressure at the end but just couldn't score. The good news is laos has a great future with them with all the young stars.

Anonymous said...

ya but they did score 2 quick goals and thats the mistake Laos made, and we will never know if Brian was playing he could of helped Laos in the Mid, Bachelu, Collins, and McCallister were shutting down there centre

I doubt that, there "young stars" most of them will be too old to be declared youth players most likely you wont see most of them on there team next yr,

Anonymous said...

HEY MAN YOU FORGOT ABOUT THE YOUTH YOU ASSHOLES!!

Anonymous said...

whoa someone needs to take a chill pill

Not_Anonymous said...

I said I could only remember the Men's. I also forgot about the women's you asshole... way to leave them out.

Youth:
Golden Boot: Kid from Scotland
Keeper: Ukraine's
Final Game MVP: Kevin from team World's
Tournament MVP: Honestly can't remember.. sorry

Women's:
Golden Boot: 3 girls tied
Keeper: England's
Final Game MVP: A girl from England whose name I cannot remember
Tournament MVP: A girl from El Salvador..

Do not take it personally that I do not remember the winners from these categories. They all played great soccer and the women's and the youth tournament were both very exciting as well, I just do not yet know the names of all the players because the hype is not yet there for these categories. Everyone knows who Brett Bachelu and JD Blakely and all those guys are so when they win it is easy to remember, but when you are hearing the name for the first time it is more difficult to remember. But like I said, all around great tournament and I can't wait to see all three categories grow next year.

Anonymous said...

Kristian McCullough from team Scotland won the Youth Golden Boot.

Not_Anonymous said...

If anyone else knows the winners of the youth and women's awards please post them. They played hard and played great and deserve recognition as well.