Soccer today

Another great game. Of course, the feeling 'great' is a relative term, as things only get better in the second half.

The first half was abysmal. Kept missing passes, then I never got the ball passed after that. I remember trying to head some balls; rather I was knocked left right and center. Then, tackling went bad too; I didn't manage to get the balls either. So the first half of the match went with me being overshadowed by other, better strikers.

I even had an opportune moment, which I totally blew away! It was a pass from Leon, who immediately shouted, "Eric, SCORE!" Well, I wanted to, and I raised my leg and shot, only for it to go inches wide. (!!! - that shows my feelings then...) I'm like DAMN IT...

However, things became much better after the second half. A little rest, a little water, and a little more energy came back to the game. We start the second half with much "ho-oa" at first, and the pace kept up. The tempo increased, and more goals and shots on goal were taking place. More pressure kept on the opposing team. It felt good.

Then, I managed to score one! This was similar to my missed goal from the last time. I had the ball passed in from Leon. And then I took it, and saw: nobody in front except the goalie. Opportune moment. I took a mad dash, and all I remember was having players from all sides calling for the ball but I was ignoring them. The goalie didn't want to come up and tackle me (I think he's being nice though, coz I had complained to him that I wanted to score at least one...) and I pressed on. Then, with a flick of the ball, I shot, and he stuck his foot out. It just went over the knee (the waist is the maximum height allowed for goals to be counted). YEAH!

3 other opportunities, and here's description of one of them. I was standing in front of the goal, menacingly awaiting the ball to come crossing in from the right. And yes, my fellow striker was about to cross in to the center. I stuck my foot out -- and it went inches wide again! DARNED! I could have scored a second just by sticking my foot out at the right angle. Hahaha... well, it was a good attack.

I remember trying some antics. I saw the ball curling in, and I raised my leg up, attempting to do a back kick in the air, but saw it fly in the wrong direction. Well, I'm not going to do that again... hahaha... (until I've mastered it! XD)

Ah well, it all ended when I had a cramp. I was tackling a defender, managed to get the ball away from him, but then I was forced to dribble it to the side. He came up, tackled the ball away from me, but I tried to get it back, only to fail and fall onto the ground with a cramp in my right calf. So they helped me to ease the pain off, but the game effectively stopped at that moment. I limped off, well not exactly in pain, but in some miniscule form of agony. (Ms. Heng would mark that as "poor expression"...)

Whatever it was, it all felt great. Fair play, good play, goals scored. Kudos to the other strikers to did their part.

GREAT GAME!