We are nearing the end of our season with a game remaining, a game that decides whether our season is done or if we will continue on into the next round. For various reasons, the team finds itself in a predicament none of us would have expected at the beginning of the season with the amount of quality we have throughout the team. We knew nothing would come easy, but to be down the standings as low as we are is something none of us would have expected and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Having underperformed the entire season, we now have a big game tomorrow on our hands, without our key players and at a time when everything was starting to fall into place and we were really beginning to click into gear. So how did we get to this point?
With more than half of the team having never played with each other, team spirit and chemistry was near none at the beginning of the season. We had the players, but we weren't a team and with cliques having formed within the squad, I could already sense things weren't going to the way we had hoped. Seniors would yell at the rookies, rookies would scold the seniors, meanwhile the more older players such as myself and a few others were attempting to form this group of players into a team. This lack of team spirit would manifest itself on the field with the performances and the results we were getting.
Losses to Humber, Sheridan, Niagara, and St. Clair were all losses of our own doing. We had won 2 games in between those losses but they were against the lower end teams of the league. The losses though are what really stick out. The lack of camaraderie on the field was evident as everyone looked to blame someone else rather than rally together and salvage a result. The defense was in disarray, the midfield was lacking any fight, our forwards were clicking but to no avail with lack of cohesion behind them. Something needed to change and it needed to happen fast or our season was done.
Within the past week, something did change. The cliques within the team were starting to give way and we were starting to bond as a team. Practices became less tense and more fun, the team was training with intensity and purpose and the general morale of the team was sky high. I was starting to get the sense that we were starting to gel and it couldn't have come at a better time. Our next game was against the best team in the league, Fanshawe College. It was time to see if we really were underperforming or if we just weren't good enough.
Come game time, everything clicked and we were playing them off the park.To see the supposed best team in the league bickering and fighting as we were doing during our poor games was encouraging. As the game progressed you could see the belief and confidence throughout the team slowly rising to the point that we were dominating Fanshawe. We went into half time with a 2-0 lead and the feeling that we could score 10 more against these guys. We were going to bury this team and really make a statement to the league.
The second half couldnt have started any worse though. Within minutes of kick off, one of our best players received an undeserved red card after being brought down by the opposition and the referee thought he seen our player attempt to kick the opposition. An undeserved red card but we had to deal with it and see out the game. Our team lost its composure after the red card. We couldn't deal with the pressure of being a man down and getting bad calls against us by the referee and subsequently two more players lost their temper and lashed out at the ref. The ref proceeded to hand out 2 more red cards and then to make matter worse, our captain and our play maker both were forced out of the game due to injuries. We were now down to seven men against ten men with five of our starters and best players out of the game.
Fanshawe made their way back and scored two goals within 5 minutes after the three red cards. We managed to hold on until the last minute when the ref decided to give the opposition a penalty kick for a foul that occurred outside the box. The nail was in the coffin and they ended up winning 3-2. Such an incredible game turned on its head. All I heard in the dressing room afterwards was how we deserved this and we deserved that, but you dont always get what you deserve. Such is life and you have to deal with it. Our players lost their cool and it cost us the game, a game that we deserved to take more from.
Alot of our young players were so dejected after the game and I could understand as I had been in their shoes before. Losing is always tough to swallow, but you have to look forward. Playing well and not getting the result is something you have to deal with. Everything comes with a lesson and its something they will learn. Just as you dont always get what you deserve in life, you dont always get what you deserve on the field. That's just the way it is, and its your job to keep your head up and keep pushing on when things like that happen.
Now we have our last game tomorrow against Redeemer College and its up to us to get the result or our season is over. It would be terrible to see this team not move forward as I firmly believe we have the quality to dominate the best teams as the Fanshawe game proved. It will be hard though with 5 of our starting 10 players being injured or suspended due to red cards. Those are the circumstances and its up to us to overcome them.
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