---Written By Huan Li

Got distracted by many other things in last two days. Now I still feel sore from the cramped legs, which is the result of tough fights after being idle for about 3 months. Thank everyone for the participation and the enthusiasm, which made it another successful soccer festival for us. Although we were a couple of points shy from the championship game and was unable to go the same distance as we did last year, we surprised NTSSA again by knocking off the powerhouse FW Select Team. Mostly important, the tournament provided the opportunity for many of us to get ready for the season and for the team players to know each other better.

Our first game was scheduled to play with Wings AFC at Friday night. Wings AFC is expected to be the weakest team in the Gold Bracket, as we beat them twice with clear advantage in last season. But the game process indicated that they deserved the 1:0 win. As it was the first time for many of us to play together and some of us were rusty due to long summer break, our attacks were not organized and there were few connections among our offense players. We made almost no good score chance in front of their improved defense. On the other hand, we just allowed their #6 being too active. This guy played not only physically, but also smartly. He constantly looked for the weak points in our defense and created 3 or 4 good score chances for his team. He finally cashed in after a careless mistake from our offense player in the last minute of the game. It was indeed a disappointment for many of us not only due to loss of an important game for us to advance, but also due to the poor performance of the team without a well planned game strategy. We paid our price for looking down the opponent (Wings lost to the other two teams with 0:4 and 0:3 respectively on Saturday). 

We got our shelve refreshed to play with our 40A rivalry, Devan United, in Saturday morning. We started in a big hurry with a goal in the first 10 minutes by Ray after Chen Gang switched the ball right in time to the wide open right side. We had a much better ball possession than the first game and created about dozen of good score chances. But we were either too mercy to get the opponent finished or we run out of our luck. A 1:0 lead was not enough to win a game against a team in 40A many seasons. Their #12 finally broke through our defense on left side in a quick counter-attack with about 10 minutes left and made a perfect cross to the far post. The game was tied after they headed in the score. Within 5 minutes, they got us caught again, while many of us were still in a emotional roller coaster. We started to organize our last rounds of attacks in the last couple of minutes. Chen Gang headed a accurate cross from the right side toward the far post. Wei trapped the ball and sent the ball into the net quickly. It concluded the game at 2:2. We lost our best chance to the final again. I believe that Steve was missed the most. We would be in a better shape with his presence. 

Our third opponent, FW Select Team, is the strongest team without any question. It swept all its opponents in the tournament since last year by allowing only one goal. Although the game result did not affect their qualification to the final, they had taken the win for grant. Even the referee told their captain that "You guys will win anyway", before tossing the coin. However, the game was not as easy as they expected. They may not concern too much, when their goalie received a corner-kick, served by Dick, into their net by accident in the first couple of minutes. They may not play with their whole starting lineup, but most of their starters were in the field, including two ex-pro from Sao Paulo. Although they possessed the ball about 75% of time, our defense led by Daniel was like a tough nut for them to crack. They actually did not find any good solution toward the end of the game. They broke through our whole defense lineup only once, but Eric save us a big time while their player was trying to dribble the ball into the goal. Our counter-attacks were very efficient with only Mark and Wei in front for most of time. A quick combination between Mark and Wei gave us a 2:0 lead in the late stage of the first half. We had some more good score chances in the rest of game. Wei and JD's long shots missed the post by inches. Wei's another shot after cutting through their two defenders in the box was blocked away by the third defender. Mark got two other better score chances though. Wei's superb performance got attention of a NTSSA officer, who watched the most of the game on the sideline. Wei, you might have a good chance into the Dallas over-40 Select Team -:). Mark also played his best game. He did everything as an striker except putting the ball into the goal. I think Mark could also have chance into the Select Team, if he won the 30-yard chasing with their sweeper after he took the ball away from the sweeper near the central line -:). Dick played more efficiently as a defender. He not only froze #5 but also drove near their penalty box twice. Besides the corner-kick resulted in a self-goal, he almost assisted Mark scoring a goal. Dick will be a good candidate of our defense lineups for tough games. It became extremely difficult in last 10 minutes, as most of our players, especially defenders, became exhaust under sizzling Sun. They finally got on the scoreboard with a corner-kick, while our defender failed to head the ball out. Our defenders managed to hang in there and to keep the score remained at 2:1 to the end of game. Although we were out of the final, as Devan United beat Wings, it was a big accomplishment for us to upset this Select Team. It stopped their winning streak and they could wait to "see you guys next year".