Building Back Up
Well, things have been pretty inconsistent since I last reported to you.
We responded well to those frustrating early season draws, destroying Royal Puma by a 5-1 margin and crushing Green Bay, 4-1.
I thought that we might be able to keep ourselves in the title hunt for a little while longer. Toa Maile was scoring goals for fun, and right winger Robert Kaleopa was getting in on the act.
And then the other shoe dropped.
We Lost To Them?
We somehow managed to blow a match to the Tafuna Jets, losing by a 3-2 margin.
Paneta Kuresa scored a hat trick for the Jets in the end. The first goal came near the end of the first half, when we had a 1-0 lead. Central defender Ueli Tualaulelei, usually one of my favorite players, gave up a penalty that I simply cannot forgive him for. Kuresa scored that one easily, added a second shortly after we went up 2-1 around the 50th minute, and then put us away in the 80th.
It was simply an awful blow - there’s no better way to describe it. Our title hopes have not necessarily been completely dashed, but it’s hard to imagine us coming back strong from that one.
Hatred of Big Matches
I think we’ve got a lot of young players on the squad who secretly hate big matches.
We followed up that loss by crushing Pago Youth, 5-3, and then blanking Black Roses, 2-0. We played well in both matches, though I worry a lot about the propensity our defense has for giving up goals.
My worry is what will happen when we play Vaiala Tongan, Ilaoa & To’omata, and Lion Heart again. We can’t win the league unless we beat the other elite teams, and we don’t really deserve to call ourselves an elite squad until we do so.
It’s going to be an uphill road.