MARCH 2 - 3, 2011
After my lecture Wednesday morning, I grabbed a quick bite before catching the tube to London Bridge Station to meet up with the football lads. From there, we hopped a train to Albany Park to play Goldsmiths in a very important game worth double points (no idea why, maybe due to make-ups or something..). We were all trying to get psyched up for the match - we hadn't done very well in the season and it was quickly winding down..
Needless to say, we needed to win this game - not only for the points, but also for our sake as we've only 1 win on the season. Beautiful day: mid-forties, sun and not a cloud in the sky. The pitch was a well-kept green, and flat - two qualities you don't get with a lot of pitches so close to the city. We even were as well-stocked on players as ever with 12 men. The extra sub was nice, but our main downfall was the lack of a legitimate keeper; a fact that will come back to bite us.
Suiting up into our jerseys. They're real nice: long-sleeved, comfortable material, and that cool little collar thing. Plus the design is cool. Sweet.
Number 9, as always.
The match started off well, with both teams trading chances and testing each other. It didn't take long, however, for our defense to have a major lapse. They came down the side and beat one of our fullbacks, drawing the center backs out of the middle and opening up a lane for a streaking striker. 1-0, probably around 10 minutes in. A couple similar plays and 10 minutes later, we were dumbfounded and down 4-0. Geez. I can't blame the defense, or the fact that we were playing one of our midfielders in goal. Just a bad team recovery effort after they scored their first. Couldn't stop the same couple of guys making some good plays from the sideline as well as down the middle. I was on the wing as a right midfielder and I tried getting back to defend when I could, but it's a rough position with a lot of back and forth: every failed effort to push forward and help out the forwards meant that I'd have to sprint back to give the defense a hand. I don't think they had many good chances down my side, if that counts for anything. I think they eventually scored another in the first - they had a couple solid players who were putting some great crosses into the middle. Two of their first 5 were probably a minute apart and both on headers off of crosses from the right. Rough. Not to say we didn't have some chances: in the midst of their scoring brigade, we put a couple shots wide, as well as missed a golden open-net opportunity from about the 6 after a shot beat their keeper and rang off the post to one of our strikers. Poor lad skied it in just an awful bout of bad luck. Man. Right before half though, I drove down the right in a play that eventually led to a corner. Lined up on the far post and stutter-stepped to lose my marker as the cross came in; it bounced around the 6 for a few seconds and popped out to the left of the penalty line, where a left-footer from me put it through traffic and into the left panel of the net. Wooooooooo 5-1
First goal as an English footballer, though the score dims the novelty of it somewhat..
After the break, we actually came out strong, hoping to build on what little momentum we could gain. Any hopes of a comeback were pretty much dashed after just an awful goal in which our keeper let it roll out of his hands into the net left us demoralized again. 6-1. From there, it was all downhill again, with little defensive effort coming from the team as a whole.. Just couldn't get anything going either, and it seemed they were getting all the bounces. I had another solid chance later on when scissor-kicking a cross that came from the left - it was headed for the right half of the net, but their keeper made a great finger-tip save to push it wide. Oh well. I don't even know what the final score was - something like 8-1, but it didn't matter. It was a terrible showing from the KCL 4's on a big game day, and we all knew it.
But we'd been resigned to the losing regiment for some time now, so we did our usual complaining for a while, but eventually took it in stride and were laughing and joking again on the train back home. A lot of those guys are real cool - definitely enjoy hanging out with them, though I wish more of them lived closer. They're spread out on other campuses or off-campus, so the only time I see most of them outside of match day is at the socials, where we struggle with attendance. Bummer. I'm looking forward to more nights out with them though, and they promise them. So keep them coming lads.
Came back, showered, examined yet another cleat-inflicted bruise on my left leg, ate dinner, and did some studying and homework. Was supposed to have plans out with some people, but they fell through. Instead, I grabbed a couple beers and chocolate bars from the local convenience store and watched the Pens game. Really entertaining game (loving this team right now, even without the stars.. so scrappy..), but alas, the seconds heart-breaking loss of the day. 3-2 to the Maple Leafs in overtime. Oh well..
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Brief overview of today: lectures 10-1, laundry, studying, cracking a couple beers in a friend's kitchen, trying some of my pal Dylan's homemade pizza (not too shabby bro), grabbing a burger from the local street vendor, watching some Modern Family. It was a good time, though we never ended up going out per the original plan. I'm not complaining, seemed like we chose the cheaper option anyway!
Leaving for Wales in the morning so I thought I'd get this update up before I fall behind. I'll be back Sunday evening, so you won't here from me until then - and if I don't get enough studying done on the long coach ride to and from, then maybe not even then! We're heading for Snowdonia National Park, an area in northwest Wales known for Snowden, one of the UK's highest peaks! Hopefully, I'll be hiking up it, so expect some great scenic views! I'm excited
Good music of the moment:
Sunny Day Real Estate - "100 Million", off their album "How It Feels To Be Something On"
While hard to describe just what these guys are (indie/alternative/grunge/emo..?), they're pretty awesome and unique nonetheless. Great stuff from a 90s Seattle band that helped define the 'emo' genre (not the generic, high school poetry-writing goth 'emo') as a legitimate medium for indie rockers who got tired of singing about sex, drugs, and rock n' roll.. though who doesn't want to write about that stuff?
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Early day tomorrow, but a long coach-ride to catch up on both sleep and studying to look forward to. Really craving some TeaHouse Noodles right now.. and missing everyone back home - enjoy your breaks together and try to have a little fun without me haha!
Cheers!
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