The defending Midwest Division Champion KC Kings visit Springfield Sunday to play the Demize. The home boys will have returned from a late game on Saturday in Springfield, IL against the Spirit. UPDATE – the Demize win 5-4 in IL. That won’t make their chances any easier as they hope to narrow the distance between the current front-runners and our second place squad.
Game time Sunday – 2:00 pm
Location – Lake Country Soccer Dome
I’ll see you there!
What a show today. The Demize, a first year team, faced off against the defending Divsion champions and lost 8-2 or something like that. It was a fun game, as the Demize worked hard to stay with their opponents but even a long-time Demize player commented to me on what a quality opponent they were facing. It was a great lesson for anyone watching today’s game, and hopefully for the Demize.
There are 3 players that seem to have an understanding of how to use the boards and passing angles that are available (Emnet, Gow and Temple) but when Taylor Stacy is running square with Adam Peterson on a 2 v 1 break and he attempts a square pass rather than putting the ball off of the end boards, allowing Adam to run directly onto a ball, then you know there is some work that needs to be done acclimating the team to the indoor game.
The Kings team included Nick King (#6) who is listed as a member of the US National Arena Soccer Team and he showed why, his last goal coming when he received a ball moving left to right, flipped it up slightly and blasted a ball into the upper right hand corner before the defense had a chance to react. Lot’s of nice goals from the Kings as they moved in circles and looked like Duke running the option offense. It was also good to see Brett Thomas continuing his recovery from knee problems, creating a goal for himself this afternoon off of a short-handed situation.
One last chance to see the Demize, on Valentine’s Day at 7:00 pm. See you there!
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I think that the understanding of the game has nothing to do with how its played on the indoor pitch. When you are on the field with players that you know can handle any passes that are played to him. Although walls do make it easier, the pitch that the game was being played on is smaller than the average indoor pitch. The keeper was playing very smart using the size of the field to his advantage, all the balls that were being played down in the corners were ultimately uneffective because the keeper was coming out further than his box was allowing and clearing the ball before it would become a threat. Players are ultimately players when they can effectively use their outdoor skills to beat a team who spends most of their careers indoors.