We started out very well, unexpectedly pounding Atlanta 5-0 in a game where all the balls bounced our way.  We played well enough, but Atlanta did not, and luck was in our favor.  Still, it was a nice way to start out the tournament, as "luck" often goes towards the tean who wants it more.  Next up was Team AmericaSSS, which we thought would be our stiffest competition.  It was a fairly rough game, although the ref called virtually all the fouls (rightly) against them.  It was a pretty even game, although from my biased viewpoint, I felt like we had better chances than them.  Their striker popped in a goal around Kevin in the first half and they held us off, continuing our string of poor game 2 performances in tournaments. 

We played New York next and peppered their goal with shots, but couldn’t seem to put one in.  I felt we controlled this game well, but could only manage a 0-0 tie.  We then had a break in our schedule before meeting an exhausted Dallas team who were unfortunate to have to play their four games in a row, without much of a break.  We controlled them as well, putting in two goals, as they seemed to have little energy left.  It could have been much worse, but it was plenty enough to place us second among the 5 teams.  The teams were well matched this year, and if we had lost to Dallas, we would have ended up in 5th place, not even making the semifinals.

Day two started with a semifinal against Atlanta, whose play had improved markedly yesterday after we blasted them in game one.  We put in one, and they answered on a penalty kick.  Matt Shambroom knocked in the game winner on a shot to the upper far corner on what I consider one of the best goals I’ve seen the Spikes score.  Well done, Matt.  The big loss in the game came when Karl broke his shin bone in two places in a collision after a shot.  It is what I think is called a non-displaced fracture that should heal in 6-8 weeks.

The final against Team Americas was the expected war of attrition as two very tired teams traded punches for 90 minutes.  The ref's calls seemed to be very much against us in this game as we received several yellow cards (I lost count, but I do know that I did NOT get one).  We put in a goal in the
first half and held them off.   They attacked a bit more than we did in the
second half, but apart from just a couple of defensive breakdowns, their attacks amounted to only a handful of quality chances, mostly on free kicks outside the box that they did little with.  We earned the victory and the big tacky trophy with our determination and grit.  Even the thunderstorm before the final couldn’t cool us off as we powered our way to the championship.

I purposely did not call out too many names as I think this was again a great TEAM effort.  In the heat we substituted frequently, easily maintaining our level of play no matter who was out there.  We let in only two goals in 6 games, while scoring 10, as everybody fought, as a team, on both offense and defense.  We should all be very proud of this, as we battled hard for it, once again proving who the best gay team on this continent is.

Onward to Sydney!!