Today was the day, and the start was immediately bad. In the very first minute we conceded a goal. 0-1. Ah well, I thought, Alan is starting on the bench, so we’ll see how it goes.

But then something unexpected happened: the equaliser! 1-1. Nobody saw that coming, and the whole game shifted. Slowly the match became more physical, but we held our ground. The goals kept coming: 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 5-4, and finally 6-4.

Alan also scored a beautiful goal. From midfield, high into the corner. Unstoppable. The crowd was completely caught up in the tension, and emotions were running high. The coaches and the referee even had to calm down some of the parents and family members. Well… that’s how it goes sometimes.

We won again! A nice game with lots of goals. We can clearly see the teams are much more equal now, and that makes for much better games to watch.

Yes!, last Sunday Batan Alevín B achieved a convincing 6 – 2 victory. A welcome improvement compared to the previous phase. It was an enjoyable match that was finally rewarded with a splendid win.
The aftermatch: As you can clearly see in the photo taken after the match the players themselves were also in the mood for celebration.

The second type is a team where results matter. Here, you’re expected to show up for every match and perform well. If you don’t stand out as a player, you’re asked to go elsewhere. These teams are meant for top talent, and that’s not what we’re looking for with Alan. Today, Alan is playing against one of those professional teams.

The third type is the neighborhood team that could just as well be a wrestling club. Alan played against one of those last week. There’s little discipline and lots of pushing, pulling, and kicking.

The other team played like an oiled machine, and they won with 17 goals, but still, we had some chances and it was an enjoyable game.

Results

The next phase will start in a couple of weeks. This time the teams will be better aligned to their respective levels, and that will hopefully give us a couple of more interesting matches, with some options to win and boost moral.

The next match is against one of the strongest clubs, so we don’t have high expectations for that one. But after that, we’ll be in a group that’s more at our level, so it’ll be more fun again and hopefully with plenty of chances to win.

Results

Results

Results

Results

Uf, the competition was tough, the kids were a lot bigger, and about one or two years older than us. The first couple of matches is going to be difficult, and then the matchs will be more equal. We’ll see.

The match schedules are all available online, but unfortunately, the websites that provide this information are complicated labyrinths, packed to the brim with ads, popups, cookies, and just about every bit of junk you can imagine. Every time you have to accept all sorts of things, and after a lot of searching, you can finally see the match lists through all the ads. Of course, while viewing the lists, you have to keep clicking away popups every 20 or 30 seconds, and you have to be careful to click correctly, otherwise, you’ll be ruthlessly redirected to a site full of ads, and it’ll take ages to find the list again. So I just made a brief overview myself, at least now I can see when, where, and what time Alan has to play.