Another day –another tournament. Unfortunately Josh, (under 12s) has come out with chicken pox. Quick action by coaches separates Josh from the rest of the group and unfortunately he will be isolated for the rest of the holiday. Its is a very sad day for him and his mum and everyone feels for them as obviously its just a huge case of bad luck.
The coaches call for all players who haven’t had chicken pox and the decision is made to separate those that have had chicken pox (which is the majority of the group) to travel in one bus and the others that haven’t in the other bus. Most unfortunate but it was the best decision for the group.
Tournament day 2 saw a huge improvement for the all the teams from Australia. There is some greats skill and passing starting to be seen and some team dynamics are showing through. They are improving day-by-day and if there were a few more tournaments I believe the improvement level would be massive.
The under 9s started the day with a win and went well through the day. They ended up coming fifth and there were some good goals scored but most noticeable was the ability to shut down a lot of the movement of the Japanese teams. Noah had a great day and was very excited to score his first goal for Australia and it was a left-footer. Stoked! Probably their best game was a 0-0 draw against the Japanese team dressed in Barcelona outfits – this team ended up winning the tournament 4-0 in a final against the under 10s. Noah played in goals but didn’t have to save any direct shots on goal which meant the team defended brilliantly.
Under 12s (both teams) went well too. One of the under 12s made the final but lost 2-0. They had some great chance but unfortunately couldn’t convert on the day.
All round great day out. The parents had a game for about 10 minutes after the tournament. Lots of aging bodies trying to resurrect skills of the past. Loads of fun!
After the tournament bus went to our new hotel (Washington Hotel – Shinjuku) which is much more central. Because we hit heavy traffic on the way to hotel some of the boys couldn’t hold on any longer so bus had to stop for a “wee” stop on side of motorway.
Went for dinner at a Japanese restaurant on the 29th level of a huge office block. Sky View restaurant. The building had a great sky elevator on one side which was fun to ride in as it had great views and felt more like a fun-park ride.
Tomorrow is a training session with Alf Galustian of Coerver and then in the afternoon we will play 11-11 tournament against J-league Toky Verdy development side. Will be a huge challenge and great experience once again.
