3-v-3 Tournament, Second Time Around

Last year I played in a 3-v-3 soccer tournament and had a good time. I played with Steve and Drew from the Sunday pick-up soccer, and though we were pretty much outmatched, we had fun. This year, Steve wasn't available, but I got on another team.

Our first game was somewhat of a laugher. I think the final tally was 15-2. It was hard not to score on them, especially when they'd give up the ball right in front of their own net. It could have been much worse if we had let it. The second game was a wake-up call. We played a much tougher team, and they beat us 9-7. We were down 7-6 without much time to go and really pressed forward for the equalizer, but it didn't happen. So our record was 1-1, and the first game was out of our group, meaning that win didn't count toward advancing. So our final group game was a must-win situation, and not only that, but we had to score maximum points. You see, the top of each group was automatically in the semi-finals, but since there were three groups, a fourth team was needed, so the best of the rest would be allowed to advance. That would be determined by wins and ties would be broken by goal differential (up to 4 goals per game).

Not only did we manage to win, but in the waning moments of the game, we were able to get the 4 goal margin, and that put us into the semi-finals. Alas, but this story does not have a happy ending. We ended up losing 3-1 in a dreadfully slow game (our opponents were masters of the stall tactics; they booted the ball far out of the field of play at any opportunity, and they took their sweet time on any restarts). They scored on long chips (including one that was absolutely insane), while we spent our time hitting woodwork.

I went home before seeing who won the championship game. It was either the team that won our group or the team that beat us in the semis. eh.