As promised last time, I was going to go over what happened during the match where I had my first major injury (not to me but rather a player). The match itself was supposed to be a preliminary match between two teams from the same club but since they both were in the final as well (as they finished first in each of their respective brackets with one game left, they were going to play each other again regardless of the outcome of my match). The coach (who was the coach for both teams as well) asked me if it was ok for them to just play the final now and record the score twice, one for the round robin match and one for the final. I could not see a problem with that.
The game started and it was clear who the A team was and who the B team was. The blue team attacked the whole first half but the closest chance was for the yellow team. Still at the half they were 0-0. At the start of the second half, the star attacker of the blue team tried to force a corner and was nudged as he was turning his body to kick the ball off the defender and he landed on his wrist awkwardly. I was close to the play and heard a faint pop and knew that something was not well. His wrist was in a weird angle and fortunately, two doctors were at the field and were able to stabilize him enough so when the EMTs arrived, it was not a dire thing. Off to the hospital he went.
Meanwhile, the boys still wanted to finish the match, but the coach having lost his 4th player in 2 weeks (I found out later) asked me if I had any problem going straight to PKs. I did not, as long as everyone was in agreement. In the meantime, they also decided to not have the PKs actually determine the winner, as they would both share the championship. So instead of having an actual 5 PKs per team, they all got to shoot once, regardless of the score. In the end, it did take 10 PKs per side to determine the winner, with the keepers being the kickers. The B team keeper missing and the A team keeper scoring to 'win' it.
Finally, I later found out that the player had suffered a fractured wrist. I really hope he gets better quickly as he is a fantastic player and fun to watch.
1 comment:
Congratulations on not getting all hung up on the "following the rules", in a situation where it is clearly not called for. It sounds like all of the kids, but one, had a good time.
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