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I don't know about the first match, but the 2nd match ended with a 2-2 tie. PK awarded to Japanese with about 3 minutes to play, after a defensive mistake. I got a recap from a very dejected center back who feels pretty bad for his team. Ball was played to the back, under pressure, played the ball without enough pace back to the keeper, forcing the keeper to come out, Japanese player slipped him, but was then fouled. Tie game. Only good thing, it was a tie, but he's still pretty dissapointed.




That's why they call it a game!! If he was involved in the mistake, I hope he has forgotten all about last night's game and had a great day today. If I had a dime for every mistake Eric has made while playing - then I'd have made a profit from the expenses of playing club soccer. In a state playoff game Eric headed it back to the keeper because of pressure from the strikers - well the keeper wasn't expecting it and Eric scored a beautiful goal for the other team (in fact this was the first time this team had ever scored on us and it was Eric's goal). He was very thankful when our strikers scored two before the final whistle!! Eric lives by Teddy Roosevelt's poem: Man in the Arena: "It is not the critic who counts....The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Eric didn't seem to be upset by the final score last night. Said the Japanese guys were little, fast and never stopped running. He said every time he turned around another Japanese player had whizzed by him. He thought they all were being run by the Engergizer bunny.

According to Eric - his fellow centerback from SC is playing Great. Eric said it feels natural for the two of them to be in the back together when they get a chance to play on the same team. He has spoken very highly of his fellow centerback. He looks forward to playing with him again in a week or so!