La Machina Case Study

Lastly, the day arrived when D.Y.J. had to confront one of the league contenders. Since we joined the season from the kickoff, we cannot look to catch a high place position, however playing against the league?s best is important for the team in general, so we can then make some predictions for the following season. According to two different sources of information Maxela occupied either first or second line in the league. The owner of the league stated that they were officially first, surpassing ?La Machina?. In any case this was a team we needed to face to make a sense of our team?s potential. Despite Jerry?s effort to coral the crew, there were more or less unpleasant surprises ahead of the game. We arrived late at the park, and five minutes before the whistle we still did not get the numbers. Most of the players who were late, informed Jerry ahead of the time that they will play ? so it was not such a big deal. The different story was with Elvis, Marvin, and James. As per Jerry he had no information regarding their plans, even though we were counting on them. Unfortunately, that did not help much. Overall, we confronted our most important game with serious line-up trepidation:

Once again coach proposed half-and-half approach with Dima playing in the first half, and Chris takes care of the business in the second one.

That did not work as well as coach would envision this time. Both Dima and Chris looked weaker than usual in the area. After the game, Dima stated that it was hard for him to go into the game with the team falling back 0:2. He stated that every moment, during the second half he was cogitating about the time, and the fact that he must force out something unusual ? right straight off. That, he believed forced him to play risky, and in the aftermath, it caused several mistakes that seriously spoiled his experience. He pointed out that this was definitely not the type of soccer he prefers to

play.
In return, after short absence, Josua and first time participant Eduardo, we had two relatively new laterals. Both are formidable players, who at the end directly impacted the final score, however, they were lacking in fulfilling their defensive responsibilities, and we noticed making questionable positional choices. With all honesty, both Josua and Eduardo are much better in different positions, as a forwards, for example, but the fact that D.Y.J. had only eleven players, did not give us much freedom to move them into different roles. Frank and Marvin, who recently granted us two solid performances on the lateral wings, were absent, and Chris was only used in the first half.
The center of a midfield suffered the most. All five first choice center midfielders were out of the line-up in the first half, with Dima returning after the half time. Enrique was injured. Haitem was sick. Elvis simply went missing. David Carranza, who came out in this location during the Gallos Negros game, in general, cannot play the late games, due to his work arrangements, and was absent. As a consequence, the path that we were ramping up during first six games went out of the window. One time again, in the aftermath of the game, coach stated that D.Y.J. managed to bring home the bacon with a direct play in the second half, but they would not have to come back from the -2 situation twice, if they would of moved according to the design from the beginning. There would be no need to poke themselves out of the mess.
***

With the referee, whom we never met before, we had some issues also. Firm and unswayed by the pressure ? which is a commendable quality, he cooked enough of mistakes to turn our game into hell in the first half. He began the game on time, without granting us any time to put up the line-up. Along the first play by Maxela referee did not send for the handball, certainly setting the tone for the future controversy. In the aftermath, the coach points out a red card that the referee should give to Maxela in the first half, and a card awarded to Mike in the second half that was a direct result of referee?s pure judgment, minor errors aside.

D.Y.J. supposedly started the game with the following line-up: Dima (#1) | Francisco (#2) + Jerry (#3) + Harry (#4) | Chris (#7) + Eduardo (#11) | Gee (#5) + Dale (#6) + Josue (#8) | Manny (#10) + Mike (#9). Supposedly ? because there was a lot of miss communication about the roles on the field - Eduardo had some issues adjusting to the left lateral position, while Josue, who helped covering the left wing from a central midfield position, was also leaning toward playing like a lateral. That created some ambiguity, regarding defensive responsibilities. Gee and Dale, who travelled to the middle from his usual (#10) were not enough to defensive midfield zone in the first half. Unfortunately, D.Y.J. is not yet mature enough of the team to successfully adjust on the fly. Maybe this is partially an issue with a vocal leader on the battleground, but likewise this is about taking somebody else leadership. Neither Gee, nor Dale, nor anyone else was able to conduct a defensive effort in the first half. And there was some bickering. A famous Gee?s phrase: ?I do not want to hear this!? - Is perhaps not the best means to handle the disagreements? D.Y.J. in general saws some frustrations along the battlefield, and even open arguments, involving Gee throughout the whole game, while the quality of Gee?s game actually was rather honest. We will have to work on this as a team, and perhaps improve our communications.