Well, up to this point there have been some crazy things that have happened.... but yesterday, our third match blew past ALL expectations I had about professional soccer. I would like to apologize to anyone who witnessed the atrocities against the beautiful game of soccer yesterday....
We were playing a Swedish team called Turezo. It is the team the famous Marta plays for. This game was made up to be our toughest match while in Turkey. Before the game we had a meeting to discuss tactics and we were told that Turezo is very aggressive and will press us the entire match. We went through our typical warmup that consists of passing and sitting, no stretching or running. I have learned to take this time to mentally warmup my muscles... its proven to be partially successful but mostly useless.
The game started and our coach was right, they were very aggressive and pressed us from back to front, but that left them exposed in the back. Within the first 30 minutes we had 3 good chances to score to their 1, one of which I should have scored on! It was exciting and surprising to see how well we were dealing with their pressure. But when the 30 minute mark hit all hell broke loose....
They had a corner and our center back and one of their players went up for a header and they hit heads. The ref didnt call anything (probably fair) but our coach thought it should have been a foul. He started yelling and throwing his hands in the air. He was coming out onto the field to yell at the ref. Their girls apparently were not too happy with what he said because they all started yelling back at him. I was standing on the other side of the field talking with a swedish girl, watching the situation as it began to escalate. Girls were getting mad and starting to yell at our coach in their different languages and he was yelling back at them or at the ref.
So our center back got taken off the field and the game resumed... for about 30 seconds. The ball went out of bounds for a throw in and Marta went to pick it up but it was our ball... so our player tried to grab it from Marta and she threw our player's hands off.... so then my coach started yelling at Marta. Then about 2 seconds later Marta went into bit of a nasty cleats up tackle (but it was clean and got all ball) and the ref called it and gave her a yellow card. Meanwhile our coach went berserk on Marta and got in her face... this is when all hell broke loose.
Everyone got in everyone's faces and was yelling in different languages. I had not moved from the original spot I was standing in on the other side of the field with the Swedish girl. But now my eyes were wide and my jaw was dropped. I was looking from my coach to Marta, I saw their players sprinting at our players and our players sprinting at them and their coaches were running to ref to get our coach thrown out.... ***Note, I didnt understand a word that was being said****.... but then all of a sudden my team was walking towards our bench. I finally heard traces of English saying "well... that's it." "game over".... and I said "wait, what?" And before I had my question answered I was yanked by my jersey off the field and into the bus. Turezo was standing on the field still as we drove away.
It happened within a matter of 2 minutes and our game was ended. I have never seen anything like it.
We finished the 32 minutes tied 0-0. I have never been forced to quit a match like that... our coach said that it was getting too aggressive and it was dangerous, which it might have been, but I would like to take that chance by playing.
So that was our last game here in Turkey and the remainder of the time we have training... boooooo! But it was one hell of a story to come back with! hahaha... in retrospect it was hilarious because I had no idea what was going on! Even hours after the game I felt flabbergasted by what had occurred. It was confusing and disappointing. I wish we could have played. I also wish I had film of the game because it would be a blast to go back and watch someday... I think you all would have enjoyed it... haha!!
Hope all is well state side!
Cheers
Dani
CRAZY :)
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