Hello from I95 traffic from Prague! We are hardly moving as I start this blog.
Another day of life memories! We left very early this morning to visit what is the one of the most impressive cities I have ever seen. From the history, to the detail in the buildings, the modern fashion, to my favorite-the food. Yes, my goal is to sample different foods throughout this trip. And I have a number of players who share this desire.
Watch for the pics of the world famous castle, the guards that can't smile, the bridge and wonderful market. But the highlight for me is finding our way back to our bus through a maze of subways, asking directions from people who don't speak English-using hand signals, grunts and gestures. Thanks to our Chef de Mission, "Eddie"-his ability to speak 4 languages saved the day. Having 30 girls jog through a subway system to catch a train is an awesome site.
We arrive at the home of the youth academy for FC Sparta Prague. What a site-they took inspiration for its design from Liverpool and Bayern Munich's facility. This is a world class facility, to develop world class players. The 95s would find this out in their game.
No excuses for our teams, in Region 1-we have to play 3 games in a row. This is game 3!
The 95s kicked off first against Sparta Pragues' 94s and we were given a lesson in "world football." Their hunger, technique, movement and passing had us 4 nil down at half. We discussed battling and showing some toughness-tried a couple of different things in the second half. Lots better, scored twice but they also caught us out for 3 more. Final, 7-2. Later I was to find out that this was the top girls youth team in the Czech Republic. Our fatigue, maybe? But in truth, a rested team would have had a tough match on their hands.
94s kicked off against Spartas' 93s - with some 95s on their roster. What a pleasant sight as we showed some mental toughness and bounced back from the loss yesterday. We played with tons more passion and speed and were rewarded with a first half goal. The second half was one any coach would be proud of, Sparta with all the possession and VA battling to stop their attacks. Very entertaining! We hold on and win 1 nil.
We had a lovely dinner at their restaurant overlooking their facility.
Am now 2 hours (11:30pm) from our hotel-another long day. Tomorrow we will meet the Mayor of Kyjov (the town we are staying in), he wants to formally welcome our program. Reporters in the afternoon and a pro recovery session planned with 3 different types of saunas at FC Slovacko.
I hope the Mayor gives chocolates... I have yet to sample them!
