Euro Games Day 7
Up bright and early for a bus at 7am. We play Andorra at 9 am. At just above 30C, the temperature is reasonable compared to what we have been experiencing.
The match got off to a bad start when we let Andorra take the lead because of some very sloppy play but by half-time it was 1 – 1.
The second-half was tied at 2 – 2 but James put one in just as the hooter sounded. Scorers James (2) and Michael.
The team returned to the hotel for lunch and to rest. The car temperature guage was now reading 49C and, apparently PalaCandy was over 50C in the top rows of seats but I did not try that, prefering the relative comfort at ground level!
We played Austria at 5pm. This was a match we would expect to win. We took the lead in the first minute when James netted from a pass from Brendan but let Austria back to equalise. Brendan put us one up again but we then had a period when we had all the play but the shots were off target. The score remained close until a quick burst just before half-time gave us the comfort of a 6 – 2 scoreline at the interval.
We now realised that James just needed a few more goals to get high-scorer of the tournament but going for goals meant Austria got their chances too. James had the frustration of his chance slipping away as the hooter sounded and the referees not bothering to give us a penalty.
Final score 10 – 4. Scorers James 6, Brendan 3, Karl 1
All in all, we have finished in 6th place out of 9 teams. We lost our two opening matches against Spain and France and then won all three of the round-robin against Germany, Andorra and Austria.
We have mostly new players in the team and we have worked with physio Jayne Street for the fist time. We have gained a lot of experience from which to start the preparation of the team for the World A in Switzerland in June next year.
After our last match, Portugal played Italy for the 3rd place. Portugal took the lead and Italy got level at 3 – 3. Portugal then went 5 – 3 and try as they may Italy could only come back to 5 – 4 at the end. The Swiss went for it in their final against Spain but a goal just before half-time put Spain one ahead and another in the second half clinched it. Two exciting matches and an excellent performance by the Swiss.
