The Franklin Match: First Half Woes

Three hours later, you stand ready in your half, eagerly awaiting the ref’s whistle for kickoff. Your opponents start in possession. They pass the ball fluidly in their half, taking short and accurate passes. Their players hardly move, almost like it’s a warm-up drill. But as Jack and Daphne run up, ready to contest the ball, their whole team lurches into motion, pressing forward.

You quickly move to mark an attacking midfielder, still getting a feel for their formation. They continue pushing up as a unit. Katie and Khloe’s attempts to dispossess them are countered by passes back—but they’re not far passes back. Their back line has pushed up with the rest of the team, allowing this short passing strategy to remain surprisingly nimble. With practically all players crowded into your half now, it’s a game of defense.

They make a few attempts towards the box, but you hold the line with Charlie at the back, moving in to close down their attack as they try to play through the middle. Their first few attempts are unsuccessful, but they’re persistent. More importantly, they’ve continued to dominate possession, passing the ball back under pressure. They’re not afraid to hoof it all the way back to their keeper, who seems content to patrol the borders of his box. His long passes from back out are unfailingly accurate, always seeming to land in the vicinity of his players rather than yours.

As the first twenty minutes fly by, you realize that your own team has barely been able to get a single chance in. A nice tackle by Mars wins your team the ball, but with the entire Franklin team pressed so high against you, she has **** but to play the ball back, causing their entire team to push up further, **** out any hope of a forward attack. They win the ball back soon after that. With some clever footwork, Javier manages to steal the ball, but when he sends it up the pitch towards Jack, your fellow freshman’s caught offside, the last defender gone far enough up to almost keep your team entirely hemmed into your half. The only hope, you feel, is that center back who always takes an extra second to look before passing the ball on. That second could be crucial. But it’s a second well spent, because he always places the ball right where it needs to go.

Another ten minutes gone by, and it’s beginning to feel like a strangulation. They haven’t converted any of their shots into goals yet, but it feels like it’s only a matter of time. Although your team is playing compact, and you’ve shut down any play down your right wing, the other team is eventually bound to break your defense down.

The mistake happens in the waning minutes of the first half. With an overloaded number of bodies in the box, one of their strikers gets a shot off. It deflects off Valentine’s shin, sending the ball spinning up at an awkward angle. Somehow, Keegan manages to get a hand to it and saves the ball, but then one of the Franklin midfielders comes soaring in, heading the ball into goal.

Demotivated by the goal and the constant pressure, it’s almost a miracle that you hold out for the last few minutes of the half without conceding another.

It’s 1-0 down at the whistle. Time to make the best of this half-time.