from a page in a worn out notebook packed tightly in J.J. Erickson’s suitcase
Notes to self:
- Never let Oren take a penalty. The ushers are still mad at us.
- Lilly is still the only player on the team who knows where she is on the pitch at all times. Address this asap.
- Make sure Vince doesn’t kill anyone while he’s on the pitch. Remind him that if he falls try to fall into the opposition. Related: monitor Hikari’s ankle to make sure it’s okay.
Okay, well, today wasn’t the best day at practice.
Now I’m not saying that these kids are clueless, because some of them genuinely have a good idea about what they are doing, but considering our international reputation is at stake, and considering that these players have supposedly been trained with much higher levels of competition than I ever was, this is disgusting and pathetic McRibs is absolutely horrendous out there. Between him and Vin, well, we are going to butcher some knees out there. This is not the type of defense that is going to scare people.
And I have to say, it is a little strange to be here with them. I can hear them now, we’ve basically taken over this floor of the hotel, and the walls are not that thick. Thankfully I don’t think we’ve gotten to the point where the lack of privacy is going to be an issue, but it’s still incredibly apparent that I’m over a decade older than most of them. And yet, I’m not quite old enough to carry that clout of authority that they’re used to. Especially since I’ve never even been to Starblaydia before this week, and we there are three players who managed to make it to third place four years ago. Not to mention that Lilly is living abroad now. I’m thankful to have her on the team, of course, but it’s a bit difficult to keep authority. I think I’m going to have to find a place to go out at night, though, to establish a bit of separation from the rest of the team. Of course, then the deal of managing their curfews by myself comes up…
I still cannot fathom why our country is so fucked up as to not have a single assistant here with me. It’s going to be embarrassing going to play the match needing to have one of these kids stand next to me holding my scouting reports and shit while they’re also supposedly one of my reserves. I think I’ll have Fass get on it, he seems like a reasonable guy. And not really talented enough to get on the pitch unless there’s some emergency.
At least we’ll be in Jhanna for the entire group stage. Although our group easily looks like the group of death to me. I mean, in terms of world rankings, the lowest ranked team is Ko-oren, who are 59th? What the hell is that! And then the other three teams are all teams that qualified for the World Cup?! This is a ridiculous task. Not to mention, after our first match against Licentiapacisterra, we have to play against robots. How the hell am I supposed to scout against a team that was built, who have never been exposed to any international football before? They might have lasers! How do you defend against lasers?! Or… chain saws? I don’t even know. At least they’ll have to have played a match before we see them. But again, I don’t even have anyone here who will help me break down game tape to prepare for the team. And I don’t even have anyone to talk these things over with. And I see these teams here with their instantaneous communication with their home nations. Saying how it’s ridiculous that we still communicate by “snail-mail.” As if it’s my choice that Kiryu-shi doesn’t have the infrastructure to have internet everywhere. Not to mention freaking robots.
Oh well. At least, you know, this team seems to be getting along well. Which is something. It could be a lot worse to try to be dealing with training, match preparation, and handling a bunch of angry youth. And at least there is no one on the team who is a Quee sympathizer. That is not something I’m looking forward to when I return to committee life after the end of the tournament… Ah well.
Okay, and for tomorrow, I need to try and reenforce two things:
- Try and get the players to understand that as much as we like to attack down the right side with Lilly as the playmaker from behind, we have enough talent in the midfield and forwards to be able to use Lilly as a decoy, the threat of a threat, and have a relatively multi-faceted attack. It’s true we shouldn’t really plan on attacking down the left side, but we can’t just keep on feeding it out to the right wing either. Too predictable.
- Let Megumi relax and ease into the match. If she doesn’t have too much responsibility, all the better. I have to make sure the defenders aren’t looking for her to command the formation, and make sure that they aren’t expecting her to be very vocal. They need to communicate between themselves completely seamlessly, I don’t want her to take on too much in this tournament. And that goes for the rest of the team, too.
And, well. The day after that we’ll be at the home of Jhanna City.
Good thing this mini-fridge is fully stocked.
- 
Coach Lyndi is a real sweetheart with a quick mind. She was a keeper like me and we talked a lot about reading the pitch. I think we both got crazy at the same time when Caroline Cowboy stripped that ball in about the 10th minute and went looking for a place to cross it to. She found Giulietta lounging up front as though nothing was happening. Onside, sure, but way too loosely marked. Bang bang 1-0.
