More on the DOGSO

After bouncing this off with a friend, here is my problem with DOGSO in CYSA (Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity). The player gets a minimum of 2 games suspension for a foul and misconduct that doesn't phyiscally hurt the player (trip, push, hold), but if you commit serious foul play, where you can really hurt someone, the minimum suspension is 1 game. Tell me that isn't messed up?

Day of blowouts

Last saturday was a busy day for me in soccer. First I had a double-header with my U10 girls team. Who decided to give us two games in one weekend was really heavy on the vino. Our first game we actually had a good first half. We were standing them up pretty well. We should have since we beat them in the last game. Somehow we fell apart in the 2nd half and we just got scored on . Our defense was really terrible. Mid-fielders couldn't get back to save our lives. Our GK was a mess. Make matters worse, and I don't blame them for our loss, but the refereeing was terrible. I had a center who couldn't blow his whistle and a real lazy AR who was way off the second to the last defender. I let Greg have a chat with them.

I put a new keeper in on the second game which was the original plan. However, again we had a good first half, even as we only let one goal in. Again our defense was flat. We got scored on again in the second half, but one of those there was nothing the keeper could have done about it. The others again I blame our defense. The refereeing was much better the second time around.

Then came my center. U17 boys. Spartans vs. B Oaks. I have to say the Spartans don't belong in this division. They were out played and out classed. I had to pull a red card on a Spartan player for a DOGSO. You know the worse part about that red? It was as they were losing 7-0. I could have turned a blind eye some may say, but the laws do not dictate you can ignore the 4 D's if the one committing it is on the losing side, none the last getting their asses handed to them. I felt bad but I had to do it. What's even worse is I have to supporting documents that say this DOGSO is a 2 game minimum suspension.

Blue Devils won their first game

My team won their first game. Some people are still talking about the late heroic goal that won the game, but had I not spoke up, we would have never had that goal. So let's talk about what happened.

Before the game: Greg (the other coach) and I hashed the game. Being that we're U10 house we play with 8 players on the field instead of 11. This left us with a formation of 3-2-2 which is what I had in mind because I wanted a solid back. Greg wanted a 2-2-3 because he wanted a strong attack and he noticed that those who played it did well for scoring. So I made a deal with him. We used one of our girls as an anchor player and observed the formation of the other team. If they played a 3-2-2, then we were going to play a 2-2-3. Which is exactly what happened.

During the game: With the exception of one player who suddenly developed stage fright at the beginning, we played very well together. We got a first goal from that one anchor player we pulled from the back to the forward. We held on that lead until 20 minutes we're up and the referee blew the whistle for halftime....while we were goal bound.

I did tell myself that I was not going to play the "I'm a referee" card and for the most part I didn't have to. The referee crew knew who I was and I can tell they were intimidated. I kept my mouth shut to them until this point. I calmly walked over to the crew and I asked, "Ref, how long are the halves?"
Ref: "She said 20 minutes."
Me: "Who said?"
Ref: "She said."
Me: "Who's she? Oh, you mean ____?"
Ref: "Yeah."
I turned to walk while I pondered my options and what I had to do to right things didn't sit well, but I had my team to think about so I went back and said, "You have two options here. You can pull the team out and play the remaining 5 minutes and then play the second half 25 minutes or you can start the second half and you are now obligated to play 20 because the laws of the game mandate equal halves. But if we lose as a result of the latter decision we're going to be playing under protest. You're choice."
I turned to walk away and she said, "We..We'll play the remaining 5 minutes." Good decision!
Of course she restarted incorrectly with a kick off for us which would have been protestable itself, but I kept my mouth shut. Should have been a dropped ball.

So as a result of the decision we had a tying goal in the 20 minute from the other team. Our anchor gal came back at the final minute to give us the game winning goal. The referee went home and probably said, "Whew!"

Under Scrutiny

I had a really good U17 boys match. Chris H. and Kevin T were my ARs. I have to say though I expected more out of my AR1 being that he was a grade 7 and an instructor. He really didn't help out in the subs so I had to do most myself.

During my pre-game I told my ARs that Dublin and Livermore, regardless what teams they are or age groups have a history of getting physical. So we were going to make our presence known. I would say 3 hard fouls and a yellow card in the 4th minute of the game, we put things under control where they played soccer and I didn't have to do much. It really got chippy at the last quarter of the match. I had to caution a player who took a dive. He even tried to make it convincing by confronting the player who "tripped" him and I gave him a card for his trouble. No send offs. Two yellows a piece.
On thing I don't miss from G*S*S*L is the paperwork. Name one other league professional or otherwise that has so much paperwork.

Oh the meaning of my title. Well let me put it this way. The two coaches for Dublin. My former students. Half of the team on Dublin. Former students. Several people watching from the sidelines what were parents, the BOD, or otherwise. Former students.

A little pressure to show them I practice what I preach.