When Games Matter is a weekly exploration by Drew Dixon of meaningful moments in games. Operating under the assumption that games do in fact matter, Drew seeks to highlight those moments that have much to say to say about who we are and the world we live in.
I coach a boys club soccer team–in fact one of the very best teams in the state of Alabama. Last weekend my boys team represented the state of Alabama in the Region III Presidents Cup–a tournament in which all the Division 2 State Champions from the Southeast play against each other. My boys team won the right to represent our state by winning the Alabama State Cup in dramatic fashion last year when my keeper saved the final shot in a Penalty kick shootout in the final game of the tournament.
When we began the tournament we knew we had our work cut out for us when we drew games against, Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma (Florida and Georgia being very good soccer states). Our openning match was against Miami Beach Soccer–a team made up of Brazilians, Cubans, and Columbians all with immaculate touch on the ball and the speed to match.
When the Miami players took the field, you could sense their confidence–they were here to win and no team from the middle-of-nowhere Alabama was going to stop them. However, from the kick off, it was a very back-and-forth game. Miami controlled the majority of the possession–but my boys were able to produce several deadly counter attacks. We managed to pass the ball around Miami’s defenders pretty well–in fact we were able to find through-balls to our forwards on several occassions that produced good chances on goal. When Miami had the ball they looked to switch the field quickly and when they did they would often switch it right back which made it very difficult for my defenders to recover and defend back-side runs on goal. While we managed to contain these attacks in the first half, early in the second half one such play produced a 1-0 lead for Miami when my boys failed to pick up a back-side runner.
What Miami probably didn’t expect was the way in which a group of boys from the back-woods of Alabama would respond to a 1-0 deficit. The next 30 minutes belonged to Fusion F.C. and just a few minutes after going down–a quick counter attack that involved precision passing at midfield and a well-timed through-ball to the wing produced one of the most beautiful goals I have ever witnessed as a soccer coach as my winger struck the ball first-time from about 30 yards out. The Miami keeper could only look on as the ball curled into the net on the far post.
In soccer we call this type of goal “the equalizer.” Its the moment when a team that is down collectively proves they are equal to the task of coming back from behind. Unlike many other sports, goals are special moments for soccer teams. This was a special moment for my boys–they embraced and congratulated each other because in that moment we had proved ourselves equal to a very good team from a city 15 times the size of our own.
We finished group play with two ties and a win–tying Miami to win our group–the tie-breaker went to a penalty kick shootout which we lost after 10 kicks. Miami would go on to win the tournament. I can’t help to think that it could have been us–we could have been regional champs playing in the national tournament in Phoenix. It wasn’t to be, but we won’t soon forget the equalizer and the determination with which we played to get it.
Drew Dixon is a co-editor of CaPC, a husband, pastor, soccer coach, reader, movie buff, and gamer. Drew has a BA in Speech Communication from West Texas A&M University and a MDIV in Christian Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Drew is interested in all facets of pop culture but writes most often about videogames and music. He also writes on videogames for Relevant Magazine. Look him up on Twitter at drewdixon82. Email: dixon.drew [at] gmail [dot] com Steam: Drizzoo703 XBL: Drizzoo82 
Thanks for the kind words coach! I’m the director of the Miami Beach Soccer club and found that of all the teams in the U15 boys group, yours had the most polite, well mannered group of boys, that actually congratulated us after our penalty shootout victory over your team … Your team was a delightful breath of fresh air, considering the North Carolina team that actually yelled out racial slurs at us after we beat them, or the south texas team that attacked my team and threw punches at us when we won the final…Bravo on a wonderful season- you are doing a fine job of molding those boys into great young men! One small correction, our team comes from miami beach, a city separate from Miami, made up of approximately 80,000 residents on our island off of Miami, so we’re from a tiny city too!!! I have several good pictures of the game to share if you’d like!
@Edith–thanks for your kind words as well–we have worked hard to instill some character in our boys beyond just winning soccer matches so its really encouraging to hear a report from an other team that some of that is paying off!
We really enjoyed playing against you guys as well–it was definitely the cleanest and most competitive match we had (we tied to GA of course but I think that is because we were physically spent after playing you guys). It seems as boys get older the game gets more and more physical which takes a bit of the beauty out of the game in my opinion but I thought you guys really played the game the way that its intended–I was really impressed.
I watched and cheered for you guys against NC–they were certainly a rough bunch–but I really thought you guys deserved the win. Congrats again!
We put this team together 2 years ago and I am really proud of the way we have grown as a team–I am really blessed to get to coach these guys.
My apologies about misunderstanding the location/size of your city. And congrats on a fantastic season for you guys as well. Are you going to be playing in the national tournament? I would love to hear how you do there.
Glad to hear you were cheering us on in the semifinal vs. North Carolina! We needed all the help we could get in the form of positive cheering from the sidelines, since so many of the fans were pro-NC and yelling all kids of atrocities at my boys… but we prevailed! I find that instilling good sportsmanship and quality character in these boys is the most dificult undertaking- it takes involvement from the parents, friends, and pretty much anyone that comes into contact with the kids to make it work… If you dont have a good support system, then it won’t work, and it seemed to me that your team had that in SPADES! And so do my boys! I couldnt have asked for a better group of boys or parents!
We will be traveling to Des Moines, IA for the National President’s Cup on July 6th- and will be playing teams from California (last years U14 runner up actually), New Jersey, and Kansas… should be very competitive and we hope to do well…
As far as my teams background, the majority of the boys are Brazilian, Colombian, Argentinian, and Cuban, with a Uruguayan and a British kid mixed in, so we are definitely an eclectic modge-podge of nationalities! The team has been together since the boys were U10/U11, so we have many many years of experience playing together, and I think it shows when we compete- they know each other so well, eveything is just second nature! For a team that has only been together for 2 years, your boys sure play well together- you should expect even greater things out of them for next season!
I will definitely keep you updated on how we do in the tournament- I would also like to share pictures of our match with you- you can email me at eguerra AT miamibeachfl.gov (don’t want to get attacked with SPAM mail!). If your team is ever traveling to Florida, let me know! Good luck with the next season and thanks once again for such a positive soccer experience in Alabama!