Last night I did a U15 Girls State Cup match and it was one of the craziest matches I’ve done in a while. In the first half, the white team whined and complained every time one of them was even remotely touched, much less hit the ground. During this time, the red team pretty much dominated play. In the 19th minute, a white player was on the ball in the attacking end near corner flag. She was legally dispossessed of the ball and as the ball was played up-field, the white attacker raised her arm and used the point of her elbow against the side of the red player’s head. I was surprised how easy the decision was to show her the red card and send her off for violent conduct. The half ended with the score 1-0 in favor of red. I mentioned the whining of the white team to my ARs and wondered what these ladies would do against a more advanced and physical team.
In the second half, the white team stopped whining about the physical play and just settled down and played. The were rewarded with a tying goal - meaning we’d play two 15-minute extra periods. In the first extra period, white scored first. But late in the period, I felt the white goalkeeper took a bit too much time retrieving the ball and getting it back in play, so I added an extra 45 seconds or so for that (in addition to time already added). Of course, red scored the tying goal in this added time. The second extra session was relatively uneventful, except for white netting their 3rd - and game-winning - goal. I found it pretty amazing that white won the match despite being clearly outplayed in the first half and playing a man down for the last 92 minutes of the match.
But it was definitely more interesting and challenging than any match I’ve had in a long long time.