When Games Matter: "The Equalizer"

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.