The final match was held on the upper field that provided
spectacular views of the mountains and William Wallace Memorial. Once again we
were blessed with lots of sunshine and warm weather, unusual for summer in
Scotland. The Rangers coasted into the final by obliterating three of their
opponents and expected an easy match against Fusion so when John scored twice early in the
first half they were reeling.
Eric threw in the ball and John passed it to Jack who chipped it over a defender back to John for a tap-in inside the six. The second goal
came when Alex fed the ball to Sam who passed it through traffic to John who
was waiting to the right of the goal and put it in. Sam scored his second goal
of the tournament when he curled in off the wing to receive a pass from Alex
and struck it low. Jubilant, he threw himself on the ground with a celebratory airplane.
Up 3-0 at the half, tour manager Gerry Gilroy gave the team a pep talk. He told
the boys that, if they went out and scored quickly, they would silence the
Rangers parents and win the game. That’s precisely what they did.
Throughout the tournament Jack had several shots on goal and finally hit pay dirt against the Rangers. John ran toward the box from the right corner and crossed it
to Jack, who was charging down the middle, and found the corner just beyond
the keeper’s reach. Not long after Jack tapped in another. Alex had the assist.
Jherson received the only card of the tournament. Rangers
players, frustrated that they couldn’t out run him or strip the ball from him,
tried to take him out from behind and would dive to get a whistle. The third
time this happened, Jherson got a yellow. After the game, some Rangers refused
to shake hands and told Jherson he shouldn’t have been on the field (i.e., should
have been red carded). Unperturbed, Jherson said, “I have haters and I have
followers. I don’t care about (the haters).” Julie has a great photo of Jherson
in air, going for the ball, looking as if he's about to crush a Ranger underneath him.
The sidelines were more crowded than they were in previous matches.
Coach Matt’s parents returned and were treated to a better performance than the draw
with Shetland. Stuart’s extended family came to show its support and his uncle coached feverishly from the sidelines. Several
boys from East Kilbride, who lost 8-1 to the Rangers earlier that morning,
cheered the Fusion on and liberally berated the ref for making bad calls.
John clinched his second tournament hat trick on a pass from
Alex, juking out the keeper in a one on one. The Rangers scored a consolation
goal late in the second half with a nice shot just outside the eighteen.
Immediately after the game Fusion celebrated with their
buddies, Shetland, who beat Riverside 4-1 for the Plate. The celebration
continued at the Farewell Disco where the multi-talented
Fusion players busted moves and sang karaoke late into the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment