It was a cold and windy winter's day with the occasional bursts of wet snow filling the air. Only a true optimist and the heartless byrocrats of the football association would call a day like this "spring". None the less, seven brave men were heading for the warmth and comfort of Tali football hall, only to be turned away at the door, forced to change to shorts in an unheated shack, and play outdoors on a hard and bouncy sand pitch. The true nature of SpringCup had just been revealed.
We faced a team of younger and faster blokes, calling themselves Sammuneet Tähdet (The Faded Stars). But despite their bigger numbers, and the somewhat random and quick alternations of the game, victory was within reach from the first blow of the whistle.
Five minutes into the game Teemu had already struck twice and we were heading for an easy win. Up front Teemu was being served with good passes from Tommi in the middle, while Peter was charging on the left. Mikko K, Jari I and Lasu formed an unbreakable block in defence. And in goal Mikko H grabbed every shot that got that far. Until something shifted the balance and our opponents were able to level the game. Suddenly the scoreboard said 2-2 with just a minute left of the first half.
The ball was bouncing alarmingly close to our goal. Somebody lifted it, but the cross was too long and sailed away to safety. But then a hand, attached to Mikko K:s body, was streched into the air and made contact with the ball. The referee blew his whistle and a wall was built, but the free kick went in. From 2-0 to 2-3 in just 20 minutes. After the break the Nerds decided to help the other team further, and with five minutes played, the Fading Stars were shining still more brightly, going to a 2-4 lead.
But we still had Teemu. Teemu who flew past the defenders and completed his hat trick with his 3-4 goal. Teemu, who one minute later was brought down inside the box, resulting in a penalty that Tommi reliably placed behind the keeper. Teemu who got hold of Mikko K:s pass from the left and forcefully worked it into the back of the net, using his whole body, raising our team from defeat to glory. Not a beautiful win, but an important one. 5-4 and all looked well.
For our next game the sky had cleared and the birds were welcoming the new season of the year. Maybe it was spring itself, maybe it was the hormones, anyway the word of the day was confusion. Confusion from the very start of the day, with a sudden change of pitch. Confusion about who would play, what position to play, how to play, what lines to trust on that confusingly hard artificial grass, filled with too many lines of different colours. Even confusion when trying to score: on the other end three goals were standing beside each other, which was the one that counted?
We were facing IFK Honey Bunnies and they surely knew how to jump away and around our sphere of confusion. Bunnies usally come in big numbers and so did they, with eager substitutes in the many. As a novelty from the first game we also had 3 subs, but this only added to the disorder. There was a moment when Teemu decided to play in the defence, although he is our sharpest striker. Our goal keeper was changed in half time, from Mikko H to Jari I, but that didn't help either.
The closest to victory we got was when Teemu levelled the game to 1-1 after 14 minutes played. But on the whole the opportunity slipped through our hands and our fightback was never strong or quick enough. The end result 3-5 leaves no place for speculation.
But there were good moments too. The Nerds took excellent advantage of every special situation. All goals were the result of smartly played free kicks. Kai took the kicks in great style, passing the ball to the side, which either lead to another nice pass and a goal (14 minutes 1-1 Kai-Lasu-Teemu-GOAL) or a direct kick into the net (26 mins 2-3 Kai-Tommi-GOAL) and (37 mins 3-4 Kai-Peter-GOAL). Kai also tried a hard and well placed direct shot once, but the keeper got his hand on the ball.
All in all, we lost to a better team. Our players were Mikko H, Tommi, Peter, Kai, Jari I, Teemu, Lasu, Mikko K, Bijay and Rajesh. We came second in our group. The winner IFK Honey Bunnies lost their first game in the final cup (3-5 vs Torpedo).
Magnus (who couldn't play because of Flunssah)
