Three Kids and a Dog: Kansas City Soccer

Last weekend, we ventured to Kansas City to watch Austen play soccer for the first time in months. We haven't been allowed to watch many of his games for almost a year now given the pandemic. We've been relegated to our cars to watch and then trying to view some games from a video live stream so this was a treat to be able to watch him play three whole games in 36 hours!

First, Kansas City is not close. It's a good 7.5 hour drive. The kids didn't have school on Friday so we made a road trip out of it. My car is officially totaled (go figure) so we had a nice big rental (GMC Yukon) for the ride. Austen monopolized the whole back row - typical oldest child - but they all enjoyed the space. except for me. That car is huge and I don't think I'll be getting one of those as my new car! (We have an order in for a new one and hopefully it will be here in a week or two. No investigation into what caused the fire in my car. I guess they don't do that unless they've had similar cars catch on fire or the car was serviced within the last two weeks). Anyway, we arrived Friday early evening. Had dinner went to bed and watched the boys play two games on Saturday.

Austen with the ball

They split the games and really should have won both. All the players got playing time for development purposes. (The coach is very up front during most game play that some players will not play at all but this tournament was for fun, bonding and experimentation.) Austen even played a different position in these games as the coach mixed up the formations and the line up. He played a more offensive role than he did in the fall and looked more like the player I know. He contributed right away in the first game, first half with a powerful, one touch shot from a cross. He also had a breakaway but it hit the post instead of going in the net. Second game, they won. He didn't score but he had several key passes that his teammates should have put in the back of the net.

Sunday was their toughest game. None of the parents wanted to win as the championship game was at 4:30pm having most of us arriving home at 2am. If they won this game, we would have to stay and play. It was a very physical and tough team but the boys held their own. Down 1-0 and it's almost halftime, Austen steals the ball at midfield and breaks through a couple of defenders dishing it off to his right and running to the center of the goal to tap in the beautiful cross from his teammate. He had a few other chances as well including a power shot at point blank range that stunned the goalie but no one was there to tap it in. Another beautiful fake and cross on a short corner across the goal but again no one touches it to go in. Lots of chances to win but the parents were all happy it ended 2-1 so we could leave earlier. We were also happy that the boys looked good despite the losses. Sometimes the score doesn't tell the whole story but to win they do need to convert when they have opportunities. Still I'm happy they found some offense already this season. It was painful to watch them try to generate offense last season and after 4 games score only 1 goal. At least we have 3 goals in 3 games so far. A better percentage! Off to NC this week for league play. Austen's new team is going to keep us busy but his soccer is definitely getting better and he's growing stronger.