Tuesday, September 2, 2008
TORONTO - What went wrong?
That's the question Pistolas FC and their legions of online and stadium fans are left to ask themselves over the next 8 months.
The team dubbed "built for the playoffs" had enjoyed an outstanding run during the season, and were on track to cruise through the 1st round of the playoffs and then battle it out against the other top tier teams in the league. But the loss on Sunday to 10th ranked Silver has definitely shattered a season of hopes and dreams and left an angered squad searching for reasons for the collapse.
There are many possible reasons that could have contributed to the collapse. The weeks leading up to the playoffs had a number of games in a short span of nights to makeup rained out games, and as that built up so did the tired effect causing strain and injury to some players.
"Personally, looking back, I don't think I should've played in the final three regular season games against Silver, Inter Selects and the Titans," said Team Owner-Player Mark R, "I was in the middle of physio for my hamstring and pulled it in the game against the Titans. But we were short on subs, and I just love the game, so I always showed up. It was costly in the end as I was too tight to run and was ineffective for most of the game, sitting out the majority of the second half."
Ivano and Jay Shumski also battled injuries from too many games in too little time too close to the playoffs. Jay got hurt in the final regular season game, a game in hindsight he probably should have skipped in favour of the playoffs. His speed on defence was lacking big time.
Ivano's shin splints also started within that stretch of close games and grew progressively worse. He was hurting in the final regular season game as well, finding it difficult to run period.
Could his healthy presence made a difference? Most definitely.
All of these points ultimately reflect on two key components; scheduling and team committment.
The injuries to Ivano, Shumski, Mark R, Mark C, Gus, and others, along with the late arrival of Rocco and Luch in the Round 1 playoff game was due in part to horrible scheduling. The games were scheduled too close together, not allowing muscles to heal and repair with eventually caused undue strain, tear and deep bruising. But its something that also ties into general team committment shown by some more than others that made some carry a burden of too many games and minutes.
During plenty of games, there were close calls to playing short, or playing a few games with only one or two subs. In these games the legs wore down of the aging statesmen that carried the torch all season.
One thing's for sure, amongst the strides the club has made this season, there is plenty of improvements to be made, committment being a huge factor in roster spots.
And so begins the offseason, as Pistolas FC look to retool the roster and head to the transfer market for committed, skilled, quick, fit players. Next year's roster promises to be even better than this year as the club dedicated to once again capturing the championship.
