Friday, April 22, 2011:
FED's all Burmese U-14 boys team beat the all Thai AIG U-14s 1-1. Victory was not achieved in overtime or by PKs. Rather, at games end two slips of paper were placed in a container. I am told one slip informed the lucky recipient "you win". You can guess what was written on the other slip of paper. Our coach, Myat Thu, pulled correctly and FED lives to fight another day.
The game was great. Unlike what we are used to with parents pulling up and dropping their kids off or driving hundreds of miles to a game far away, Myat Thu drove a FED truck deep into off road territories on rubber plantations at which point one player would jump off the truck, run out of sight and return minutes later with another player. On the way to the game we stopped for Ice, to pick up balls and, as noted, stock the truck with our players.
We arrived at Ban Nem Khem about 35 minutes from FED headquarters about 90 minutes after we started on our way. When we arrived around 2:30 our seven players took the field to practice for a 3:00 game. The other team was nowhere in sight. The vendors were selling sweet corn and soft drinks. Music blared over a PA system. Our spectator chairs were placed under tarps to keep off rain should it come as threatened and to keep us out of the 250 degree heat.
As I watched our players practice I was drawn to a tall thin boy whose hair dye job was pronounced (almost all the kids had dyed their hair for the team.) He was left footed and when he struck the ball it didn't merely move, it jumped and curled and laughed at the goalkeeper. The other kids were also skilled and all but one significantly shorter than our number 9.
It was good that we arrived with 7 players because that is how many play at one time in each of the 15 minute halves. The other team made its presence known shortly after the game was due to start. There was no yelling or threats of forfeit. We simply started when they arrived. There was one problem however. Our number 9, lefty with the most excellent foot, looked to be to old to the discerning eye of the other team. Since he is Burmese and lacking in the demanded identification he was not allowed to play (unless he was willing to serve in goal which he could not do because of a mending arm). Might I say that he was not as tall or stocky as the other team's goal keeper. Our player was clearly upset, but as I learned, this was not the first time an opponent had made him sit on that premise.
With one player on the sideline we were down 7 players to six. Our ever resourceful coach, Myat Thu, spotted a short thin exuberant young Burmese boy and conscripted him into the service of FED. He played like a lion while looking like a newborn rabbit. He was short on skill but long on enthusiasm.
The entire game, every moment, was announced by a play- by -play broadcaster. "Mai Dai"--that didn't succeed, "Mai Pan" -the pass did not work and so on. Thai AIG was skilled. They passed and moved the ball. We were more aggressive. At the end of the first half, it was AIG 1 FED 0. The second half went back and forth when our player, the young man who played goalie in the first half but moved to the field when one of our players hurt his ankle and moved to goal, dribbled past the AIG defender and put it in the net with less than a minute to play. The game was tied at the end of regulation when coach Myat Thu pulled the winning ticket and FED moves on to play next Wednesday. Stay tuned.
Perhaps FED would have lost had the best player been allowed to play. It has been suggested however that this result is Karma.
I don’t carry a camera but pictures taken by others may post later.
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