July 31th, Day 7
So this is it, the day we've been waiting for, the day we've come all the way here for. The finals. Full time, 2 x 45 miuntes game at Valby Stadium in Copenhagen. Denmark in their black jerseys and black shorts, Stonewall in white-blue-white. We played them before, we beat them before, we know what to expect. We just need to beat them again. Both teams and the IGLFA referees line up on the field, national anthems are played, first American, then Danish. Hand shakes and we're ready to play.
Stonewall started with Nader Mohamed (goalkeeper), Steve Nick (right defense), Evan Luckey (sweeper), Brant Chase (stopper), Alex Martinez (left defense), Aaron Kirschenmann (right midfield), Jared Auckland (center midfield, Szymek Zaleski (center midfield), Tom Abrams (left midfield), Mat Hyldahl (forward) and Jamie Johnstone (forward). From the very first whistle of British referee, Stonewall rushed towards the opponent's goal, but their goalkeeper was the strongest asset of Danish team. Only thanks to his incredible skills Denmark wasn't losing in 3th minute after Jared's cross to Mat, who immediately sent the ball next to the far post. Two minutes later Jamie Johnstone could have given Stonewall the lead after very accurate pass from Tom Abrams, but again the goalkeeper managed to push the ball outside for the corner kick. In 9th minute Jamie sped down the right side of the box, dropped the ball back to Szymek, who put it over to Tom, but the ball missed the upper left corner of Danish goal by inches. After 20 minutes the game became more even and Denmark started attacking more bravely. But it was Stonewall, who finally scored. In 23rd minute, after one of the corner kicks Jamie's shots were blocked twice. The deflected ball went back to 20 yards line, where Jared Auckland was waiting. He took a swing and sent the ball in. Bouncing on the field, the ball passed by the desperately intervening goalkeeper and rolled into the goal. 1-0 Stonewall!
Denmark tried to get on the score board, but our defense was playing amazing game. Enough to say, they had only one shot on our goal in the whole first half. Stonewall played smart, controlling the midfield, shutting down Danish offense and looking for opportunities to score more goals. But the score hasn't change and by the half-time it was Stonewall who was closer to winning the gold medals.
During the half-time we discussed the first 45 miuntes. Jared, as always, presented the strategy for the second half. We knew that the first 10 minutes of the second half were our weak point in previous games and we knew we had to be very careful, because in the game like that even one mistake could be turn out very costly. We watched Denmark beating Czech Republic in shootouts and we knew we had to do everything to avoid those in our game. But despite the knowledge, in 6th minute of the 2nd half, it should have been 1-1. Denmark attacked on their right wing, crossed the ball into the box and one of the forwards, left unmarked, took a shot on goal. The ball bounced of the far post back to the box to the same player. Nader dove to block the repeat but only managed to slow it down. The ball was still heading towards the net when Tom Abrams sent it out, far away from our goal. Danes hid their faces in their hands in despair, while Stonewall sighed in a deep relief...
It was 23rd minute again, when Stonewall increased their lead. The situation was almost a copy of the first goal. Sam Ajmi sent the ball into the box from the corner kick. Szymek Zaleski's header and was blocked, but the ball went back outside the box, right to Jared Auckland. He took a first touch shot on goal. The ball deflected of a heel of one of defenders found its way to the net right by the far post. Completely feinted goalkeeper had no chance to save it. Having two goals lead, Stonewall backed off a bit and improved their defense, still looking for opportunities in long passes over the line of defense, hoping for Jamie's and Mat's speed. Jamie was very close to score when he found himself in one-on-one situation after one of Brant Chase's passes, but somehow the goalie managed to save his shot. The clock was ticking and Danes couldn't find a way to score even one goal. Finally, after almost 5 minutes of extra time, the British referee gave the final whistle and Stonewall players raised their arms in victory. Stonewall FC are World OutGames 2009 Champions!
July 30th, Day 6
Play-offs are the most difficult part of each tournament, because you cannot afford having a bad game. Each game is a finals, each game is equally important, each game has to end up with a victory, to achieve the highest trophy - the gold medal. Stonewall didn't need to be reminded about that, when all players stepped on the field #1 at Valby Park for a pre-game warmup. Even heavy rain and storm wouldn't stop the practice. By the time the game started, clouds cleared up and the sun came out.
Stonewall started strong and it didn't take long to score the first goal. Steve Nick sent a long cross from the right side of our own half and never-failing Jamie Johnstone cheated Islandic defenders and the goalkeeper and the ball rolled into the net by the far post, guarded by Tom Abrams, just in case. Few minutes later it was 2-0. Jared Auckland crossed the ball into the box from a corner kick, and although Jamie's shot was blocked, Aaron Kirschenmann's already found its way to the net.
Stonewall kept their dominance during the second half as well. First Jamie finished another perfect pass from Jared Auckland and then Samm Ajmi used the strong wind and "cuuuuuuuurled" the ball in directly from the corner kick. A minute before the end of the game, Iceland's forwards took advantage of a little miscommunication between Stonewall defenders and placed the ball in the net from the close distance. Even Stonewall's fantastic goalkeeper Nader Mohamed couldn't do anything about it. 4-1 final score and Stonewall will play Sweden in semifinals.
The other quarterfinals:
Denmark defeated Czech Republic on penalty kicks (regular time 2-2)
Sweden beat Italy I 1-0.
Italy II bested Mexico 1-0.
The game against Sweden started at 4:00PM Copenhagen time. It reminded very much the group game against Denmark. Stonewall had at least three opportunities that should have been turned into goals... but it just wouldn't go in... Finally, who else... Jared passed to Jamie and Stonewall's best scorer added another goal to his collection. The result hasn't changed till the half-time. And again, just like in the game against Denmark, the beginning of the second half was in favor of the opponent. Except Sweden managed to capitalize on their advantage and scored a tying goal. The game became very nervous and very physical. Referees unfortunately allowed quite brutal game. Both teams had their chances to score another goal, but defensive formations on both teams were really tight. Finally with only three minutes to the end of the game Jamie Johnstone gave Stonewall another lead. Somehow he managed to win back a lost ball and get through three defenders to face only the goalkeeper and put the ball in the net. The entire team raised their arms in joy. In the last minute Jared received a pass from Brant Chase, pulled up a bit and fired up a shot that found its way to the goal right by the far post. 3-1 and Stonewall could celebrate the victory. Tomorrow, in the final game of the tournament Stonewall will face Denmark, who beat Italy II 1-0.
July 29th, Day 5
Wednesday was a day off for the soccer players and even though one day of rest is not much, everyone was grateful for that.
A little bit of statistics.
| Team | Games | Pts | Goals | | Team | Games | Pts | Goals |
| 1. USA | 3 | 9 | 8-1 | | 1. Italy II | 4 | 10 | 8-3 |
| 2. Denmark | 3 | 6 | 4-2 | | 2. Sweden | 4 | 9 | 8-2 |
| 3. Italy I | 3 | 3 | 8-6 | | 3. Czech Rep. | 4 | 6 | 11-8 |
| 4. Mexico | 3 | 0 | 3-14 | | 4. Iceland | 4 | 4 | 6-7 |
| | | | | 5. Belgium | 4 | 0 | 2-14 |
Quarterfinals and semifinals:
| A | 1:00 PM | USA | - | Iceland |
| B | 1:00 PM | Denmark | - | Czech Rep. |
| C | 1:00 PM | Italy I | - | Sweden |
| D | 1:00 PM | Italy II | - | 4 M1 vs. 5 M2 |
| AA | 4:00 PM | winner of A | - | winner of C |
| BB | 4:00 PM | winner of B | - | winner of D |
Goals and assists:
| Jamie Johnstone | 5 goals + 1 assist |
| Aaron Kirschenmann | 1 goal + 0 assists |
| Mat Hyldahl | 1 goal + 0 assists |
| Sam Ajmi | 1 goals + 0 assist |
| Jared Auckland | 0 goals + 4 assists |
| Szymek Zaleski | 0 goals + 2 assists |
| Tom Abrams | 0 goals + 1 assist |
The entire defense and our goalkeeper are amazing.
The only goal lost was a penalty kick.
Tom Abrams scored a fair goal that was called a foul against Denmark.
July 28th, Day 4
Stonewall FC beats Denmark 1-0 to win the group.
As Denmark also won both of their Monday games, the winner of today's match was taking #1 spot in Thursday's quarterfinals. Stonewall started strong and should have scored on one of three perfect opportunities within first five minutes of the game, but every time Danish goalkeeper was able to save the shots. After few more minutes Danes shook it off and the game became more balanced. In 12th minute Tom Abrams jumped to the ball crossed by Jared Auckland from the corner kick and put it in the net, but referee called a foul on Danish goalkeeper. We captured the whole situation on video and the goal was definitely fair. But when in 18th minute Jared Auckland sent the ball to Jamie, who finished it despite of a desperate efforts of Danish goalie, the referee had no choice but point to the middle.
In the beginning of second half Danes charged to tie the game and a couple of accidental deflections could have turned out to be very costly, but thanks to Alex, who played another amazing game, and Nader, who played the entire game despite of an injury, the tight lead was preserved. After the final whistle all Stonewallers raised their arms up in triumph, celebrating #1 seed for Thursday's quarterfinals against Iceland.
July 27th, Day 3
Stonewall FC started strong and is up 2-0 after the first day of soccer tournament at World OutGames Copenhagen 2009.
We met at the hotel lobby at 9.15am and traveled to Valby Park together, wearing our new blue jerseys and whiite shorts. Our first opponent, Mexico, stepped on the field wearing pink outfits. From the very first whistle Stonewall's dominance was indisputable. But it took almost 25 minutes to finally place the ball in Mexican net. Szymek Zaleski flipped the ball with a header in the midfield after one of the goal kicks and send it to Tom Abrams. Surrounded by three defenders Tom managed to push it back, where Jamie Johnstone was waiting. Jamie won the ball, broke through the defense and took an amazing shot, placing the ball right by the far post. Stonewall left the field for the half time leading 1-0.
The game hasn't changed much in the second half. Despite the total dominance, we couldn't increase our lead until the last 6 minutes of the game. Jared Auckland won the ball in the middle, ran with it for 20 yards and served Jamie Johnstone, who put the ball in the net for the second time that day. But it wasn't over. Only 2 minutes later Tom Abrams received the ball in the upper left corner of the penalty box. He pulled two defenders and passed the ball to Szymek Zaleski, who served it to the open field to Jamie Johnstone, who completed the hat-trick. It wasn't enough for Stonewall. In the last minute of the game, Jared Auckland kept pressing the Mexican defense and made the goalkeeper leave the box and send the ball out. Before the goalie managed to come back, Jared threw the ball into the box. Aaron Kirschenmann was the first one to get to it and nailed Stonewall's first victory at World OutGames 2009.
Two hours later Stonewall played their second game, against Italy. Still sore and tired after the first game, we wanted to wrap the game up in the first half and we achieved the goal. In 7th minute Jamie Johnstone dribbled through three Italian defenders and passed the ball to Mat Hyldahl, who beat the goalkeeper, giving Stonewall the lead. The game was much more intense and Italy also had their opportunities, but our defense played an amazing game and was shutting down Italian forwards. Five minutes to the end of the first half Szymek Zaleski received a long pass from the deep field and crossed the ball into the box. Completely opened Jamie Johnstone jumped to it and placed the ball in the net with a beautiful header. 2-0 at the half time.
In the second half game became rough and referee had to warn couple of Italian players with yellow cards. 12 minutes into the second half, Jared Auckland won the ball on 30 yard and ran with it on the left side almost to the end of the field. He pulled the defenders and a goalkeeper with him to finally cross the ball to the far post, where Sam Ajmi pushed it into the goal with his... hip. In the last 5 minutes Italy finally got their chance. An accidental foul in the penalty box and Nader Mohamed, who had some great saves in both games, had to pull the ball from the net.
The whole team played great two games today and the whole team deserves a round of applause. Next game tomorrow against Denmark, who beat Italy 1-0 earlier today and was leading in their game against Mexico when we were leaving soccer fields at Valby Park.
July 26th, Day 2
With a day off, most of the team were sleeping off the Saturday Night Fever. Team managers and few other players went to check out the fields at Valby Park. We also had a team meeting at 8.00pm at the hotel lobby to discuss the details of incoming tournament. The first game tomorrow starts at 11.30am Copenhagen time (2.00am PST), against Mexico. Games are 2 x 35 minutes on the full-size grass fields. At 1.30pm, about 30 minutes after finishing the first game, we have a second game scheduled that day, against Italy. On Tuesday, the last day of group phase, we play Denmark.
We're all in a good mood and ready to win.
July 25th, Day 1
The whole team has arrived to Copenhagen. Team captains went to the Pan Football Association meeting today, to find out about a game schedule. We're having two games on Monday, July 27th and one more game on Tuesday, July 28th. In the evening the team participated in the Opening Ceremony, walking in the Walk of Nations along with almost thousands of athletes from over one hundred countries all over the world.
Some people decided to continue good traditions started at IGLFA World Championship in Washington DC by Special Effect and brought home their own daddies from the Opening Party at Halvandet. Lets hope Jet City Strikers traditions will be continued as well on Monday, when the team steps on the Valby Park soccer fields to play their first games.