It was hot, very hot. Hardly the best conditions to play football anywhere, let alone a school in South Jakarta offering little in the way of a natural protection against radiation. But allowing time and all its idiosyncrasies get in the way of a game of football?
Last year, the FIFA World Cup was held in Brazil. The road to Brazil was long and costly, and the festival was the culmination of a two-year journey that began with 207 teams from around the world who share the same dream. Along this road, the great and good of the world of politics and sport were expensive wined, dined and maybe even seduced before Brazil got the final green light and soccer could begin.
Soccer Schools League Jakarta (FSFL) has more teams than the FIFA World Cup and one season only lasts a few months. In that time, schedules must be established, the fields reserved, official match organized by all and a hardy group of people whose day jobs and families mean free time is at a premium.
Matt Wheeler orange shirt
Yet the works of the league and keeps expanding. Matt Wheeler was one of the guys who made the league comes, working tirelessly behind the scenes, so that young people from Jakarta had something to look forward to the weekend. When Matt was tragically killed in a car accident last year, it seemed appropriate that his memory and his efforts have been recalled.
On the eve of 10 e season of the JSFL, a special series of matches took place to commemorate Matt Wheeler of life to Matt Wheeler Community Shield event.
One of the teams was Singapore school United or United SIS. Taken from the SIS chain of schools across Jakarta, SIS has been relentlessly driven by Gareth Jones for the past four seasons. A passionate believer in youth football, Jones speaks not only of the interview, he badges to prove it. It features a FA license, diploma of Coerver, the Arsenal module 1 and two LMA (League Managers Association) certificates. He also helped coach many clinics with Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, LA Galaxy and STARBOL, and the organization of coach education clinics JSFL.
By the end of 2014, Gareth had taken his young charges to Singapore to compete with academies from around the region and was delighted to see his guys more hold their own.
With players spread around the points of the compass in Jakarta, the only time Gareth gets with his players is a weekly training session in Senayan, but even with the new pause a year of precious work disruption on the training ground, the coach was confident his team had more than enough in the tank to take on more Victory.
With the mercury hitting thirty, Jones had his guys to do some gentle exercises to loosen their members before the game. He was very discreet, a Jones approach exercised within the game itself, preferring to keep edge ground and watch quietly rather than screaming and waving like many coaches.
With the referee is preparing to launch the game, it was time for a final discussion with the team before the coach sent the players on their way. He made some adjustments to the iPad he used to film the game and he was soon show time.
"Unfortunately, our boys have lost a bit of attention in the second half and we conceded a soft goal before Yao Jing restored the two-goal lead with a fine finish before the oncoming keeper . again, we took our foot off the gas and allowed the more victory to play in our half, eventually forcing an accidental hand in the box and concede another soft goal through a penalty, "said Gareth after the game .
"We picked up the tempo once more, but showed a certain naivety and left large holes in midfield, trying to force another goal. This allowed the opposition to counter the minimum pressure due to a lack of coverage and they won a few corners in the last 10 minutes.
"Following one of these corners, we failed to clear our lines in the last minute of the game and it fell to one of their players on the edge of the box that hit the top corner for the best goal of the day, "added Gareth.
While it was frustrating to be pegged back in such a way, the coach could maybe take some solace from the fact that, even at the highest level, poor defense in the last moments of a game still cost the team points.
As players considered the rest of their weekend, Gareth knew his work was only beginning. Being a good teacher, he made sure that the students had homework to do. Although disappointed to lose in such a way, the team will be shown video clips and photos of key moments in the game to work on their passage from attack to defense during their midweek training to prepare for the next game.
"My coaches and I always emphasize performance against results at this age and although there were many positives, we will continue to work on individual weaknesses and team to benefit their development. I am also looking forward to reading their logbooks, which they use to analyze themselves every week and share their thoughts with the coaches. "
Gareth packed up his iPad and headed home. His work was not yet done, but for now, at least, it was time for the family.
If you want to stay updated with the League of football schools Jakarta, check out their website www.jakartafootball.com