Colchester United 2015 P.A.S.S Cup

Today I took a rare day off from coaching my Under 7's team to go and enjoy watching Brandon playing in the Colchester United 2015 P.A.S.S Cup. It was an early start with the alarms set for 6am to get he kids ready, the car loaded and to be in Colchester for 8am ready for team registration. As we approached junction 28 on the A12 the Colchester United stadium is very prominent and when we told Brandon that was where he was playing, he was in disbelief to say the least!! Lets face it, its a slightly different venue from the typical school fields we tend to play in.

 

Brandon standing outside the Colchester United stadium.

A slightly different venue from the normal school field type venues we play in.

The Under 6 Lions enter the stadium and are all very excited.

The electronic notice board displayed all the teams that were playing - shame they spelt Brandon's name wrong.

Even the programme for the day had all the teams listed with Brandon's name (again spelt incorrectly).

 

The tournament was extremely well run and organised, however the playing rules were not quite FA rules which seemed to confuse the kids slightly. For example no throws in (just kicks), no balls to go over head height, no shooting from in the keepers box, no retreat rule etc. Anyway the boys got to play 4 x 14 min games (7 mins each way) and thus the action was pretty fast and furious. The FG Under 6's seemed to lack a bit of positional play and were often caught out on the counter with no defender. Also some classic mistakes like crossing the ball in front of your own goal and the keeper giving the ball straight to the other team didn't help their performances. So they ended up losing the first 3 games, 3-0, 2-0, 3-0. This left them in a 4th place play-off which they won 3-0. So it was great to see them end the tournament on a high note.

 

Brandon in action as the boys cluster around the ball instead of spreading out.

Team talks with coach Darren and Glenn.

The main stadium football pitch was split up into 6 x 5-a-side pitches.

As part of the whole pro-club experience the kids all got to experience the run-out from the players tunnel for each game they played. It was absolutely incredible to watch them queueing up excitedly and then all charging out of the tunnel waving there arms and screaming to the crowd. Such an experience for them all.

The kids all line up in the player tunnel ready to run out on the pitch.

Out comes Brandon from the players tunnel.

Brandon was actually playing extremely well today. We have given him a bit of a warning lately as he appeared to become a bit scared of any contact and was not really engaging in the game. When he did get tackled he was going down on the ground and staying there until either a coach came over or he was taken off. So we have told him to toughen up and get stuck in there otherwise he will not be picked for the Lions team next season. Even his coaches noticed a big difference in his play today and asked what we had been feeding him. He was really getting stuck in to the game and had plenty of action on the ball. However maybe he has gone a little bit too far the other way now with a few dodgy looking tackles as you can see from the pictures.

Action shot of Brandon on the ball.

Brandon had a very good break down the left wing to nearly get a shot on goal.

No fear as Brandon goes toe to toe to try and win the ball.

Scratching his head for some reason.

Brandon looks for the pass to RJ as two Orange players close in on him.

A rare occasion for Brandon as he gets to take a corner kick.

Brandon on the Colchester United football pitch.

Brandon climbs the steps to receive his medal for 4th place.

Coming back down the steps proudly wearing their medals.

So those dodgy tackles that I was telling you about. Here is the evidence of the Brandon "Vinny Jones" school of football.............

Grabbing an opponent from the side to try and get the ball.

The low roundhouse kick to a shin, clearly nowhere near touching the ball with this tackle!!!!

Grabbing the arm again to pull a player back.

 

Looks more like Brandon is lining up for a suplex than playing football!