Wolverines Tour Brazil: Day 4
7/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Just before they open their new home in Ann Arbor this upcoming season, the men's soccer team will head to South America to tour Brazil. Throughout the week-long trip (June 29-July 5), the Wolverines will take to the pitch in six different cities.
Michigan opens the slate with a pair of exhibitions in Sao Paulo, Brazil - taking on Sao Paulo on June 30 and Palmeiras on July 2. As the team celebrates the United States Independence Day, they will play Santos in Santos, Brazil before wrapping up the schedule with a match against Flamengo in Rio.
Throughout the trip, U-M assistant coach Chris Grassie will provide daily updates of the Wolverine adventure on and off the field.
FRIDAY | JULY 4, 2008
Wow! We have just left the field after a 2-1 loss to Santos U-20. Santos is by far the best team that we have played, not only on this trip but in an entire college career. As coaches, the level of pride we feel in our team right now is extremely high. We went into the game knowing that this would be the greatest test our team is likely to face in their careers. Santos U-20's beat defending National Champion Wake Forest 4-0 just over a month ago. The scouting report we got from Wake Forest was that they were technically and tactically perfect and they wouldn't stop running -- they were right. Santos, after all, is the club which Pele was trained and started his pro career with. Tonight we played on the same pitch that Pele honed his immeasurable talent -- not to mention Brazil's latest stars Robhino and Diego -- so there was something extra special in the air. You could see the magic of the occasion roll over the lads as we warmed up.
The first half started with a constant onslaught of Santos skillful and fast players coming at us with a superb attack based on individual talent and team understanding. It was a thing of beauty... and then they scored. That was the best thing that could have happened. Our lads dug in and played out of there skin. Granted, Santos enjoyed the majority of play, but we were able to hold them and find moments to counter attack. Right before halftime, our hard work paid off. Matt Schmitt chased down their defender who was hesitating on the ball, and intercepted his pass. Schmitt then played a quick ball through to Peri Marosevic who had made a great run having recognized that Matt was going to win the ball. Peri still had a lot of work to do, and he did it with aplomb. Peri latched onto the pass, took one touch and looked up to see their goalkeeper off his line. He then chipped the ball over their 6-5 goalkeeper and it went in just below the crossbar. That elegant score was the last action of the first half.
The second half brought more of the same as the first half, but saw us get more and more possessions. Santos scored on a great volley from a corner midway through the second half to go up 2-1. We had chances to pull even, with Mauro Fuzetti beating two men acrobatically before miss-hitting the ball from six yards out for the best chance of the second half. All-in-all, we played some very nice one- and two-touch football, and we had to in order to stay on their field.
After the final whistle Santos requested that we exchange shirts with them, a great honor in international football.
I'm still left with the a great feeling after writing this, knowing that our team held its own against players who will undoubtedly represent Brazil in a future World Cup. To think we were missing three very influential players due to injury -- if we had them fit to play, we just may have carried the day. Okay, a draw would have been acceptable!
Right now we are heading back to our new home just outside of Santos -- about a 45 minute drive -- having left Santa Filomena early this morning. We will definitely have fond memories of our mountain training ground, but we are ready to explore the beach-side city of Santos for the next few days.
Stay tuned, more to follow!
Go Blue!
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
