After travelling back directly from London to Toronto late on Thursday night I was extremely tired going into training on Friday, in preparation for our biggest game of the season so far, a home match against New England Revolution. We had, had about five players away with their countries and as you know that is not great preparation for any game, especially against Steve Nichols leaders.
It was an evening kick off, but currently going on around the BMO Field is the Canadian National Exhibition, a yearly event that lasts nearly 10 days. A true family day out, but this brings problems of trying to get to the ground, without paying to g
et into the CNE. As usual I forgot my pass, which would have got me in without a problem, but I ended up trying to explain to a lady who knew nothing about football (or soccer) for about 20 minutes prior to the match.
Since joining Toronto about 18 months ago, we are yet to beat New England, and the manager decided to change formation for varying reasons. We started the game at a frantic pace, and managed to get a grip of the game. We missed a few chances but knew the first goal would be massive. Five minutes before the break, we were caught ball watching from a cross and Taylor Twellman headed in at the far post for the lead.
What could be said at half time? we had played excellently but were a goal down so the manager had to encourage us to keep playing the same way but try and give an extra five per cent. We came flying out of the blocks again, and after 66 minutes, Chad Barrett scored a left foot cracker to draw us level. We then pushed and pushed and Rohan Ricketts had two excellent chances to win the game for us, but dragged his shots wide. Then in stoppage time our keeper made a superb stop to get us a point. A draw against the leaders and we were unhappy. This shows how far we’ve come.
I’ve been included in the Welsh squad again this week for the matches against Azerbaijan and Russia. It’s very important that we get off to a good start in this campaign, so it’s going to be a pretty tough month with lots of games, travelling, and to top it all off I’m away from the family who have stayed in Wales now.
I got asked do you get fitter the older you get? Well I have to say that I do and have to work hard on my fitness. I’m a firm believer that you must train the way you play. Everyday you must learn and take something out of the session. The reason why I feel so fit is down to Paul Winsper, our fitness coach. I’ve worked under some top managers, and coaches but what he does is bring in soccer specific related work. Players don’t like to just run up and down pitches.
The full article contains 523 words and appears in County Times Express newspaper.
