Take 3 Points from Wales? Tick Box.

In an exciting, back and forth match we managed to earn our 3 points. We left it to the very.... VERY last minute but it was an exciting three minutes that gave us a 2-1 win over Wales and the 3 points we needed to stay on track for 5th place. The game was very back and forth with Wales having a few early breaks in the first half. They had very speedy and shifty midfielders who could really take on our midfielders. To our dismay, the umpiring did not help us. Several of the calls that we have been discussing over the tournament are starting to become less and less enforced. I'm talking ... people being 5y, sticks going above the shoulder to trap a ball, not taking the free hit where the foul was, not attempting to stop the ball before proceeding on a self-start ... Anyway, we're all a little fuzzy on the rules I guess because these things haven't been tightened up nor consistently called. Regardless, we weren't dictating our own fate as we had two corners and several free play opportunities to draw corners or score.

Wales dominated a lot of the first half and earned a 1-0 lead that they sat on until the last 3 minutes of the game. We were pressuring a lot in the second half and had a few chances but mostly battled it out between the 25s. We picked off a lot of their passes down the line, as per the game plan, and couldn't cut it until the last 3 minutes. A foul occurred against Wales and we were screaming for the call and fortunately, the umpire wasn't sure what was going on and let play continue while people were getting confused and Baker hammered home the ball in an open net and she allowed the goal to stand! 1-1 with less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds left and Robyn picked up a loose ball with less than a minute on the clock and traversed across the goal mouth, waited for everyone to go down including the goalie and reverse flipped it into an open mesh. WHAT A SWEET GOAL. Only she could have done it so calmly. With 55 seconds left on the clock we ran back to defend and hold off the Welsh for a sweet, SWEET victory and three points.

We now stand tied with Malaysia and it will come down to goals FOR so, Malaysia plays England and we play New Zealand. Whoever has a better result either goals for or a win or tie will go through... so we are hoping to not only score but steal points from NZ tomorrow! Stay tuned and I hope that the replays for todays game will be up on CBC later.

FYI.... I am still sickwith cough, cold and congestion but headaches are less and energy is on the rise!!