Buddah's Blog
Taking on the Dutch
Hey everyone,
This is the fifth instalment of Buddha’s Blog. Last night we played the highly rated Dutch in our second game of the pool. Usually we are on the back foot with the way we start but we were able to turn the tables and score after only 47 seconds from a one handed Phil Burrows special!
In sport you have to be switched on mentally for the whole 70 minutes and they say even more so for the 5 minutes at the start and end of a game, either side of half time and especially after your team scores.
We needed to play positive, and more controlled hockey after scoring so early. We let ourselves down and the Dutch were able to score 53 seconds after our goal. So it was 1-1 after only 2 minutes of play. This goal knocked us back and Dutch fed off this momentum and scored a further 2 goals in quick succession one of which was Taeke Taekema’s 200 goal in international hockey.
We were 3-1 down at half time, so we wanted to apply a lot more pressure in the 2 half and take the game to the Dutch and see if we could get ourselves back into the match. We had a couple of good chances, with a few balls flying past the post and one cracker of a shot by Phil Burrows hit the post and then unfortunately hit Nick “Space” Wilson in the family jewels. As every man reading this Blog you can imagine how sore and sick Nick was feeling. But credit to him as he managed to get back out on the pitch.
We had 2 other unfortunate events in the game, I was suffering from Deli Belly (no specifics needed) and Phil Burrows is in doubt for our next game after getting a severe cork to his calf. The 2nd half was a lot closer although we were unable to break the Dutch goal and the game finished in a 3-1 loss. It was disappointing to lose a game that we had targeted at the start of the tournament as one that we could win. We have a must win game tomorrow against Korea to keep our semi-final chances alive.
In the game before ours Korea only just managed to overcome Argentina 2-1 in the last minute, and Germany spanked Canada 6-0.
A huge congratulation’s goes out to Dean Cousins who played his 200 test match last night. He has made it into a very prestigious club where only 7 New Zealander’s before him have reached this momentous milestone. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make it into an even more special occasion by winning the match as well.
Today is a very relaxing day with most of the guys having gone to the mall. This is a special day as it is the first day that we can go outside that isn’t here at the hotel or at the pitch. Great time to get Deli Belly as I am still in bed and Phil Burrows my room mate can’t go out either with his cork in this calf.
Everyone has kept asking me what the security has been like lately. It has simply been amazing ever since the tournament started. The roads are fully closed down whenever we travel. We have 4 security vehicles surrounding the bus to and from the ground and all of the buses now have tinted windows. As players we even have to security check all of our gear in and out of the ground and hotel.
On a lighter note, Richie “Big Rig” Petherick is going to have a press-up competition with our trainer Matt “Boom” Kritz to see who can do the most push-ups in total no time limit.
Has been an awesome series so far hopefully the boys can continue the form
Until the next Blog,
Cheers Shea