Pre-season tournaments are used by coaches to gauge where their team is at the moment. While wins and a championship would be most welcome, the main point of a pre-season tournament is for a coach to test his or her tactics and for players to gain fitness and maintain their in-game composure.
FEU retained the PFF Women’s Cup against DLSU with a score of 2-1. FEU’s goals were from Alessa Dolino and Barbie Sobredo while DLSU pulled one back courtesy of Angge Metillo. However, sometimes even winning the pre-season tournament doesn’t satisfy coaches.
The coach of the Lady Tamaraws, Let Dimzon, still wasn’t contented with her team even if the match ended in their favor. “Andun nga panalo, pero medyo disappointed with regards to the play. Starting from first half pa lang, nawala kami sa play eh so more on direct delivery lahat ng pasa.” Nonetheless, Dimzon was still happy with her team’s finishing.
The match itself was a continuation of last week’s game, which was stopped due to bad weather. Upon the restart, Dolino quickly scored for FEU. A goal that early in a match will always be welcome for a coach but it can make a team complacent. “Siyempre kasi first goal, first minute kaya pwede mag-boost ‘yun ng team para umakyat kami and then sa kabilang side naman para mag down. So ‘yung first minute, since nga mag start kami sa dropball, may mga tendency magkaroon ng early goals yan which is nangyari naman”, stated Dimzon.
Going into the game, FEU had a less than ideal preparation due to only being able to practice twice. The factors which prevented them from practicing more included the academics of the players and transportation. Dimzon credits her players’ winning mentality as the reason why these factors were irrelevant. “Ayan naman ang maganda sa kanila kasi kapag kunyari nakakabawi so tumataas pa rin yung intensity nila, ang adrenaline ng mga players. Pero ano nga lang, ang tinatry naming i-change sa kanila, yung starting namin kasi parang diesel eh. Ang bagal ng start and matagal kami bago mag-adjust.”
Dimzon is happy with the progress she has seen in her players, having compared it to their first game and the cup final. “So after nung game namin against Archers, lahat panalo na diba? Maganda na yung result kase nakita ko dun sa games namin with regarding dun sa UAAP teams, lahat nung play kung ano yung pinapractice namin sa field naaaply nila. So yung quality ng passing tsaka yung play namin lumabas siya dun which is ganito yung ineexpect ko”, Dimzon said while reiterating her team’s lack of preparations and emphasizing that finishing is what they practiced the most.
The main goal of the Lady Tamaraws is to successfully defend their UAAP Women’s Football Championship in season 78. Taking note of their opponents DLSU, Dimzon noticed that the Taft based squad employed new tactics in the cup final. “Ang ganda ng passing ng La Salle, sa game nga mas meron pa silang play kaysa sa amin. Yun nga since heto ang preparation namin, at least nakita namin kung ano yung pwede naming i-adjust, pwede naming i-improve pa. Regarding sa defense namin, nakita ko bago yung play ng La Salle eh. Nag 4-3-3 sila and then nag 4-2-4 sila sa attacking. At least mapapag-aralan namin bago kakalabanin ang La Salle.”
“So tinatry ko ngayon i-rotate sila in different positions para at least pagdating ng UAAP, alam ko na kung san ko sila iikot”, concluded Dimzon.
Even if the UAAP is still far away, betting against the Lady Tamaraws isn’t looking like a good idea.
