2-0 v leicester so far
I had a look at the rules earlier and the standard "everyone has a good go" applies. Win and we are in the semis, lose and we are in the semis for the Shield (or plate, can't remember). The bottom two in the group are in the plate (or shield) quarter finals.Managed to catch the Leicester game on here and we looked good. If we beat Cagliari tomorrow what happens next?
Difficult to say if that was a decent result or not. HK looked decent but we had several chances. Leicester look a very big side and mainly called Joshua.
I don't know if there is a betting market on this but if so, I would suggest a 'modest stakes' bet on Kashima Antlers. They're from Japan and look like a good team - with emphasis on 'team'. They weren't fancied at all and won all their games - including West Ham 3-0. Could go far. I noticed a HKJC betting shop on the way back and I may go in for a small tickle.
By far the better team but lost 3-1. Cagliari sat back for much of it, and fluked a deflection for 2-1 straight after we'd equalised.
I agree with all of this, stifling conditions to play football in with a lack of any kind of breeze. We also lack the experience of 7s tactics.It seems that chasing the game against Cagliari cost us a lot. We were nowhere near our levels either yesterday or earlier this morning. Still, it's good experience of the two phases of tournament play. Yesterday, in the league, we really looked quite composed and focused. Today, as soon as we went behind, we were chasing everything. In this heat it soon gets to you. I was sweating buckets in the stand and sitting, so you can only imagine what the boys were going through. Also, after the first game, they seemed genuinely very disappointed - so maybe there was a mental edge too. As I said though, all good experience and character building.