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We began a much needed nine days off from matches. Hopefully the time would allow us to rest and get fit for the long road still ahead that would feature trips to foreign capitals and cold weather locales alike. The nine days passed quickly as we focused on real practice for the first time in about two months. There were some relevant happenings, but unless you were a US soccer fan or a San Jose fanatic, you probably missed them.

On September 7, the CONACAF World Cup Qualifying began anew. With 5 games played the standings were USA with 11 points; Guatemala with 10 and Mexico with 9 points. All three looked certain to qualify. The real question was what order it would be in. In the Sept 7 round of games, the US lost to Guatemala 1-0 at the Rose Bowl in Los Angles, which reversed the positions of the two teams in the standings. Mexico lost, so they stayed where they were. What was noteworthy about the US game was that 17 yr old Freddy Ado made his national team debut. Just a couple of months shy of his 18th birthday, Adu became the youngest person to ever play for the national team. Adu’s debut was not an auspicious one. He started in midfield and turned in his worst performance of his career. His passing was not sharp, his decision-making not wise and his play was abysmal. While the media downplayed his game, the fact remains that he probably cost the US the game. Arena never subbed him out even though the lad was clearly having the worst day of anyone out there. Even though Adu is young, he does have national team talent and can only get better. I’d chalk his performance up to nerves and excitement. It has to be pretty pressurized to be the youngest ever member of the US team. He can only get better, but the US needed that game to stay atop the table, and his performance will raise questions about his clutch ability. In short, can he deliver when the game is on the line? In a way it’s sad that we’ve anointed a 17 yr old to be the savior of the US national team. I just hope Adu signs with a big club abroad. Then he’d be out of the US fishbowl. Soccer may be a minor sport here, but the spotlight still shines hot and bright on Mr. Adu. At least overseas, he’ll be one of many.

Adu’s debut wasn’t the only thing that happened during the nine day break. On the 9th, we received good and bad news. The good news was that Reyna was fully cleared to play, which meant he returned to the starting RMC spot. He’ll no doubt be a force in the post-season. He’s the only player on our roster with big-game experience. I fully expect him to dominate the MLS playoffs and to hold his own the international competitions. The bad news was that we lost Walsh to a twisted ankle. Perhaps this wasn’t as bad as it could have been. With the return of Reyna, Walsh drops back to third-string duties. Still, any injury is now magnified because of the pressure to succeed.

The last bit of news was the on the 12, two days before the Necaxa game, I received a phone call from South Africa. The new manager of the team, Jomo Sono, was doing a total rehaul of the roster. He wanted to tell me that he was picking Maluleke for the upcoming friendly against Morocco. I didn’t mind, Maluleke is a good player and deserves some international experience.

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Sorry that this isn't as verbose or fancy as usual. I want to get back to the Super Bowl.

Picking the lineup for the Necaxa game was the easiest choice since early June, when we had started playing two games a week. All the regulars, plus Thornton would start. The bench was: Cunningham, Chung, Daniels, Huff and White, since seven could sit on the bench in this competition, I put Keenan and Jolly in to round it off.

The evening of September 14 was a pleasant one in San Jose. We had comfortable tempter tin the mid 70’s and as a result, a large crowd of around 18,000 came out to see us battle the men from Mexico City. Necaxa came out in a defensive 5-3-2 with varied passing and a normal tempo. The game started at midfield and stayed there with both teams seeking an advantage. Our attack was working, we were getting shots off, but the Necaxa keeper was showcasing his skills that night and repelling everything. On 33, Davis took off up the left flank with the ball, stopped on a dime and lobbed a cross into Juskowaik. Juskowaik timed his leap perfectly and drilled the header past a stunned keeper and defense. Our quick transition had caught them completely off guard. They didn’t miss a beat or bat an eyelash, sticking with their slow, patient attack. The half ended in a stalemate with neither side having much of an edge.

The second half I told the lads to lay off pressing and to not run the offside trap. Both teams seemed content to **** around midfield. On 61 I subbed in Daniels and Chung for Reyna and Maluleke. On 68, Necaxa’s deliberate play paid off as Zyleta buried a cross past Thornton to knot the game at 1-1. I told my team to start attacking directly and to start pressing again. We quickly intensified the pressure on them and on 88, Chung slipped the ball to a grinning Juskowaik, who slotted it in to make the score 2-1 San Jose. That was the ball game and a nice start to the Merconorte Cup for us.

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We only had two full days of practice before we had to go face New England in the first game of the first round of the MLS playoffs. Paule, our starting CMC and one of our most consistent players, twisted his knee late in practice the day before the match. He would be out for a week and a half. On the flight to Foxboro my coaches and I decided to get our usual meeting out of the way. So we gathered in a curtained off area of the plane and set to work. First of all, we were going to have to start some backups. While I hated to do this in the playoffs, the reality was that we needed everyone fit for the road ahead. If we lost the game, so be it. The question was then, who to start. After much discussion and shuffling of reports, I decided to start White in goal. Jolly at RB, Huff in DC, and David Johnson at LMC, Keenan at CMC, and Karbasslyoon and Beech at the forwards. The bench comprised of Cunningham, Chung, Daniels, Salinas and Thornton. Reyna was named the match squad captain. When we landed at the airport, the first thing we noticed was that it was raining steadily. According to the local news, the weather was not likely to change anytime soon.

The day of the match dawned iron gray and wet. The rain had let up in time for the afternoon kick-off, but conditions were not ideal. The temperature was in the mid-50 and the pitch was damp. It was not going to be a match to remember as far as skill was concerned. New England came out in an attacking 442 and mixed their passing game. The conditions seemed to faze no one at the beginning, as two minutes into the game, Keenan lofted a pass into the area that Maluleke settled under, leaped, and banged the header into goal to put us in the lead 1-0. New England quickly rallied and promptly nailed a goal to tie the score at 1-1. Freddy Adu had received the ball in his zone and ran with it a shot ways before sending a low cross to his left. Twellman took the cross and put it past White. With that one move, Adu showed why he was already attracting the attention of Serie A scouts. After the fourth minute, the energy buzz of both teams apparently wore off and the ball was shuttled around at midfield. Both teams were also playing defense exceptionally well. Both teams tried to find holes to exploit, but came up dry. We were winning the battle of statistics, but we could not put them away.

The second half started out much the same way. The weather was still foul and the people in the dugouts remained huddled around the heater. We were winning everything except the score. On 58 I sent in Daniels for David Johnson. Daniels relayed the message that we were to start attacking the goal and we were not to press. The lads got the message and on 66, at long last, Reyna took advantage of a short free kick, to blast it over the wall and into goal to make the score 2-1 San Jose. Once we had the lead, I signaled that the team should go into defensive mode with a man behind ball and to counter attack if necessary. As New England started to desperately attack, we began to swallow the pressure whole. On 86, Karbasslyoon took a quick pass, dribbled in from midfield and buried the ball into goal to put the game away for good at 3-1. The 38,000 fans, who have been denied glory several times in the past couple of years, booed the home team as we walked off the pitch. Nicol’s boys were talented enough to go deep into the playoffs, but they couldn’t get over the hump and the fans were getting frustrated.

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I didn’t have time to worry about the New England fans as San Jose was scheduled to go to Lima Peru to play Allanza Lima on September 21. On the 18th we flew down to Lima. There’s not much jet lag since the time only changes by two hours, but I wanted to get the players used to the thinner mountain air. As was usual, several regulars were unfit for starting duty. Thornton in goal, Ozimek in CMC, Daniels at RMC and Chung at AMC rounded out the regulars. The bench would be Cunningham, Jim Johnson, Jeremy Joseph, Huff and White. Nelson Akwari was named game captain. Our arrival in Peru was smooth and spent two days training in the mountains to get used to the air.

It was a pleasant evening in Lima on the 21st as we prepared for kickoff. The AL manager came over to shake hands, and to comment on our starting lineup. Only one player on it, Pierce, remained from the lineup we had last used against AL two seasons ago. Lima came out in a basic 442, passing short and playing at normal speed. They patiently passed the ball around until they saw an opening on 19 when striker Jefferson Farfan took a ball in stride near the penalty area and blasted the ball into the lower left hand corner past a flatfooted Thornton to put AL up 1-0. I was proud of my team as they gamely worked to get back into the game. They didn’t panic and continued to put pressure on the AL defense. We kept getting shots, but the AL keeper was on form and stopping everything we kicked (and in one case, threw) at him. Finally, with a few seconds left in injury time, EJ put back a badly done rebound that had fallen into his path. EJ paused a second to process this gift and then buried it to tie the game at one all. I was pleased with our play on offense. Defense was a different story however and as we assembled in the locker-room for our 15 minute break, I vented my displeasure. We had only won a quarter of the tackles- a ratio more suited to girl’s peewee soccer. The anomaly was even more irritating because the regular backline was playing and they were all normally good tacklers. I focused my sarcasm on them, hoping they would be goaded into winning some balls for us.

In the second half neither team felt compelled to change anything and we took advantage on 54 when a smarting Ibsen launched a far post cross that Juskowaik headed into goal to make the score 2-1. Fifteen minutes later, Juskowaik headed in another goal, this one off a Davis left side corner. SJ 3-AL 1. Lima’s composure broke and they began attacking, hoofing the ball up the pitch to create their chances. To counter this I told my players to play defensively, to not press or play the trap and to go easy on tackling. I told the backline to double-team both strikers in ma to man coverage. Lastly, I subbed in Cunningham (Juskowaik), Joseph (Daniels) and Jim Johnson (Chung). For the next 20 minutes we devoted ourselves to playing stifling defense and stalling. On 75, the AL midfield proved they didn’t need their forwards to score, as Oclense, the right winger, took a short pass from the MC and dribbled in past the preoccupied backline and put the ball past Thornton to drawn his team to within one. After that hiccup, our defense held true and we were able to prevent AL from doing anymore damage. We won out 3-2 as Juskowaik earned the MOM for his brace. The only sour note was that we did not improve our tackling. However, to be fair, I had told them to stand and defense rather than risk clumsy challenges that would either result in a booking or worse, a stranded defender. No matter, we had survived Peru. We had a week and a half off because of international games before we faced New England at home in the second game of the first round playoffs.

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We made profitable use of the roughly ten day break to integrate Reyna into the starting 11. Our first team had played together all year and was used to each other. Reyna threw a cog into that machine. It’s not that Reyna was a bad player, far from it. However he was a change from Wash and Daniels who had split the position all year. For one thing, though he was in his mid-30s, Reyna was a far better player than the former two. While Wash was mainly a set-piece specialist with some crossing ability and Daniels was an athlete with dribbling and crossing ability, neither really had a clue while they were on the pitch. It wasn’t uncommon for Davis or Juskowaik to remind those two of their assignments. Enter Reyna. Reyna was a brilliant player with the skills and smarts to play TRMC to a tee. His problem was his declining speed and hops. The other starting ten had to get used to a smart player at the spot and a slower player. However, with endless scrimmages, the cohesion improved as the new 11 played brilliantly in training.

However, all was not perfect. Maluleke missed much of the training because he was in South Africa, preparing for that nation’s friendly against Morocco. I couldn’t really begrudge Maluleke though, because on the 25 he played as South Africa beat Morocco 2-0. While he hadn’t played the whole game, he did garner an assist and had several nice runs according to the website account of the game. The 26th was a personal highlight as I celebrated my 34th birthday. With no match to worry about, I went to a bar with a group of long-time friends and had a couple of drinks to toast the new birthday. I did not have a hangover which was good because the next day in practice another player succumbed to injury. Guillano, one of left-backs had pulled a groin muscle during a defense drill and would be out a month. It seemed the injuries were beginning to happen more frequently and players seemed to be tired. It had been a long season and now the price was being paid. I could only hope that more players wouldn’t go down.

On the 28th the US played Costa Rica and drew 1-1. The draw put the US into third place in the World Cup Qualifying. Adu had a much better game this time around, even netting his first international goal, but the fact remained that the US was slipping. The diehard soccer fans were disquieted by the team selection. Arena seemed determined to follow the adage that experience is everything. His squad seemed to be comprised of players in their mid-30’s, like Saneh, Enochs, and Cobi Jones, all players who had experience, but who were in a sharp decline. The only reason Reyna wasn’t on the squad was because he had been injured when the final rosters were turned in. The only young players that Arena had selected were Donovan, Twellman and Adu. While Donovan and Adu seemed legit, I had my own doubts about Twellman. The guy could score goals no doubt, but appeared to be a bit lazy during matches. He didn’t always try his hardest it seemed. At any rate, the hounds were starting to bay at Arena and he needed to finish well to keep his job. Things had reached the point in American soccer fans expected us to top the qualifier standings. They weren’t unjustified in this belief; the US had many players playing abroad, while Mexico and Guatemala only had a couple of their players in Europe. Personally I thought Arena had gone stale as a team manager. The team needed a shakeup, but that wasn’t going to happen…yet. Arena would have n trouble finding a job if he was sacked. He had excellent asst. manager skills; he was top-notch at spotting talent and an excellent coach. If I ever got the chance to manage a club in the upper reaches of European football, I would tap Arena as my assistant.

On the 29th, we received good news. Paule returned to full practice, and even more impressively, for this team anyway, was going to be fit for the New England game. As the days got shorter and the match drew nearer, I began to worry. Not that that was anything new, but this time was different. We had to win this second leg. True, it wouldn’t kill us if we lost, but then the playoff decider would be played in Foxboro and no one wanted to take that chance. So the best thing to do would be to win this game and sweep our way into the Semi-Final. So, there was more than the usual incentive to win. The players realized my mood during the last couple of team meetings and they became tense. Skirmishes broke out in practice as the play became intense. So long as no one got hurt, I didn’t care. I suppose this is the one aspect of my coaching style derived from my high school football days. Take no crap and lay out your opponents. This is why I never fined or warned my players for red cards. Be tough, play hard, and want the game more than your opponents. To be honest, I was surprised that we hadn’t racked up the most bookings ever in MLS history, but that dubious honor belonged to Los Angles. That was one reason that rivalry was so fun- someone was always getting sent off. But LA was history for the season and we were playing New England and NE was a finesse team unlike their football brethren. If we walked into Spartan Stadium with an attitude problem and started chopping legs (legally) we could win. All that remained for the coaching staff and I to do on the 30th was the ritual of picking the lineup.

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The September 30 lineup an strategy session went better than anticipated. Having had nine days off, all our regulars were primed to play. It was White’s turn to play in goal, so he was penciled in that slot. Even the bench was easy to pick as we went with the best performers for the year. Cunningham, Chung, Daniels, Huff and Thornton. All four of the position subs were the best bench players at their position. Everyone was ready.

The afternoon of October 1 was a clear day in the mid 60’s. You couldn’t have really asked for better, but then, San Jose is always a nice place, weather- wise, to live and play sports. New England came out in a vanilla 442 and a normal pace. They were just overwhelmed. On any other day they would have put up a good fight, but today, at least in the first half, we reigned supreme. On 7, EJ got the crowd going when he finished a give and go with Davis by nailing the header past Countess. Five minutes later, Davis put back a Countess parry to make the score 2-0 San Jose after only 12 minutes of action. On 15 Salinas limped over to the sideline. The trainers looked him over and told me he was done for the day. I told Huff to go out there in his stead. On 24 Reyna showed that all the hard training of the previous week had been worth it when he took a Paule pass in stride, looked over the defense, selected a line and took off. Arriving near goal with the New England defense in his wake, Reyna cut loose with a daisy scorcher into the left side of goal to pus us up 3-0 with 20 minutes left in the half. At this point New England began to settle down and regroup. They began attacking our goal, but to no avail. Our defense was inspired by the offense and was snuffing out New England’s chances before those chances could even develop. Meanwhile our offense kept humming along. On 41, Davis curled a cross to Reyna on the right. Reyna then crossed the ball back left to a forward moving EJ, who squared himself, leaped and buried the header at 41. 4-0 San Jose; it was the best half we had played all year. It’s a half like this that makes all those late nights worth it. To see a team perform close to perfection is a truly awesome sight.

The second half was largely a formality. I told my team to play defensively, not to press or play the trap, and to stick a man behind ball. We ate up clock. At 65 I looked around the stadium, grinned, sat down on the bench and pulled a cigar from my pocket. Lighting the cigar, I puffed to get the cigar going and then drew in smoke and blew perfect smoke rings at our crowd. The place went nuts. Much like Red Auerbach I was declaring the game over and in our hands. On 84 I subbed Reyna and Maluleke for Daniels and Chung. In injury time, Juskowaik got his moment of glory when he put back a rebound to make the final score SJ-5 NE-0. We were headed to the MLS semifinals with huge momentum. The real debate after the game was who should be named the MOM. Finally, they decided to give it to EJ for his outstanding brace. As the players and fans celebrated the victory on the pitch, the PA announced that we would play Chicago in the next round. The first game would be at Soldier Field in Chicago. They also announced that Brad Davis had set a club record for a season with 17 assists.

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After the celebration had entered the locker-room, I showered and changed into business clothes. The board was meeting in the evening to discuss my performance. On my way off the San Jose Sate campus, I stopped at the Starbucks and purchased a large cup of black coffee with a double shot of expresso added. I was wrung out from the match and didn’t really want to meet the board, but I figured politeness dictated that I not fall asleep. True to form, when I got to Jamison’s conference room, the board was seated around the mahogany table and ready to begin. After praising me warmly for the victory earlier in the day, they got down to brass tacks. They were, in short, not as happy with my performance this month. Turns out, they were unhappy with the Reyna signing because it put the team over the payroll limit. They were also unhappy with the staff salaries being so large. Never mind the fact that they had not given me a limit in that area of the finances. As they fired these questions at me, I attempted to defend myself. I pointed out that the sale of Bocanegra, plus playoff revenue had put the club on solid footing for the year. We were now a million in the black. Furthermore, Reyna had more or less taken Bocanegra’s salary slot, so aside from the signing bonus, he hadn’t cost much more. Jamison pointed out that Reyna had played one game, and then gone on the injured list for three weeks. That meant that Reyna was not pulling his weight and was a waste of money. I pointed out the fact that no one can predict injuries and that Reyna had helped use win the last two games with brilliant play. Jamison glared and said, “You think this is about winning? It is not. Soccer is a business, not a sport. For all your achievements on the pitch, you are a failure when it comes to running this club as a business. Consider yourself warned Mr. Coleman. If I hear that you are spending more than I have allocated, you will answer to me.” On that note the chairman informed me that the press release would say they were “pleased” with my performance. Privately however, I was going to be on a tight leash.

I fumed in silence as I drove back to my small apartment not far from the SJS campus. I longed to be back on my ten acre farm in rural southern Missouri, but that wasn’t possible until the off-season. Figuring that this would be as good a time as any, I called my coaches and told them that practice was canceled for the next day. I then went to the corner store and bought a 24 case of Bud Light. Went home, got drunk and went to bed. But, before I even started drinking, I checked the English football websites for job openings. There were two jobs open- one at Blackburn and the other Nottingham County. I submitted my online resume and received the confirmation that the apps had been received. Once that was done, I took the first beer out of the freezer and chugged it down. I then went to the phone, turned off the ringer and the answering machine, turned off my cell phone and turned on the stereo. As country music filled the room, I grabbed a second beer and collapsed into the big easy chair. As I let my mind drift away, I thought about how much I hated San Jose and that asshole of a Chairman- Greg Jamison/ I drank my way steadily through the case, taking care to alternate every so often with a glass of water. Aside from trips to the head and refrigerator, I sat in the easy chair, staring at nothing into space. Finally, finishing my 13th beer around 6am, I stumbled to the sink, took two painkillers and drank two glasses of water and went to bed.

Having drank water the night before and having taken the painkillers before going to sleep, I woke up around noon feeling reasonably with it. A shower and a greasy breakfast helped. When I finally got around to checking my answering machine, I found several calls from reporters. Apparently word had leaked out that I had applied for the open jobs in England. The reporters were mainly interested in why I wanted out of San Jose so badly. That was the board’s question as well. In a tersely worded email, the board secretary informed me that they were not happy with my actions and not impressed with my seeming lack of loyalty to the club. The board threatened to sack me and hire someone else if I didn’t shape up and start following the company line. I deleted the email without replying, called the reporters back with a bland statement that I was happy with San Jose, and hoped that would clear up the misunderstanding with the club and the press. I didn’t really need the press or the board looking over my shoulder as we prepared to play Alajuelense in Costa Rica on October 5. The game was the opening round of the CONACAF Champions Cup. As we prepared to fly down there on the 3rd, the trainers informed me that Akwari would be out a month with knee trouble. That meant both my regular DC’s would be out, and the defense on this team has the fewest reserves. It was typical of fate that it would strike at the weakest spot of the team. But, that’s how it goes. As a result, the staff and I decided to start Huff and Merio plus the regulars in Costa Rica. Reyna, the much despised (by the board) would be named game captain.

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This story is at slightly more than 20,000 words. I think I spend entirely too much time on this. At any rate, this story may be placed on the back burner if I decide to do the Ages Challenge.


The Costa Rican evening was a beautiful deepening blue as we kicked off our game with Alajuelense. They came out with a 442 geared towards attacking. Only two minutes in, Ala aggressiveness paid off as Jose Castro floated a hanger in from the right that Chris Castro headed into goal to give Ala the 1-0 lead. Our morale was not improved when two minutes later, after a challenge, EJ went down like a shot squirrel. He wasn’t diving; the trainers came onto the pitch and helped him off the field. I saw the players on the pitch exchange dark looks as I sent out Cunningham as the replacement. Clearly the team responded to EJ. They instantly redoubled their efforts to attack the Ala goal. On 6, a mere minute or two after EJ limped off, Juskowaik gathered in a deflection and fired it back past the keeper to tie the score 1-1. First half scoring was concluded on 22 when Maluleke collected his own shot on the rebound and put it back past the keeper to put San Jose ahead 2-1. It seemed obvious that the Alajuelense keeper had trouble with rebounds, but we were unable to exploit the weakness any further. Both teams settled down to a midfield duel and nothing of note happened further in the half.

As was usual, the second half started out much like the first. Whatever the managers had said to their teams at the break was clearly not making any difference in the early going. On 62 subbed in Daniels for Davis, who was having a rather ordinary game. Four minutes later Ala tied the game back up 2-2 when Jimenez scored on a header off of a long cross by Alex Castro. The rest of the half saw both sides attacking trying to get the winner, but it never came and we went into overtime. At the beginning of OT, I told my guys to stop pressing and just attack. On 105 Paule scored when he picked off a pass and drove it in low. It was a long tiring game and I had no confidence that my team was going to recover. What a waste of time really. My sense of foreboding increased when the trainers delivered their final verdict on EJ the next morning. It turned out that he had injured his kneecap and would be out a good two months. Of course, this meant he was done for the year. It figured that the gods of the pitch would bring down our best forward in some tin pot competition. Yes, I know the Champions Cup is supposedly prestigious and that the winner would receive about 1.5 million dollars in prize money, but frankly, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about that. We would have to slog through the MLS playoffs without EJ and I did not trust my backup forwards to provide consistent scoring. Each was capable of lighting it up once or twice a season, but none had been tested over a grueling set of games. Ah, life is fun as the San Jose manager right now.

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On the afternoon of October 8 we were in Chicago to begin the MLS semi-finals. Our lineup was a patchwork affair. Given the recent rash of injuries and unfitness, I was just happy to field a team. Thornton was in goal, Kolodzley was at left back, Pierce moved over to center defense to partner Merio and Karbasslyoon replaced EJ until further notice. The bench was comprised of mostly third stringers: Beech, Delao, Daniels, Dartt and White. It was a cold day in Chicago with the temperature hovering around the freezing mark. As a consequence, I told my team not to press that day. No sense in overexerting ourselves in the cold and pulling something. Chicago started out confidently with a 442 and at an attacking pace. We struck first on 27 when Karbasslyoon put back his own rebound to make it SJ 1 Chicago 0. From that moment we took charge, pressuring the Chicago defense and keeper. Both, however, held up well, despite the fact that the ball resided in the Chicago zone nearly 40% of the half. Chicago finally took advantage of our attacking ineptitude, took the ball deep in their half and counter-attacked on 43. Hendrickson, the Chicago right back lobbed a cross in that bounced into the area. Both West and Thornton raced over to collect the ball. West, being quicker and having the angle, beat Thornton and calmly put the ball into the now empty goal to tie the game at 1-1.

At halftime I subbed out Maluleke and Juskowaik to keep them fresh for future contests. Delao and Beech took their places upon the action resuming. The second half was much like the first. Chicago’s attack was ragged and they weren’t getting many chances. Meanwhile, our attack was superb as we kept most of the 32,000 strong home fans anxious. But Conway, an ex-San Jose keeper was playing inspired and his stonewall refused to crack. Time and again he made saves and position play; in general showing why he was one of the league’s top goalkeepers. I subbed Daniels in for Reyna on 69 in an attempt to inject fresh legs into the game. But, as I watched Conway having a brilliant day, I resigned myself to the fact that we would probably have the shootout after regulation had expired. Then, on 89, Ibsen, our right back sped up the right flank with the ball. Knowing that there were only a couple of minutes left, Ibsen fired in a deep cross that found Beech in perfect position at a crack in the stone wall. Beech leaped and hammered home the header to give us the 2-1 win. For his timing, Ibsen was awarded the MOM. In sort, it was the kind of tough gritty win one needs to win in the playoffs. It put us in good position as the next leg of the round would be played in San Jose. But, before we could think about that, we had to play Cruz Azul at Mexico City in the Champions Cup second round in four days time.

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On the 11th we traveled to Mexico City. With four days of rest, most of the regulars were able to play, except for Ibsen. Jolly started in his place at right back, White started in goal and Karbasslyoon again started for EJ. The bench was Beech, Chung, Daniels, Dartt and Thornton. By the time we got to Mexico City we had less than 24 hours to acclimate ourselves to the smog. They say that California has smog, well, it ain’t nearly as bad as the stuff they have in Mexico.

Despite the smog, the evening of the 12th was pleasant enough. There was no precipitation and the temperature was in the low 60s. Once again, I told my team not to press from the get go. Cruz Azul came out in a 442 and was attacking with directness. For the first few minutes, both teams went up and down the pitch with the ball, but neither side was able to finish any chances they got. On 20 CA scored when Palencio got free, took a sloppy pass, and thumped the ball past Thornton. We didn’t panic and twenty minutes later, Maluleke headed a ball down for Juskowaik, who had lost his man, and Juskowaik nailed the low shot into the left side of goal to tie the score at 1-1. The last few minutes of the half passed quickly as both teams wanted to hand to the dressing room with a tie.

Both teams started the second like they had started the game. Neither side changed their approach or tactics. Consequently, both teams continued to inaccurately fire shots at the goal without doing much damage. On 71 I sent in Daniels, Chung and Beech for Reyna, Maluleke and Karbasslyoon. The first two were tired and Karbasslyoon was not having a productive game. The subs actually slowed the pace of the game; both teams began to fight in midfield, preparing to send the game into overtime. On 77, Beech once again did his magic, heading home a Chung cross from the right to make the score SJ 2 CA 1. But ten minutes later Palencio bagged his second goal, when he out jumped Pierce to head a Gomez cross. The game went to overtime tied at 2-2.

In overtime Palencio, who was playing a sensational game, got his hat-trick on 96 when he got a rebound and put it back. At the break on 105, I told my team it was time to start attacking and to press. The next 15 minutes were an exercise in desperation. We attacked and attacked and attacked more. On 120 as time was running out, we were awarded a left-side corner. A weary Davis lined up the ball and put it into play. Beech rose in the air, beating Castro and powered the ball into goal, a second before the horn sounded to retie the game at 3-3. As the players mobbed Beech, I reminded my team that we still had penalties to get through. Both sides were drained and each team missed three of their allotted five penalties. We went to sudden death. The next five were either matched or missed. The 37,000 odd fans were on the edge of their seats. The players on either side were clutching hands or praying under their breath. Many had their eyes shut; others were staring at the field. I was standing apart from my players, working a chew as the 11th players prepared to take their penalties. As it happened, the 11th men were the goalkeepers. White stepped up to the mark, stared at his opposite number and sent the ball crashing wide right. Crestfallen, he returned to his goal to face the CA goalkeeper Perez. Perez seemed oblivious to the pressure as he stepped up and blasted the ball true. The fans sat silent for a stunned moment and then cheered. Out on the field, White collapsed, face buried in his hands. I spat the chew out and walked towards him, helped him up and gathered the team into the locker room. Looking each in the eye, I told them that they had just played the toughest game of their career. They would be able to look back at this game and come away knowing that they had played their best. I reminded my San Jose players that there were still more games to play in this season. In fact, we would play Independiente Petrolero on the 15th, so we didn’t have much time to dwell on the loss. As we were boarding our charter at the airport, I picked up an early morning edition and saw that the journalists had given Palencio a much-deserved MOM.