Worlds 2010; Three-Post Special

Sweden always play “hi-lo” (two very functional players and two lower pointers rather than an even spread) spearheaded by star players, “P J Uhlmann” and “Tobias Sandberg” (both 3.5). GB pressed well but found it very difficult to deal with the pair’s pace and passing. So many times the Swedes just squeezed out of their half to convert on offence and used a combination of pressing and key defence to frustrate GB as they attacked, leaving us trailing by some five goals at the half.

The third quarter ran pretty evenly but during the fourth GB’s fitness showed through as the Swedes started to falter, having to change their line-up to rest players. Using their three 2.5’s, Morrison, Sehmi and Anthony, along with 0.5, Coggan, GB started clawing back the deficit. A thrilling comeback culminated in GB gaining parity with less than two minutes on the clock. The game ran goal for goal and GB took last possession one down with the opportunity to force overtime. Unfortunately the Swedish key held strong and GB lost a heartbreaker 45-46.

Obviously the rest of the team and I were badly hurt by this result but we had to be professional and prepare to face world number ones, USA that evening. We started the game much better, soaking up a lot of the US pressure. GB kept the score close but burned all of their timeouts doing so, which meant that later in the game we’d have to take a lot more chances breaking the press. Gradually the US wore us down and extended their lead throughout the game. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t stem the tide and the final score was 54-45 in favour of the US.

It had indeed been a long day and a very tough start to the tournament. Three games, three losses, out of the medals and we were staring down the barrel of a fall into the ninth to twelfth place play-off if we didn’t win our next two games!

2/From the ground up!

With medals out of reach, we had to concentrate on turning around our tournament and getting some wins on the board. Our current ranking was ninth after the 2009 Europeans and the highest we could now finish was fifth. So we could potentially jump four places if we won all our remaining games.

It was now Wednesday and Germany were waiting, lead by former GB coach and “Murderball” star Joe Soares. GB changed their starting line and came out firing for the first time since the tournament began. The new line of Ash, Sehmi, Morrison and Hussain leapt out to an early lead, stopping the Germans from playing their key-game and turning the screw at every opportunity.

After their defence failed, Germany had no plan B and GB sat on a comfortable lead until the fourth quarter. A brief rally late in the game cut our lead to two but the final result was never in doubt. I’m happy to say that at about half-past eight on Wednesday evening, the buzzer sounded with the score at 48-46 and GB finally had a “W” by their name!

Our last pool game was against Finland who are always tricky. The elusive “Leevi Ylonen” (3.0) is their lynchpin and is possibly the most agile player in the game today. If we could tie him down, the Fins would crumble. It was a one-goal game until half time but the Fins were running out of timeouts, and fitness!

GB threw on their 2.5’s after the break and gradually began to capitalize on the flagging Fins. A one-goal lead became two and then three, every turnover giving us more energy and desire. Finland finally cracked in the fourth; giving away a clutch of goals in quick succession and the game was ours. A 51-43 win ensured our passage into the middle bracket of the tournament. At worse we’d now improve our ranking by one place and at best, we could qualify for the fifth/sixth play-off but to do that, we’d have to beat current European champions, Belgium…

3/…And so we end as we started!

The key to beating Belgium is stopping “Lars Mertens”, (their dominant 3.5 player) so we based a lot of our game plan on shutting him down and then breaking off to his outlets. We executed well and although the first quarter was even, we could see that Belgium were having to work very hard to stay with us.

By the half we had widened the gap and our fitness was again beginning to show. Slowly but surely we increased our lead and eventually the Belgians threw in the towel and went to an alternative line without their big gun. Turnovers rained down and in the space of three minutes we were leading by double digits. The 54-39 victory had earned us a re-match with Canada and a chance to right a few wrongs from our opening game!

We still started nervously but managed to regroup and force Canada into lots of personnel changes. Once again the 2.5’s proved their worth, keeping the game close until deep into the third. A standout performance from “David Anthony” caught the eye as GB’s man of the tournament broke press after press to frustrate the opposition and keep us in touch.

Unfortunately, Canada made a couple of vital breakthroughs in the fourth and once again proved to strong, using their high point depth to power to a 59-54 win over us. Although the result was the same, our performance was a million miles from that of our previous encounter and we could hold our head high and say we gave it everything. Overall, we had finished sixth and gained three world ranking places, beating the European champions in the process.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that has read this blog and followed our progress. Also thanks to those who have taken the time to comment and offer their support. It really does mean a lot to know that people back home are interested in our sport and I hope you continue to follow our journey all the way through to London 2012…

I’ll be taking a couple of weeks off now but after that, I’ll be back with my thoughts and reflections of this great World Championships. Once again, thanks for reading!