Friday Talks Day 1 in Dubai
Friday Talks Day 1 in Dubai
The USA Men’s 7s team can look at one or two very specific things that undercut their Day One in Dubai.
Not least of these was a tough pool - none of the teams in their pool were pushovers. There were a few breakdowns - holding-on penalties killed their chances against England, and not being precise as a trailing defender closing off gap left a tiny door open for Australia, a door they kicked open.
But there are other factors, as well. The jet lag is tough on the North American teams (Canada also went 1-2). Dubai is 12 hours different from the West Coast and is a very difficult tournament to prepare for even with a few days to acclimate.
“It was really tough to adjust for the boys as it couldn't be any worse for us with the 12-hour time difference,” said USA Head Coach Mike Friday, who was encountering this shift for the first time. “We started to make adjustments prior to departure and on the flights, but had to go through a few jet lag days to get out the other side. We started to feel better Wednesday.”
Friday and Chris Brown were careful about how much work they did on the field and in the gym, and used the workouts to try to help the players’ bodies change time zones. But it is a very difficult adjustment, and when you’re playing at the highest level with thin margins between win and lose, it matters.
We started well in all 3 games and controlled the tempo and ball but then made so e basic errors at critical times and got punished which we have to cut out...We need to get better at recognizing where the space is and attack there too many times the space was out wide and we didn't move the ball there we looked for ourselves leading to us getting isolated in contact at times getting turned over or penalized.”
That word again, penalized. Friday could be heard n the TV coverage lamenting the lack of the odd call, and he was frustrated that 50-50 balls in the tackle seemed to be called as penalties against the USA. One specific call against Zack Test was unusually harsh, and probably wrong, and completely changed the tenor of the game against Australia.
“I recognize referees are human and make mistakes,” said Friday, “[But the mistakes] seemed to be very costly ones to us, and the consolation of the Referee Manager Paddy O’Brien saying ‘sorry’ doesn't change that, which is a frustrating aspect at present as unfortunately with where we are on our journey we are not yet good enough to win these games against Tier 1 nations if we don’t get the referee calls we are due!”
This was a lesson for the coach, as it’s been a harsh reality for USA national teams for some time They are not normally given the benefit of the doubt in the breakdown, and that’s where the turnovers and penalties happen.
Looking ahead, the Eagles can rebound as they did in Australia and win the Bowl, but that means beating Japan and then the likes of Canada, France, or Samoa to get there.
“Big day tomorrow for the boys,” said Friday, “as we need to continue to work hard, develop our mental resolve and resilience and come out focused and determined to play with desire and accuracy and stay on task of trying to win three games one at a time.”
