Mad Cows vs. Sancat

What can we say, the great Mad Cows had a not-so-great match experience on Tuesday against Sancat… let’s try to cover what happened. The initial lineup: Letizia and Zelda in the front, Sanne and Laia in the back. The game starts. The feeling is good. Sancat immediately appears as a same-level opponent, the game is balanced. They make mistakes, we make mistakes, they get opportunities and we get opportunities. 

A first sub, Francesca for Letizia. Some good passes, good forward actions… the balanced game goes on for a while, and then… it happens. First goal for Sancat. Tension starts increasing and mood starts decreasing. Some more subs: Oana and Olivia for Laia and Sanne. The fierce Mad Cows seem disoriented, and their communication is not good. A second goal from Sancat comes in. The mood gets even worse, Zelda is probably the maddest cow - angry with the whole world and destiny. But if coach Nino were a cow, he would have won “the maddest” title: his anger was trespassing the bench area and invading the pitch like black smoke. 

Subs keep rotating. The audacious runs by Francesca, the fierce defence by Olivia and Oana, the tenacious insistence of Adrienne, the precious saves by Beatriz… nothing seems to help, we get two more Sancat goals and everybody is relieved when we finally reach half-time, with a 4-0. In the second half the Mad Cows get themselves together a bit: some more organization, some fewer mistakes, even more insistence. But by then it has become a defensive game, trying to limit damage. We get “only” one more goal, and the game ends 5-0. 

The Mad Cows were given some grass-for-thought in the changing room by AngryNino’s speech, refreshed their furs with a shower, and off to the “third-half” (which they always win), pizza and beer :) 

I found this quote by C.S.Lewis’ particularly suitable to the herd’s current situation in the `classifica’: 

Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. One fails forward toward success. So Cows, don’t let your horns hang and get ready for the next challenge!!