Riga Derby X2
Saturday the 28th of September we had our third meeting of the championship with RFS (for those who don’t know; this is our biggest opponent). The game was at their home field at 18h on their main grass field. We are the number one with 3 points in advance and they are second.
As usual we would meet at Skonto stadium, dress, do our meeting and stretching and then drive with the bus to LNK sporta parks. The atmosphere was good. Girls were laughing, but also serious and a bit nervous I could sense. I guess it’s normal because we know what’s at stake and what our goal is for the season.
After we did all our things at Skonto we hopped on the bus on our way to the game. From now on its complete focus. Everyone listening to their music to get ready for the game. I had one of the Double Troubles (they know who i’m reffing to) in front of me. She was sending me stupid reels on Instagram; the kind you can’t do anything other than laugh about it. There goes my focus…but I guess I needed it. Too much focus can be exhaust before the game. Arrived in LNK, we put our shoes on and go out for warm-up. What shoes do I wear? The ones for hard ground or iron studs for soft ground. We’ll start with the hard ground ones and see how warm-up goes. The field was great by the way; I don’t know how to explain for the people that don’t play football but when you have a grass field that is smooth and the length of the grass is great for the ball to roll smoothly like you see on tv with champions league games. Just mwah! :) So no iron studs needed.
First half- game starts and after 2 minutes there is a foul made on Chris in RFS their 16m box. The referee whistles and points to the penalty stip; penalty. I go over to Chris to say good job and help her up from the ground. Take the ball she says. “OK, you want to take it?” I ask. “No, you, you take it.” I take the ball from the penalty stip and put it back how I want it. Take my steps back and made my decision of the corner I will shoot it in. Then I hear some of the RFS girls say to their goalkeeper left corner (I can understand this in Latvian and Russian). This is the corner I will shoot it in. I think in a split second maybe I should change the corner…No, I stick to my plan. The ref whistles and I breathe one more time and run towards the ball, shoot with my laces as hard as I can in the left corner. Goalkeeper also goes to this corner…Goal…0-1 for us! Yes! We celebrate and hug each other. Then I remember I promised Nikola that if I scored I would do a celebration for her; so I did. “FOCUS” we say to each other it’s important to keep the lead. The game continues and I think it’s going 50/50 for both teams. They have some good attacks and we have some good attacks. Then in the 37th minute there is a foul made on one of our strikers around the 16m box of RFS. I think it was around 25m from the goal so its a perfect spot for a freekick. Jhen came up to me and asked me “Can I take it?” hm…no “I want to take it” I say. This is my spot. ok, she said. I reminded Anna and Lexxe to get in the wall next to the opponent because these things we practiced. They do it and just before I am about to hit the ball they run away and open up a gap for me to shoot in. I lace it and the goalkeeper sees the ball to late and so her response to my shot is also late. 0-2! Let’s gooo! Don’t know where the celebration was coming from, but I was running, screaming and waving my arm around. What a great evening I was thinking. Couple minutes later we made a small mistake by not communicating with each other and it was 1-2. Shit…but still ok we’re leading. The rain and wind have also joined our game at this point. Couple minutes later it’s half time. Nice.
Second Half- We get outside. The rain and wind continue. It’s getting worse and worse. Couple minutes into the second half I get my first yellow card. I’m too late and step on the opponents foot. The game is rough, we try to adjust to the conditions and to the field since its getting slippier. There is a substitution being made and Sofa is coming in. For my feeling a minute later she scores. Relief…1-3! They press and try, fouls here and there. Creating some things here and there from both sides. Then in the 76th minute I get my second yellow card…first foul made on me (no foul being given by the ref) and after that apparently my battle for the ball was a foul because I don’t stay on the ground and cry like some others do…not naming names…I argue with the ref. I’m furious and completely disagree with her. I’m not leaving the field for this I said. ok, then your team will loose this game the ref replies to me. We’re winning 1-3, but 20 min with 1 player down is a lot of time. I believe in my team and since there is no point of talking with the ref anymore I take of my band and walk to our goalkeeper to give it to her. The ref comes to me and says I need to leave the field faster. I’m walking…I’m going what more you want I ask her? In my mind; what more can she do? I already have red, you want to give me another one for walking of the field haha.
I get the key to our locker room and walk toward the locker. I want to go up in the stand and continue to watch the game. hm…I better don’t. So I go stand behind the fence on our goalkeepers side close to the corner flag. Not even a minute there a man walks up to me and say “I’m a delegate from the federation and you can’t be here. You need to be in the locker room.” I respond I’m not on the field and just watching the game like I’m in the stands. If you don’t go you will get a note next to your name and maybe more games on your suspension. Where to I respond “thank you sir, I just want to watch my team and you can make any note you want I’m not on the field so I’m not leaving this spot.” In the meantime I’m following the game. RFS is pressing and my team is defending. Coming out from time to time. Then 4 minutes before regular time RFS scores…2-3…shit… There’s nothing I can do but watch…90 minutes passed. +5 minutes, oef… RFS is giving it’s all. They need to win in order to close the gap of points. 5 minutes are going so slow, it feels like 15min. c’mon c’mon girls, you’ve got this. Then finally the ref whistles; finished. We win 2-3. We are leading with six points in the championship. Great work girls! I’m proud of all of you. Fought till the last minute. We celebrate our win. 20 fouls were made by us on RFS and 20 fouls given by the ref. 29 fouls made on us and 16 fouls given, but who’s counting… Next week we go again… Only this time it will be cup final in Skonto Stadium.
For the first time in history the women’s cup final will be played in Skonto Stadium. It’s a big moment for a lot of girls and the staff. We have been looking forward to play on this grass field ever since they were renovating it earlier this season. The promise was, if we did good in the league we could play a game in the stadium. Who doesn’t want that right?
So Sunday we have recovery training and from Tuesday on we continue to prepare for the game on Saturday. There’s not much to change just small details we can work on to try to make our game better. But most important we need to stay healthy and not fall sick or get injured in this short period.
I get a message from Komanda if I needed new boots. That’s lovely! “Yes I will come to the store to pick up a pair.” So next day I’m there to get my new boots and in the training later that day I need to try them on and see how they are. Good good, they are comfy and light, they feel great. First time I’m wearing white shoes. Always love the way white shoes look but so hard to keep them white though haha. But these were too beautiful to not get them! White with gold stripes…Gold, that’s what we’re aiming for. Friday I met with them in their new store location. Got a tour and verbal presentation of how everything will be. After we did our small photoshoot and I got a nice gift. More about that later.
And then it’s Saturday October 5th- Game Day The game is at 18.00 again so we kinda have half a day so what do we do? I stick to the same routine as last week. Wake up, eat breakfast, hop in the shower, go out for a small walk and get some coffee. Get back in the apartment watch a movie or series, rest and than lunch before I need to go to meet the team at 15:45. Today was a special greeting at the gate in Skonto. We couldn’t get inside…but I’m a player I need to play in 2 hours. “you need a card to get inside” the guard said. I call the team managers and they come out with cards so we can go inside and meet the team in the locker room. We’re in the man’s locker room today…wauw…this looks great. Let’s go out and inspect the field.
We meet our opponent on the field since they’re walking around as well. Some girls greet each other and make small talk and after continue to inspect the field.
We go back inside, change, do our stretching, pre warm-up and after is our meeting for the line up. Everything is based on a tight schedule we need to follow so we go out and do our warm-up in the timeframe we have. Get back inside to put our shirts on and get ready to go wait in the tunnel to go out on de field. Here we wait some minutes (for me it feels like 10min) until the organizer says its time. Here we go. A lot of people showed up (later shown it was 640). That’s great. We line up for the Latvian national anthem, shake hands and after get together for our pre game yell.
First Half- They win the toss and kick off. They have possession of the ball the majority of the time. We come out from time to time and create some chances. They push and create chances as well. We hit the post 2 times and they get really close to scoring as well. 0-0 Half time. We’re missing something… Some say it some feel it. But it’s 0-0 so we just need to come out stronger in the 2nd half.
Second Half- We kick off. Second half is similar to the first half. They have ball, try to create something but no goals yet. We counter and try to score. The clock is ticking and still no goals. More attacks from FRS (this is my feeling) and then in the 83th minute there is a high ball coming in our 16m box. Our defender wants to head it away and the ball slips into the other direction; towards our goal. Not expected by our goalkeeper and…goal…shiiit. “ok, we have time to fix this, it’s not over.” We can do it. Score 1 goal. Oke now we have to. We have to push them and try to score. We try, try, try, but no goal from our side…The ref whistles and it’s finished. 1-0 for them. They have the cup. Speechless…We thank our supporters for coming.
After that the worst moment is the wait…The wait for the medal ceremony. You just want to leave, go inside and let it all sink in. But we wait for the stage to be set up, for the flowers, for the medals and the cup to be put into place. Then we need to make a tunnel for the winner ohno… They make a tunnel for us and we need to get our medals. Then we make a tunnel again for them to walk and receive their medal and the cup. All nice and great…if you’re the winner. Otherwise it take long and leaves a bitter taste. Celebration is finished or at least we can go inside now. They continue to celebrate. All bummed out. The coach gives a speech to make us feel better and tells us the focus is now again 100% on the championship. I say a couple words, afterwards we change and it is time to go home.
Now a couple days after we start to prepare for our game in the championship against Metta (3th in the table). This game will be played this Wednesday. I will not be playing because of my suspension for my red card last game. But Saturday we also have another game against Auda- away and I’m happy to be back on the field again then. We need 3 more wins out of the 5 games we have left. So let’s keep our heads up and continue our good winning streak in the championship. Nothing can and should stop us from winning the league!!
“THE BEST IS YET TO COME”
Aiziet! давай!
Pictures by Nora Krevneva-Baibakova