Heath Melugin, a member of the Springfield SC 89/90 team, represented SSC on a recent trip to Costa Rica as a member of the Region II 1990 ODP squad. Heath was joined by other players from throughout Region II as they traveled down to Coast Rica to train and play some Costa Rican teams. Below is a journal that Heath wrote covering his trip.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
As we caught the flight from Dallas to San Jose, Costa Rica, the language barrier began to kick in. For every English sentence there was a Spanish one to follow. It was very interesting meeting the Costa Ricans on the flight because they were very nice and entertaining, especially since we were soccer, “Futbol,” players. It was refreshing to experience the passion and pride they had in their favorite sport. The passion was even deeper than how Americans feel about football; it was almost like a religion to them. The pride in their pro teams, that we were scheduled to play, and their pride in the game of soccer reminded me of the glimpse of pride that I am beginning to see in the tradition of the Springfield Soccer Club. With State Championships, indoor facilities and Midwest Regional League Titles that kind of pride in the club should be expected. Tonight we are staying at a Best Western and my roommates are Adam Mills from Indiana, he is going to West Virginia, and Matt Mason from Ohio, he is committed to Akron.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Today we woke up at 7 o’ clock after about a four hour night sleep. Before we headed out for our morning run and stretch we had to make sure we hid all valuables because we were informed that many things tend to get stolen. The mindset of being a professional was emphasized right from the beginning as we were expected to get ourselves to bed, at the right time, hydrated on our own, and prepare to get up early for training. After training we packed up and headed up the mountain to San Carlos. As we began the four hour drive through windy, farm roads many players got very sick. I probably got the sickest of everyone and was not very excited about getting around for training. Luckily, I quickly recuperated and was ready to train. The training was high quality and very intense. Touches and preciseness of passes were emphasized greatly as the coaches walked around and observed, seeming to except nothing less than perfection. Teammates expected quality from each other, and the great thing was that most of the time they received it. We shadowed our formation for the game tomorrow as I was playing a holding center midfield role. Shape and support were two key components that the coaches worked with us on. That night we went to the Hot Springs. At the Hot Springs there were 10 different pools with different temperatures. The pools were naturally heated by the active volcano that was just a couple yards from the first pool. One of the pools had two slides that fed into it. The slides were amazing; they were so steep and fast that we would get airborne for 10 ft. on the drop. It would have been illegal in America so it was pretty awesome.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Breakfast was at eight this morning and then we had training at nine. We were preparing for our first game against the San Carlos Reserve Team. In practice we did some light possession and juggling drills. We also went over defending and attacking on set plays. This practice was a little more laid back because of our game in the evening. After practice we went into downtown San Carlos and did some shopping. On our way we went over this bridge where there were about 50 Iguanas just hanging out. After that we had lunch and had a little meeting to go over our game plan. Our game plan was to not chase too much because of the 80 degree heat and also slow the game down when we could. The coaches said that they wanted us to play a style of soccer that was a mix of American with a little South American flair, which they described as slowing the game down, then speeding it up and getting to goal quickly when the time is right. Defensively they wanted us to have great position and shape and wait for the other team to make a mistake. In the game I played as an attacking center mid. The game was extremely fast paced and was probably the most intense game I have ever played in. The San Carlos players were very technical and had amazing quickness and acceleration. We were much bigger and stronger than most of them. It was our first game as a group but surprisingly we came out very strong. We had a handful of chances to score but never found the back of the net. We lost 1-0, but were overall pleased with our performance. The main thing that I took away from their style of play was that they changed pace and direction very quickly. At one moment they would slow the game down and possess and then a couple of passes later they would pick us apart and be on goal. Most of the game we handled this very well.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Today we woke up to morning showers. This tends to happen as the weather is very unpredictable. We had breakfast, packed up our bags, and headed down the mountain back to San Jose. On our way we stopped to tour through the rain forest using zip lines. It was pretty awesome and I saw some of the most amazing views. The trees that we zip lined from were over 150 ft. tall. It was a great experience. After that we continued the journey down the mountain while watching “Glory Road.” When we got to the hotel we had some downtime before training and took advantage of it by napping. During training we worked on finding the attacking midfielders feet more often. This involved me a lot because I am one of two of the attacking midfielders on our team. Our quality of play was a little down this training so the coaches emphasized that we would need to pick it up for the game against the U-19 Costa Rican National Team.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
This morning we woke up at 6 to have breakfast at 6:30. We were preparing for our game against the Costa Rican National Team. We got to the fields and the complex was extremely nice. The complex was under construction as they were building something like the IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, only on a smaller scale. It was very hot and very windy. The team was in the middle of the selection process as they were preparing for the next world cup. I started at attacking center midfield this game and the pace of play was amazingly fast. The Costa Ricans were very fast and had most of the possession during the game. We struck first as my roommate Matt Mason (Akron) got the goal off of a through ball. Next the National Team got two goals before half. They were pretty weak goals as one was hit in with a hand. The referee was either very partial or didn’t see it. In the second half we scored off of a corner kick that bounced around a few times before it was finished. We finished the game with a 2-2 tie. They were a very technical, strong, quick and smart team. We were pleased with our result. After the game we headed back to the hotel and got some down time. At two we had to hit the freezing cold pool for some rehab. Soon after we headed to downtown San Jose to do some sight-seeing, and shopping. It was a very overcrowded place. The country was going through some political reform so there were some protestors outside the capital building. We went when it was still light but were told that it is a dangerous place at night. We saw signs of this with the amount of graffiti on the buildings. The clothes are more expensive than in the US because they have higher taxes. This is because they have nationalized healthcare. We went into one store similar to a Finish Line or Champs except that they sold a lot of soccer apparel. The workers in the store were fascinated with us being American soccer players, and wanted to know many details about our games. Once we left downtown we went to a restaurant that really expressed the Costa Rican culture. The food was very good and they had many different fruity flavored drinks. We had men playing instruments around us and they even let us give it a try. After dinner we just headed back to the hotel and had to be in our rooms by nine to prepare for the mornings game.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Today we woke up early and had breakfast. Our game against Alajuela U-19 was at ten o’ clock. It was another hot and windy day. This was a very good team and had some very talented individual players. There was one kid that was about 5’ 4.” He had an amazing touch and incredible pace. The team was very good at switching the field by long balls across the field. This created some trouble for us at times. They struck first as one of their players hit a volley from about half and it hit the post. He had a teammate that got the rebound and finished it for the first goal. Right off the next kickoff, our forward, Julian Cardona (Shattuck, St. Mary’s), recognized that the goalie was off his line and hit a bomb, scoring off the kickoff. Soon after Alajuela scored, putting them up 2-1 before half. We put them under pressure many times in the second half. I had a shot that was a sure goal but got deflected by a defender. As our pressure continued I played a ball from the center midfield to our right midfielder, Adam Mills, (West Virginia) as he crossed it and earned us a corner. The corner was taken by Peter O’ Neil, (Northwestern), and finished by Corey Majowski, (Oakland University). This goal was scored in stoppage time so soon after the game ended. The game ended at a tie, 2-2. After the game we hit the very cold pool to rehab and then got ready to go to a children’s day care for community service. Most of the children had single mothers with low incomes. They were some of the cutest kids I have ever seen. When we asked them who their favorite soccer team was, they chanted, in unison, “Saprissa! Saprissa!” Saprissa is the best team in the Costa Rican professional league. We played soccer with the children and handed out candy. That night we had dinner outside and a group of dancers did a number of festive dances for our entertainment. We got to sleep pretty early in order to get ready for our last game, which the coaches said is always the toughest on these trips.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Today we got to sleep in until about 8:30 and then had breakfast. After that we went back to our room to relax until we had a meeting and lunch at 11:30. We went over our defensive shape for the afternoon game against the University of Costa Rica. This team plays in the 1st division pro league and each player pays $200 a semester to go to the University. Once we got to our game there were some men’s league games going on before us. There were men anywhere from 20 to 55 years old. It is pretty cool because whether they are good or not everyone in Costa Rica plays soccer. We did not play very good in the first half of this game as we found ourselves down 1-0 at half. They scored off a header from a set ball played into the box. They were very dangerous on their set plays. In the second half we were all over them, getting many breakaways. The referee showed his loyalty to his country as he overlooked two times where we were blatantly taken down from behind in the box. We did not find a way to put the ball in the net and as a result lost 1-0. This was a disappointing one because we really felt we were the better team. That night we went to TGI Fridays for our farewell dinner. The Costa Rica Soccer Tours, the company Region II worked with, gave away some stuff and showed a video over the trip. After dinner we went to a pro game between Alajuela and the Brujas. This was a great experience because of how hostile of an environment it was. There were fences and barbwire surrounding the field, keeping people from raiding it. There was a group of about 300 hooligans that were going crazy the whole game. They were a gang and very similar to the movie “The Green Street Hooligans.” A fight broke out and police with shields had to regulate. The game was very exciting as Alajuela won 3-1. After the game we went back to our hotels and just hung out, enjoying our last night together.
***Thanks to Heath for writing up this journal for the blog. Sounds like a great trip and one that he will be able to look back on for many years to come.***
