They didn't play like they were losing.

They didn't play like they were losing.  They had only 11 players, and at least one of them was hungover with only 2 hours of sleep.  But we only had 12, with one sick and one on a 48 hour fast.  That's dedication.  Fortunately for us, it took the whole first half for the much-feared Atlas to wake up and start shutting down our offense.  We were all tired.  We'd all gotten up at dawn for this match.  They never let up, and it was a really good time.

I always thought of soccer as a liesure activity.  When you're setting your alarm for 5:40 a.m. so that you can get up in time to be at the field at 7:00 to set up nets & lines on a Sunday, that's when you really have to question how serious you are about this sport.  We got there at 7, and set up the goals & nets.  Our opponents still hadn't showed at 7:45.  We were beginning to worry that we had gotten up early for a forfeit.  But they did show up after all, and with a full team of 11.  And we had a great game with the wind and clouds coming in, finally winning 5:1 just as it started to rain.

(Borrowed photo.)