CSB 1 - 0 Bumadu

We prevailed in the district semifinals yesterday, against what was probably the other strongest team in the district, and we now advance to the district finals where we'll meet Simbya, our arch-rivals from just up the road, with a place at the national tournament on the line.

The match wasn't pretty, despite a beautiful diving header goal in the early minutes. I was missing two of my best players through injury and suspension, and despite the depth of the squad, we felt their absence. Our opponents, a team from Bundibugyo town, are the first team I've seen that also tries to play a similar style to ours; keeping the ball down, passing, control - as opposed to the fast, frantic, wild, and almost random kicking and chasing that prevails here. We didn't do very well at sticking to our game plan, as we seem to sometimes have trouble keeping our heads in big games, but we still managed to maintain better possession and keep a strong defense. The hard-fought match boiled down to a tense last few minutes, but we held on for the 1-0 victory in the fading evening light.

It was wonderful to see the excitement of the students and staff - people I've never spoken to running up to me congratulating and thanking me, dancing in celebration of a major win, one step nearer to the glory of being district champs. The sunset also seemed to celebrate with us, a beautiful sky from horizon to horizon, the orange light hitting the mountains, intense gold and bright yellows in the west, with pink clouds overhead and reaching over the mountains in the east.

We have a lot of work to do and a lot of improvements to make to be a really good team, but it was a good win and an encouragement to the boys that they can win even without some star players. I was proud of my boys, some of whom were asked to play positions they don't usually play, some of whom had subpar performances but fought hard anyway. Back to the training pitch we go, with confidence from a win, but with an awareness of weakness as well.