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Kristie Braunston's Algarve Cup Diary
3/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
March 9, 2007
Tulsa, Okla. -
My Portugal Trip
Day 1
After sitting in New Jersey for 11 hours, one delayed flight, one missed flight, a taxi drive and 31 total hours of travel, I finally made it to my hotel in Albufeira at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The first thing I did was take a shower and brush my teeth! I then met up with some others from the course and we went to dinner at a nice little restaurant in town. The salmon was great and the desserts were even better. I finally landed in my bed around 9:30 p.m. after being up for almost 36 hours.
Day 2
I woke up Friday after about 10 hours of sleep...it felt great. I went for a run through the town before showering and getting started with the course. We headed out on Friday afternoon to watch three second round games in the Algarve Cup: Denmark vs. Norway, China vs. Sweden, and Germany vs. France. All three games were very exciting and ended up 1-0. It was great soccer with exciting moments in each game. After the games, we headed back to town where we grabbed a bite to eat before having an introduction meeting. After a long day, I made it to bed around midnight excited for the next day's events.
Day 3
Saturday was another exciting day in Portugal. After getting lost for a little bit, we finally found the field where we were going to watch several of the national teams train. The first was Norway who only had five players out there training. The others were back at the hotel trying to recover from the game the previous day. It was not too long before Sweden showed up and then the U.S. team. It was interesting to watch the contrast between each training session. We had the chance to speak with the U.S. National Team head coach and ask him questions. He was very excited at how the U.S. was playing and where they are headed. After the trainings, we went back to town and had some free time before reconvening later that night for some classroom sessions. A couple of us got together to play some beach soccer and then take a dip in the ocean. We finished just in time to hop in the shower before heading to the classroom. We had several presentations from former National Team Head Coach April Heinrichs, sports psychologist Dr. Colleen Hacker, and Mary Harvey with FIFA. Four hours later, the questions were all answered and we headed out to dinner. It was another late night, but a very exciting day.
Day 4
Today was another day out on the field watching national team trainings. Today we had the chance to see Germany, China and France train. We also had the opportunity to speak with the German National Team head coach and ask her some questions. There is a definite contrast between the German philosophy and the U.S. philosophy. When the trainings were over, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and another game of beach soccer. We were back in the classroom that night learning about team building and player management issues. The topics we have covered so far in this course have been so interesting and helpful. They finally had to say we are finished for the night because there were so many questions. By the time we walked out of the classroom, I was so tired I went straight to bed so that I would be able to function the next day.
Day 5
GAME DAY! Another round of games was today so we were finally going to get to watch the U.S. play. We had a little free time in the morning to get breakfast and walk into town before getting together for some more discussion. Today we talked about different coaching styles and methodologies, and heard from the Czech Republic coach who was part of the course. She talked about women's soccer in the Czech Republic and how far they have come and how far they still have to go. It is so different from the U.S. and hard to believe that every country does not support women's soccer. When we finished in the classroom, we headed to St. Antonio to watch two games. The first was Germany vs. Denmark. It ended 2-0 with Germany on top, their only win of the tournament. They scored some great goals and it was exciting to watch. The second game was USA vs. Sweden. It was a great game with the USA coming out on top 3-2. The U.S. went up 2-0. Sweden came out in the second half fired up and put one away. About one minute later, the U.S. scored again to go up 3-1. Sweden got a late penalty kick to make it 3-2, but it was too little to late. After the game, we headed back to Albufeira and hit the sack.
Day 6
We had the whole morning off today. I met with two other coaches from the course and we walked down the beach to the old town. It was great with little shops and restaurants all over the place. We found a little soccer shop and bought some Portugal stuff. After old town, we headed back to the new side of Albufeira and went to some shops there. We ran into Carli Lloyd and India Trotter from the U.S. National team. We talked to them for a bit before heading back to the hotel for out nightly classroom session. Today we heard from Jeff Pill who works for the U.S. Soccer Federation. He spoke about the complete player and trends in the U.S. for youth players. We also heard from April Heinrichs again who talked about systems of play and about her current position with the U.S. Olympic Committee. When we finished up, a few of us went to Senjor Frog's to eat some pizza and wind down. I finally made it to bed around 1:30 a.m.
Day 7
Last day! Today was great. We headed out in the morning to watch the final games. We saw the third place game, which was France vs. Sweden, and the finals with the U.S. playing Denmark. Both games were great with many goals. Sweden ended up beating France 3-0, and the U.S. won it all by beating Denmark 2-0. It was great day at the soccer field and we saw some great games. After the games, we went to our final dinner together. In the van on the way there, we discussed our favorite drill or exercise to play at training...I have several new ideas for our team now. Dinner was great with a lot of reminiscing about the week. Everyone agreed it was a great week with just the right balance of free time, games and classroom sessions. By the time we got back, packed, said our goodbyes and got into bed it was 1:30 a.m.
Day 8
I had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to head to the airport for another long day of travel. My first flight took off at 6:20 a.m. I landed in Lisbon at 7:00 a.m. and then hopped on another flight at 9:35 a.m. I finally landed back in the U.S. at 1:35 p.m. I was supposed to catch my next flight at 6:10 p.m., but it was delayed until 9:45 p.m. I finally made it home at 12:30 a.m. I guess 26 hours of travel is not as bad at 31. My trip ended just as it started. It was well worth it!!
