World Lacrosse Championships - Day Twelve
THE TWO FACES OF DENMARK
On a day where Finland took the front page of the local newspaper before their game against Canada, with a story written by a journalist who apparently are into slow movies*, a cruel joke was also played on the famous Irish national team coach Richie Moran. After the defeat of his team to Australia a few beautiful flowers had been laid down on the sidewalk leading to the players dinning hall, with the words printed on the concrete: In memory of R. Moran. As if he was dead.
On team Denmark the good spirit was also back going in to today’s game against Korea. The team was laughing and joking on the bus going to the north fields, moral the best it's been in days. Prior to the game coach Cone announced more substitutions using the entire squad.
Gearing up and going on to the field, the happy juice was flowing and through smart thinking, focused play and offensive lacrosse Denmark took the lead against Korea, led by legendary North Carolina coach John Haus.
The game flowed well and the winds of refereeing were favorable. We had a physical advantage that manifested itself in one of the more bizarre goals of the tournament. Danish attackman Janus Lund, ran from behind the crease and got double teamed as he got around, but never hesitating Janus Lund jumped straight over one of his opponents and put the ball in the net with an awkward shot the goalie had never expected to materialize. By half time we were up 7-1 against the south east Asians.
That is one side of the Danish national team. When we play relaxed and get into a flow, we run for each other and assist the next guy on ground balls and passes. Having a jolly good time doing it.
But this game turned out to be a perfect picture of the opposites in this team. From the first whistle Korea jumped the gun and Denmark was left to watch as our lead shrunk quickly with three fast goals. Suddenly the river of happy juice dried out and left the Danish play as crusty and dry as a pork rind. The coaches immediately returned to their former strategy of running the same 13 guys non-stop. Team Denmark was cramped up, dropped easy balls and chased the Koreans around on the field. One goal after another Korea caught up to us and ten minutes into the fourth they tied us 8-8. About two minutes before time they took the lead.
This triggered a perpetual barrage on the Korean defense, but nothing worked. Not until the 17-year old talent Dane Hansen, picked up a loose ball at the crease and tied the game with 14 seconds left on the clock.
In overtime we took the lead but with 1.30 left, experienced attackman Alex Gorman received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct after "offering his opinion" of a call to the referees. However, with a great uncompromising man down defense and a good save from our goalie, the Danes finally took the game.
It was good to see the win on this day, because a defeat in this match would have been unbearable. But it wasn't pretty and it was sad to see the team loose its composure when faced with pressure. The guys on the field turned their play into a bitter and angry kind of lacrosse where other players mistakes where constantly pointed out rather than taking responsibility for the game. We won the match, but we lost the mind game.
In my subjective opinion, it was also dissatisfying to see the coaches not stick to the return of happy lacrosse that they had announced the very same morning, but instead switch back to the pre-Finland strategy.
On the other hand, perhaps I do have too much faith in the ability of those of us guarding the sideline.
No matter what, that game wont be forgotten anytime soon and it was a great experience that entertained a fairly big crowd.
GO DENMARK!
*The headline read: Finish lacrosse, worthy of a movie.
