CCL Atlanta vs Monterrey Leg 2

That first game against Monterrey was horrible to watch. We looked completely lost and with no attacking power in us. My hubby described it as a "bunch of 3rd grades playing against professionals". It kinda did. There was no cohesiveness and the whole team look confused.

And well, the result kinda of speaks for itself: 3-0.

Now, before anyone goes crazy on me, let me say a few things. First of all, I agree, Monterrey is the best team in the CONCACAF. There is no denying that. Not only that but they have been playing together for a long time and they are deep into their season; so of course they look better than we do out on the field.

But, here is the thing, my biggest concern watching us play that day was the attitude. The lack of attack, the lack of shine that we've always had. I honestly got scared and felt that maybe we had lost our mojo. 

Add to that the fact that we had lost against D.C a couple days before and that we tide our home opening game against a brand new team a few days after; and honestly, I was terrified of Wednesday's game.

I didn't want my team to get destroyed in our own stadium, even by the best team in the CONCACAF. I also didn't want us to go down without really fighting and showing the kind of team we truly are.

Now, before I get into the actual game last night, let me tell you a little bit about what was going with us at home. 

Sunday night, just before we headed out to the home opening game, my husband told me that he was not feeling very well, but he was not going to miss the game even if he was sick. I thought that maybe it was a small cold and that he would probably get over it quickly. 

Well, that didn't go that smoothly. 

On Monday morning, my poor hubby wakes up with a fever, an extremely sore throat and with no voice. He goes to the doctor and finds out that he has a pretty horrible sinus infection, bronchitis and laryngitis. He stays home and I tell him, laughingly, that he better rest because we have a game on Wednesday that we cannot miss. 

I should have kept my mouth shut.

Cue Tuesday morning. 

I wake up to the absolute worst throat, eyes and head pain. I have a fever, chills and no voice. I cannot swallow anything because the pain is so intense that I feel that I will just start crying. 

Now, here is the thing: I am a teacher. If you are one, then you know that it was way too late to put in for a sub, and that now I will have to drag my feverish butt to school where I will have to face my 5 middle school classes no matter what. 

Well, I last until about 2:00 pm and by then, I am literally begging for someone to please cover my classes so that I can go to the doctor and get something before my ears bleed (I know. I am so dramatic!).

So I show up to the doctor barely able to say a word or to make myself understood, but I guess they  took a look at me and realized that I am seriously feeling horrible. And to make matters worse, the Urgent Care is packed because just about everyone else is sick right now. It took 3 hours before I saw the doctor. And no, I didn't go somewhere else because I could even think during that time. I just wanted to sleep and get something to ease the pain.

It turns out I didn't have strep or the flu but a massive sinus infection, bronchitis and laryngitis. I get some good stuff at the office and then others at the pharmacy and I get home to sleep it off. Well, as much as I can because I am not just a teacher but mother of an eight and three year old. 

By now, I am thinking that we might not make it to the game. We both look and feel awful, and I cannot see how we could show up to the game the following night. I ask my husband if we should just sell our tickets but he tells me to wait until the next day and see how we are doing. 

Wednesday I stayed home. I sent in my lesson plans and slept for the WHOLE day. If you have little kids, then you probably know that I wish I could have more than just one day to do this alone, but of course, that is simple impossible in my life. 

At 4:30 pm, my husband wakes me up from my glorious nap and asks me how am I doing. I tell him I feel a lot better, still tired but much better. He feels  a lot better too. A little tired but nothing too bad. So we decided to take our night dose of medicine and head to the game. 

And man! I am glad we did. 

Were we tired the next day? You bet we were. 

Did we feel a little worse than the night before? Probably.

But I would have not change it because my boys made me proud. 

No, we didn't recover from the 3-0 loss from the previous week, but we gave a fight and we made them nervous; but most importantly, we looked good on the field. 

From the moment the game started, you could tell that the entire team was in it to win it or die trying. There were attacking, defending and going after the ball like it was the only thing to keep us alive.

We had fabulous moments that were so close we could all feel them. Yes, we missed several shots but man, we tried. The A-team was back and was ready to show what it was made of. 

Pity Martínez had a few close ones, and it is a shame they didn't go in because he can shoot! Josef and Barco were so close too!

Finally, in the second half, after many attacks and shots, we made it! At almost 80 minutes, Nagbe and Martínez do a fantastic combination and they finished it with a glorious goal! It was amazing! Our hard work paid off and we could all see it. I am so glad we didn't miss the game and that we were able to be there to watch them play and cheer for them. 

I have to say that those last 15 minutes of the game were outstanding and they fought until the last second to try and get another goal. We didn't make it, but we fought and, for me, we were victorious. 

Thank you, boys for making it worth it for us! We are right there with you, even when we are sick!