On the 4th of March, a select few FirstPoint USA soccer players were given the opportunity to play Alvernia University, a team from Pennsylvania, at the North Herts Arena in London. The aim was to give the University the chance to play a game while they were in the UK, but most importantly it was a perfect opportunity for the FirstPoint players to play at university level, against an American team.
After the FirstPoint team met, and organised strips and positions, they were warmed up by Andrew Kean, then given a team talk before kicking off at 3.30pm. The boys started off well and it ended up being a rather exciting game with work rates high, and some intense speeds. The game was quite balanced with regards to possession; however in the first half the FirstPoint team managed to score a goal and then another which set the game right off.
At half time FirstPoint were up by 2, so Alvernia were determined to fight back. Again, Andrew gave the boys a talk and let them know he was very pleased with how hard they worked especially because they have not played together before. So they had to quickly adapt to the situation, and Andrew was impressed by how well they did this, considering they were playing against a team who play together all the time. Andrew also highlighted what they should be doing to try show off their skills as the game was being filmed by FirstPoint which will be edited and used to send to US coaches.
The second half was where the biggest excitement was, as 5 goals were scored, luckily for FirstPoint, this was to their advantage and managed to finish off the game with 5 goals to them and 2 goals to Alvernia University. All in all, it was a good game and I'm sure both teams enjoyed themselves and found it a good opportunity!
Do you have what it takes to play your sport and study in the USA? Register today for a UK assessment with FirstPoint USA and find out!
