Friedland’s Maccabi Blog, Jan. 4

Stars player-coach Kevin Friedland and captain Kyle Altman are members of the USA Maccabi team that just finished competing at the 2011 Maccabi Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Friedland checked in at the tournament’s conclusion to recap the medal rounds and summarize his fifth Maccabi experience.

New Years and New Field

Having a semifinal on New Years Day made New Years Eve quite uneventful. We knew that despite being on a great trip in Brazil, we were there to win the tournament. We took an hour long bus ride to a different Jewish Club in Sao Paulo. We had been warned that the field we were about to play on wasn’t the greatest compared to those at the University of Sao Paulo where the group stages were held. When were all quite shocked with the field when we arrived. It was a turf field though there was hardly any green (see the featured photo). The black infill was a mix of rubber and pebbles and very bumpy. It was one of those moments where we had to have a bit of a laugh about the environment. You always hear about the dirt (or bad) fields that the Brazilians learn to play on and that is why they are such great players. To be fair, this field was probably better than those.

Brazil vs. Argentina

Venezuela upset Brazil in their group, taking the number one spot and forcing a Brazil-Argentina match up for the other semifinal. That game was going on when we arrived. It was as heated as you would expect anything Brazil versus Argentina to be. Argentina dominated the game but fell to Brazil 1-0. The game became quite ugly with Brazil leading 1-0 for most of the game. After the final whistle, a brawl fit for YouTube broke out. Punches were flying everywhere between the two teams, including some Argentinians karate kicking a camera man to the ground. It was a shame to watch as I had befriended many of the Argentinians over the last few Maccabi trips. They were clearly the superior team, but couldn’t finish… that’s how it goes sometimes.

Semifinals – Venezuela – January 1, 2012 – 7:30PM

Our matchup versus Venezuela finally kicked off after everyone cleared the field from the brawl. We opened the scoring in the first half off of a corner kick. I played the ball short to Jarryd Goldberg who floated the ball to the back post to center back Steve Birnbaum (Cal) who headed it past the keeper. We went into the half up 1-0 and were clearly dominating the play. The second half opened with a banger of a goal from ‘Fast’ Eddie Manilla (UC Davis). Our youngest player (19) volleyed home the cross to put us up 2-0. Five minutes later Eddie got in behind the defense and played a cross to forward Jared Bernstein (Claremont-McKenna College) who calmly finished the goal. Jared’s college teammate, Sam Uhlman, added the 4th goal minutes later and we were rolling. Venezuela pulled one back late on a free kick that our keeper had no chance on. We won the game 4-1 and were headed back to the finals to play against the host Brazil.

Finals – Brazil – January 2, 2012 – 4:45PM

Less than 24 hours after the semifinal victory we lined up against Brazil for the gold medal. We knew that they were going to sit back and counter just as they had the previous day against Argentina. Brazil opened the scoring in the 20th minute on a direct free kick that their player took brilliantly. We responded minutes later on a set piece of our own. Eddie Manilla sent the ball in that glanced off Adam Weinzimer’s (Adelphi) head. Adam’s header flew by the back post where I was lingering and I put it back across the box and Steve Birnbaum finished his second of the tournament. It was and Irvine, California connection, as Steve and I both grew up in the same city (though many years apart)! He did age me a bit when he said he was 8 years old when he watched my high school team win the California championship back in 1999.

Kyle Altman, Kevin Friedland and Jarryd Goldberg pose with their silver medals after falling 2-1 to Brazil in the Pan American Maccabi Games final.

We went into halftime 1-1 and were confident heading into the second half. As time wore on into the second half we just couldn’t break down the 5 man back line Brazil was employing. They countered on us in the 75th minute and scored to take a 2-1 lead. We pushed everything forward but couldn’t grab a late goal and lost the game 2-1. The guys were upset and disappointed as we knew we were the better team, but couldn’t get it done on the day. A silver medal is nothing to be ashamed of and another one to add to the collection. There were no brawls after the game as we (and the Brazilians) exchanged jerseys and photos and cheered each other’s success.

The Experience

This trip to Brazil marked my fifth trip with the Maccabi USA Open Soccer team. As a team we won 4 medals (2 Gold, 2 Silver) from those trips and played in some amazing places and with great players. Maccabi USA has given me the opportunity to travel all over the world to play the soccer and experience great countries, cities, teammates, coaches and friends. I’ve met a lot of people through my Maccabi trips that have helped shape my soccer career and hope that one day I may be able to help one of the young kids coming through. The next big trip is to Israel for the Maccabiah Games in the summer of 2013. I’ll be 31 years old then, but hope that I can go and help the Open team get the Gold medal before the Masters (35+) team starts calling.

Back to Minnesota… Back to Work

Now I head back to Minnesota to help the Minnesota Stars have a successful 2012 season, both on and off the field. There is a lot of work to be done to continue our successes from 2011 but I’m already looking forward to it. Thanks for following along on my Maccabi USA journey to Brazil. If you want more insider information about me and the Stars you can follow me on twitter @kfried6.

Obrigado and thank you all for reading!

Kevin Friedland