OK- maybe not the holding hands part, but definitely the laughing part. And almost definitely a bit of hugging and a few high-fives. I don't think that I have celebrated a Phoenix goal that hard for a long long time. When that first goal went in I pretty much screamed myself hoarse, and it was that way all around in the Fever Zone. It meant that much to the fans, and for once this season, you could see how important it was for the players.
It got me thinking back to something that we'd talked about in the flat a couple of months ago. The Nix' start to this season wasn't too bad. They had scored something like 14 goals in the first 10 games, so not too bad. What we noticed was the real lack of celebration after a goal was scored. If I'm remembering correctly, when a goal was scored in past seasons, the whole team went mental, with everyone bar calm Pasty generally joining in on a good old football orgy.
It was almost as if the players thought that we should be scoring goals- or that possibly it was our 'rite' to score goals. Possibly a sign of arrogance- or it's also conceivable that there wasn't the same pride or passion in the team that there had been in previous years.
Last night however, there was one hell of a celebration when the goal was scored- fans and players alike. The image of Iffy below is priceless, you can just see the relief and ecstasy on his face, showing a real passion for the game.
I believe that body language and the actions of the players around the game give away so much of how the game is going to play out. Last night the Nix were absolutely killing it in the warm-up, while the Heart were messing around with pot-shots at goal. The haka is another prime example of this- an impassioned haka often resulting in a victory, and a bollocks haka- well, ending in a loss to the Wallabies in Hong Kong. Alas, this is a topic for another blog.
Should this focus and passion continue, I'm willing to bet that this really will be a turning point for the Phoenix season.
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