Players from around the world gathered with Cesar Marmolejo at FUTEDU Academy in Spain this summer.
The striker on the GHS boys soccer team attended the academy to prepare for his final varsity campaign. He found a wide variety of playing styles and sped up his own approach to the game.
“I had a great time in Spain,” Marmolejo said. “I really wanted to learn more about soccer and the real way it’s played. It was nice to see the strategies and how different soccer is played. The biggest difference was probably that Spain is a little faster. Everyone plays one touch or two touches. Here in the US, it’s more skill based on dribbling. It was great to see the quick speed of play.”
After a 5-1 loss to Mead on Aug. 23, the Cowboys (1-1 overall) quickly got up to speed with a 3-0 home win over Cañon City on Aug. 30. GHS turned in a clean sheet after a hard week of practice. Marmolejo scored two goals and Eli Coop tallied a goal and two assists.
“The most important thing for us was our defensive adjustments,” said GHS coach Susan Powers. “It’s so nice to see the hard work we put in get implemented.”
Those adjustments included the Cowboys honing in on their defensive shape. Powers said the Cowboys were “disjointed” in their approach against Mead. GHS also practiced switching the field with crossing passes and establishing set-piece plays out of corner kicks.
“We want to use the width to create space,” Powers said. “We have one of the better fields out there in terms of size and we need to use it.”
When Marmolejo raised his hand on a second-half corner kick he’d sent a message to Coop.
“I wanted Eli to put [the corner kick] near me,” Marmolejo said. “It was coming in pretty hard and I just kind of threw my body at it. I went off my knee, but we had good communication to make it happen.”
Even though he spent time in Spain to fine tune a faster, more technical approach, Marmolejo capped the Cowboys’ scoring with a rugged, American style tally. Whatever it takes to get GHS the result.
“The biggest thing for us was confidence,” Marmolejo said. “In our first game a lot of players saw their first varsity action. There were nerves for sure. Once we got that first goal everyone was like, ‘we are winning.’ We all stepped up, played our roles and connected well.”
(James Nokes writes for Colorado Preps)
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