Riley Pugh Interview
Riley Pugh is all of these things:
(a) A local 10-year-old
(b) A member of Portland City United (PCU) soccer club
(c) A budding sports journalist
(d) A nutso Lionel Messi fan
and, conveniently,
(e) A friend of mine
Currently, Riley plays for PCU Pumas of the Boys u11 Futsal competition — one of Portland Futsal’s winter leagues, the standings for which you can see here.
Riley has agreed to sit down with me after his games this winter season and allow the Portland Sportsman readership an opportunity to view the game from the point of view of an aspiring young athlete.
Riley consented to be interviewed Sunday, after his game, by means of EtherPad, a program that allows multiple users to create and edit a document.
Carson: So, Riley, I went to your game today. It was well-fought, I think, but maybe the result wasn’t exactly what you’d like — 14 to 1, I think it was. What are your first impressions of the game, your peformance?
Riley: Well, Carson, I think I didn’t play as well as I could have, and I think one of the reasons why is because it was only my second futsal game and my first time playing an offensive position.
Carson: Oh, I guess I didn’t realize it was only your second futsal game ever. For you, what is the biggest difference between the outdoor and futsal games?
Riley: I think the futsal fields are alot smaller, so you need to have good ball-handling skills. And the ball is weighted, so you can’t rely on the air play as much. Also, you get a little crowded on that tiny, tiny field and you have to be careful not to accidentally trip somebody.
Carson: Yeah, the size of the field seems to make a big differece — there’s much more emphasis, it seems, on first touch and short passing. To their credit, the team you played seemed to be pretty skilled — at the latter of those, in particular. They were playing some nice triangle passes. Do you think that’s a product of coaching? Of familiarity with each other? Of experience?
Riley: I mean, it could be the coaching, because possibly the kids are close to the coach. But in the game, the kids seemed to know each other’s names very well, so maybe they’ve been working together for like a year or two.
Carson: Yeah, I noticed that. I wonder: Have you ever been on a team where you had that sort of understanding with your teammates?
Riley: Yeah, I have played with more teams that I wasn’t close to all the kids, but I played on my school team once and I knew all the kids.
Carson: How long did you play with them?
Riley: Two years, but the first year we didn’t know each other that well and that season we didn’t win any games. But the next year we all knew each other very well, had practiced together, and knew how we all played and we could feed the ball to each other better.
Carson: In terms of today’s game, even though the final result wasn’t ideal, you guys played ALOT better in the second half. The first half, they beat you 10 – 0; the second half, it was 4 – 1. What was the difference, do you think?
Riley: Well, at half time our coach gave us a stern talking to about getting back behind the ball — especially the mids — so the second half I tried to get back behind the ball when I was a mid, and it worked: I got the ball down the field and we got a goal.
Carson: I know: you got the assist — from the right side! I can think of another player who gets a number of assists from that right wing position. Can you guess who I mean?
Riley: Are you talking about Leo Messi?
Carson: N’doy! I’m correct in saying he’s your fave player, right?
Riley: Totally. He’s so bomb. He can school Cristiano Ronaldo anytime.
Carson: Oh snap! No you didn’t!
What skill of Messi’s do you most admire?
Riley: Oh yes I did!
His speed and his close ball control.
Carson: How much of his ball control do you think is natural ability and how much practice? I mean, I know you want to play like Messi. Is that a possibility for you?
Riley: I mean, if I work hard and become a rounded player, it might be possible.
Carson: By “rounded” do you mean “chubby”?
Riley: Do I really have to respond to that?
Carson: No. Two things to end on.
1. When’s your next game?
2. Can you give the Portland Sportsman readers a link to your favorite Messi video?
Riley: My next game is next Saturday, I believe, but I won’t be attending. I’ll be in Florida.
Carson: On business?
Riley: Soccer business.
And my favorite Messi video right now is called “Lionel Messi Push the Tempo”.
Carson: Will you report with us after the next time you play?
Riley: I would love to.
Comments
By Zach on November 23rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I like that “knowing each other’s names well” confers such an advantage…by that measure, my team should be playing much better.
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