Payday sucks when you don't get paid! And MonsterDogs.

February 28:

Today was supposed to be my first payday in Finland/Europe.  My contract with Haka was slated to pay me $2150 per month after tax + a free apartment.  Maybe MYPA will pay me for the week I’ve been here?  Lol I’m not holding my breath on that one.  Anyways…

I don’t really want to go much into the trainings here but there are a couple things I’ve got to get off my chest and since I’m absolutely sure no one in Myllykoski reads this (or much anyone outside of my family), I can say what I want.  First, our trainings have been 75% intrasquad scrimmages.  That’s fine, nothing wrong there I guess, but we only have 20 guys.  That means that we play 10v10 on an enormous field.  The result is something closer to basketball than soccer.  One team sends six attackers versus four defenders in a huge wave.  They either score, kick behind for a goal kick, get dispossessed or have their shot saved by the goalkeeper.  Literally regardless of what happens, the other team immediately begins a counterattack the other way.  It’s like this team is coached by Paul Westphal and Mike D’Antoni.  This is a ridiculous way to play the scrimmages because in the end nobody gets better at all.  In the match the team didn’t make 10 consecutive passes at any time, yet in the training we don’t try to pass, we try to run up and down the field as fast as possible.  I wish the coach would say something but maybe that’s what he’s looking for.  There’s a reason why he’s got a head coaching job and I have no job.  Maybe I shouldn’t be complaining since I get breakaways every single practice and score every practice.  If this team had more than one player signed who could score, then this approach could actually work.  I guess I’ll have to be that guy.

Second, we have a training program that makes absolutely no sense.  We had two medium difficulty training sessions on Monday, one physical training today (Tuesday) at the clubhouse, tomorrow (Wednesday) is off, then we train twice again on Thursday and once on Friday before playing Saturday.  It seems that we could find a more consistent schedule, especially since each training requires a 20km drive to the turf field.  That’s it for my soccer rambling.

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People here seem to just not care about the weather at all.  I’ve been having allergy problems since Saturday, but I refuse to go to the pharmacy today because it’s snowing like the world’s about to end.  It’s only 4:30pm but it must have snowed close to a foot already today.  However, I keep looking outside and see people walking their bear-dogs.  Side note: all the dogs here have a hilarious amount of fur.  Every single dog looks like some long lost four legged creature from the Ice Age that you’d see at the Smithsonian.  One lady walked by with two dogs that must have weighed 70 pounds each and looked like wooly mammoths.  She could just have easily have ridden those things around town.

Tomorrow I will venture into central Kouvola, the most urban area around.  I’ll be heading down with two trialists who are staying here with me, Vili and Kennny.  Vili is from Finland and has his car here so we’ll make the 20km drive into town and have a nice day.  I’ll take some pictures!

Another Week in Myllykoski

February 26:

I got word today from my finnish agent that my trial has been extended for another week.  Apparently the coach was happy with what he saw in training, but discouraged by the game.  That pretty much syncs up with how I felt about my performance.  Honestly I think this team needs a player that is a speed option and has a real desire to take responsibility and score goals.  Currently there is no real speed option and only one player who scores goals.  I can use this week to show my value, but in reality everything is going to come down to the match on Saturday.  We play HJK, the reigning Veikkausliiga champions.

Other than that there’s really not much to report.  I did literally nothing today.  This morning I went to the pharmacy, but of course it was closed.  In fact, the only things open on Sundays in this town are the church, bar and grocery store.  I’m not saying that as a brief listing that includes more things; those are literally the only three things open.  Want pizza?  Sorry.  Unless you want to get one from the grocery store.

Not that you care, but for the last three days my allergies have been going crazy and I have no idea why.  Normally this happens when the leaves start to come back on the trees, but there are two feet of snow outside and no leaves whatsoever.  I can’t imagine there’s any pollen here either.  If you have any idea as to what is going on with me I’d be happy to hear it.

I’ve got to make this week count!  There’s not much time to get a contract and the options shrink every day.