Boston College Athletics
The Life of Kyle
March 31, 2003 | Men's Soccer
March 31, 2003
I'm on the plane back from Costa Rica right now, and a million thoughts are running through my head about the last week and a half. Whereas the trip to Brazil was about as exciting as watching bowling, the trip to Costa Rica was full of drama both on and off the field.
Although we arrived while the U.S. was on the brink of war with Iraq, things seemed peaceful enough. The first few days we drove through the beautiful mountains just outside San Jose to practice on this putting green of a field in the middle of a coffee plantation. It was like I had been cast into the Costa Rican version of Field of Dreams. What made it even better was that it combined two of my favorite things - soccer and coffee - into one harmonious place that could easily be mistaken for my personal vision of heaven. It would take something great to break the serenity of this place, and that something turned out to be war.
We all knew going into the trip that the nation would most likely be at war by the time we came back, but few of us understood how our thoughts and feelings would change once the war arrived. When traumatic events occur, people tend to focus on the basic human need for safety and love. Games, no matter how important, pale in comparison to the need to feel secure, in the comfort of one's home with family and friends. It didn't make it any easier watching CNN repeat over and over that there are sure to be terrorist reprisals, and that one of the most likely targets will be athletic events. In addition to that, we got word that the there were protesters outside the U.S. embassy and plans to protest at our games. With the fear of what could happen at the games and the desire to be with family at a time of mounting war, it was difficult to stop ourselves from questioning how important it really was for us to play these two games. But when you are a professional athlete, you don't get to pick when and where you are going to play. We simply had to put our thoughts and fears aside and go about our jobs in the best way we could.
As it turned out, security wasn't a problem at all. The team sent a security advisor down, and he helped set up a plan with the embassy that included about 50 riot police with riot shields and semi-automatic weapons. The crowd was not your typical Central American crowd either. I heard stories all week about batteries, bottles and urine being thrown on people in the past, but the Costa Rican crowd was relatively tame. Besides a good deal of singing, the crowd was hardly what I would call restless. Looking back on it, we probably made a bigger deal about the security issues, but it is very hard to think in sane terms during times of war.
As for the games, the roller coaster of emotions continued. We came out flat the first game and had a lackluster performance, to put it kindly. Two penalty kicks, a red card and a goal in the last second of the game added up to a 4-0 defeat, making it nearly impossible for us to come back in the next game and win the two-game series. Whether we won 1-0 or 8-0, though, the fact was that we hadn't won a game all preseason and desperately needed a win to give us some momentum heading into the start of the regular season.
Before the second game arrived, though, another personal nightmare arrived. The afternoon before the game I began to have some stomach pains and a bit of a headache. Things got worse that night, to the point that I found myself on my knees in the bathroom, hunched over, praying to the porcelain god. The team's athletic trainer and I had picked up either some sort of stomach virus or food poisoning. Whatever it was, I don't think I've been that sick in my entire life. There was no way I could make it to the game the next day. While my team was out battling on the field, I was in bed all day battling my stomach, watching the game on Costa Rican television.
The second game was amazing. We brought a 1-0 lead into halftime and increased it to 3-0 fifteen minutes in. With 30 minutes left in the game, all we needed was to score one more goal to force overtime and a chance to go on to the next round of the tournament. But, just like a roller coaster, as soon as we got up, the bottom fell out. A long ball got played toward our penalty area, and it hit the arm of Shalrie Joseph just outside the box. The referee gave him an undeserved red card, putting us a man down. To make matters worse, one of the guys on our team swore under his breath and was immediately given a red card by the referee. So, in an instant, we went from being up 3-0 with all the momentum to being left with nine men on the pitch. A couple minutes later, we gave up a goal...and our chances to move on in the tournament. But we went on to hold on and win 3-1. It was so bittersweet because it was a much-needed win, but at the same time we were so close to staging an amazing comeback.
So, now we are off the roller coaster and back in the U.S., getting set to start the regular season. We open up in Chicago on April 12, then come back to Foxboro for the home opener on April 19, but for now we are off for five days, our last guaranteed break until November. One thing is for sure - it's going to be a long year if it keeps going like this.
