Sunday, July 31, 2005
Match Review 4
Match 4, Winter Season, vs Offsiders
Back when the DBB were languishing in the minnow league of Sunday Division 2, there was one team that we continually thrashed like no other. The epitome of such a beating was the 23-0 annihilation of the Offsiders. This win caused our heads to swell with air from such domination that we let our thoughts go above the clouds. It was egocentric conceit at its best and hey, who wouldn't say they are the best after winning 23-0? Today, was a return to those times for a while, when as some smartass prematch put it, "we shouldn't be underestimating these guys." Hahaha, SIF! It's the Offsiders! Even the atmosphere on the sidelines was somewhat dismissive of this match as a contest.
And like the casual banter outside of the nets, the start was pretty lax indeed. The players that started were casually marking, walking back to defence, lazily passing upfield and not making space. Any chance of this being a tough match were still not realised until a shock goal scored by the Offsiders' lanky, pony tail striker 5 minutes in. The expression on the faces of the DBB on field was a mix of disbelief and "huh?" WAKE THE FUCK UP BOYS, it wasn't going to be a canter if we underestimate our opposition this much. And so, with the sidelines yelling their discontent at the apathetic start, the players began to feel the tempo of the match. The Offsiders were defending well, albeit with their subpar skill level, and their lone striker had a blunt, accurate shot that wasn't being given enough respect.
So to breakdown the opposition defence, we had to adopt a different approach to the frantic rushes of previous weeks. Passing the ball around, and drawing the pests out of the burrows, we eventually played patient and intelligent soccer. Eventually, we were firing more shots on target with the help mainly of Quoc's hard play in the middle of the field, tackling, holding off players and looking for the right pass. Heng was also responsible for the jumpstart of adrenaline when he toiled hard and won lots of 50-50 balls to supply Simon and Henry running up front. Eventually, through a lot of hard work, Henry managed to scrag a goal from the corner through the goalie's legs. Not entirely pretty but getting there.
After equalising, the hard struggle continued, with Heng continuining to motor through in the middle with Quoc combining skill and aggression to win plenty of ball. But still, we lacked an edge up front with many chances for little reward. The big villian up there was Heng, who one-two'd nicely with Henry, but failed to force saves from the keeper. It took a moment of brilliance from Dave to really break the shackles. With his back to a harrassing defender, Dave spun out of trouble, jinxed pased two defenders and smacked a goal through from the left side. The momentum swung and in a late flurry, Quoc began commanding midfield and dishing off to the running Simon and Henry up front. Simon scored two goals to bring a nice buffer leading up to half time. But some possession around our attacking perimeter lead to an errand backpass that was anticipated by the striker and the lanky pony tail guy was left open with Derek, leaving him no chance. A sloppy way to end an improving half.
The untidy work was brought into the next half, with a 3rd goal conceded ultimately stemming from poor work rate after the interval, even if it was a shanked kicked from the corner. However, the closeness of the scoreline at 4-3 added some shock value to an uninspired performance, with substitutes Sanji and Heng adding some life back into the team with some hard tackling and tracking. With only seconds after coming on again, Sanji followed a bouncing ball and volleyed from the right wing to the opposite side of goals to immediately restore the status quo. "Black magic," as Dave put it.
Quoc continued his stand out game not up front, but in the heart of the field where he combined well with the enegizer bunny, Heng, to win plenty of ball and lay off. However, Heng's continued hard work failed to pay dividends, as he left his good shooting in the bed; too much sleeping in. However, his persistence led to an increasing amount of shots that led to some wayward target practice at the other end. The increasing confidence meant at times, we were overcommitted, and any loss of the ball would lead to a counterattack. Sensing this, their tall lanky striker came back on for the final few minutes and he immediately caused some problems with his accurate shooting. Derek played a lone hand at the back at times, saving many hard shots from him, as well as creating plenty of pressure by closing the goal face when left stranded at the back.
As the clock continued to count down, the Offsiders grew more wreckless in their attack for the ball, pushing further into our defence and trying to intercept closer to goal. The man-on-man situation they had effectively created led to some hard contests around the ground but on a one-on-one situation, our skill was always going to win out. Quoc continued to shield the ball and turn his opponents, setting up space for the running Heng or Henry, or shooting himself. But the clinical touch up front was still missing. By now, the all-in style from the Offsiders was backfiring because of their overcommitment to the ball and it was too easy to turn them the wrong way and shimmy in the other direction. The increased desperation led to increased fouls from the opposition, the prime example being Henry's underhand shielding of the ball in the corner, with the frustration boiling over, resulting in a retaliatory shove from his marker. Henry's oscar falling performance with arms flailing in the air rubbed salt into an already wounded Offsider comeback.
Their increased carelessness continued but the cream was beginning to rise to the top. Quoc held off two attackers before spinning between them and despite the reflex foul to his shins, he retained his balance and struck home a classy goal from the right. Derek was gobbling up everything that the Offsiders could muster in goals, and playing a part in opening the field with his feigns to dish off and increasing long throws that allowed Heng to run and continue the pressure up front. Any remote chance of a comeback were quickly killed off by arguably the goal of the day by Dave from the leftwing. A spilt ball ricocheted into his path, and the cries of "control it" from the bench were matched with a nice first touch on the head and a first time volley that went straight into the bottom right corner. Even the Offsiders bench and the other onlookers were appluading.
It wasn't an exceptional performance. But some outstanding goals from Simon, Quoc, Sanji and two of the best from Dave put some superficial gloss over a sloppy performance. Big things expected next week against the bottom team.
Scoreline: 7-3
Goals: Dave 2, Simon 2, Henry, Quoc, Sanji
Best: Quoc, Derek
Academy award: Henry
Back when the DBB were languishing in the minnow league of Sunday Division 2, there was one team that we continually thrashed like no other. The epitome of such a beating was the 23-0 annihilation of the Offsiders. This win caused our heads to swell with air from such domination that we let our thoughts go above the clouds. It was egocentric conceit at its best and hey, who wouldn't say they are the best after winning 23-0? Today, was a return to those times for a while, when as some smartass prematch put it, "we shouldn't be underestimating these guys." Hahaha, SIF! It's the Offsiders! Even the atmosphere on the sidelines was somewhat dismissive of this match as a contest.
And like the casual banter outside of the nets, the start was pretty lax indeed. The players that started were casually marking, walking back to defence, lazily passing upfield and not making space. Any chance of this being a tough match were still not realised until a shock goal scored by the Offsiders' lanky, pony tail striker 5 minutes in. The expression on the faces of the DBB on field was a mix of disbelief and "huh?" WAKE THE FUCK UP BOYS, it wasn't going to be a canter if we underestimate our opposition this much. And so, with the sidelines yelling their discontent at the apathetic start, the players began to feel the tempo of the match. The Offsiders were defending well, albeit with their subpar skill level, and their lone striker had a blunt, accurate shot that wasn't being given enough respect.
So to breakdown the opposition defence, we had to adopt a different approach to the frantic rushes of previous weeks. Passing the ball around, and drawing the pests out of the burrows, we eventually played patient and intelligent soccer. Eventually, we were firing more shots on target with the help mainly of Quoc's hard play in the middle of the field, tackling, holding off players and looking for the right pass. Heng was also responsible for the jumpstart of adrenaline when he toiled hard and won lots of 50-50 balls to supply Simon and Henry running up front. Eventually, through a lot of hard work, Henry managed to scrag a goal from the corner through the goalie's legs. Not entirely pretty but getting there.
After equalising, the hard struggle continued, with Heng continuining to motor through in the middle with Quoc combining skill and aggression to win plenty of ball. But still, we lacked an edge up front with many chances for little reward. The big villian up there was Heng, who one-two'd nicely with Henry, but failed to force saves from the keeper. It took a moment of brilliance from Dave to really break the shackles. With his back to a harrassing defender, Dave spun out of trouble, jinxed pased two defenders and smacked a goal through from the left side. The momentum swung and in a late flurry, Quoc began commanding midfield and dishing off to the running Simon and Henry up front. Simon scored two goals to bring a nice buffer leading up to half time. But some possession around our attacking perimeter lead to an errand backpass that was anticipated by the striker and the lanky pony tail guy was left open with Derek, leaving him no chance. A sloppy way to end an improving half.
The untidy work was brought into the next half, with a 3rd goal conceded ultimately stemming from poor work rate after the interval, even if it was a shanked kicked from the corner. However, the closeness of the scoreline at 4-3 added some shock value to an uninspired performance, with substitutes Sanji and Heng adding some life back into the team with some hard tackling and tracking. With only seconds after coming on again, Sanji followed a bouncing ball and volleyed from the right wing to the opposite side of goals to immediately restore the status quo. "Black magic," as Dave put it.
Quoc continued his stand out game not up front, but in the heart of the field where he combined well with the enegizer bunny, Heng, to win plenty of ball and lay off. However, Heng's continued hard work failed to pay dividends, as he left his good shooting in the bed; too much sleeping in. However, his persistence led to an increasing amount of shots that led to some wayward target practice at the other end. The increasing confidence meant at times, we were overcommitted, and any loss of the ball would lead to a counterattack. Sensing this, their tall lanky striker came back on for the final few minutes and he immediately caused some problems with his accurate shooting. Derek played a lone hand at the back at times, saving many hard shots from him, as well as creating plenty of pressure by closing the goal face when left stranded at the back.
As the clock continued to count down, the Offsiders grew more wreckless in their attack for the ball, pushing further into our defence and trying to intercept closer to goal. The man-on-man situation they had effectively created led to some hard contests around the ground but on a one-on-one situation, our skill was always going to win out. Quoc continued to shield the ball and turn his opponents, setting up space for the running Heng or Henry, or shooting himself. But the clinical touch up front was still missing. By now, the all-in style from the Offsiders was backfiring because of their overcommitment to the ball and it was too easy to turn them the wrong way and shimmy in the other direction. The increased desperation led to increased fouls from the opposition, the prime example being Henry's underhand shielding of the ball in the corner, with the frustration boiling over, resulting in a retaliatory shove from his marker. Henry's oscar falling performance with arms flailing in the air rubbed salt into an already wounded Offsider comeback.
Their increased carelessness continued but the cream was beginning to rise to the top. Quoc held off two attackers before spinning between them and despite the reflex foul to his shins, he retained his balance and struck home a classy goal from the right. Derek was gobbling up everything that the Offsiders could muster in goals, and playing a part in opening the field with his feigns to dish off and increasing long throws that allowed Heng to run and continue the pressure up front. Any remote chance of a comeback were quickly killed off by arguably the goal of the day by Dave from the leftwing. A spilt ball ricocheted into his path, and the cries of "control it" from the bench were matched with a nice first touch on the head and a first time volley that went straight into the bottom right corner. Even the Offsiders bench and the other onlookers were appluading.
It wasn't an exceptional performance. But some outstanding goals from Simon, Quoc, Sanji and two of the best from Dave put some superficial gloss over a sloppy performance. Big things expected next week against the bottom team.
Scoreline: 7-3
Goals: Dave 2, Simon 2, Henry, Quoc, Sanji
Best: Quoc, Derek
Academy award: Henry
# posted by Chops @ 10:50 pm 
