Sunday, January 28, 2007
vs Adidos
Following the week's capitulation in a friendly a few days earlier, the DBB were on a mission. In our failure to string enough passes together, looking at each other not run, struggling to get a shot on goal and thoroughly getting our pants pulled down by a our better opposition (no homo), it was time to cut the shit. And versus the top team Adidos, it was time to address all these issues, and also show a bit of character, grit, and fucking skill, rolled into one game.
Adidos had only lost one game for the season. And for the opening stanza, it showed. Defending in packs, breaking out to attack and tackling hard. In fact, most of the ball winning was bordering aussie rules, with some shirt fronts and hip and shoulders that would've gone punished in AFL, let alone soccer. By the time our shirts had been half torn, and we'd gotten enough bruises on our arms and nearly falling off balance from all the ice hockey body checks, we could only look to the ref in amazement at how this shit was being allowed to happen. And with our gameplan under attack, our bodies being assaulted and the umpire acting like a happily bribed official, we had our backs to the wall...
But we responded. We stayed calm. And if anything, we relished the challenge. Simmo was back to his attacking best unleashing those bullets off either foot with no luck. And his tireless tracking back and fearless tackling against the bigger opponents made the opposition stand up and take notice. They were getting a title challenge. With Quoc looking the liveliest he's been in weeks, reading the play and intercepting passes with Dave, and attacking with vigour, it was a matter of time before we'd breakthrough. And after much toil, Dave clawed his way out of the trenches and managed to get us ahead. But the game remained close and tough with us walking off into halftime in the lead courtesy of Dave's goals.
The game stepped up further in intensity as Adidos' tried to stop our ball possession. But we held firm and Simmo and Henry were coping a lot of dirty fouls but stayed strong. And with Frank putting some good hustle up front and Chops closing down after attacking and putting in some roughhouse tackles, we were holding strong. And it was only a matter of time before the cracks began to appear as Adidos was forced to push for the equaliser. Suddenly a war of attrition became an open war of attrition as their defence parted quicker than the red sea. And as Chops held their defenders up, Quoc and Dave read the next pass by intercepting and shooting. Simmo turned on turbo and starting locking and loading from both flanks. And ran to a long through ball to run'n'gun and make the contest 6-0. Even Adidos' most tilted player came over to concede that was too good. Spirit breaking indeed.
We did tire at the end but the game was as good as over by that time. A fantastic performance. Organisation, holding the ball, resolute defending, and plenty of shooting. That's what we're capable of when we put it together. We should be the fucking top team!
Score: 8-2
Goals: 3 Simmo, 2 Dave, 1 Frank, Henry, Quoc
Man of the match: Simmo (great team performance though)
Betting on himself to get a card award: Quoc (for unnecessarily getting another yellow in the first few minutes)
Adidos had only lost one game for the season. And for the opening stanza, it showed. Defending in packs, breaking out to attack and tackling hard. In fact, most of the ball winning was bordering aussie rules, with some shirt fronts and hip and shoulders that would've gone punished in AFL, let alone soccer. By the time our shirts had been half torn, and we'd gotten enough bruises on our arms and nearly falling off balance from all the ice hockey body checks, we could only look to the ref in amazement at how this shit was being allowed to happen. And with our gameplan under attack, our bodies being assaulted and the umpire acting like a happily bribed official, we had our backs to the wall...
But we responded. We stayed calm. And if anything, we relished the challenge. Simmo was back to his attacking best unleashing those bullets off either foot with no luck. And his tireless tracking back and fearless tackling against the bigger opponents made the opposition stand up and take notice. They were getting a title challenge. With Quoc looking the liveliest he's been in weeks, reading the play and intercepting passes with Dave, and attacking with vigour, it was a matter of time before we'd breakthrough. And after much toil, Dave clawed his way out of the trenches and managed to get us ahead. But the game remained close and tough with us walking off into halftime in the lead courtesy of Dave's goals.
The game stepped up further in intensity as Adidos' tried to stop our ball possession. But we held firm and Simmo and Henry were coping a lot of dirty fouls but stayed strong. And with Frank putting some good hustle up front and Chops closing down after attacking and putting in some roughhouse tackles, we were holding strong. And it was only a matter of time before the cracks began to appear as Adidos was forced to push for the equaliser. Suddenly a war of attrition became an open war of attrition as their defence parted quicker than the red sea. And as Chops held their defenders up, Quoc and Dave read the next pass by intercepting and shooting. Simmo turned on turbo and starting locking and loading from both flanks. And ran to a long through ball to run'n'gun and make the contest 6-0. Even Adidos' most tilted player came over to concede that was too good. Spirit breaking indeed.
We did tire at the end but the game was as good as over by that time. A fantastic performance. Organisation, holding the ball, resolute defending, and plenty of shooting. That's what we're capable of when we put it together. We should be the fucking top team!
Score: 8-2
Goals: 3 Simmo, 2 Dave, 1 Frank, Henry, Quoc
Man of the match: Simmo (great team performance though)
Betting on himself to get a card award: Quoc (for unnecessarily getting another yellow in the first few minutes)
Monday, January 22, 2007
vs Shuuto
Sunday saw us pitted against Shuuto, one of our archrivals for the past few seasons having banished us runners up one season and some pretty heated encounters to boot. So whilst the contest may have been a dead rubber for us logically, as we can't really make the finals, there was sure to be some fireworks. Seeing the same opponents for the umpteenth time just added fuel to the fire. Familiarity breeds contempt.
The opening was a sign of things to come. Shuuto matched us evenly in many respects. But the one thing they definitely held the edge over us in was physicality. And their movement and hard tackling was tiring our players pretty quickly, particularly without our own bulldog Heng being away for work. However, Henry and Simon stepped up to the plate and more than manfully went in for the hard ball and began to hold the play up. Simmo was running around like a machine on a mission and Henry copping the full force of some rough house tactics from our opponents.
Indeed, it was Henry who was driving the ball up and shielding it from his enemies that began to dominate the play. And true to his hard work, he was rewarded with a great opening goal and then a somewhat luckier one in the first half. Such was the composure shown in such a wildly moving match that he received the first of many blatant fouls. Dave was showing his usual surges from the back but had no real luck as the opponents began to concentrate on changing the momentum by shutting up shop for the rest of the half.
As Shuuto began to camp again in their defence, we responded by trying to draw them out. If the first half was a brawl, then the second was starting out like a chess match. Each team trying to draw the other out and snipe a goal unassumingly. It was holding off in our defence that led to too much space for their tall striker to rifle one in from the wing. And then a combination of a wall that humpty dumpty could've broken and some lucky deflections led to the most bizarre equaliser. Sanji came on and provided us a target up front but our shooting was pathetic. Shots flying wide, shots dribbling in with no power, waiting too long to shoot. We had chances. Many chances.
Suddenly we were on the backfoot as Shuuto pressed hard again trying to draw us back out into war with some bone crunching tackles and hard running. A card was thrown in somewhere. The game was turning into slugfest in the middle with both teams not really pressing everything in attack. It was going to take a mistake rather than a moment of brilliance to win this game. Deep into the last three minutes of the game, their dribbler was scrambling back in D and turned to make a run for it. Chops luckily stuck a foot out and won the ball whilst his opponent lost balance. The ball popped up for a nice release of frustration at a bad day at the office. Fortunately, the ball went into the corner of the net. 3-2.
We scrambled and defended to starve them possession like our lives depended on it. And with Derek shuffling the ball either side of the circle, time eventually ran us out victors by the narrowest of margins.
A performance with a lot of heart and grit. But to only score 3 goals from how many chances is a worry.
Score: 3-2
Goals: 2 Henry, 1 Chops
Man of the match: Henry (all game dribbling and not losing it, copping tackles, winning the ball and two goals was the icing on the cake)
WTF award: Derek (wondering what would've been had the wall been set up correctly.)
The opening was a sign of things to come. Shuuto matched us evenly in many respects. But the one thing they definitely held the edge over us in was physicality. And their movement and hard tackling was tiring our players pretty quickly, particularly without our own bulldog Heng being away for work. However, Henry and Simon stepped up to the plate and more than manfully went in for the hard ball and began to hold the play up. Simmo was running around like a machine on a mission and Henry copping the full force of some rough house tactics from our opponents.
Indeed, it was Henry who was driving the ball up and shielding it from his enemies that began to dominate the play. And true to his hard work, he was rewarded with a great opening goal and then a somewhat luckier one in the first half. Such was the composure shown in such a wildly moving match that he received the first of many blatant fouls. Dave was showing his usual surges from the back but had no real luck as the opponents began to concentrate on changing the momentum by shutting up shop for the rest of the half.
As Shuuto began to camp again in their defence, we responded by trying to draw them out. If the first half was a brawl, then the second was starting out like a chess match. Each team trying to draw the other out and snipe a goal unassumingly. It was holding off in our defence that led to too much space for their tall striker to rifle one in from the wing. And then a combination of a wall that humpty dumpty could've broken and some lucky deflections led to the most bizarre equaliser. Sanji came on and provided us a target up front but our shooting was pathetic. Shots flying wide, shots dribbling in with no power, waiting too long to shoot. We had chances. Many chances.
Suddenly we were on the backfoot as Shuuto pressed hard again trying to draw us back out into war with some bone crunching tackles and hard running. A card was thrown in somewhere. The game was turning into slugfest in the middle with both teams not really pressing everything in attack. It was going to take a mistake rather than a moment of brilliance to win this game. Deep into the last three minutes of the game, their dribbler was scrambling back in D and turned to make a run for it. Chops luckily stuck a foot out and won the ball whilst his opponent lost balance. The ball popped up for a nice release of frustration at a bad day at the office. Fortunately, the ball went into the corner of the net. 3-2.
We scrambled and defended to starve them possession like our lives depended on it. And with Derek shuffling the ball either side of the circle, time eventually ran us out victors by the narrowest of margins.
A performance with a lot of heart and grit. But to only score 3 goals from how many chances is a worry.
Score: 3-2
Goals: 2 Henry, 1 Chops
Man of the match: Henry (all game dribbling and not losing it, copping tackles, winning the ball and two goals was the icing on the cake)
WTF award: Derek (wondering what would've been had the wall been set up correctly.)
Monday, January 15, 2007
vs Iocore
It was not the most welcoming of news seeing Simon in bum clothes for the game with a busted toe. Adding this to Heng's work commitments and Sanji's lengthy layoff from an ankle injury and we had effectively been robbed of our prime striker, ball winner and defender. Not cool.
Iocore were definitely a team we could've done with those 3 players present. Their captain and striker had some decent ball control and was definitely not someone to go hacking for the ball because he'd skip pass and shoot. He also had the presence of mind not to go blasting wildly and he'd hold the ball up if necessary waiting for support. Coupling this to their dribbler in shin guards and we'd finally met our match skillwise. The only difference was Iocore was more patient and willing to camp deep in their defence waiting for us to overcommit.
Dave was lively early and his mazy runs and stop-start dribbling was causing some of their defenders some heartache. We played high in attack with Henry and Dave looking for the opening. Apart from these two, the beginning of the game was quite an apathetic performance. We were more willing to just hold the ball without any creativity and it showed. Chops' lazy attempt to do something spectacular ended up in him losing the ball and getting tilted as he steamtrained the ball robber over in a blatant foul. Frustrations were beginning to show.
The second half in contrast to the first was much brighter. Quoc and Dave were showing more imagination up front and the shots began to come. Their counterattack based game was beginning to fall apart in chasing the lead but our lack of a decisive scorer meant the game was still close. Quoc came close on a number of occasions always faking to his left but failing without any power on his wrong side. It took a moment of brilliance from Frank to finally reward us some breathing space for all the toil put in. Getting the ball down the left wing, he held off one defender and rounded another and still in control, caressed the ball past the keeper with consummate ease. Easily the goal of the day.
With their spirits seemingly broken, another scrappy goal from our relentless pressure had killed the contest. It was clear that some of the partying and late nights had caught up to a few of us as we really took the foot off the accelerator at the end. Quoc and Chops began to stand right near the circle line and letting in defenders as Iocore pushed for some pride. Thanks to Derek's goal keeping, we were lucky that they only scored two late on. As we let the final 10 seconds run, we came out winners barely, even though it was much easier than that.
In the end, we did enough. Although, as everybody knows, we are a fucking lazy team.
Score: 4-3
Goals: 1, Dave, Henry, Frank, Chops
Best: Dave (for his drive particularly in the first half), Derek (for making a host of fine saves)
Bergkamp award: Frank (for making holding one guy off, rounding another, and then side footing a goal in to look so goddamn easy. Iceman indeed)
Iocore were definitely a team we could've done with those 3 players present. Their captain and striker had some decent ball control and was definitely not someone to go hacking for the ball because he'd skip pass and shoot. He also had the presence of mind not to go blasting wildly and he'd hold the ball up if necessary waiting for support. Coupling this to their dribbler in shin guards and we'd finally met our match skillwise. The only difference was Iocore was more patient and willing to camp deep in their defence waiting for us to overcommit.
Dave was lively early and his mazy runs and stop-start dribbling was causing some of their defenders some heartache. We played high in attack with Henry and Dave looking for the opening. Apart from these two, the beginning of the game was quite an apathetic performance. We were more willing to just hold the ball without any creativity and it showed. Chops' lazy attempt to do something spectacular ended up in him losing the ball and getting tilted as he steamtrained the ball robber over in a blatant foul. Frustrations were beginning to show.
The second half in contrast to the first was much brighter. Quoc and Dave were showing more imagination up front and the shots began to come. Their counterattack based game was beginning to fall apart in chasing the lead but our lack of a decisive scorer meant the game was still close. Quoc came close on a number of occasions always faking to his left but failing without any power on his wrong side. It took a moment of brilliance from Frank to finally reward us some breathing space for all the toil put in. Getting the ball down the left wing, he held off one defender and rounded another and still in control, caressed the ball past the keeper with consummate ease. Easily the goal of the day.
With their spirits seemingly broken, another scrappy goal from our relentless pressure had killed the contest. It was clear that some of the partying and late nights had caught up to a few of us as we really took the foot off the accelerator at the end. Quoc and Chops began to stand right near the circle line and letting in defenders as Iocore pushed for some pride. Thanks to Derek's goal keeping, we were lucky that they only scored two late on. As we let the final 10 seconds run, we came out winners barely, even though it was much easier than that.
In the end, we did enough. Although, as everybody knows, we are a fucking lazy team.
Score: 4-3
Goals: 1, Dave, Henry, Frank, Chops
Best: Dave (for his drive particularly in the first half), Derek (for making a host of fine saves)
Bergkamp award: Frank (for making holding one guy off, rounding another, and then side footing a goal in to look so goddamn easy. Iceman indeed)
Sunday, January 07, 2007
vs Chickempron Submarine
So the mood was much like the first game of the new season in the premier league. Players coming off a massive festive season doing none other than getting smashed, depriving themselves of sleep and in general, vast amounts of activities that only the devil himself would approve of. Still, the Jan 7th date for the first game back from the break was as much as atoning for the bad deeds of the weeks just passed as it was a chance to get rid of those nasty cobwebs... both in the body and in the mind.
Interestingly, the flavour of the new year was a cocktail of food and metal. Of chicken and a ship that sails underwater funnily enough. And their style was exactly like that. Well, poultry if you extend the symbolism to that of a headless chicken running around, and the submarine being the steel and grit of something sturdy. Yep, make no mistake of it, our more stocky opponents definitely had a lot of that thing called cardiovascular fitness and did run around like wild chickens and they did have a lot of steel and grit about their play. Bang up the ball to the forwards, hard tackles... a contrast in styles if you could call it that.
Our greater technique meant we controlled play for long periods. Passing the ball confidently in defence looking for the opening, our attempts on goal were stifled as our overelobaration at times gave them the opportunity to scramble back. And is always the case, we conceded with some soft defending on a counter attack that had us doubting what it was that we were doing wrong. And so the contest developed into an dour struggle between skill versus determination and grit.
It was a heavyweight contest with nobody really getting ahead on the scoreboard. A turn-and-shoot effort drew us level but some lazy defending from Chops and Dave led to a few embarrassing goals conceded. But to the credit of the team, there was plenty of heart from the team lacking steel on field. Henry continually ran forward to provide options and had a few half chances on goal, only hesitating by checking back and letting the submarines swamped him in the process. Dave was providing some drive from the back up to the wings and Heng was his usual put-a-foot-in-everywhere self. Quoc was creating some golden opportunities and spurned them straight into the keeper. Simon was the usual workhorse and machine gun up forward, firing in numerous attempts but without luck. Derek saved all that he could possibly; the goals conceded weren't his fault.
In the end, we toiled a lot and had the greater control of the play, passes, open shots, golden opportunites but just could not convert. Credit to our opposition, they made the most of their chances. We did not. In the words of one deloitte soccer player, "doesn't it piss you off how many times you are easily, the more skilled team, but you lose to the shitter, fitter team?"
Score: 3-4
Goals: 2 Chops, 1 Heng
Man of the match: Nobody
Smart ass award: Quoc, who else? [For his "why don't you give him a yellow ref for kicking the ball away...? So I'm going to kick the ball away now... (yellow card) Fuck off ref."]
Interestingly, the flavour of the new year was a cocktail of food and metal. Of chicken and a ship that sails underwater funnily enough. And their style was exactly like that. Well, poultry if you extend the symbolism to that of a headless chicken running around, and the submarine being the steel and grit of something sturdy. Yep, make no mistake of it, our more stocky opponents definitely had a lot of that thing called cardiovascular fitness and did run around like wild chickens and they did have a lot of steel and grit about their play. Bang up the ball to the forwards, hard tackles... a contrast in styles if you could call it that.
Our greater technique meant we controlled play for long periods. Passing the ball confidently in defence looking for the opening, our attempts on goal were stifled as our overelobaration at times gave them the opportunity to scramble back. And is always the case, we conceded with some soft defending on a counter attack that had us doubting what it was that we were doing wrong. And so the contest developed into an dour struggle between skill versus determination and grit.
It was a heavyweight contest with nobody really getting ahead on the scoreboard. A turn-and-shoot effort drew us level but some lazy defending from Chops and Dave led to a few embarrassing goals conceded. But to the credit of the team, there was plenty of heart from the team lacking steel on field. Henry continually ran forward to provide options and had a few half chances on goal, only hesitating by checking back and letting the submarines swamped him in the process. Dave was providing some drive from the back up to the wings and Heng was his usual put-a-foot-in-everywhere self. Quoc was creating some golden opportunities and spurned them straight into the keeper. Simon was the usual workhorse and machine gun up forward, firing in numerous attempts but without luck. Derek saved all that he could possibly; the goals conceded weren't his fault.
In the end, we toiled a lot and had the greater control of the play, passes, open shots, golden opportunites but just could not convert. Credit to our opposition, they made the most of their chances. We did not. In the words of one deloitte soccer player, "doesn't it piss you off how many times you are easily, the more skilled team, but you lose to the shitter, fitter team?"
Score: 3-4
Goals: 2 Chops, 1 Heng
Man of the match: Nobody
Smart ass award: Quoc, who else? [For his "why don't you give him a yellow ref for kicking the ball away...? So I'm going to kick the ball away now... (yellow card) Fuck off ref."]
