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)
# posted by Chops @ 12:29 pm 
