Monday, July 09, 2007
Deja vu
Another season has whizzed by and we found ourselves facing a familiar opponent in the semi-final. Chickempron Submarine were up for some atonement following their epic loss in last season's division 2 grand final. Now in division 1 with a new futsal ball, nothing much else had changed. Same players. Same uniforms. Same shit refs. Same prematch bullshit. Luckily for us, Simmo took to the field with some haggling about his registration bungle before kickoff. We'd seen it all before. For that reason, we went in without a gameplan, thinking we could knock these guys off pretty easily. Smiles all round. Joking about. Piece of cake...
The spinoff from all this was the lax approach to the start of the game. Compared to the fast paced, emotionally charged intensity of the first semi final between Underdogs and Adidos, this game kicked off at a pedestrian pace. No one was running to space. Passes were missing targets. First touches ended up in the nets. We were off the boil. Allowing Chickempron's best player Peter too much space, they built up to offence too easily. And it was only their lack of other star players that really kept the score low. With a little fortune their way, they managed to score off a misdirected backheel from the corner courtesy of a deflection off Sanji. And with their one man team scoring and Simmo being a little off target at the beginning, we were a little puzzled how we'd fallen two goals behind.
We had trouble beating their keeper who was having the game of his life. Simmo was firing some high shots with a lot of venom but he kept parrying them away. Dave got in on the act from the left wing but his well connected shots caught nothing but keeper. And walking into half time, the combination of our lethargy and their better play left us trailing and wondering what to do.
The second half was much the same. Chickempron got yet another goal from a lucky deflection from a free kick off Quoc. And suddenly we were in trouble. And time for Simmo to step up to the plate, yet again. Everyone just pumped the ball to him and he'd do the rest. Control it. Turn. Run. Shoot. And as Chickempron started racking up the fouls, they became increasingly more cautious as we kept smashing free kicks. It was a matter of time.
And trailing by a goal nearing the end, we were becoming increasingly desperate. Quoc tightened the screws on their playmaker and he was getting frustrated at all the calls going against his team. Dave and Quoc linked up for some defence splitting running and passing which came to nothing on the scoreboard. And then it nearly came. One minute left and Quoc had the ball at his feet with two defenders scragging him. With a trademark shift of the ball and moving in between the two defenders, he found himself with only one player to beat. And chose instead to lay off to Simmo who was one-on-one with the keeper. This was it. And the ball came straight off Simmo's trusty boot, and hit the keeper flush in the body.
The crowd including myself thought that was it. Game over. Chickempron ran back to try and pass out and run down the clock. It was time to take risks. And somehow, on the death knell for the end of the game, we ended up with a free kick. Trailing by one goal. With Chickempron accumulating well over their quota of five fouls. With everyone yelling at Simmo, who was walking away, to take the kick. With a massive crowd awaiting their final watching eagerly with their hearts in their mouths. Summer season grand final 07 all over again. Remember what happened last time keeper! Simmo smacks it. Keeper who has had the game of his life can't save it. 4-4. Extra time! Deja vu indeed.
Extra time started and Box Hill Indoor Sports Centre was buzzing again. Refs joining the growing crowd to watch the titanic struggle between the DBB vs Chickempron. And now, the game had truly opened up with Chickenpron walking a tight rope as fouls carried over to the extended period of play. Derek made some nice saves to prevent an early exit from the finals. Shit was starting to go crazy in this cutthroat end to the match. Powerful shots were flying in. Both keepers were saving their teams. And Quoc got the ball and was slide tackled by their best player. Peter actually got the ball with the challenge but it was interpreted as a dubious free to us (Quoc said later his shirt was being tugged.)
In any case, Simmo had another attempt to save the game. A one-on-one free kick with the keeper. The crowd was expecting a massive trademark bullet shot off his boot. And the whole of Box Hill held their breath as he approached. And Simmo took his time. And walked up to fire with all guns blazing... and incredibly he scuffed the shot. Forcing the ball to bounce pathetically on the ground at half pace. The crowd had in that split second allowed their hearts to start beating again. To breathe properly again. There was going to be more time played out afterall. However, the keeper, who had just about saved Simmo's best efforts for most of the game, dived. And ended up scooping the soft shot. And incredibly, back handing it into his own goals. A horrendous howler. But a dramatic and fortuitous one at that.
Lucky. Very lucky. But we have made the grand final for DIVISION 1. Hopefully next week we're switched on. Unlike Chickenpron, our opponents next week have team full of better players. Psych yourselves up from the start next week boys! No half assed bullshit at the beginning. We want to be DIVISION 1 premiers this season!
Score: 5-4 (including golden goal in extra time)
Goals: 5 Simmo
Man of the match: Simmo
Tears award: Chickempron's goalie (for letting in a free kick after full time to let us equalise again)
The spinoff from all this was the lax approach to the start of the game. Compared to the fast paced, emotionally charged intensity of the first semi final between Underdogs and Adidos, this game kicked off at a pedestrian pace. No one was running to space. Passes were missing targets. First touches ended up in the nets. We were off the boil. Allowing Chickempron's best player Peter too much space, they built up to offence too easily. And it was only their lack of other star players that really kept the score low. With a little fortune their way, they managed to score off a misdirected backheel from the corner courtesy of a deflection off Sanji. And with their one man team scoring and Simmo being a little off target at the beginning, we were a little puzzled how we'd fallen two goals behind.
We had trouble beating their keeper who was having the game of his life. Simmo was firing some high shots with a lot of venom but he kept parrying them away. Dave got in on the act from the left wing but his well connected shots caught nothing but keeper. And walking into half time, the combination of our lethargy and their better play left us trailing and wondering what to do.
The second half was much the same. Chickempron got yet another goal from a lucky deflection from a free kick off Quoc. And suddenly we were in trouble. And time for Simmo to step up to the plate, yet again. Everyone just pumped the ball to him and he'd do the rest. Control it. Turn. Run. Shoot. And as Chickempron started racking up the fouls, they became increasingly more cautious as we kept smashing free kicks. It was a matter of time.
And trailing by a goal nearing the end, we were becoming increasingly desperate. Quoc tightened the screws on their playmaker and he was getting frustrated at all the calls going against his team. Dave and Quoc linked up for some defence splitting running and passing which came to nothing on the scoreboard. And then it nearly came. One minute left and Quoc had the ball at his feet with two defenders scragging him. With a trademark shift of the ball and moving in between the two defenders, he found himself with only one player to beat. And chose instead to lay off to Simmo who was one-on-one with the keeper. This was it. And the ball came straight off Simmo's trusty boot, and hit the keeper flush in the body.
The crowd including myself thought that was it. Game over. Chickempron ran back to try and pass out and run down the clock. It was time to take risks. And somehow, on the death knell for the end of the game, we ended up with a free kick. Trailing by one goal. With Chickempron accumulating well over their quota of five fouls. With everyone yelling at Simmo, who was walking away, to take the kick. With a massive crowd awaiting their final watching eagerly with their hearts in their mouths. Summer season grand final 07 all over again. Remember what happened last time keeper! Simmo smacks it. Keeper who has had the game of his life can't save it. 4-4. Extra time! Deja vu indeed.
Extra time started and Box Hill Indoor Sports Centre was buzzing again. Refs joining the growing crowd to watch the titanic struggle between the DBB vs Chickempron. And now, the game had truly opened up with Chickenpron walking a tight rope as fouls carried over to the extended period of play. Derek made some nice saves to prevent an early exit from the finals. Shit was starting to go crazy in this cutthroat end to the match. Powerful shots were flying in. Both keepers were saving their teams. And Quoc got the ball and was slide tackled by their best player. Peter actually got the ball with the challenge but it was interpreted as a dubious free to us (Quoc said later his shirt was being tugged.)
In any case, Simmo had another attempt to save the game. A one-on-one free kick with the keeper. The crowd was expecting a massive trademark bullet shot off his boot. And the whole of Box Hill held their breath as he approached. And Simmo took his time. And walked up to fire with all guns blazing... and incredibly he scuffed the shot. Forcing the ball to bounce pathetically on the ground at half pace. The crowd had in that split second allowed their hearts to start beating again. To breathe properly again. There was going to be more time played out afterall. However, the keeper, who had just about saved Simmo's best efforts for most of the game, dived. And ended up scooping the soft shot. And incredibly, back handing it into his own goals. A horrendous howler. But a dramatic and fortuitous one at that.
Lucky. Very lucky. But we have made the grand final for DIVISION 1. Hopefully next week we're switched on. Unlike Chickenpron, our opponents next week have team full of better players. Psych yourselves up from the start next week boys! No half assed bullshit at the beginning. We want to be DIVISION 1 premiers this season!
Score: 5-4 (including golden goal in extra time)
Goals: 5 Simmo
Man of the match: Simmo
Tears award: Chickempron's goalie (for letting in a free kick after full time to let us equalise again)
# posted by Chops @ 7:15 pm 
