10 SPL Teams in action !
Amigo’s and Amiga’s,
We had our first full program of the season ! Great weather and very friendly games played on the best fields of Shanghai ! Life is good on Sundays !
SFL FC – Lions 0-7
Debut for the players of Sport for Life. Of course not easy to meet the Lions in your first game but they amount of players they gathered together was impressive as they had over 20 players on the day ! Lions had no intention to give away a goal and scored 4 in the first half. In the second half they added another three but credit to SFL FC for never giving up as they kept on trying to score their first goal in the SPL !
Super 48 – Gremio 0-4
Match was interrupted by an accidental clash of heads. Matsumoto-san of Super 48 was the unlucky one as he ended up in the hospital and went home with six stitches. Luckily he is doing well in the recovery and we can expect him back on the field soon ! Gremio was too strong for Super 48 who tried hard to get a goal. 0-4 was the final score but Super 48 had something to celebrate after the game as they all attended the wedding ceremony of their young striker Hirasawa-san, who scored a goal vs the Lions last week and decided to marry right after ! We are happy to have voted Super 48 “Estrella Galacia SPL Team of the week” ! In their next game they will receive free beer from Spain !
Japan – Marlins 1-1 Great game of course at a fast pace. The young team of Japan looks very dangerous this season. Credit to the Marlins who defended well during the whole game. Japan took the lead but there was loud roar in Jinqiao when the Marlins equalized thru Lee. We received a compliment about the referee from Steve which was good to hear !
Pistolera Bulls – Shanghai 2000 2-4 Very interesting game at the Century Park ! Bulls dominated the game until the 70th minutes and defended their 1-0 lead well. However Shanghai 2000 looked to have found the right mix for the SPL as they had youngster from the youth program making their debut combined with very experienced Chinese Players playing together. They appeared to be fitter and punished the Bulls for their mistakes and scored 4 goals in 15 minutes ! Bulls got one back thru Stoyan but it was too late. Positive point for the Bulls was Bilgin’s yellow card in their first game of the season on top he became a father so beware as soon we have two Bilgin’s in the SPL !
ERS – Cowboys 1-4 As per attached picture our games are getting more and more professional ! Great screen with the team logo’s and the SPL logo made by Karl ! Later you can get your game video after the games for your analyses. The analysis of this game was simple. It all boiled down to fitness. ERS had many players coming back from the long holidays in France and the Cowboys apparently have been playing football all summer !
It was good to see so many teams back in action and the spirit of the games was very good ! Unfortunately we have a break now due to the clash of the Moon Cake festival with the October Holiday in China. It will be a good time for players to get fit and stay away from the Moon Cakes !
Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee
