Lions,

The January window is always an important time in the season. Usually we have some players missing and others might not be 100 pct match fit when they come back from the break. The team always looks a few kilos heavier as well. This time we had a solid squad with the help of some veteran players. Our opponent were the Azzurri’s and after 10 minutes of play it was obvious that they didn’t come to win but would like to settle for a draw. They rarely came over the middle line and the Lions found themselves running into a blue wall. Best chance was for Felix in the first half but he just couldn’t finish the job. Ten minutes before the end of the first half disaster struck for the Lions as an obvious innocent long ball of the Azzurri fell in between Fabie and Radoaune and both looked at each other without taking the ball. Instead Andrea took it and scored. We tried to stay calm but of course it played into the cards of the Azzurri who now could even sit more back than before. In the second half the Lions showed spirit and created a few good opportunities. It was a great cross from Azzeddine which found Felix at the back post and he gave us the well-deserved equalizer. At the end of the game we had three injured players and it was obvious not everybody was back at their usual fitness level. We did get two more opportunities to score by crosses in the box but our headers went just wide. Azzurri had just two shot on goal and most of the time were found in their own half but they got what they wanted, a draw !

Next Saturday we play the Krauts in the Cup and on Sunday we will play Japan in the SPL ! Obvious we want all Lions to come to the training this Wednesday and get our fitness back !

Cheers Freek

Lions,

When I woke up last Saturday the first thing I saw were some we chat messages with the shocking news from Paris. I was on the way to the SPL U8 league at SCSC when some parents notified me that the pollution was really bad. I tried to tell them that it was not too bad and put up a happy face so that at least the young boys and girls will not know what happened and so that they can enjoy playing the sport they love so much. My phone showed 180 PMI so we started the games but half way 5 teams out of 8 stopped the games and went home as they read pollutions levels over 200 on their phones. In Puxi another youth league was cancelled as well. How does Xi Jing Ping want to develop football in China if the young children cannot play because of pollution ! How long do the normal day to day people have to inhale this bad air ?

While I had to wait for our game against Japan my thought went back to 1994. I worked in Buenos Aires in one of the high rise buildings. Suddenly we heard a loud bang and the building was shaking. There was a massive mushroom cloud far from our office in the sky. Suddenly I realized that the place of the cloud was close to my hotel. I told my boss that I better went to take a look but when I arrived the devastation of the bomb was beyond all imagination. It was total chaos several building were destroyed there was a human chain with volunteers keeping the people out of the street. Here I learned a valuable lesson of live as I could see people wanting to go in to look for relatives but on the other side I could also see people trying to get in to steal belongings as in those days Argentina was very poor. I was dazed like you are in a scene of a movie but this time it was for real. My hotel room was destroyed and 67 people were killed. They bombed the embassy of Israel and several buildings close to it. The Sunday before the bombing my boss who is jewish told me to meet in front of the embassy of Israel as he would pick me up for lunch……!

It was hard to coach the game against Japan as whatever you try to tell your players its suddenly less relevant if you think about what happened in France. The issue is deeper than just the Paris attacks and there is no quick solution. All I said is that we were blessed to play football and that’s is the real truth every time we step on the fields with our friends we should be thank full ! Japan played their game of the lives and kept us at 0-0 at half time. We played well with good spirit but couldn’t find the final shot on target. Only when japan on rare occasions moved forward to attack we got the best opportunities to counter them. In the second half we tried to get the 1-0 but instead Japan outplayed our defense and the Japanese player lobbed the ball behind our goalie. We tried hard to come back in the game and did it by a penalty from Azzeddine. The best chance to take all three points came 5 minutes before the end when Danni was launched by Radouane and went one on one with the Japanese goalie. Unfortunately he couldn’t finish it and it stayed 1-1. Credit to the Japanese team especially their goalie who was outstanding ! We can live with the result and try to improve in our next game.

On behalf of all the Lions we give our condolences to all the victims in France and wish all the family and friends strength in the difficult days ahead ! Be strong !

A Sad Lions President Freek

Lions,

The weather could not have been better blue sky and a comfortable 23 degrees last Saturday. The opponent were the Shooters so all was set for a big game ! Radouane our goalie took the sentence to be on time very serious as he arrived 20 seconds before kick off. It must have been a challenge for him but we were happy that he made it coming from work ! The game started slow with both teams trying to figure out where the weak spots were. The shooter tried thru their trade mark long balls on the wings and the Lions tried to dominate the mid field as the game moved on the Shooters were pushed back more and more. Lions were denied by Chris the Shooters goalie a couple of times but a great combination between Azzeddine and Danni resulted in the first goal of the game as Danni scored in the left corner. It was 1-0 at half time and playing the Shooters you know that could be a too narrow margin. The focus was on the defense to make sure we didn’t give away the match and upfront we tried to finish it off. We should have scored at least two or three more goals as it was harder and harder for the Shooters to stop us. At a point they even tried to make a rugby tackle to stop Azzeddine but even that didn’t work for them. Shooters are famous for scoring in the last minutes but this time our defense was rock solid and motivated until the end not to let it happen. When the David the Chinese referee who had an excellent game came there was happiness. First because of the three points and second because of the clean sheet and last and not least because of the spirit we showed. Compliments were given to our youngsters who showed positive aggression and gave the Shooters a hard time !

Our next game will be agains the Azzurri and we know that those are the games we like as both teams will play open football until the end !

Let’ s all come to the training to keep the focus and build on our fitness !

Well done Lions ! Cheers Freek

Lions,

It was a beautiful day yesterday ! Perfect weather and a green pitch !

We had an interesting line up yesterday with Fred Fuseau showing up while not being selected and Farid making his come back after a world serie of injuries and Aga making his debut for the Lions !

Our strategy was laid out by Charles and Garret and the plan was to start aggressive and try to score first. Our start was one of the best we have seen for some time. All players were full of aggression and especially our youngsters Felix and Arnault were giving the Gremio defenders a hard time. It was a well spotted hand ball that gave us a penalty and Azz had no problem converting. We kept the pressure high and soon Azz lobbed the ball over the keeper from the right to make it 2-0. Against our game plan we did give back a goal to Gremio after we didn’t handle a long ball well. In the last 15 minutes of the first half we put Fred F on in order to create more havoc ! He came close once and on another fast counter attack Azz ran thru the Gremio defence and spotted Fred a quick look and an agreement on the amount of free steaks @ Morton’s was made and Azz laid the ball off and Fred hesitated for one second but than blasted the ball in the net. It was 3-1 at half time and in the second half we were a bit less focused especially in the finishing. All though Gremio didn’t create any opportunities or shots by themselves we started to give them some and escaped a possible penalty against us. In the last 15 minutes Charles scored two goals after good build up play from the midfield to make the final score 5-1 ! It was a great game from the Lions and a well deserved victory !

Up next will be “El Classico” versus the Shooters 1500 PM at Waigaoqiao.

Lets all come to the training to keep this momentum / As well bring the membership fee if you have not done so as we have to pay all the League Fees this week !

Cheers Happy Freek