Game Set & Match for the senior team against Celtic

It was super hot last saturday with temperatures close to 30 degrees. We had a nice line up with a good mix of young & experienced players to play Shanghai Celtic FC once again.

We started well and took an early lead with a good move by Matthew who set Amine free and he scored with a good strike in the corner of the goal.

After the goal, we slowed down our pace and Celtics were putting pressure on our defenders with several long balls. We were sloppy in our build up as were looking for the difficult solutions when the easy ones were right on front of us. Of course, the heat also played a role especially for our players who were still in Ramadan.

As it goes when you are asking for trouble you get it… One long ball went behind our defenders and the Celtic striker scored to make it 1-1.

The rest of the first half was very slow as some Celtic players slowly started to run out of energy.

At half time, we had some serious words as we missed the will to win the game… With the squad we had; we surely could play much better!

The second half was a completely different game as Celtic could only sit back. The first big chance was when Peter found Hira-san on the run and he decided to shoot direct with a little curve just to see his ball end on the outside of the post. At that point the President watching the match from the side line said we are missing a bit of luck. As if somebody overheard that it was a distance shot from Peter which looked like an easy catch for the keeper but the ball slipped out of his hands in the goal.

We kept pushing for more goals and the rest of the game was a real joy to watch as we played fast with great combinations starting from the back and the whole team going for it. We were in control of the midfield and scored some great goals. Peter scored another goal and should have scored another one. Happy was happy to score his first Lions goals as he scored twice. Actually, he could have scored a hat-trick and Eworo got his goal with his classic low strike.

Just in the last second of the match, we gave away a penalty which they scored. However, we were pleased with the final result as we beat Celtics 6-2. Game Set & Match on a hot day in Shanghai.