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Shanghai Lions Football Club

Legends lost against Japan

[Veteran] Shanghai Lions FC 1 – 4 Japan FC

Finally the pollution which hung over Shanghai for more than a week got cleared and we were playing in cold conditions but with a blue sky ! For the Legends it was their first match after the New Year holiday and always that match is not easy as most players gained a few kilos and dropped their fitness levels. For the Japanese players this was not the case as they looked sharp fit and well organized.

With our Captain Fred on goal for the first 20 minutes we tried to combine to keep the ball in our possession however the passing was poor end most of the time the ball ended up with a Japanese player. We got a free kick on a good position but we took it too fast as our defenders were still on the way forward. We gave the free kick to the Japanese who found themselves unmarked on top and they scored on a quick counter… Soon we failed to clear a long ball and Hirai, the Japanese striker, had no problem scoring the 2-0 from close range. 0-2 down just before half time we had to try to get back in the game and did it with a in the box strike from Nicolas B… It felt good !

We started  the third 20 minutes motivated but within two minutes we gave the ball away and left the Japanese striker too much space and their 3-1 was the “so called” killer blow ! While trying to get a goal it was Japan again who scored typically from a corner for us on a very fast counter !

 

Well done and Well deserved victory for Japan. For us we need to get our fitness back and that starts at the training field on Tuesday !

 

Cheers
Freek

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