Lions Lost Against Vikings Despite the Return of Legend Patrick L.

It was an incredibly warm Saturday in Shanghai, with 27 degrees on the first day of March! We had a solid squad, though our regular goalkeeper Marcel was still unavailable—so Annas stepped in to help. We faced the Vikings, a strong team known for playing attacking football.

We focused on not conceding in the first 20 minutes by playing compact. Our striker, Charlie, had several opportunities but couldn’t convert them. We warned our players not to let the Vikings slice through our midfield, as they had a few players capable of doing so. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened: one of their players broke through on a quick solo run and found his forward, who easily scored the opening goal for the Vikings.

Determined to get back into the game, we applied pressure and earned a free kick. Peter passed the ball to Patrick, who delivered a perfect free kick that left the Vikings’ keeper with no chance—leveling the score 1-1 with a shot into the left corner!

Disaster struck just before halftime when a misunderstanding occurred between Othman and a Viking player during a one-on-one contest next to the striker. The referee called a foul just outside the box, gifting the Vikings a free kick, which they converted to make it 2-1. The whistle then blew for halftime.

In the second half, we continued our fight for an equalizer. However, we struggled against the Vikings’ fast wingers, especially since our regular right and left wing defenders were unavailable. The Vikings capitalized on a quick counter to score, making it 3-1. Although we believed the play was offside—and Othman pointed this out—the referee issued a second yellow card and sent our captain off.

As the match deteriorated further for us, the Vikings added another goal from a corner to make it 4-1. Yet, the Lions refused to give up. With help from our young players, we mounted a comeback: a great midfield combination saw Eworo find Tommy free on the edge of the box, and Tommy coolly finished with a low strike. Meanwhile the Vikings were down to 10 men as well after their Captain was send off after a challenge on Peter.

It gave us hope and with our fighting spirit we scored another great goal with this time Tommy the provider and Charlie the finisher to make it 4-3. In the final minutes, another free kick gave us one last chance. Our hopes rested on Patrick once again, but his great strike hit the edge of the crossbar.

That was the final action of the match, and we ultimately lost 4-3. The positive takeaway was our fighting spirit, while the negatives were the defensive lapses that led to the goals.