Lions slipped up in the very last minute

We had two days of heavy rain but on “match day” the sky was clear and the field at Waigaoqiao was in good condition. We were up against the Azzurri who for the day had a large squad lined up. Matches against Azzurri are most of the time tactical chess games as both teams are playing the same style of football. Unfortunately we still had Peter and Hira-san out with injuries.

Our strategy was to stay composed and to focus more on solid defense for the first 15 minutes. For this reason, we were happy with the 0-0 score line. Azzurri was a bit more dangerous esp with their corners and a couple of free kicks. For us on the other hand we tried to play on the counter using the speed of our forwards we came close a few times but missed the target. A free kick at a dangerous spot was an easy catch for the Azzurri keeper as Washbean couldn’t put enough power on his kick.

During half time (0-0) we mentioned to play more together as a team and not for individual glory as we saw opportunities on the wings to penetrate the Azzurri defense.

In the second half, both teams played with higher intensity looking for the break-through goal. We thought we would take the lead when we were after a fast break in a 3 vs 1 situation and a simple lay off would have resulted in a goal but instead we decided to shoot first and the goalie had no problem to make a safe.

Soon after, we thought we would be awarded a penalty when an Azzurri players block a cross with his arm but while everyone could see it the referee was the only person who didn’t see or didn’t want to see it.

Azzurri started to put us under more pressure occupying the midfield and with fresh substitutes and it was a fine strike of one of their subs that left Paul our goalie without a chance and it gave them the lead. We did respond strong with an equalizer within 5 minutes when high ball from a free kick from the side was dropped right in front of Charlies feet and he didn’t hesitate to score.

When with 15 minutes on the clock we had an incredible break and through two quick passes Happy was set free for a 1-1 vs the keeper. We all thought he would score but somehow his effort went on the wrong side of the post.

This was a blow for the team and Azzurri stepped up the pace getting a couple of corners in a row. We defended all of them and it looked the match would end in a 1-1 draw.

However, in the last minute the referee awarded Azzurri with another corner whereas clearly the Azzurri player shot the ball over our goal without a Lions Leg involved and it was also the opinion of the lines man however the referee thought again otherwise… This time, we couldn’t defend the corner and the header ended through the crossbar in our net.

[ SIFL ] Azzurri FC 2-1 Shanghai Lions FC

The disappointment of course after the match was big but we could only blame ourselves by not taking our chances. We will learn from our mistakes and come back stronger in two weeks against the Kickers.

Cheers

Freek