[SIFL News] Round 7 – Games played on 12 Nov 2016
Premier League
Shanghai Lions FC (above) take first spot with win over FC Oranje. Shanghai ReUnited beat Shanghai Japan FC. Azzurri FC win versus Shanghai United. Shanghai Krauts FC beat Shanghai 3United.
First Division
Voodoo edge out Happy FC and take top spot. Shanghai Cosmos defeat Anzacs FC. Voodoo Child beat Kangbei United FC. Tianfu and Long Tang AFC share spoils with tie.
* Sam France & Awolo Ekene scored 4 goals each!
In the Premier League, Shanghai Lions FC were pitted against Kings of the Basement FC Oranje. The Dutch came to defend trying to prevent the Lions from a quick goal and knowing that the longer they kept the nil would play on the Lions’ nerves.
They held them at bay for about 40mins when the Lions were awarded a free kick 20 meters out. The keeper lined up the wall and positioned himself at the far post. Azzeddine stepped, took a look at the wall and the keeper and simply placed the ball at the free post taking a 1-0 Lions lead.
The Dutch then resorted to full attack mode to try and score the equalizer before halftime. Dutch courage to no avail as the Lions immediately took advantage with a counter that found Azzeddine on the left flank. He controlled the ball and with a well-placed shot doubled the Lions lead to 2-0 and that’s how the half ended.
In the second half, the Lions pushed a bit more with many rotations and more goals quickly followed. First Nicolas Bouchou kept his goal scoring pace in tact as he scored twice for 4-0 followed by Gwen Volant for 5-0 and Jona Vogel flew in the sixth for 6-0.
The men in Oranje than regrouped a bit and deployed the aging master, which had an immediate effect. Hong Kong boots on the ground Simon Ho launched his comrade Jimmy Li who took a shot on goal. The keeper saved it initially but Aaron Breeds was there for the tap in and his first goal for the orange franchise and 6-1.
Daan van Eijkel (above) then took Oranje by the hand to try and quickly score six goals at the death, which was hard, but mathematically not impossible. It was a futile effort though as Xu Ling scored at the other end for a final 7-1 score line. The boys in orange went to Cages in celebration of Aaron Breeds’ first goal for Oranje. Oranjeboom was there!
Man of the match honors went to Azzeddine Takouloufa. Above with Xu Ling, Aaron Breeds, Nicolas Bouchou, Gwen Volant, Tom Bus, Jona Vogel and Freek Boelen.
Shanghai Japan FC crossed swords with Shanghai ReUnited. ReUnited, since 2006, continued their 100% start to the season in a hard-fought victory over Japan. Although they made it three wins out of three, this game was a lot more complicated than the piece of cake victories that preceded it.
Japan started well and caused all sorts of problems for ReUnited in the first half. Apart from grand delusions about their set up date, ReUnited had major problems with their shape in the opening exchanges.
Japan put them under serious pressure and when a loose ball at the back was latched onto by the lethal Japan strike force, Takuya Nakano was played free in front of the keeper and he coolly slotted home taking a 1-0 Japan lead and that’s how the half ended.
The second half was a different story though as ReUnited refocused and pinned the Japanese back for almost the entire half. ReU’s effort and spirit was rewarded when David Conrad’s cross-come-shot sailed into the top corner of the Japanese net evening out the score at 1-1.
From there ReU powered on with Steve Ishemezwe netting twice for 1-3 and Max Dyckerhoff scoring the fourth and 1-4. In the closing minutes Takuya Nakano scored his second for Japan to make the score more respectable at 2-4 but by then ReUnited had won the game.
Steve Ishemezwe received man of the match honors. And so ReUnited go on to face the Lions next week in fine fettle and hoping to emulate 3United’s result on the opening day.
Azzurri FC did battle with Shanghai United. It turned out to be a battle of epic proportions and great score fest. Azzurri drew first blood taking a 1-0 lead. They then drew some more blood doubling the score to two for 2-0. United have Awolo Ekene (below) and he scored getting a goal back at 2-1. Ekene was at it again when he evened out the score at 2-2.
At this point in the match the men in blue looked ready for the sledgehammer as United created chance after chance. Ekene then scored a third completing a rare pure hattrick taking a 2-3 United lead.
It looked like the Italians would go into the break one goal down but they managed to equalize before halftime and went to tea with 3-3 score line.
In the second half, they upped the pace and pushed f#cking harder. It yielded as they continued the scoring taking a 4-3 lead. They found the net another time for 5-3. Awolo Ekene then scored his fourth and determined a final 5-4 score line.
Antti Hintsanen (2), Kwame Agyei-Owusu, Patrick Arbeloa and Niccolo Reinero scored the Azzurri goals. Adam Kluger received man of the match honors. Kluger: “We are going to Cages coz there I can score from every angle!”
Shanghai 3United squared off versus the Shanghai Krauts FC. In the first half both teams played attacking football creating several chances but the final touch was missing. Thomas Schwab came close to opening the score but his effort landed on the post. Both teams went to tea with a 0^0 spectacle score.
Dictator Bilgin G had a thunderous speech at halftime ordering his troops to stay focused and push deep into enemy territory. It yielded immediately as in minute 47 Christoph Harmeyer found the net taking a 0-1 Krauts lead.
Stanislav Korchazhinkii doubled the score from an Azim Madaminov assist taking a 2-0 lead for Germany. United then wasted a 100% chance to get a goal back and instead the Krauts executed a deadly attack. Korchazhinkii got the ball and lobbed it over the keeper for 3-0.
Madaminov (above) got in on the scoring as well for 4-0. Towards the end 3United were able to grab a consolation goal when Korbi Randlinger found the net and determined a final score line of 3United 1, Krauts 4. Azim Madaminov received man of the match honors.
In the First Division, Voodoo got back into the swing of Saturday football against Happy FC and they set about them like an Aussie at a Brazilian BBQ and threw a mullet up’em from the off.
Voodoo started well and found themselves up 2-0 at halftime thanks to Evan Kleinberg and a rocket from Jacob Harding. A rare halftime lead and it looked good but then Voodooitis set in the second half while HFC upped the tempo. Strikes from Zheren Liu and Qifa Li evened out the score at 2-2.
Two goals apiece and it could have gone either way but there would be a happy ending for Voodoo after a Fabien Lebourcq cross was turned in by the otherwise profligate Jonny White and a 2-3 Voodoo lead.
HFC then tried an all or nothing assault and the last ten minutes was all blues but Colin White the greatest goalkeeper ever was more than equal to everything that was thrown at him and Voodoo hung on for another unwarranted three points. Evan Kleinberg was voted man of the match.
Will Voodoo’s luck run out against the Vikings next match? Will Brian Doyle make a fake newspaper article? Will the club’s greatest goal scorer Ned Kelly score 10?
Jonny White: “We’ll know next week when we have Saturday football for an unprecedented two weeks in a row.”
Shanghai Cosmos locked horns with Anzacs FC. After a month off, Cosmos were happy to get back out on the field and play. Facing a new and improved Anzacs lineup, the opening exchanges were fairly scrappy.
Cosmos soon found their rhythm and started passing the ball around nicely. The only problem was their final ball. Case in point – Conor Maye’s cross to ‘someone’ was heading straight into the open arms of the goalkeeper, but he somehow managed to drop a simple catch into his own goal for a 1-0 Cosmos lead.
Anzacs came back strong late in the half and probably should have equalized after a long ball left their striker one on one with the keeper. No luck for them though and Cosmos maintained their 1-0 lead at halftime.
In the second half, Cosmos used their wing play to great affect and created a number of chances through low crosses into the box. Unfortunately, the Cosmos front line had left their predatory instinct at home.
As time was running out, the second goal came from an unlikely source. Centre back Jasper Verdam found himself unmarked on the edge of the box and sent a half volley home with his weaker left foot expanding Cosmos’ score to 2-0.
It was a relief for Cosmos at least until their defense fell a sleep and allowed Anzacs to half the deficit to 2-1 from a Daniel Aubin goal with 5mins to go.
Anzacs gave it a final push to try and equalize but Cosmos survived the onslaught and hung on for a 2-1 win. Man of the match honors went to Cosmos’ Jonny Sellars.
Jasper Verdam: “Thou shall not mess with the laws of the universe and the Cosmos must expand!” Goal scorers below: Conor Maye, Daniel Aubin & Verdam.
Shanghai Tianfu FC were scheduled versus Long Tang AFC (above). Both teams were sharp as a knife for this Chinese derby.
Tianfu started well and were able to score twice in the first half while Long Tang netted once for a 2-1 Tianfu lead at halftime.
The roles were reversed in the second half when Long Tang out scored Tianfu 1-2 for a balanced 3-3 tie and after 90 minutes of power football both Chinese sides shared the spoils of the art of the football war.
Ahamad Meouloud, Sam Mabrouk and Wenren Deng scored for Long Tang. Tao Sun (2) and Xiaorong Wu scored for HFC.
Tianfu’s Yu Zhu and Long Tang’s Ahamad Meouloud received man of the match honors.
Voodoo Child locked horns with Kangbei United FC. As VC started off it seemed only captain Kam still had vivid memories of last year’s rape of Kangbei (inflicted on VC). Colin White was on loan to Voodoo so that captain Ben ‘Pies’ Goodwin stood between the sticks.
VC still basking in the great result from the history, set off with the mindset that it would be a walk over and instead were quickly down 0-2. The first was a parting of the defense by Jackson Katta (above) that Moses would have been proud of and the second some neat interplay between Tyler Draper and Katta leaving goalie Goodwin stranded with a pretty good lob.
Some pleasant words were exchanged from the touchline and VC finally came alive. A Fernando Torres pre-Chelsea strike by Irish Andy Graydon gave VC a lift at 1-2 before Sam ‘Jesus’ France smashed one in after some great work by Gary Wright on the right. A 2-2 score line at halftime was a fair reflection.
The second half was tense with VC looking a bit nervous in the back. Jules Goodes memories from last year had returned and young Tony Nogood didn’t dare step on the pitch.
But going forward VC looked dangerous. Brian ‘Santa’ Claus on the right and the introduction of Errol Flynn on the left marauding were creating all sorts of chances for Ned Kelly & Co.
Jesus very kindly slotted in three more goals to appease the masses and a 5-2 VC Lead. As the game wore on VC were getting tired and Kangbei were running low on cigarettes but not before Zhou Qing found the net for 5-3.
Finally Nogood was willing to go with the game being deemed safe, a brief cameo up front, resulting in zero goals and 60 in fines. Sam France received man of the match honors.
STANDINGS
Shanghai International Football League
Venue: Shanghai Community & Sports Center, Waigaoqiao
Visit the official SIFL website to find out more.http://www.eteamz.com/SIFL/
Tom Bus