[SPL News] Century Park FC the team to beat in the SPL !

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

Last weekend some teams took part in the Shanghai Masters. A great veteran tournament organized by Super 48 ! It was won by Emerald FC who beat Japan 1-0 in the final and the Lions Legends ended third after they lost the semi’s against Japan on penalty. For this reason we had only one game on Sunday !

Century Park FC 1–0 ERS

It was a great setting on a great pitch with the two teams in form battling it out. ERS started better and got opportunities esp Ondrej came close as well ERS felt they deserved a penalty when he was tackled from behind. After a while Century Park came over their nerves and took more possession and control of the game. They tried to score by counters but Shingi and Max rushed too much and missed the targets. In the second half Century Park started better fully focused and it lead to the opening goal great run and pass fm Daniel Kim to Fafa who scored the 1-0. Now ERS had to come and they tried it with long balls and on the other side Century Park tried to break on counters and came close a few times ! It stayed 1-0 and Sam of ERS said after the game “ It was a great game of football but in this game both sides didn’t deserve to lose” !

This weekend we will have three games in the SPL!

  • 1230 -1430 Krauts vs MMFC @ Jinqiao
  • 1430-1630 Lions – ERS @ Jinqiao
  • 1400-1600 Century Park FC – Marlins

Temperatures are hitting winter levels so let the games be excellent warming up games for the upcoming Santa Cup hopefully played in the snow !

Cheers
Freek / Yamada

It was a super weekend for the Lions

[ SIFL ] Shanghai LIONS 7-1 Oranje FC

It was excellent weather and playing condition were perfect last Saturday ! We were up against the dutch, Oranje FC in the SIFL. Our strength on the day was our excellent bench as we had a big and motivated squad. As for Oranje FC, they tried to keep the clean-sheet as long as they could. In the first 25 minutes we created some opportunities but failed to finish it off, shots went just wide or were blocked by their goalie. On the rare occasions that the Dutch were coming over the middle line we took advantage by quick counters. Azz opened the score on such an occasion and just before half time he scored our second.

In the second half we focused on scoring more goals as the goal difference is always important at the end of the season. All players coming off the bench made an impact first Nicolas who kept his goal scoring pace in tact as he scored twice followed by Gwen who almost wanted to retire from football after his goal ! Our debutant Jona also found the net and Kevin failed to score from a very close range. A slip of concentration gave an opportunity to the Oranje FC which they happily took as they made it 6-1. Last but not least our young local player Xu Ling scored as well to make the final score 7-1 for the Lions.

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[ SPL ] Shanghai LIONS 7-1 Marlins FC

On Sunday the weather was still good 22 degrees which was pretty warm for middle of  November. Again we had a large squad and again the hungry bench proved to make a big impact on the game however our opponent were our old rivals the Marlins so we knew we were up for a tough game. Our plan was to play compact and patiently wait for one or two counter attack. It went well in the early stages as our defend stood well and we got a few fast counters. However the Marlins took the lead after we couldn’t clear the ball.

The second half talk we focused on being positive as we knew we can turn things around. We quickly equalized by a great header from Fabie and the Marlins started to show some cracks mainly because we upped the tempo of the game and their midfield imploded. Felix took on their defense coming free on his left foot and had no problem to put us ahead. Jona scored again 5 minutes later another debut goal from him with a blast that the Marlins goalie only could see going in as it was a great strike. Nicolas proved his killer instinct as he scored again as well. By now the Marlins collapsed and we kept trying to score more goals. Good old Tomas scored twice and laid one off to Xu Ling. At the end of the game all of us were not sure about the final score as we scored so many in just 45 minutes that we lost track, however in the end it stopped at 7-1 and a well deserved historic win over the Marlins was a fact !

Our strength on the day was our bench and our combination of experienced Legends and 3 young players who all played very well combined with an inform Dim and rock solid defense and a very motivated (seems he got a good reason) Azzeddine ! Well done Lions !

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Two 7-1 wins surely lifted our spirits now let’s all come to the training and work even harder for the big games ahead of us ! Coming weekend we play Reunited on Saturday and the Legends will play the Super 48 Master Tournament !

 

It is good to be a Lion !

 

Cheers
Freek

[SPL News] SPL is back on track !

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

October weather is always good in Shanghai and last Sunday the playing condition were excellent 25 degrees and green grass at SCSC. Jinqiao finally had their family day last weekend as it caused some trouble to us due to their postponement by a week. Century Park will be back this weekend after winter grass seeding and will be in top notch conditions !
Peter Rosselli of the Marlins is writing interesting articles about Chinese football on the website of Wild East Football. Its definitely worth a look and a read ! The Chinese never ending Football Story is going on and on and the amounts being paid for foreign coaches nowadays are completely out of this world we will have to worry that one of these days Bilgin or Steve Fishwick will be no longer in the SPL but in the CSL. Rumors are going around that Steve will succeed Erikson at SIPG but the contract is still pending on some undisclosed minor details…..!

ERS 5–0 Krauts

Bilgin finally was back and the had 11 players on the pitch as the week before they won with 9 players ! ERS is the team in form at the moment one good point about them is that they play with the same team and formation week after week. It showed as they scored after 40 seconds after Gonzalo the Krauts defender thought he was Maradonna in their own box ! The second goal was an easy catch for the Krauts goalie but maybe he got nervous by Bilings presence and let the ball fly in the goal 2-0. If that was not enough the 3-0 was another gift too early for Christmas. Stas arrived only in the second half and the Krauts started to play better with him but another gift made it 4-0 and the final gift was from the linesmen to make it 5-0. If that was not enough for the Krauts Bilgin missed a penalty to make the misery complete ! Good result for ERS and the Krauts will bounce back against Century Park in two weeks !

Lions 2–2 Japan

Japan is always able to give the opponents a hard time due to their fast play and good fitness level. This time it was not any difference as they took the lead the Lions goalie didn’t clear a cross in properly. Japan was faster and quicker in the beginning of the game and the Lions could only stop them by making some fouls. They got some chances as well and a long strike of Tomas ended in the top corner. Soon after it was Felix who finished well after a quick counter. While the Lions were celebrating Japan was ready for the kick off and Nakano-san the Japanese striker had other ideas as he shot a thunderbolt over the Lions defense and also over our helpless looking Dim, …..2-2 ! In the second half the Lions played much better and more serious as they knew a draw would not be good enough. They created plenty of opportunities but either they shot just wide or the Japanese goal keeper saved their efforts. At the final end Japan even got a chance for the winner but they hit the post and saw Dim putting out a ball at the very last moment. Compliments to Japan who indeed gave the Lions a hard time !

Marlins 12–0 Galacticos

This time it was harder for the Galacticos as the Marlins are also in fine form they couldn’t find the net on the otherside the Marlins scored thu Jamie Lally 3 x Wilson 2 x Gui 1x (left a hole in the net) Tony 2x Pete 1 x Steve 1 x and Mossy 2x. The big question left is why Dale was not on the Marlins goal sheet…..?

We are very pleased to have the Century Park field back in action this Sunday with two games !

  • 1300 Century Park FC – MM FC
  • 1500 ERS – Galacticos

Enjoy the games as winter will arrive soon in Shanghai and they predict much cooler temperatures than normal which is great for the SANTA CUP !

Cheers
Freek / Yamada

Lions failed to score the winner against Japan in the SPL !

Lions,

It was great weather on Sunday and after the win on Saturday followed by Legends & we hoped for the treble win !

[ SPL ] Shanghai LIONS 2-2 Japan FC

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The opponent was Japan who always are able to give the opponents a hard time. This time it was not any difference as they took the lead after we didn’t clear a cross properly. Japan was faster and quicker in the beginning of the game and we could only stop them by making fouls. We got some chances as well and a long strike of Tomas ended in the top corner. Soon after it was Felix who finished well after a quick counter. While we were celebrating Japan was ready for the kick off and Nakanoi san the Japanese striker had other ideas as he shot a thunderbolt over our defense and also over our helpless looking Dim, …..2-2 !

In the second half we played better and more serious as we knew a draw would not be good enough. We created plenty of opportunities but either we shot just wide or the Japanese goal keeper saved our efforts. At the final end Japan even got a chance for the winner but they hit the post and saw Dim putting out a ball at the very last moment. Compliments to Japan who indeed gave us a hard time and we will have to work hard a training as in two weeks the big Derby awaits us with the Marlins.

Lets go Lions !

 

Cheers
Freek

Lions beat Moksal Magic 7-1 in the SPL

Lions,

This weekend was one to remember as despite the Lions not having a game on Saturday the rainfall and downpour was very heavy as it rained since Thursday and didn’t stop until Sunday Morning ! However the luck was on the SPL side as their games were all played on Sunday as the pitches at SCSC were in very good condition after the rains !

[ SPL ] Shanghai LIONS 7-1 Super 48 FC

We were up against former Super 48 who changed their name to Moksal Magic. As usual Japanese teams are fit and never give up fighting during the game. We started well and scored within three minutes with a fine goal of Matthieu after a good cross ! We extended our lead by a goal from our new local player Xu Lin who scored on his debut. After that we lost focus and Moksal started to be more hungry for a result and won most of the battles. They came very close to scoring but Dim in fine form on the day prevented a few good scoring opportunities. It was 2-0 at half time and in the second half we knew that we had to improve our game.

We looked better and more motivated after the break and soon Felix scored the 3-0 for us on a quick counter attack.  The next goal was a good effort from Rosie as he simply put the ball well place behind the keeper and made his first Lions goal ! Felix scored another one on the attack to make it 5-0. However the never give up mentality of Moksal paid off as they got a goal back and even a few minutes later they got a penalty and could have made it 5-2 but Dim our man of the match was on fire and stopped the penalty. In the last few minutes of the game we scored another two goals, first it was our President who got on the sheet after a Rosie assist and minutes later Felix completed his Hat-trick to make the final score 7-1.

Good result on the day and next up in the SPL will be Japan who got beaten 5-0 by ERS today ! In the SIFL we play the Krauts and in the SPL Veteran league we will play Super 48 / So all teams will be in action next weekend and that means that we want to see everbody showing up for the training on Tuesday to prepare for the games !

 

Cheers
Freek

[Throwback] – Lions FC broadcasted LIVE on PPTV Sport Channel

It doesn’t happen often in one’s amateur football life having the chance to play in front of television camera… A little less than one year ago, our club & president gave this lifetime opportunity to some of us.

A rare privilege & memory to be cherished. Thank you president!
Next time, we would like the same in Nou Camp 🙂

Watch game highlights on Youku (ps: you need to disable your VPN)

Click here to watch the full game

 

An historic event having one of our SPL game being live broadcast on PPTV. The setting was perfect at Century Park with 5 camera’s around the field… The match didn’t disappoint either with a 4-2 score line. We hope to repeat this in the future as PPTV is watched all over China and actually is the largest internet TV company in the world ! A perfect set up to let the local chinese people enjoy our SPL football games.

More articles related to the event below:

[SPL News] Marlins see red but stay on top of the SPL !

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

Last Sunday October 16th, 2016 we had good playing condition unfortunately only two games as Galacticos had two team events on the day and couldn’t field enough players.

Marlins 6–1 Krauts

No Bilgin and No Manu but plenty of players for the Krauts ! Statistics of the Krauts winning games while king Bilgin is not there are not looking good as it would be a single digit figure. Marlins started strong and scored quick by James after a one two with Pete. Soon there was a second after a goal keeper error scored by Jamie Lally. The Krauts kept trying hard on fast counters and succeeded by a fast break on the wing and good finish by Gonzalo. Pete of the Marlins made it 3-1 with a fine header after a good cross. With half an hour gone there was a bust up between two players of each team and kevin gave them the marching orders. Bad luck stroke again for the Marlins as Ash Reid was unlucky to rupture and Achilles tendon and will be out for several months (We wish him a speedy recovery !). James scored his second for the Marlins just before half time. In the second half it was more of the same but when Banksy committed a professional foul it was his second yellow and Kevin ordered him to shower early ! Marlins left with 9 players only still managed to score two goals by Jamie G and James for his hat trick !

Century Park FC 3–0 Japan

Usually its Japan who are the best prepared for the start of the game but this time Century Park scored after 4 minutes by Fafa and soon scored their second by Shingi who scored two minutes later. Japan had to run behind the facts for the rest of the game and to finish of their solid performance they scored their third goal with 5 minutes to go by Shingi again.

 

This weekend we will have three games all at Waigaoqiao and the outlook is for rain but we should be good to play !

  • 1300-1500 Krauts – Galacticos @ Waigaoqiao
  • 1300 – 1500 ERS – Japan @ Waigaoqiao
  • 1500-1700 Lions – Super 48 @ Waigaoqiao

 

Enjoy the games !

Cheers Freek / Yamada-san

Lions back to winning again !

Lions,

After our first defeat in 50 games we knew that we had to go back to winning again. We had a few players arriving late for various reason but a puncture of Fabi’s motor bike 5 km away from the field left him and Francois stranded for a while. Luckily they just made it a few minutes before kick off ! The game plan was to start strong and finish strong mainly because we are not back to full fitness yet and 90 minutes can be a long time to play if you are not fit enough ! The spirit was good and we were up against the Azzurri who had a complete new team. The lions took the possession and played strong in the first 15 minutes. It resulted in a great goal from our upcoming right back Aga who surprised the Azzurri defense and tipped a long pass from Azz into the net. This opening goal tasted for more and it was good old Tomas who scored our second after a good dummie from Felix from another Azz pass. It looked like we would go into half time with a 2-0 lead but with 20 seconds to go the Azzurri tall and strong striker wrestled himself away from Jack and Fabi and scored 2-1. As we played well we decided to be patience and tried to score the 3-1 on the break but we were not clinical enough upfront. The Azzurri played better in the second half and it kept the game interesting but our defense was solid and didn’t give away much opportunities. So we kept strong and with 5 minutes to go Azz sealed our faith after he went one on one with Azzurri’s keeper, Alex.

It was a solid 3-1 win and after the game besides the beers we had our two new Dave’s on the table for a British song and Thomas for a French song to make the great day complete !

On Sunday the SPL game vs. Galacticos got postponed as our opponent didn’t have enough players !

We expect all Lions to come to the training this Tuesday and work on our fitness ! (Please register here)

Cheers Freek

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Lions start the new SPL season with a 5-1 win !

It was great to see the Lions back in action after the summer break ! We were up against the Krauts who caused us trouble last season as they beat us early in the season. The Krauts had over 20 players as for the first game of the season a lot of new players showed up of course. The Lions instead had a smaller squad but with more experienced players. The weather was very hot with temperatures well over 30 degrees ! Plenty of water before, during and after the game was needed !

[ SPL ] Shanghai LIONS 5-1 Krauts FC

Lions took most of the possession in the early part of the game and the Krauts were waiting for their counter attack opportunities by their fast forwards. Plenty of opportunities for the Lions in the box but we failed to finish it off but it was a good combination on the midfield with the forwards which put Terao-san in scoring position and he stayed calm to give us a 1-0 lead. At the end of the first half we became sloppy at defense and we needed Radouane our goalie to help us out on a couple of occasions. Right before half time with one minute to play disaster struck as we got a penalty for a handball. So 1-1 at half time and a few words were said and in the second half we looked more positive and the Krauts seemed to have lost their shape and composure.

We score 2-1 by Dani on a fast counter and 3-1 by Mathieu. We ran into trouble one more time when Radouane our goalie had no choice to foul the Krauts attacker but he scared the penalty take so much that he missed and shot wide ! Lions now knew that they would win the game and Azzeddine scored 4-1 and the big moment was there as it was time to put BIG JOHN back in the squad after two years of injuries recovery ! It gave us and Big John a BIG boost and we made it 5-1 by Felix our youngster !

It was a good start for the Lions and we enjoyed the ice cold beers after the game ! Also it was announced that Charles one of the hardcore Lions will leave Shanghai soon and we will make sure we give him the great farewell party he deserves for all what he has contributed to the Lions succeses!

Cheers
Freek

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