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Shanghai Lions Football Club

Three draws for the Lions this weekend !

Lions,

 

What a beautiful weather it was this weekend !

 

The big game was on Saturday where the Lions played their old rival the Shooters. With the hot weather we knew it was not going to be easy especially because we had some players coming back from injuries. The lions got the first good opportunity within five minutes on a fast counter where Azzeddine put Allan in scoring position. His shot was saved by Chris Banners. In the first half both teams were skipping the midfield and tried to score on fast breaks. It was a Lions corner that found Jack’s head who brought to ball to Danni’s feet and he didn’t hesitated one second to blast the ball in the net. It was 1-0 at half time but we knew the second would not be easy. We started well and in a spell of twenty minutes we dominated the game and a great through ball from Azzeddine found Danni who had no problem to make his second and a few minutes later the Shooters didn’t defend well and Danni completed his hat-trick ! Leading 3-0 against Shooters should be enough but it turned out different this time ! It started with an unnecessary foul of Dim causing a penalty although he stopped the penalty it give the Shooters hope. A great left footed strike from one of the Chilean brothers put the Shooters back in the game. They kept pushing forward and the Lions had to defend more and more. The Shooters scored again with a low strike in the corner and were full of energy whereas the Lions tried to hang on. For the spectators it was a great game to watch not for the Lions as they conceded their third goal 3-3 ! Our last chance came by a free kick but it hit the wall !

It will be a game to remember and hopefully it was an on time wake up call for everybody. The art of life is to make something positive out of a bad situation ! That’s exactly what we need to do we have 4 games to go in the SIFL league and lets win them all !!

 

Our next game will be on May 9th the Hebiguchi Cup Final let’s all train hard to get our first silverware of this year !

 

In the late afternoon our Lions U17 played Aksil Puxi ! It appeared to be a hard game as by the absence of  a big part of the squad as they were in Shenzen for a school tournament  and some late cancelations due to injury the Lions had to play the whole game with 6 players versus 7 of Aksil. Aksil took an early lead but the Lions kept fighting their reward came with an assist from Rick who put Bank in a position to score the well deserved equalizer. Near the end they almost clinched the winner when Rick saw his effort going wide. Great performance by I-zac, Francesco, Calum, Rick, Blake and Bank who showed great spirit ! Well done Young Lions !

 

On Sunday the weather was even better ! The legends with a massive squad were up against England ! Surely no walk over it appeared to be ! The level of the Veteran league has improved and teams are getting more serious. The first quarter it remained goal-less and the in the second quarter we came close a few times especially when we got a penalty awarded Charles stepped up but blasted the ball on top of the cross bar…….! Usually the third quarter is our strongest and it looked like it when a Rommi cross found Tomas who nicely scored in the opposite corner. But soon after we got punished for not defending well and England equalized. People who know Chris Banners the England goalie for many years know that he can kick balls anywhere he likes and this time with the help of some wind and a good bounce the ball ended in the Lions goal ! Now we found ourselves in a little trouble 2-1 down and 20 minutes to go ! We regrouped and put the team in order and started to play our best quarter. Great combination lead to the equalizer 2-2. We even made the 3-2 when Michaels header went in but the referee couldn’t see it (Time for goal line technology !!).

Overall a great day for the Legends especially because so many legend brought their kids to come and watch and play.

 

It’s on those occasions that you realize what a great Lions Family we have.

 

We are looking forward to the next games !

 

Cheers Freek

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