Match Review (Australia 1 - Nauru 2) - 22 Oct 2009

This was a highly anticipated fixture. Our team fielded 12 players and played the Nauru team of 6:

1. Nick
2. Jeff (GK)
3. Adrian
4. Linus
5. Neil
6. PKM
7. Ricky
8. Derek
9. Tank
10. Cots
11. Varls
12. Dave (GK)

We started the game with Dave (GK), Cots (DF), Tank, Adrian and Derek. Beginning with a slow pace, our strategy was to find our ground for the first 10-15 minutes, then gradually build up our tempo to wear down our opponent (partially through our strength in numbers and with the confidence that we have the likes of Leslie, Neil and Linus towards the end of the game). It was generally an even match, with both teams having their share of goal opportunities. At the end, it was the team with better (arguably) luck and finishing that won. Their (sole) striker was a good player, who held the ball up well, but not one which we are not capable of defending. It was unfortunate that we lost the game through lapse of concentration when defending counterattacks. Leslie scored the only goal for us with a header. Towards the end, we pressed hard and were creating all sorts of difficulties for our opponent through tireless runs by our runners - Neil and Tank deserving special mention. Our opponent bearly hanged on and was glad it was over. It was that close. In sum, it was the lack of an effective organised team offence and clinical finishing that stopped us from winning.

What we did well:
1. Our defence was generally solid, marking was good - it was no coincidence that we only let in one goal against France. It was the lapse of concentration in defending counterattacks that costed us two goals.
2. Box-to-box running by our many (extremely fit) runners was very effective.

What we could do better:
1. Short passes and making one-two runs, esp. with a player playing as a center forward/playmaker. Run into space. We lacked the organisation/individual skill to beat down a defensive minded team.
2. Be patient and find the best placed person to shoot - we wasted a lot of poession on speculative (non-threatening) long shots.
3. Run down the wings - use the width. Make opponents run more.

Match Review (Australia 0 - France 1) - 14 Oct 2009

Although we lost at the end, it was a massive result (and certainly a massive boost) for us anyhow. It felt like we are a lower league side playing against a premiere league side in the FA Cup (although I think we firmly stood our ground and could quite easily have caused an upset). For the benefit of those who didn't come/play yesterday, we lost 1-0 to France (the defending champ). I don't think they put out all their players - certainly the two westerners (French?) who we played against us at the practice game didn't (or didn't bother to) turn up, so it may be that we played against half a team of France B team. Defensively, we were very solid in our own half and the marking was excellent generally - we defended well as a team and covered for each other well. The goal post saved us a few times, but they only had a couple of good opportunities and the goal was an own goal. We countered many times (esp. towards the end as we finally managed to tire them down and we have the likes of Neil/Shiuy running up and down the pitch), had a few one-on-one or two-on-one opportunities and hit the goal post a few times. It was clear that all of us was giving all we had (and punched above our weight, in my view) - I think everyone enjoyed the game tremendously yesterday. Special mention to Neil, Dezza and Shiuy (who I would have voted for as the 3 Players of the Week) for the tireless runs and lifting up the energy level and Chris, Cots and Andy for unselfishly taking up the goalkeeper role temporarily when we needed. As Linus put it, a draw would have been a fair result and we just needed a little bit of luck. It should give us plenty of confidence going to the next match.

For other results/standing - see http://www.footballforlife.hk/index_topic.php?did=126721&didpath=/49796/126721

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... and he's pretty good at it too!