City claim revenge on Red Lions
Match Report by Michael Christie
Location: Bai Ling B (the crappy pitch)
Conditions: Fair to firm
Referee: Wearing sunglasses before the game
Report: Starting in a 3-5-2 formation, Taipei City took the game to the Red Lions from the whistle. Most importantly, every forward and midfielder pushed up and put pressure on the opponent. On an uneven surface, the Lions were always on the back foot. It wasn’t easy for City to play good football either, but City succeeded in passing the ball and keeping possession. The breakthrough came from a Tim free-kick flicked on by Dan and Sean in quick succession to Paco. The pressure continued, with the ball often in the Lions’ box, although it took a special volley on the turn from Sean to put the scoreline at 2-0. There was no let up for the Lions this Sunday. The City defensive line marshalled by Tim was rock-solid, with particularly brilliant cover from Chris. Spencer in goal was authoritative when needed but that wasn’t too often. John and Matt were rocks, too. Alex and Steve both defended and attacked well on the left and right, so vindicating the 3-5-2. Taipei scored a third goal before the break through Paco, or was it Dan?
Heedful of the wise words of Dan and John, those wise old owls, at half-time, City started the second half at the same high tempo they’d left off the first. Steve was a constant thorn in the Lions defence. Early on he won a free-kick in ideal Beckham territory. Tim ran over to confer on how best to convert it. Tim: “Just tap it to me here.” Steve: “OK. Just here?” Tim: “Yeah, that’s right. Let me just take a few steps back first. OK, now.” (Steve tapped the ball a few inches. Tim looked at Steve.) Tim: “What’s this?” Steve: “Sorry, you’ve touched it now, shall I take it?” Tim: “No, that’s OK, I’ll take it.” (Tim now side-stepped two or three Lions before teeing up the ball to his satisfaction and steering it with his right. The ball flew like a plane at take-off, above the outstretched fingers of Rob, into the roof of the net.)
By now Matt was in goal an(?), Dan (or Paco) and Ricky when he came on. The Lions clawed back two goals mostly due to defensive mistakes from a clueless Christie in defence, but otherwise they had nothing. Taipei City walked off the pitch with heads held high knowing they’d done a good job.
Final score, Taipei City 7, Lions 2
Ricky helps take team photo
Early in the game with the score at 1-0
Taipei City takes Rogue out to lunch
Weather: sunny and breezy with a little wind
Field: hard and dry
Taipei City came out strong against the boys over at Rogue FC, scoring a goal in the first 4 minutes of the game. Steve crossed to Dan for the easy put away, 1-0.
Moments later another goal was in the back of the net, again from Steve crossing to Mr. Calvert again, 2-0.
Later in the half Matt Swift from Rogue scored an own goal, 3-0.
Then Paco scored a nice header that lofted in from the left side of the field, 4-0.
Then another goal from Dan before just halftime, 5-0.
Halftime water break. Michael Christie replaced Spencer in goal…clean sheet for both keepers.
The 2nd half saw 3 more goals, 2 solid finishes by Gustavo and 1 more by Dan.
All in all, it wasn’t a very challenging game for Taipei City but still a pleasant way to spend Sunday morning.
Final score: Taipei City 8, Rogue FC 0.
The opposition but they're also our mates (most of the time)
Shaking hands like gentleman do
Steve crosses one in on the Rogue defense
Alex Daly and Ibu in the mix
Dan runs towards the goal
Tim and Chris solid in the midfield
Fritz 3, Taipei City 1
After a long Chinese New Year break, the boys in blue suffer a bad defeat to Fritz.
To quote Michael Christie’s email:
“In possession, City gave the ball away too easily. Only Ebu was able to impose himself on the game going forward, otherwise the passing was either too predictable, in which case Fritz easily intercepted, or wayward. There was hardly any play, just negative possession at best and frantic punting it forward at worst.
Worse than this, there was little covering from midfield. For both the second and third Fritz goals they had a free man. Whether the tactics had anything to do with this is a moot point. The players on the field simply didn’t have the energy or the tactical sense to track back when they should have. It made Fritz look much better than they really are.
The second half was not all glorious football from City. There could have been more width and both wide players were underused, but however that may be it was a massive improvement on the first half.”
Sean did manage to score for Taipei City, the only bright point of the day really.
Team lineup before the game.
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