By Tom Bus
On January 24 2015, Round 15 of the Shanghai International Football League played out with league matches and a cup qualifier. In the Premier League, the Shanghai Puxi Lions FC edge out FC Oranje. Big Bamboo Shanghai Shooters AFC victorious over Shanghai Japan FC. Shanghai ReUnited beat Long Tang AFC. In a SIFL Cup qualifier the Anzacs FC got the better of Voodoo Child. Four fixtures netted 16 goals.
In the Premier League, the Shanghai Puxi Lions FC locked horns with FC Oranje. The Lions started with a lot of possession however the Dutch were helped by their African contingent which kept the Lions alert in defense as a mistake could be punished with a goal. The Lions scored first when Romain Haution crossed a ball in that reached Matthieu Witkowski (#11) who put it in the net for 1-0. Orange struck back soon thereafter when they earned a free kick on the left about 20 meters out. Roger Jackson (above) lined up behind the ball and swung it in evening out the score at 1-1. About 10mins after that, a foul was made in the tight Orange box. Azzeddine Takouloufa (#10) converted the ensuing penalty (below) restoring the Lions lead to 2-1. The Dutch then were awarded a free kick in the even tighter Lions box that got converted by Eric Lamine equalizing at 2-2 (above). It gave the Lions motivation to push even harder and they got rewarded when a free kick from Takouloufa left the Dutch goal wide open for Jack Boller (#22) to head home (below) for 3-2 and that’s how an entertaining first half ended. The Oranjeboom boys went to Zapata’s for post match analyses.
In the second half, the Lions took most of the possession, came close to scoring on a few occasions but failed to convert their chances into goals, mostly due to the decent sturdy Dutch defense. Halfway through the half the Orangemen had a huge chance but their effort from very close range went over the cross bar. Both teams pressed for more goals but no more were scored and the match ended 3-2 to the Lions. Lions’ Patrick Lapon (#55 above) received man of the match honors. Goal scorers below from left to right: Takouloufa, Lamine, Witkowski, Jackson and Boller.
Shanghai Japan FC played the Big Bamboo Shanghai Shooters AFC in their league fixture. There were a few ghosts of footballers past out playing for the Shooters in their league match versus Japan. Stéphane Guivarc'h had clearly possessed former league top scorer Guillaume Leclercq in the opening 20mins as he missed a host of chances. Luckily midway through the half, his teammates were able to perform an exorcism gangnam style and Leclercq returned to his former scoring ways netting his first of the day to put the Shooters 1-0 up. However, the lead was short lived after Colin McGuigan did his best impersonation of a Scottish centre back of any decade you can name and while trying to dribble out from defense got dispossessed by the rapid Takuya Nakano (#60 below) who raced through to neatly finish from a tight angle evening out the score at 1-1.
It stayed 1-1 for most of the second half and in spite of Shooters pressure a winner didn't seem likely to happen until Roland Broughton swept a cross low into an unmarked Leclercq to score from 4 yards with 5mins remaining (above & below). It was squeaky bum time for the Shooters in the final minutes but they held on to take the three points. Shooters’ Colin McGuigan received man of the match honors.
Shanghai ReUnited locked horns with Long Tang AFC. As expected Long Tang started well into the game and played better than their position on the league table would make one think. Even though ReUnited played their usual 4-2-3-1 system quite solidly, Long Tang still found space creating several opportunities. Especially their fast offensive player Wang Shiwei caused danger for the ReUnited defense. In the 17th minute Karsten Knerr played a long free kick to Alex Pozhar who passed it to Steve Ishemezwe who in turn managed to play a clever lob over the keeper taking a 1-0 ReUnited lead. Both teams created chances by now and minutes from halftime Long Tang got the ball in midfield and passed it to Wang Shiwei. He put the ball into the net evening out the score at 1-1.
After halftime, ReUnited started playing better as they ran their offense from a compact defensive formation. Just after 6mins Tobi Junior scored his first of the day from an Ishemezwe assist for 2-1. ReUnited controlled the match at this stage and in the 70th minute from the right, Alex Pozhar crossed the ball into the center of the box where Junior jumped higher than anyone scoring a brilliant header for 3-1. A few minutes later Pozhar had another assist this time to Ishemezwe who scored his second of the day for 4-1. Long Tang’s Zheng Weizhi scored the last goal of the match determining a final score of ReUnited 4, Long Tang 2. Tobi Junior (#19 above) received man of the match honors. Coming Saturday ReUnited play the Lions in battle for first position. Herr Flick: “Paris is for the taking, je suis Herr Flick-Prost.”
In a SIFL Cup qualifier, the Anzacs FC crossed swords with Voodoo Child. VC continues to live in the shadow of the Voodoo first team. Last week’s tactic was to play a reserve keeper on the wing, a Mexican tequila dealer as an enforcer, a Spanish Bluto as the puppet master and a new keeper doubtful of his parentage between the sticks. Andy Hamilton fresh from six weeks designing snakes and ladders was installed as striker. Chris Baker was back at right back where he could hear the biology lessons more clearly from the calm and settling Kam Edine. The Anzacs enjoyed better possession in the first half but luckily, the VC keeper had nothing really to save. Half time saw Voodoo Child get to 0-0 despite having Milton on the pitch.
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Two innocuous tackles later and Ali/Andy were off injured and Milton, in a great act of selflessness, was left to drink tequila on the sidelines saving precious water for the players. The thin VC squad was exposed when the VC keeper came out to deal with a back pass but cleared it only to the edge of the area where Anzacs’ Jonny Warburton cushioned a volley back into an empty net for a 1-0 Anzacs lead. Things got worse for VC as Richard Paez got a run down the right and pulled the ball back from the byline to Carl Schopp. Schopp looked, sized up a potential volley, and then managed to balloon it way up in the air. The VC keeper started backpedalling, the ball arced towards the far corner, and sure enough, it somehow dropped in over the keeper right into the top corner doubling the Anzacs lead to 2-0. The keeper was so embarrassed that he tried to claim it had gone over the top, but the fact that it was in the net was a bit of a giveaway. Shopping of course was not too embarrassed to celebrate six in eight! VC had their moments. Luis Donate (free of any marking or tracking responsibilities) hit the post and Nick Lewis (close to exhaustion from ball watching) cleverly linked up play at times. The matched ended 2-0 with the Anzacs facing the Lions in the next round. Anzacs’ Johnny Warburton received man of the match honors.
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On January 31, 2015, Round 16 of the Shanghai International Football League will take place with league matches. Games to be played at the Shanghai Community & Sports Center in Waigaoqiao and the Songjiang Sports Center in Songjiang.
Visit the official SIFL website to find out more. http://www.eteamz.com/SIFL/
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