Saturday, 18.06.2005 / SIFL Season 2004/2005 REVIEW

Obliged by contracts and depending on their further support, first thanks to our sponsors: Judy (most of her bars with surge in sales, guess why?), Schenker, a-tea and Bosch. Hope to have you on board next season again! Commercials aside ?let’s talk football. What a great season has passed! With the continuous improvement of all participating teams ?and under guidance of the committee, the league has become one of the most competitive amateur leagues in Asia. Thank you all for that.

And for Shanghai Krauts it was one of the best seasons so far (ed.: as mentioned in last year’s Mei Wenti and hopefully next year as well). Unfortunately we could not defend the OT trophy, but being Runners-Up, lost only on penalties is just as fine. Also we could not defend the Fair Play Trophy this year but in this competitive league this award is only for the “soft eggs? Anyway beating the Shooters as only league team this year, fighting them in the SIFL- Cup Finals and finishing the league as 3rd just behind Japan is reason enough to be very happy with this season.

Tough at the beginning of the season it looked everything else than that: it seemed challenging enough to compensate the departure of Ralf as solid defender and top scorer, Carsten aka “Rheuma Kaay? most of our Chinese players and goalie Chris. But luckily during the summer break and the first weeks of the season some very talented players joined the team: Franz, Olaf, Marco, Woody as well as Alonso and Miguel from Latinos, just to name a few. And together with the existing players, Krauts entered the season with one of the strongest squad on hand. Late-comers Ayrton, Heyko, Khalek and youngster Nico rounded up this selection of fine footballers. Also the management restructured: Patrick as designated Head Coach (better at the line than on the field!) and installation of the presidential office as further keys of success.

This season was also one with plenty of records: 46 players in the roster from 14 countries (but still we are a German team!!!!); Nico, with 13 years not only youngest player ever registered but also as youngest goal scorer in the SIFL history (unforgettable his equaliser against Japan in the Cup-QF) and Juergen as most effective forwarder (2 goals with 3 appearances adds up to 70%); and the age difference between both players (ed.: two generations!!) is certainly another record worthwhile to mention. We also continued our Asian crusade with 2 tournament participations of which Bangkok was our strongest so far: again eliminated only on penalties. But revenge was taken on Nana Plaza in nighttimes!!!

With most of the players remaining with Krauts (also our goalie!!!) and certain enforcements in the summer we can positively look forward to next season. However, we have to say goodbye to Dieter (“Lichtfigur des defensiven Mittelfelds? and “Rechts Aussen?Frank ?both playing with us for over two seasons. We wish you good luck and don’t forget Shanghai Krauts! And regretfully we lost Andi already after the 3rd match of the season on injury (at least we won the match against Azzurri).

Last but not least: 2005 marks the 10th anniversary of Shanghai Krauts, being one of the founding members of the league. For sure we will celebrate this great occasion with a tournament in the summer. Let’s celebrate together and: Krauts - go for another ten!

Shanghai Krauts
- Presidential Office -

Saturday, 11.06.2005 / SIFL Closing Tournament
TOURNAMENT REPORT / Result: 4th of Group C

20 minutes break after the exhausting, but unfortunately undeserved defeat against Shooters in the Cup-Final, before our first match in the Closing Tournament. Will this be enough? Certainly a challenge for the entire team! But the squad was big enough. Besides the players in the Cup Final we had additional 5 players on the bench (the President as joker among them). So, this as last chance for a winner trophy.

The team: Nicolas, Kottzi, Micha B., Olaf, Kazu, Dieter, Carlo, Marco, Stefan N., Thomas Sch., Peter, Ayrton, Khalek, Nico N., Ali, Sebastien, Miguel and Heyko (those already played in the Cup final)

In addition: Uli, Bilgin, Andre T., Thomas P. and “his Excellency?br>
A quick look at the group = “death group? Joy Speed, Shooters (when will it stop), and Les Bleus. But who cares? If we draw all the matches we should be through easily. So let’s rumble, aber richtig?br>
Joyspeed vs. Shanghai Krauts: 1-0
First tournament match against „old friends?(or “ex-Krauts backbone?). Jacky, Xu Tao, Tommy on so on. After their formation the played one year in the second division or Pudong League. The won the league and are qualified to play in SIFL next year. Today their first appearance in the Shanghai Top League. And: knowing them from the past the tactic was easy. “Let them play with the ball until they miss the goal? And so it went ?at least most of the 20 minutes. Although they dominated the match against our ?. Garnitur?it took them quite a while to score. Only once as I remember. Enough for them! Revenge will follow next season, of course.

Les Bleus vs. Shanghai Krauts: 2-0
Mon cherri, saba? Whatever, points are needed. If possible 3, 2 are fine as well. Balanced results during the season. We lost the first match (2-0) but hit them hard in the second part of the season ?5:1 but it could have been a higher victory for us. And today? Terrible - nothing worth to mention. Our offence reach middle line maximum, therefore nothing to work with as striker (me). And our defence? Which one? Two easy goals for France ?too easy. Also: Revenge will follow next season, that’s promised.

Shooters vs. Shanghai Krauts: 1-0
Finally an equal match. Both teams with 90 minutes “in the legs already? The match also looked like that ("Standfussball"). Throughout the season we clearly dominated the matches against Shooters with altogether 4 points (the 2 cup matches do not matter in this context). But in this match Shooters with the better end and lucky enough to overcome Nicolas. 1-0 for Shooters.That was the tournament for us. Being last of our group, we were surprisingly NOT qualified for the semi final. So enough time for relaxing, beer and BBQ and watching the rest of the tournament. Interesting matches still to come. Shooters lost against Korea and the Final saw Joyspeed defeating Japan in the penalty shoot-out.

Resume: just too much soccer for us today.
In the evening the traditional “Krauts-Season-Party? Today not in “The Spot?but in “Muenchner Freiheit?as new trial location. Party as usual and reflection of the season. Selection of Krauts-Player of the season: Nicolas (1), Olaf (2) and Kazu (3). Also a trophy for Woody as best goal scorer (10 in total).Two events still to come in June: next week SIFL-Party and the weekend after our 10th Anniversary Tournament. See you then lads ?

Yours „looking into the future already?Daniel

Saturday, 11.06.2005 / SIFL Cup Final
GAME REPORT: Malones Shooters - Shanghai Krauts FC / Result: 3-0 (2-0)

Big day for SIFL and even bigger day for Shanghai Krauts. Today last league day of the season 2004-2005: to finish with the SIFL Cup-Final and the Closing tournament. This means for us, still 2 trophies to get. We for the first time in our history in the SIFL Cup Final. After green card in first round, QF against Japan (legendary victory after penalty shoot-out) and the semi-final against Oranje (duty-victory) a rather short course to reach the final. But it means also full-day soccer action with the tournament after our cup final. But first things first?

Preparation before went fine. Beer were cooled down almost a week and BBQ prepared by “Grill Meister?Dirk. But I will spare you the particulars how he and Hans served the BBQ (only one word: topless). Apart from them let’s focus on the guys who were supposed to write Krauts-history today:

Goal: Nicolas back from Germany for this big day. With today he had 22 appearances and with this most loyal Krauts player. Thanks for your reliability.

Defence: Kottzi (with significant reduction of “Abnahmen?in this season), Micha B. (with 20 matches among the most loyal Krauts and strong supporter of “Daniel Diego Ronaldo?, Olaf (newcomer of the season and with his support in the defence, Krauts with the lowest goals received in history (only 23), Dieter (after 2 seasons last SIFL match for him, finally J), Carlo (due to his yellow card today, Krauts as most dirtiest team in SIFL history, thanks for this trophy but also for your 19 appearances this season)

Midfield: Kazu (“Most valuable Player?, Marco (keep on smiling but nobody crosses him), Stefan N. (Big thanks for bringing the “real Nissl?always to the Kraut matches), Thomas Sch. (great achievements this season, hopefully not the zenith yet), Peter (high-speed local enforcement), Ayrton (“because we have to keep him motivated, otherwise he might accept the offer from Schalke 04 to replace this other cannonball called Ailton. People "auf Schalke" might not even recognize such replacement??, Nico N. („Scheiße, war das ein Hammer Tor gegen die Japaner!!! Ein Quasi-Goalden-Goal ;-)) Unser Youngstar!!?, Ali (the “Highlander?in our squad), Sebastien (newcomer with great soccer skills, by the way, he is working on the German citizenship),

Striker: Miguel (great come back after his knee injury, unforgotten his decisive goals against Vikings), Heyko (joined in the middle of the season through our Ecuadorian connection, 5 goal in 11 matches with lowest running efforts ever seen), Khalek (also 5 goals in 11 matches, great start and definitively looking for more next season)

The match started like the others against Shooters did. Defensive Krauts - waiting for mistakes and wholes in their defence. But this time the match developed differently like planned by the head coach. Everything started with a free kick in minute 15 or a little later. Free kick Shooters from 25 meters half left towards the goal. Nobody reached the ball, and with Nicolas to much focussed on who of the Shooter strikers may reach the ball, the ball slipped into the net. What a present! 1-0 Shooters. After that we continued to play our match realising that the goal was just a “Ei?(Or even tactic itself?). And by time we had worked out a couple of chances which were obviously to hard to handle for our strikers. 5 minutes to end the “pre-decision? Quick attack by Shooters, John Grant served and finish with a volley. No chance for Nicolas. Great goal, but for the wrong team. 2-0 Shooters, that’s heavy. Fortunately the break came shortly afterwards ?time for coming down and pre-focus on the second half.

Comments on the 2 part of the match could be done briefly. We played strong in the defence and “we had our chances? But only chances. On the other side, Shooters managed to score one more time. Carlo with yet another card. But him playing against John Grant this should be excused. Shooters also Cup Winner with 3-0 after full time. Considering the course of the match there is nothing really to be disappointed about, except the poor utilisation of chances. Never mind, we got already enough points from them.

So let’s focus on the real last chance for a trophy, the tournament starts in 20 minutes. And nobody leaves the pitch…….

Yours “an den letzten Pokal glaubende?Daniel

Saturday, 04.06.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Malones Shooters / Result: 2-2 (1-1)

Two weeks break since our last match against Voodoo. Last weekend Japan drew against United. That means still a theoretic chance for us to become Top 2 of SIFL. Quick look at the table this morning: Japan with 42 points vs. Krauts with 40 points. However we with a slightly stronger opponent (Shooters) than Japan (Oranje). But soccer is soccer not only because it’s soccer but also because everything is possible. And the “hope dies last? But one thing was clear, Japan max. a draw and we win against Shooters = “the world is in Ordnung?

But upon arrival, terrible news: Japan won against Oranje (“big thanks to the largest cheese manufacturer of the world? and our hopes “Gone with the wind? So regardless our match against the Shooters we are Top 3, but this for sure. Difficult task for the coach to motivate the players (the president is working on the vision for next season already).

But let’s have a look on the 19-player-squad first:

Goal: Marc as last-minute joker and substitute for Nicolas. Is this a message? But remember: the last time he was not there we won 6-0 against Korea.
Defence: Helmut, Kottzi and Micha B. (neither Franzl nor Olaf)
Midfield: Kazu, Dieter, Carlo, Marco, Stefan N., Thomas Sch., Peter, Ayrton, Nico N., Thomas P., Sebastien and Alonso
Striker: Khalek, Heyko and Miguel.
Clear tactical briefing today ?same like in the last match. Strong defence, being supported by a defensive midfield. Only one striker, waiting for counter-attacks. No need to play nice ?play effective! That Shooters had an obvious problem with their goalie did not influence our tactic. And the tactic seemed to work once more. 5 minutes played first chance. Midfield served the ball to Khalek who struggled through 2 defenders and marched towards the goal. And the rest was easy: Right corner? Or left corner? Middle? What does is matter? With a “Fliegenfänger?in the goal, the score is settled. 1-0 for Krauts. Unbelievable! Here we are ?on the track again. After short celebration (we are getting used to score against Shooters I suppose) the match continued with defensive Krauts and “desperately pushing?Shooters. Substitute Shooters: the goalie of course. 20 minutes later a present for Shooters. An easy ball deflected into our goal. 1-1. Unnecessary, unlucky but also that belongs to soccer. Never mind! Keep focussed, keep concentrated. And so we went into the half, but not before Carlo was booked with another dark-yellow card.

Comments on 2nd half with focus on the moments that matter. 68. minute attack by Shooters, pass with overview into the middle, 2-1 for Shooters. Shooters with pride and we with Heyko. 5 minutes later it was Krauts attacking again. Nico through right side with the “deadly?pass to Heyko (as “always standing? but in the right position) and from there directly into the goal. 2:2 ?back into the match. After that we continued our offence and were able to work out a couple of other promising chances. Alonso, Heyko, Alonso, Heyko just to name a few “chatos? But Alonso was later nominated as Man of the Match ?well deserved! After all, lucky Shooters. We could have won, but it would not have influenced the final SIFL-standing anymore.

The league is over: A great season with 1 victory and 1 draw over Shooters as main achievement. No other team came near to endanger the Champion 2004-2005. And there is still a chance for a real trophy: next week in the cup final. Guess against whom.

Your “mit der Saison insgesamt doch zufriedene?Daniel

Saturday, 21.05.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Big Bamboo Voodoo / Result: 1-0 (0-0)

Slowly, slowly the season nears it’s end. Two more matches to play, one of them today against Voodoo. And as far as the season target is concerned (Top 2 of SIFL): everything is still possible. Although nobody really believes this anymore, the statistics say if Japan looses their two outstanding matches against United and Oranje we can still qualify as Runners-Up. But this means winning today and at least one point against Shooters in the last match. Or another example: Japan draws both of their last matches and we win our last two matches. Or another alternative ?Enough of this ***! First we have to win today!

Beautiful day with sun and blue sky. This maybe as reason for yet another record in player-participation in this season. 19 players in total, and here they go:

Goal: Nicolas
Defence: Helmut, Micha B., Franzl, Olaf and Uli
Midfield: Kazu, Dieter, Carlo, Stefan N., Thomas Sch., Peter, Ayrton, Nico N. and Ali
Striker: Frank, Alonso, Khalek and Heyko.

Quite a good team together and this is more than necessary. Voodoo always very strong especially in the defence (but obvious problems with strikers). Chris in the goal of Voodoo highly motivated against his former employer. So let him participate in the match accordingly (you know what I mean, he, he, he ?. Just for info the first match of the season was won through goals from Olaf, Kazu and Marco (the French one).

Into the match: first half time lasted around 45 minutes if I remember right. But nothing spectacular happened, except one great save by Nicolas. We stood very strong in the defence and had a couple of chances, especially by Frank and Woody. Similar scenario in the 2nd half - also 45 minutes. Rather equal participation of both teams (ok, little bit more for us), with some attractive soccer displayed. Still goalless the match went near the finish. Who scores the important goal? And when? Salvation came with 2 minutes to the end. Yet another attack by Krauts, prepared by the midfield. Alonso through left side and smart pass into the middle. Kazu on position and no chance for Chris, who was suddenly “Mittendrin statt nur dabei? 1-0 for Krauts. Well done Kazu and thanks to Alonso for his overview and team spirit. Thanks also to the others who did their crucial part. It was a working victory with slight advantages for us. So it was a deserved win after all. And a fair match: no yellows and/or red cards. Unusual for Krauts (being on the right track to be the “most dirtiest team in SIFL history?.

Unfortunately Japan won earlier today against Azzurri. For a long time it did not look like, Azzurri was 2-0 in front but screwed it up in the end (as in so many other matches). So it really comes down to mathematics during the outstanding matches.

Your “still full of hope?Daniel

Saturday, 14.05.2005 / SIFL CUP Semi-Final
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - O'Malleys Oranje / Result: 3-0 (1-0)

The May holiday behind us and 2 ?weeks break to recover from the tough SIFL Cup Quarter-final match against Japan. This weekend our run in the cup competition is to continue ?the only competition left to get a “real trophy?and for the first time in the semi final of the SIFL Cup. Our opponent Oranje looks like a manageable task but history thought us never to underestimate them.

The result of 3-0 looks pretty fine and straightforward but it was indeed a hard way to achieve. Starting from the weather conditions and wind during our match and of course the action in the match itself: 4 yellow cards for Olaf, Franz, Woody and Alonso another indication that this was everything else than a friendly occasion. Yes, in this stage of such competition the long-term friendship with our “neighbours?is suddenly forgotten. So it took 90 minutes hard fight, Nicolas on position, Heyko with 2 “never expected?goals?and headaches at the sideline to make it happen: Shanghai Krauts in the Final on 11th June 2005 (against Shooters who decided the other semi final with 10-0 over United). But again that was a long way. Preparations went well with training even during the holidays and nice weather and sunshine during the week. But when the weather turned to rain on Friday we learned again that our team consist of a couple of South Americans! Anxious calls from Alonso and Ayrton (Saturday, 8:30 a.m.) whether we play or not. My answer (being brought up at the rough shores of “OSTsee? you can imagine. Together our “weather fragile?Latinos, participation was again very good. 18 players went into the statistics (also the yellow cards my friends) ?and these were:

Goal: Nicolas, “am Ende des Tages?again Man of the Match (and with this everything should be clear for the Deam Team of the League)
Defence: Olaf after his suspension again as libero, Micha B. right side ?Helmuth left side (later Carlo) and Thomas Sch. as stopper. Uli aka “the Cat?(the lila Katze) with his chance in the last 3 minutes to bring the victory home.
Midfield: Ayrton left ?Franz left centre (later Bilgin) ?Peter right centre and Stefan N. on right side (later newcomer Ali for Peter and Nico for Papa, welcome Ali to Shanghai Krauts). Marco injured but supporting at the line, Dieter still in Germany for the celebration of Bayern’s championship and Kazu in Japan (who knows which championship he is celebrating over there?
Striker: Woody and Khalek in starting formation but in between exchanged with Alonso and Heyko and vice-versa.

Officials:
The usual two suspects, today not always with same opinion, but head coach later proved to be right.

Also thanks for Frank (im Dienste der Mannschaft), Hans and all the other supporters, which came out during this lousy weather to support us. Thanks also to Heyko’s wife who supported us in the car (with light and music on full volume) ?special thanks also to the guys who got the car in motion again (although the “catalysator?might be damaged now).

A quick review of the match goes like that: 90 minutes rain and wind against us in the first half. Very strong Oranje team today (I told you never to underestimate them) controlling most of the first half. We instead like: “a chicken farm?to comment the head coach?review in the break. No organised play and passes from the defence, only long balls which came directly back due to the wind. Always one step behind the Oranje’s and the ball. Oranje started with a couple of good chances and shots on the goal (which would have been rather harmless if not supported by the wind). Our offence was not really dangerous but highly effective. First chance for Khalek from 17m - his shot was deflected and arrived in the goal well without being touched by the goalie: 1-0 after 10 minutes. Well done but at this stage rather out of the blue. Between minute 10 and 20 Krauts a little better with a couple of chances, incl. a promising shot from Nico, which passed the goal only in the range of cm’s. The rest of half one is not worthwhile to mention, except that our defence and Nicolas (with some remarkable saves) were able to stop Oranje from doing wrong.

After clear words from the head coach, endless discussions whether we play positions or numbers and with the hope that the wind might help us to finally get into the match the second half started. To make it short: after all we were not able to fully control the match in the 2nd half either but we continued to play VERY, VERY effective. 15 minutes played in the 2nd half, attach through right side by Nico through a couple of Dutch players (each of them decades older). And alone with the keeper he showed great team spirit to pass the ball to Heyko (who seemed standing there for ages already) to mark the second goal. Just before an offside goal after great pass from Heyko to Alonso who netted with a volley. But again this was (given) offside and therefore nothing for the statistics. Only 10 minutes later our 3rd chance in the match and 3rd goal, again by Heyko with a shot from 15 - 17 meters into the right corner. Keeper powerless = 3-0. That was all for today but enough if considering the weather. Nobody really expected an excellent match but also not such a poor performance.

Bottom line: we made Oranje strong with our overall performance, we played far below our performance but highly effective. Heyko with lowest!! running effort as match winner. We won and are in the finals!! At least the result as a nice birthday present for the head coach, who became “very old?the day before. Next week we play in the league again of which the 3rd place is not decided yet. We need at least 1 point out of the remaining 2 matches to keep Les Bleus behind. Opponent next Saturday is Voodoo. So let’s hope that somebody else has birthday next week and that we win again (regardless how bad or good we play). CU around!

Your “aufgrund des Abstiegs von Hansa Rostock traurige aber wegen des Finaleinzugs der Krauts in Summe doch glückliche?Daniel

Wednesday, 27.04.2005 / SIFL CUP Quarter-Final
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Japan FC / Result: 4-2 a.P. (0-2)

For the first time since time is counted, Krauts plays a “Pflichtspiel?under the week. Yes, our strong performances in this season has resulted in granting a slot during prime time: Wednesday evening, so to say “Champions League ? time? 08:00 p.m., stadium atmosphere (unfortunately not fully booked out), floodlight! “Kampf der Giganten?(ed.: battle of giants)! Krauts meets Japan for the quarterfinals in the SIFL- Cup. Thanks to our international tournaments and the President being also SIFL Committee Member, Krauts with green card for the preliminary round and directly entering the QF’s (Hebiguchi Cup ?same, same). But the first match in the cup such an opponent (Hebuguchi Cup ?same, same; ed. that time it was Shooters). So Japan it is and so seen already the third time this season. The first two matches unluckily and unnecessarily lost, time for levelling the score (or: time for revenge).

By the way: reason for the match on Wednesday night was the cancelling of the match against Japan two weeks earlier, since some Chinese students (most of them with Sony Ericsson mobile phones, Olympus cameras to shoot the event, Panasonic Handycams to catch the scene and often dining out in Teppanyaki) thought to take a stroll and protest against Japan. Cause of this is certainly discussable, but lets talk football here. Maybe Kazu can help out to explain. Whether reasoned or not, politics affecting sport is always negative and should not happen anyway. Mein Wort ist Gesetz!!!

Back to the scene, two weeks later it was time ?finally! New location at Jianguo Lu city centre. New stadium and just suited to host this match. Japan with two direct victories over us secured the 2nd position in the league this year, we still looking forward to hold the 3rd. Again 2nd meets 3rd in one of the most competitive amateur soccer leagues in Asia (ed.: sounds like AC Milan vs. Liverpool in the Champions League final).

Participation record reflecting the sincerity of the match: 18 players attending tonight. Only 4 seeded Krauts not available: Olaf (suspended after 4th yellow ?certainly not without consequences), Alonso (not able to make it from Hangzhou tonight), Kazu (I wonder how, I wonder why……) and Pat as headcoach (the “Felix?of Krauts). Let me shortly introduce the “Assipack?of today:

Goal: Nicolas, today with one of his best performances for Krauts (“just his day?, hopefully his zenith not reached yet.
Defence: Kottzi as libero ?Carlo right side ?Helmuth left side ?Thomas Sch. as stopper. Later also Bilgin, Thomas P., Stefan N. and Diet(mar) supported (Who not actually?). (also great thanks to you guys for the solid defence and the partial pain I had to suffer on the line)
Midfield: Ayrton left ?Franz left centre ?Diet(mar) right centre and Peter starting on right side. Later Stefan N. also played on Diet(mar)’s position while Marco took over from Peter.
Striker: Khalek and Frank starting line (and not forgotten also Helmuth!!!), Woody, Nico and Jürgen in the rotation cycle (consider this: if you take the age difference between Jürgen K and Nico, divide it by six and add the total number of goals we scored today, then you know which Krauts- anniversary we celebrate this year.)

Officials: Unfortunately only me tonight as coach, animator, “Einpeitscher? and with the impossible task: take eleven out of eighteen. The coach question no topic, even though there were some sporadic shouts out of the audience.

Also thanks for Micha, Hans, Andi and the girls who supported us (and me with nicotine) at the sideline. Refs not worthwhile to mention today, only that they had a tough time tonight.

Kick-off simultaneously to switch on of the floodlight, but not before the full amount of pitch rent was handed over and counted five times (Yes, that’s China!). The match started with full throttle, no time spent to test out each other. Fast ball play and quick attacks by Japan, leaving us with headache in the first minutes and the urge to organise. Although the defence was seen rather solid our midfield only had the idea of chances. Ayrton with trouble to be integrated, Khalek and Frank with hardly anything supportive out of the overloaded midfield. Two things became clear directly after 5 minutes: speed as decisive success factor, and 100% chance utilisation necessary (especially for us). The pressure on our goal continued and increased throughout the middle of the 1st half. Relief was felt after Marco came with known virtues for Peter. But still our offence with hardly any chance to open the scoring. Only two chances to mention: Ayrton with perfect ball control along the penalty area but too late to finish off (really difficult to score from 10?angle), the other one came with Khalek through attack over left side alone with the goalie and blind eye to see Frank in promising position on right side.

More chances indeed by Japan, but thanks to Nicolas nothing really happened ?until minute 20 or so. Strange ref decision to give a free-kick for Japan from our penalty area line. Strange decision also to give the resulting goal to Japan. Before the shot, ball was touched with hand and that is not in line with FIFA rules ?wrongful goal. But the goal stood: 1-0 for Japan. The fuss afterwards also resulted in a yellow for Franz. Only after 5 minutes everybody realised that the refs decision is final and arguing does not result in any good (surprised?). Game goes on again and continued with another disputable referee decision only 5 minutes later Japan scored the 2nd goal from offside position but the linesmen did not share our opinion and again the goal stood: 2-0. Match decided? Very hard strike ?twice. And nearly impossible to get back into the match, although we managed to take on the fight and had our equal share of the game. Japan with ongoing pressure to make everything clear in 1st half but fortunately no wrong ref decision until the break. Time to take a deep breathe. Clear message and (not positive) feedback from the person in charge. The basis to turn around the match was certainly given. Well organised play on position but to selfish and thus harmless in the offence. Still 45 minutes to try harder and better. And so it went on for the second half. Woody for Khalek and Jürgen for Frank in the offence, Bilgin for Thomas Sch., everything else as before.

Kick-off was followed by a better start of Krauts. Better control in the midfield with logically resulted in better and more chances for our offence. Meanwhile the match got harder. Lot of fouls showing again that today’s match was something to fight for. But we took on the challenge (ed.: as one can image if looking at our crime points account) and worked out continuing dominance of the match. Great effort and spirit ?not to forget we were still 2 goals behind plus the refereed did not make it easier for us. At minute 10 we scored but decided as offside. Shouting from the sideline and arguing on the pitch ?again meaningless. Although we had more of the game now always dangerous attacks and chances by Japan (incl. some of the ones “you cannot miss?. But Nicolas always on his post and winner over the strikers. And honestly saving such chances off the line really pushes! you in best form. Also the other guys in the defence with extra-ordinary performance, especially Carlo in best from seen so far. Back to the other side with no less action. Attach through left side only stopped by a foul. Free-kick served by Ayrton and what a shot. Around the corner into the right corner. Very well placed and performed with all senses. Ayrton and the ball in love. Otherwise such free-kick are impossible, also for Roberto Carlos (but this is maybe not a REAL example to compare with this nice “piece of soccer?. Well done Ayrton. 1-2 and back in the game. Also Jürgen as designated “goalgetter?had his chances but without success today ?personal record broken. (until now two appearances and two goals). And since we have no time to wait for records or personal “Koschimoken? Nico came on for Jürgen. Soccer talent for soccer experience; and all these years between. For Nico it was certainly a hard match as well, especially in the offence. Japan really hard on the man and when Nico fighted back the ref gave foul. This would be rather a situation (man to man) for Khalek, preparing to get on for Nico if time comes. And just seconds before that should have happened we were able to witness a new SIFL record. Attack Krauts, pass from centre midfield to Nico, ball stop and turn. Good eye to see the goalie standing to far away from his “working place?and shot. 20 meters distance and no chance for the last man of Japan. That’s what I missed the first half: 1.6 m in the goal and shots onto the goal. Back to Nico ?youngest ever player in SIFL to score. Congratulations and well done. We are really proud of you and me (for that I waited until this goal to bring Khalek for him). 2-2 and the match is open again. One more is all we need. And this one came indeed, if we only would have had linesmen with eyes. Ayrton initiating attack through left, wide pass into the middle kicked from far ground line. Pass or shot? Who knows. But it happened that his pass (or shot) dropped only cm’s in front of the goal line and given the rotation of the ball from there over the line. Goal? Guess? Of course not. Already used to these odd decisions we continued to the final whistle of regular time. Excellent! Superb! Magnificent! That’s what I call “through fight into the match? Great German virtues today, especially from Ayrton, Khalek and Marco.

But the match is still not over. Extra time. 2x10 minutes with sudden death. Looking into the eyes of the players made it clear. The will to win the match combined with expression on pain (“Helmuth, sorry that we could not provide you with wheelchair?. But guys, my time on the side line was also hard. So get up and bring it home. But since the Japanese players also had to fight with their condition and rather moved smoothly over the pitch, we both neutralised each other. Nothing really happened in extra time, except great saves from Nicolas again. Altogether 5 brilliant (almost impossible) saves made us reach so far. Time over ?penalty shot-outs. Franz (came on shortly before the end for Carlo), Marco, Diet(mar), Woody and Nico our candidates, with Franz opening the penalty shooting. Looked rather accidentally but in: 1-0. In turn Nicolas saved the penalty of Japan, but ref decided to replay. This time off the goal. Marco as second shooter hard but safely for the 2-0. The second one of Japan easy prey for Nicolas. Diet(mar) next in line but with lack of concentration off the target. Japan in turn missed again, which means if Woody nets the next one we are through. But instead Woody thought to make it more exiting and (well) placed the ball on the post. Hold the breathe and hope for Nicolas to hold the next penalty. He did not, neither went the ball into the next. Off the goal ?Krauts winner after penalty. Endless joy, celebration, thanks to Nicolas and: “Schala-la, schala-la-la-la ??

What a great night, what a great match. Well fought and deserved winner. Next station semi-final against Oranje on 14th May. With a performance like this and some rest during the may holiday everything is possible to even reach the finals. Hope we can make it and secure a nice trophy. Thanks again to all of you for this memorable night. Zurück in die Zentrale?.

Your “Einpeitscher?Daniel

Saturday, 23.04.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Japan FC - Shanghai Krauts FC / Result: 3-2 (1-1)

I don’t really want to say that soccer is more important that work but today it was just impossible to joint the match from the beginning. But trust that everything is running well in Patrick’s hand, joining the 2nd half was enough for me today. And to be honest the 2nd half it was where we lost the match or where we could have made it happen: I mean the 2nd position in the league. Since our SIFL- Cup match against Japan was postponed we had one week break and this is not bad at all to save all the energy for this match against Japan, known as run-strong (any better word for laufstark?) team of the league. And this match is one of the most important league matches this season. This is the direct duel for the 2nd position in the table, the winner today most likely to make it through the end.

Viewing the players on hand suggest a strong team so I ask why? Why could we not secure the early free-kick goal of Khalek in the first half? Why did we get 2 goal resulting from high balls through our defence? And why could we not utilise our dominance in the 2nd half? Why, why, why? I simply do not know, except to explain it with the sort of carelessness like in the matches against Korea and Oranje.

To be complete in statistics here the players of today: Nicolas (goal), Olaf, Helmuth, Christian K., Micha B. and Thomas Sch., Carlo and Bilgin (defence), Dieter, Kazu, Stefan N., Ayrton, Marco and Peter (midfield), Khalek and Woody (striker). 16 players by calculation, who played on which exact position I leave up to your imagination and/ or memory. It was surely a good match, supposedly tough as usual and fast as well. And I guess it was the speed of Japan that cost us our victory, besides the just mentioned carelessness. And it started so well, free-kick and goal by Khalek in the first half. However before the first half was finished Japan was able to equalise. Unfortunately but not really out of the blue.

Upon arrival at the pitch I was able to witness a goal by Japan. By request I learned that this was the 3rd already shortly after the 2-1 by Japan. What both goals had in common. They were easy and on the account of an overloaded Krauts defence. Ja, ja, the tall Japanese!?! 3-1 it was and still 30 minutes to go and after getting hit so hard it seemed that this was the end of Japan participating at the match. I saw Krauts attack after attack but with same result: nothing. Clever passes through Marco and Stefan on right as well as through Ayrton over the left side. Khalek again very strong on the ball, hardly to separate until either he makes the goal or fails. Like today ?unfortunately. So it needed a penalty to score the 3-2. Olaf reliable as always. Fight guys, the match is still open!!! And with chances after that we should have made it. But if we do not use all these chances we certainly not deserve to win the match nor to finish the league as second-best team. Or was it just unlucky? Better answer the question yourselves.

As a matter of fact that was all what happened today. 3-2 for Japan. Ayrton and Olaf with yellow cards, already the 4th for Olaf and therefore suspended for the next match. As long as the beer afterwards tastes fine and everybody is happy, that’s ok. Fine, I leave you that. But this year we have one of the best and compact team ever, and we were so close, that really hurts. Anyway life goes on, still 2 matches in the league to go and we are also hot in the SIFL-Cup. Reckon our next opponent in the SIFL-Cup? And after all it was not today when we lost the 2nd rank in the league, it was against Korea and Oranje. But on the other side, what worth is the 2nd if we do not beat Japan. So congratulation to the Japanese and for us still on high alert to secure the 3rd position. Les Bleus close behind us we still need one point out of two remaining matches. This sounds fair enough, right? Let’s work together to achieve this, from our performance so far and with this team we deserve it at least.

Your “nach dem verpassten Saisonziel traurige?Daniel

Saturday, 09.04.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Longbar Anzacs / Result: 6-0 (2-0)

Difficult to write a match report without being there? Don’t think so! Knowing my excuses well appreciated this report may only focus on the key facts and that’s what really matters. Excuse also for Patrick, only having the formation and tactics for the next match in his brain but not memorizing the course of the match already 2 days later. So the ball is with me then, right? (ed.: Germany is nice during April). And as master of the “written word?I happily take over. I had a dream that very day and I invite you to share this dream with me:

Closing my eyes I see a blue ocean, I see a white beach, I see nice babes serving me cold cocktails and rolling cigars by hand on my thighs, I see one girl ? ähh, nay ?sorry that was my dream the night before. Here it comes again: I see a grass field, pure green ?pure nature, I see a sunny, cloudless sky, summer feeling all around, I see a couple of motivated, very talented football players, calling themselves Krauts, only a portion of it really speaks German (but they do in my dream: “Hey Ayrton, wie iss so?? “Geht so, muss ja...?. I see them dressed in traditional colours: black and white (in my dream Dieter has finally put his shirt into his trousers). I see a box full of yellow-coloured fitness drinks, only waiting to get swallowed down on time. But I hardly see an opponent?. ah yes, over there I can figure them. I think it is the favourite team of Carlo ?Anzac. And now it gets even more clearer. I see dominating Krauts all along the match. Nicolas looks a little bored ‘cause nothing to do. And I see Anzac practising kick-offs time after time. I see Woody scoring a hat trick. I see Khalek finally breaking through and on they way to explore his potential (not sure anymore, but at least he scored once). And I also see a bicycle kick ?what an excellent goal. Can’t really figure out who it is: curly hair, holiday-like suntan. Yes, now I see Ayrton, happy for his goal. I see overall happy Krauts celebrating their victory and the establishment of the 2nd position in the league. But I don’t see the yellow-coloured drinks anymore (ed.: Mann Alter, is doch egal jez). But I see in the middle of the sideline a red carpet, on this carpet is a sort of throne, and I see girls again (left and right two topless girls with fans, and a couple of other girls round that throne). And on the throne I clearly see……? (that’s the part of my dream I will not share with you). Auf Wiedersehen.

Coming back to reality: as I have heard from different sources it was really a pleasant Saturday for all involved. These were: Nicolas, Micha B., Olaf, Kazu, Dieter, Carlo, Bilgin, “Keule-Bauer Assipack? Marco, Steffan, Thomas Sch., Peter, Ayrton, Khalek, Woody and Fernando (ed.: listing does not reflect the performance of that day). Responsible for the organisation: Patrick as headcoach. I am sure everybody found his position and did his part for the victory. Goals came from Woody, indeed 3 goals but not a pure hat trick. Khalek was two times successful and Ayrton once (but not with a bicycle kick as in my dream). It was a fair match, without any cards. Pretty untypical for Krauts, but probably that’s because the opponent have not had so much to fight with.

As simple as that: 6-0 no real surprise after all. 3 more points for our target. 4th successive victory incl. today, looks like a run. Cross the fingers that this stays until the end of the season. Next week cup match against Japan. Hope we are successful also then, 2 goal are just fine…….

Your “day dreamer?Daniel

Saturday, 02.04.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Les Bleus / Result: 5-1 (2-1)

Finally again! It has been 5 months already since our last tournament in Thailand. Not very successful that time but fun we had. And a lot of sun. Weather guarantee given this time! Plus, this year in Bangkok we also had a great team together. Of course - under the supervision of one of the most successful amateur-management Patrick and “El Presidente? With one of the youngest squad in the history of the “Bangkok Far Eastern Football Tournament?we displayed finest football, finest assists (incl. mine to Ayrton) and great goals. And, if analysing why we could not succeed this time (after finishing our competitive group as first) takes some time. A complex story! “Assipack?or “dehydrierte Drecksau??whatever ?everything was set for total success. Starting from the preparation of the trip, accommodation (one of the finest hotels in town), nightlife and …… Oh, sorry guys I mixed up the match reports!!!!!! Sorry, sorry!!! Another place another time. Today we played our friends from France, the second time within three weeks. Last match was one of the most important ones in the course of this championship and ?we lost. Thinking about that “da sträubt sich die Feder fortzufahren??so lets quickly forget about that. How we play today? Same, same? I wonder!

Players today? No häb, no häb! (um es mal im thailändischen Englisch auszudrücken). What happened is simple to explain. Most of the players representing Krauts in Thailand did not get enough holiday and dared to continue their holiday. Either in Thailand or elsewhere. Thomas (I hardly dare to tell you where he spend this weekend), Stefan and son (in Beijing), Micha B. same, same, Carlo in Australia (You wouldn’t believe why. Wisdom tooth operation?. Wait until you come back, this cost at least 2 front teeth (Dr. Daniel)). Frank on holiday in Eastern Germany (“Ossipack?. Plus, Christian still banned with red. And so on, and so on. That we could finally get 15 players together was again a hard organisation during the week. And the importance of this match was reason enough for the President to bring his soccer booths along. Apart from me the other players today included:

Goal:
Nicolas

Defence:
Olaf as usual libero, Dieter in the defence today on right, Helmut on the left side, Kazu today as stopper in exchange for Micha St. who played in the midfield today. Substitutes: Bilgin.

Midfield:
Peter, Ayrton, Micha St., Khalek and later also newcomer Thomas from (you wouldn’t believe) France. Christian M. also came into the match at the later stage.

Striker:
Alonso and Woody with almost full time today (later of course changed for me and Micha St. to make the victory perfect).

Before the match, everybody was reminded again how important this match will be. The last chance!? How to play different from last match was clear, right? Play fair but hard, go into the tackles with more power and engagement and don’t rely on the others. That’s it, nothing more to say. Go out and fight for the points!!

The match started as planned. Dominance by Krauts because we took on the ball. Early attack on the ball-leading French and rolling out our own play. Not a bad start, especially considering that the first minutes are always the hardest for us to get into the match. Minute 5, attack by Krauts through the middle could only be stopped through a foul. Free kick 20 meters, promising distance for Olaf. Shoot and goal. Very well placed in the upper left triangle, no chance for the goalie. 1-0. Excellent start, also to show the French, to whom the day today belongs ?to Krauts. (You should have thought so). Only seconds later easy ball loss in the defensive midfield by “Wolfsburg-Maradonna?(OT: head coach) promptly resulted in the equaliser. 1-1. And then it even came harder. Another attack by Les Bleus (there were not so many so far actually) through the defence into the penalty area and only stopped by a foul. Penalty kick!! Cross the fingers for Nicolas and yes, saved. Excellent, already the third time this season. Good to have you between the posts. During the foul the French striker broke his “key bone?and reduced the already limited French squad further. Sorry for him but show must go on. Football is a hard sport, especially when fighting for the upper position of the table. Les Bleus, by the way, directly behind us with just 3 points difference. After this shock we fortunately did not show nerves and continued playing like in the first minutes. Middle of half time, Les Bleus realised seemed to give themselves up. No chance to overpass our strong defence today. Thanks especially to Kazu who did a great match today. He seemed to be just everywhere. Supporting the defence and helping out even in the midfield. Chance after chance but with the same “auf dem Silberteller ins Tor tragen??syndrome. But the lead seemed just a matter of time. Controlling the match, good passes and great team play the half time came nearer and nearer. Not yet over, last chance Krauts. Prepared from Ayrton, pass to Woody and hard but well placed shot by Woody. 2-1 before the break, very important. The resume in the break was simple. Well played, great team effort but the match not decided yet. Try to keep the pressure up and use the chances better.

Seconds played in the second half. Ayrton with pressure forward and team play to Alonso free in front of the goalie. But he wouldn’t be a South American if not making another step around the goalie to make it glass clear. 3-1 the lead is getting comfortable. Power phase began. Unbelievable how many chances our midfield produced today. 6 minutes later Khalek with great run towards the gound line, pass into the middle. Woody says thanks to score again. 4-1 and already his goal number 7 (besides Alonso with also 7 goals so far). The pressure continued even tough it seemed clear already. But today was payback time for the last match. In the middle of the second half also the goalie had to be substituted injured after trying to catch a long dangerous ball out of the midfield. “He jumped high and fell deep? What does it mean for us: shoot, shoot, shoot?. No real defence from Les Bleus anymore, free play “nach Lust und Laune?for us. Nice to look at how we played now. Of course a 4-1 play makes it much more easy to play for the fans. Minute 65 was time for Ayrton, prepared by himself (of course) from half left, one defender here, one defender there, and since there was nobody else, shoot on goal ?5:1. Haltless happiness ?yes, that was the decisive goal. Everything should be clear here, although 25 minutes to go. It looked rather that we increase our lead than the French coming back into the match. 5 goals seemed enough, considering the poor usage of the chances we had afterwards. And after nobody wanted to count the chances anymore, double change in the offence. Woody and Alonso for Micha St. and me. A clear signal to the offence. But after 45 seconds time was up, not enough to show the “spielerische Klasse?of the President or the cold bloodness of “Wolfsburg-Maradonna?

Man of the match today ?our birthday kid Ayrton. Happy birthday to you and thanks for inviting us for the party in “The Spot?(Ayrton, can you pass me the telephone number of the Polish girl?) But actually real match winner in my opinion was the President who avoided any dangerous attacks by standing in front of the French goalie and destroying any efforts to built-up their game (45 seconds in the match and victory saved ?that’s what I call effectiveness. Coach, did you see that?)

A great day today but still one point behind Japan who made their victory clear with a 5-1 over Voodoo. So still the championship will be exiting until our direct clash with Japan on 23. April. Before however we play the ANZAC’s and even Japan in the SIFL-Cup. So lets think from match to match and not forget the pleasant moments of life. “Hoch die Tassen, Kopp in Nacken!? See you around next week (with the sole responsibility of the head coach).

Your “after 45 seconds totally burned out?Daniel

Saturday, 19.03.2005 / SIFL
GAME REPORT: Azzurri FC - Shanghai Krauts FC / Result: 1-5 (1-2)

What a match! I can still remember as if it was yesterday! And as long as the memories are fresh no time to loos to put it on paper. While the championship is entering its critical phase, we are still struggling to get back to our consistent form as in the beginning of the season. After the loss against Les Bleus (yes, it still hurts) and working victory against Vikings which saw much to less goals the hope was to finally show a strong and convincing performance which gives us the confidence for the last matches. And Azzurri was just the best team to play in such case. But be aware, on paper weak, but stronger on the pitch, especially in the matches against us. And also over-estimation would have been wrong today ?we already experienced that it does not work out in the match against Les Bleus.

Although the weather and time was fine today, only 14 players were available after all. Besides work and injuries also the suspension of Christian lead to a rather “over-seeable?squad. Taking into account that the roster total 40 players by now, the list of absent players is longer that the participants or at least “länger als mein Mann seiner?(as a common housewife would say). Surprise today: Juergen came finally back after his knee-injury. Unfortunately the bus smelled a little bit like old people, but good to have you back. One appearance so far and 1 goal (that it 100%), and today? We will see. The players ready for today list like follows.

Goal:
Nicolas (“every goal is reducing the chances for SIFL- player of the year? ?thank your defence

Defence:
Olaf on libero position, Micha B. right defence, Helmut as usual left side, Thomas Sch. as stopper since Micha St. is still injured (zumindest wie es offiziell aus dem Präsidium lautet). Of course also Carlo was there, always waiting for substitution with Micha B.

Midfield:
Peter today in starting position on the right side, next to Khalek in right centre position, left centre position Kazu with defensive character today, Ayrton (still waiting for his first goal ?we are waiting as well!).

Striker:
Alonso and Frank, Heyko and Juergen as substitutes.

Tactical briefing and the entire match under the critical eyes of the Präsidium, head coach and Vorstandsmitglied Micha. Today also with a new ref (not European but Australian) hopefully understanding the rules better than the Chinese ones. A glance at the opponents squad: plenty of new people! It seems Wolfram has done a lot of recruiting work in Judy’s with the support of his girlfriend with same name. But the match was actually without sponsor conflict, in any case Judy would be happy.

With the match starting, Krauts were dominating the game from kick-off until the end. But a lot of times too clumsy to file another SIFL- goal record. If not the opponent, it will be ourselves who make the game more difficult. Also today. Chances over chances in the first minutes but “gone with the wind? 2 symptoms: “Too South American in front of the goal??everybody wanted to carry to ball on silver plate into the goal (this sound familiar, look into the last match report). And second: the final pass in front of the goal was missing, our strikers seemed to play in different teams. Too many times either Frank or Alonso were in promising positions, but not served with the final pass. Instead “I try myself? Shots by everybody “ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste? Even Helmuth tried his luck ?with problems to get back in time. Minute 13 another chance which could stand for the entire match. Khalek takes the ball offensive midfield towards the goal ?direct shot instead of serving Alonso. Shot however directly on the goalie who could not get the ball under control and so it was Alonso who finally got his chance to score the first one (again ?with support of the goalie). But if the ball is in the net, nobody really cares anymore how it happened. For Alonso it was an important goal on his birthday and his first goal since a pretty long time (exactly 2 month ago on the date). 10 minutes later we scored again, but also for the second goal we needed at least 5 chances. This time it was Ayrton with his first but over-due goal for Krauts. Just before that a critical situation in the 16m box by Thomas which could have led to a penalty if: he really had touched the ball and if he was not pushed before.

2:0 in minute 24, match decided and now? Why not let the Italians get closer? That must have been the thought of the defence. How would you explain the mistake in minute 28 which let them score the 2:1. One chance, 1 goal, that’s really effectiveness. We instead did not really seem to be in a rush, at least not for goal. So the first half passed, with uncountable chances, “brotlose Kunst?(bicycle kick by Ayrton on the side line), desperation outside the line, and so on. Harsh words in the break from the “sofa?Patrick. Anybody thinking to hear positive feedback must have been in another match. 2-1 was not a result to lay back and be happy with. Here was nothing decided yet……..

The ref started the second half exactly after 5 minutes break, good work from him so far, except the tackle against Ayrton (“doppelt gestreckt Ball gespielt??. I wonder how the ref will do in summer? Holla, holla. So what, here was still a match to decide and important points to get. Now it started much better with using of chances. Already after the third chance, Frank scored the 3-1, finally served by a pass of Heyko. (remember in the first half we needed around 10 chances to make the first goal). After his goal, Frank showed everybody that he can sprint pretty fast ?next time also before scoring, ok? Also during the second half there was never really any danger for Nicolas, thanks to Thomas who did a great job on stopper position and Kazu with hard work in the defensive midfield. Worth to mention also Alonso who ?similar to the match against Vikings ?supported the offence more from the midfield as scoring goals himself. Great team play! The match nearing its end but still goals to come. In minute 80 a corner kick landed on Juergen’s head and from there to the head of a German - Italian player (Wolfram) but only to deflect the ball on its way into the net. 4-1. And again he made a goal our oldie. What most of the people don’t know. Juergen is paid by goals not by appearances. And most of the other players also played like this (ich versau ihn lieber selber) but less successful. Shortly afterwards he also had the chance to score his second one. 5 minutes to end the final goal by Khalek (also his first) after a respectable run along the entire right wing. He tried again to finish himself but this time with a hard shot. No chance for the goalie ?5:1.

The result looks ok. But if you consider the whole match, just to less goals. Or in other words the 5 goals needed to many chances. Surely we have to work on our effectiveness because in the next games we have to fight harder for our chances. Bottom line: 3 points, still on track, 1 point behind 2nd Japan with same game numbers played. But no way to relax, Les Bleus also won against Oranje and are still 3 points behind us. And Les Bleus will also be our opponent in the next league match, which is played on 2. April. Next week is break at least for those you were not nominated to represent the Krauts in the “Far Eastern Tournament?in Bangkok. Hope we will be more successful compared to last year. Keep your fingers crossed and see you back soon.

Your “in Summe aber doch zufriedene?Daniel

Saturday, 12.03.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Vikings / Result: 2-1 (1-1)

After the match is before the match! (and this should be the last comment on our weak performance last week). Today everything should go better, also against the Vikings? Hard fought matches all the time, most of the times the better end for us. Like the first match this year, where Miguel decided the match almost alone with 2 goals. How sad his injury keeps him away from scoring. Top matches today: not only played we against the Vikings, but also the Shooters against Japan. Will the championship be decided today? Surprise, surprise!

Excellent weather today and if most of the player anticipated it, the willingness to join was pretty high. However, Saturday morning it turned out that a couple of players cannot join. For instance Frank, who is still not used the Chinese food. Helmuth fell sick as well and Uli still injured. Also The Nissl's had to cancel and so our team was quickly reduced already in the "Morgengrauen". After all 14 players seemed enough after the last week everybody realised quantity is not quality. So, here they are:

Goal:
Nicolas, still pissed after getting 2 more "Buden"?

Defence:
Olaf as libero (one last chance), Micha B. (as always "angeschlagen", I cannot hear this anymore.), Gregor in his last match as stopper and Carlo (not so many alternatives).

Midfield:
Kazu, Peter, Ayrton, Christian K. (surprise by the headcoach) and Khalek (also not so many alternatives).

Striker:
Alonso, Heyko, Woody and Bobby (a lot of alternatives).

The Officials (und am Spielergebnis völlig unbeteiligten)
I don't want to bother you with that again. (You will realise us soon enough - if you play like last week). Nothing spectacular before the match, except that Patrick had to repeat the starting formation three times because of his short night. To much work the night before (on the tactics of course).

Seconds after the kick-off it was clear that the Vikings had planned something today. Aggressive play, good passes and dangerous situations allowed them to take control right from the start. We on the other side needed some time to get organised and to over-come our nervousness. But this took too long time, too long to avoid the first goal by Vikings in minute 7. Like the match against the French an early goal. But unlike then today we played football. Happy to say from minute 10 we controlled the match. Our midfield much more active and aggressive in the tackles. Big support also from Alsonso who supported in the midfield. In no time we accumulated a couple of great but unused chances. Kazu who after over-running the goalie wanted to carry the ball into the net on a silver plate or shortly afterwards Bobby who missed the deadly pass and instead failed to make it himself. In minute 30 or so, Vikings could not resist our pressure anymore. Again Bobby started the attack but this time passed over to Christian. And he showed the "small" Vikings-goalie how big the goal really is. Straight shot in the upper triangle. 1:1. We are back in the game! Still we controlled the match but did not use our dominance. Still some time to go but first the break.

Second half started and we continued our "gepflegtes Spiel". With Peter for Bobby and Heyko (who continued for Woody) more action and speed came into the match. Vikings did manage to create some more dangerous chances but Nicolas on his post. Also the defence played strong after the their "black-out" in the first minutes. Especially Gregor played a great match and was rightly nominated Man of the Match. As for our offence it took until minute 60-70 to decide the match for us. Free-kick Heyko and unfair play in front of the Vikings-goal. Alonso was pulled off his feet: penalty. Olaf without nerves: 2:1. Well done but match not over yet. And we continued to push and press towards the Viking goals. What looked promising and dominating in the midfield however was not effectively used by the strikers. Too "South American" style, too less "German" = effective play. We should have score 3 to 4 more goals but didn't. But we also saved this precious 2:1 over the time.

Nasty incident 10 minutes before finish. Tackle by Olaf near ground line was responded by violent attack of a Viking player (who is actually not from Scandinavia but from China). Whatever, head kick on Olaf's nose is totally unacceptable. Red card for him. And surprisingly also red card for Christian K. pushed him away before the Viking- idiot could do any worse. Official apologies of Vikings accepted, friendship goes on. Much easier to say if you win the match after all.

How important this victory was today? We will see at the end of the season. And since Shooters lost 2 points today, the championship is still open, especially the second. But careful the French are getting close also thanks to our help. Next week Azzurri but these matches were always combined with under-estimation. This mistake we cannot do this time. And there is no reason since they become a very, very strong team (Wolfram, das macht 'nen Bier). Also bis die Tage, ach ne bis heut abend. The evening after the match was even busier than someone's schedule during the week. First there was the birthday of "old" Jens M. (he asked the editor not to mentioned that he became 40, of course we respect his wish) and later in "The Spot" double pack: birthday of Olaf and farewell of Gregor. Thanks Gregor for playing with us and good luck back in Germany (da wo die Post abgeht).

Your "heute einfach mal nur" Daniel

Saturday, 05.03.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Les Bleus - Shanghai Krauts FC / Result: 2-0 (1-0)

After our “glorious?match against Shooters (1:5 in the Hebiguchi-Cup) we well deserved a one week break to rethink our ambitions in the league. Where was the spirit, we was the enthusiasm we showed in the match just before Christmas. To lame, to blind ?just too harmless. At least for consolation, Shooters were defeated in the semi-finals by Japan ?that is good. 1. Another slap for Shooters, well due and 2. Hebiguchi is just a Japanese cup. But that’s only for the history in the SIFL. Back into the regular league competition, back to “what’s really matters??3 point more towards the season- target. Today against the French team. Hard to anticipate anything, we haven’t played them for a long time. The week before the beat the Koreans with 16:1 a rather surprising result considering the overall high level of the league and ?they are French.

The French team have always been an uncomfortable team in the past, usually the played worse than us but won the matches after all. Everybody should keep that in mind, unfortunately nobody of the current squad still remembers since it was before their times or just because they immediately forgot about. In sum 18 players wanted to join the “Ringelreigen?for points. 18 players is top participation and always headache for the team coach. Better for the president, a lot of players who can bring him coffee or beer.

Here is how we played (or how we tried to play):

Goal:
Nicolas, still pissed after getting 5 “Buden?

Defence:
Olaf, Helmuth, Christian K., Micha S. and Micha B. on usual positions, later also Uli (at least until his injury 5 minutes later) and Carlo

Midfield:
Kazu on central position, Stefan N. and his son Nico (“hey, geh ma anne Bude und hol paar Bier für Vaddi?, Gregor, Ayrton (in his second match) and newcomer Khalek (from ?you wouldn’t believe it ?France).

Striker:
Alonso, Frank, Heyko and “Urlauber?Bobby.

The Officials (und am Spielergebnis völlig unbeteiligten)
Patrick und Daniel, oder auf Französisch: Patrick and Daniel.

Unentschuldigt abwesend:
Dieter, 2xMarco, Daniel P., Fernando, Woody und wie sie alle heissen.

Kick-off against the wind ?so if anything goes wrong in the first half we have an excuse already. ?.mmmhh, how shall I continue from now? …… maybe like this! First minutes played ?chicken skin. But not because of the cold ?it was the “Anti-Fussball?that the 11 players presented. “Patrick zähl mal durch, sind wir wirklich 11 oder nur 7? No team play, no decent passes, no emotions in the tackles ?nothing. Attitude like: “The goals will come from alone? And then also individual mistakes one last position (look above for reference) ?attack France, lost ball and 1:0 in minute 6. Verdammt, dass kann doch nicht sein. And this had nothing to do with wind. Although we played at least 40 more minutes I can’t really remember anything worthwhile to mention. Waiting for half-time and play with the wind.

Contents of the discussions in the half-time was clear. Nothing positive at least. No tactical issues, just mental problems. Unfortunately the second part started like the first ended. Terrible. And let me tell you, this never changed. What went wrong today? Most of the time the French ridiculed us: with 10 men and 1 girl. In minute 60 another black-out of our defence: dribbling along the ground line and 2:0. Everything else would have been a surprise anyway. The last 30 minutes ?hoping for better times. But hope it was. Not today. Even if we would have played for 2 more hours, nothing would have changed. We gave us up today. Black day. No worth to analyse. *** happens sometimes!!! (see Hansa Rostock).

That was a short one this time. You wanna know why? Play better next time, maybe then I am in the mood to write more. No party tonight. Thanks lads. See you next time when we play against Vikings to “avoid?relegation from the SIFL.

Your “auf bessere Zeiten wartende?Daniel

Saturday, 19.02.2005 / Hebiguchi Cup
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Malones Shooters / Result: 1-5 (0-2)

Finally the Chinese New Year break is over, good for all who had some time to relax. Biggest question mark: who will make to come back on time. As it later turned out, not as many as expected: just 14 players (excl. the Präsidium). Strange, since our opponent is Shooters today, a team everybody is starving to play and of course to win. But maybe most of the missing players thought: “Why shall I be there today, last time we beat them with just 9 players? Ok, that’s an argument?br>
Today Hebiguchi-Cup, quarter finals. How we got there? Green card first round. And hopefully not the end today. The comment “Cup matches are not so important?in the bus was totally misunderstood. I meant: “Not so important than league games, but still very important? Unfortunately, most of the players had an excuse now in case of loosing. The president de-motivated us! First we play, then we see. And the squad responsible for the 2nd surprise this year was:

Goal:
Nicolas back in the game, but with Gregor’s good performance against Korea (zu 0) in the back. Last match against Shooters Man of the Match ?lets wait for today!

Defence:
Olaf as libero, Carlo on right, Micha B. on left, 2nd defence line with Micha St., Thomas S. and Bilgin.
- Helmuth missed due to his red card but present at the pitch with (as to my opinion to less) Glühwein.
- Christian K. on work today (arme Sau)
- Gregor also not available (for details ask his girlfriend)

Midfield:
Newcomer Ayrton (guess where from, of course from South America. Bolivia to be precise. Welcome to the team) on central position. Daniel P. and Fernando on left wing. Stefan N. on right side.
- Kazu still injured and with a break today, recover well and more important fast
- Dieter also still injured but on the way back into form
- Franz still not sure where to settle down (China vs. Germany), today not in China
- Marco C. with sunburn still in Brazil (over 30 degrees ?shame on you)
- Marco France also injured
All in all defence and midfield more like a hospital than a football team.

Striker:
Alonso, Woody and Heyko.
- Frank still on holiday (will this be match-decisive?)

Officials = Präsidium:
as usual, Pat and me at least until the next board meeting

Soon after the kick-off we could feel the pressure from Shooters. They wanted revenge ?with a two-digit-result. Although under pressure we were able to produce some “ideas?of chances. But too harmless and more a trial to get rid of the pressure. Certainly one major reason we could have played one a half field today was the strong wind in the first half ?against us. Or do you think, Olaf can only make 10m kick-offs from the goal. In no time the ball was back in our “critical?area. At least 16 minutes our defence worked out well, plus the Shooters were to blind too use their chances. Until minute 16. Easy soccer: corner ?header ?goal. 1:0 for Shooters. I don’t really want to comment the time between minute 16 and minute 40, when we got the second goal. Why? Nothing really happened. Except: we stood strong against the pressure. And: The Shooters were running after each ball which went off. Small talk between the officials from both team: “What is the rush for, John???“We want to score more goals!?Aha, as I had expected. Ok, in minute 40 they got their second, but that should have been the last one. 5 minutes later, half time. 2 goals against the wind, could be worse. Now we score 3 times with the wind and everything is as it has to be.

That was the idea until Shooters kick-off the 2nd half. Seconds later attack on left side towards ground line, pass into the 16m area - 3:0. Not sure whether we touched the ball at all. Mentally broken we had to take another one in minute 55. 4:0. Nicolas, everything else than happy. And really pissed when he got the 5th in minute 75. Enough is enough. Where is the will to fight back, like we demonstrated in the first match. Shooters still running for chances. 5:0 was obviously not enough for them. But they did not score anymore today. Instead, we took over some initiative and got more dangerous. But only until the last kick. Too many chances without result. Also the midfield ?due to lack of alternatives completely restructured ?was far from form. Good point to mention was however the strong performance from Ayrton. Very talented and very motivated. Small talk among the spectators: “What do you say to the new guy?? “You can’t say anything!? That is more a German saying, especially in Swabain and what Helmuth actually meant: Good guy!

Worthwhile to mention the biggest chance so far by Heyko in minute 84, when he ?alone with the goalie ?had all the time to choose the corner. But he shot on the goalie. If you get chances like this against the Shooters you have to make them otherwise?. And together with all the other chances we had today, the only conclusion was: “Das Tor ist einfach zugenagelt? But nonetheless we scored also today. Free-kick after Shooters-foul. 18 m distance to the goal. Heyko with a brilliant shot directly into the goal. Later also named by Shooters as Man of the Match for this performance and maybe also for all the chances he did not use. 5:1 final result. Maybe 2-3 goals to much today. We had to take more goals with the wind than against, that is even harder to get over.

Lost against the Shooters. That was that. Could be worse, see the statistics how other teams performed against them. No card for us today. Also a clear sign. Last time we had 2 reds and a couple of yellows. Psychological not a bad situation to loose today ?to be better prepared for the show-down in our last league match against them. Later that night 2 representatives from Krauts (Dirk and me) we seen in M-Zone to see how happy the Shooters can be and to get free drinks from them.

And apart from football there is always something more important in life. Congratulations to Sandra and Micha for the “well-off?newborn daughter Lia, and me as Godfather.

Hope to see you all for the next match which is on 5th of March, when the others play the Semi-Final of the Hebiguchi-Cup. Opponent is France and actually this is still an open match from first part of the season, so hopefully additional points on our account!

Your “Godfather?Daniel

Saturday, 29.01.2005 / SIFL League
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Korea / Result: 6-0 (2-0)

Who understands football? After a brilliant first season which elevated us to 2nd position in the table and after our legendary victory over “long-time-unbeaten?Shooters, the winter break hit us harder than we thought. Poor performance against Oranje and little unlucky against United resulted in 4 points given away. What this means for the league? Well, we are third now behind Japan and the margin to the midfield is getting smaller and smaller. There is not point to loose anymore if we still want to reach the target of the season ?Runner’s Up!

And today it would be everything else than easy. Still bad memories against our opponent ?Korean Red Devils, one of the few teams which were successful to pick some points from us last season. Why? Their speed and our Swiss defence. Oh yes, our defence also as key topic today. Nicolas with his first absence ?record broken. Good chances for Kazu, Frank and Marco C. to reach for the trophy “most loyal Krauts player? Our others “would like to have?defenders Franz and Micha B. also not around. And not to mention Dieter, Carlo and Gerhard, who are still injured (never understood what Gerhard has). Ok, lets stop the listing of players not available today (because this is a long one) and focus on the squad today. At least we were 16 altogether!

Goal:
Nicolas, NOT in the goal, therefore Gregor, who already showed in the match against ANZAC that he might be a good alternative.

Defence:
Olaf as libero, Helmuth as left defender, Christian K. right side (for your inf Christian is NOT a new player!), defensive midfield with Micha S. and Bilgin on left side as well as Thomas and newcomer Peter on right side.

Midfield:
Kazu on central position, Daniel P. and newcomer Fernando (guess where from) right midfield. Marco C. left side. Marco from France unfortunately not available today.

Striker:
Alonso, Frank (sure ?rechts aussen), Woody and Heyko.

Officials = Präsidium:
“Pat und Patterchen?

Kick-off 12 minutes late, but at least we started. Already in the first minute controlling dominance of Krauts with first chances by Frank (2 or 3 in 5 minutes). If you ask for my opinion: “Kacke am Schuh!? And if we are too blind, let the Korean help us. Dribbling Marco in 16m-box, shoot and deflected by a Korean defender. Own goal but goal for us ?1:0 Krauts. There was hardly anything to see from Korea. Most of their attacks were stopped in the midfield, and if they approached further, at Micha S. there was no further?. Back to the other side ?minute 15. Woody with pass to Kazu and from him directly into the goal. Nothing spectacular but effective. 2:0.

After our lead, the Koreans came back into the match (sounds better than “we could not play out our dominance? but still there was nothing really dangerous for Gregor in the goal. Overall the match lost a little of energy. Time for coffee no 12. Nothing else to highlight, except the yellow card of Daniel P. which brought us over the ?0 crime points mark? 500 RMB penalty for the club (I wonder who will pay) and Fair Play Trophy gone forever.

Half-time, also time for refs to rethink their poor performance today. Some changes in our lines but no real tactical reorientation since everything was going well so far. Just try to avoid to “carry?the ball into the net. No need for South American bicycle kicks - just score! ?was the advise to the strikers.

Start of 2nd half ?same picture as in the first ?match control by Krauts, chances en masse but chances unused. Time for coffee no 18. Finally, in minute 60 something to celebrate. 3:0 after header of Christian K. And it looked so easy. 8 minutes later Peter with the reward of his excellent performance. Pass from Alonso ?4:0. Good play from Alonso today as well but most of his passes either did not find the recipient or were not returned. “Then do it yourself!?

In minute 80 (5:0) and 85 (6:0) show time for Heyko. Double-pack in his 3rd match for Krauts. Well done. In the meantime Helmuth was sent off after discussing the principle of fair play with the Korean midfielder ?both had the chance to continue their fruitful talks off the pitch. Fernando also made himself heard ?with a yellow card. So not only plenty of goals, but also very colourful. 15:0 it should have been, 6:0 it was. Bottom line: 3 points, still on track. Marco C. Man of the Match and Gregor with “white jacket? Will be hard for Nicolas to play himself back into the team…….

Next match against Shooters in the Hebiguchi-Cup on 19th February. Again after a break. Hopefully we re-start better this time. Enjoy your holidays and be back on time with “Normalgewicht?

Your “immer normalgewichtige?Daniel

Saturday, 22.01.2005 / SIFL
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - Shanghai United / Result: 1-1 (1-1)

Second match in this year and today against United ?which is always a difficult team to play. Nothing really extra-ordinary about United but always good enough to win. Remember last season we lost twice against them. The first match of this season we could restructure the balance with a draw (1-1). So already 1 point more than in the season 2003-2004. And today? After last match against Oranje we could not afford to loose more points ?so a victory was the target (as in every other match as well by the way). Good to see that missing players came back into the team and/ or recovered from illness. Has this anything to do with Patrick acting as head coach again?

Today 16 players on hand, above average which is at 15 so far. Compared with 12 or 13 United players. Makes a good basis to win today. And here is how we tried to do that:

Goal:
Nicolas

Defence:
Olaf back on libero position, Helmuth left and Micha B./ Bilgin on right side, Micha St. also back after his red card on stopper position, later also Gregor played on this position.

Midfield:
Kazu back on central position, left midfield with Marco (France) and newcomer Peter, Marco C. and Uli played on right side.

Striker:
Frank and Heyko right, Alonso and Woody on left side.

Officials:
as usual Patrick and me

A couple of minutes played, good start from our side. Here is something in for us today. Plenty of mistakes from United which helped us to increase pressure on their goal. In minute 10 another attack from Krauts through Marco C., only stopped by a foul. Daniel P. with the free-kick into the goal but not without touching the head of Marco C. Incident or on purpose ?it does not really matter. 1:0 for Krauts. And we continued our pressure to produce chance after chance ?without using. Anybody surprised? The defence was partly jobless, so time every now and then for Micha St. to play offensive. Although this cost him a lot of energy.

Danger from United only sporadic after long kicks from either the goalie or their defence. Their two strikers played pretty dangerous and on flexible positions and left our defence with some headaches. But all in all very solid defence performance. And if you defend good the line between fair play and foul is very thin. Especially for our refs. So they decided in minute 20 that a “swallow?really looked like a foul and gave it to United. Why do you think I mention this? Because that was the reason we got the equaliser. 2 goals after 2 standard situations in this match so far! However, this does not reflect the actual game. Whereas our free-kick was just one out of many chances, the free-kick from United was they only thing what made them dangerous today.

After the equaliser we continued to dominate the match with chance after chance. Only shortly interrupted by a 10 minutes break. Honestly, I have hardly seen so many chances in one match but never saw that so many chances remained unused. And everybody tried, even Micha St. played very offensive today at least until his legs refused to run any longer. The last sprint was to much, even though in slow motion. Everybody outside asked: Is the ball slower or Micha?? The ball, nee Micha or? nee the ball…… after all it was Micha, break deserved.

Really, there happened nothing else spectacular in this match, unless you want me to continue to count all the chances we had but not used. And “The longer the match lasted, the less time we had left!?After 90 minutes ? finish, finish. Game over. Again 2 points lost if you consider the match as a whole. But probably we did not deserved to win today, after giving away all these chances. Kazu deserved to be nominated as Man of the Match.

Unfortunately, Japan again won their match against Korea to increase the point difference to 6 points. Shooters played ANZAC today and also won - of course ?there is only one team able to beat them. But the competition gets fiercer and more important: we have to start winning again. Last season we drew 2 times and lost once, in the first 2 matches of this year we drew already twice, so that should be enough. And if this part of the season is a replication of the last one, I wonder against we will loose. ANZAC? Who knows, but hopefully not next week, when we play Korea. See you all then.

Your “noch unter Schock stehende?Daniel

Saturday, 15.01.2005 / SIFL
GAME REPORT: Shanghai Krauts FC - O'Malleys Oranje / Result: 2-2 (1-2)

First match in 2005, get ready for the rumble! Very comfortable to start as 2nd with the victory over Shooters in the back. Also the opponent - Oranje - looks pretty comfortable, considering our very good balance with them: 26 victories and 2 draws (something like that). Motto was clear today: drive out to Tianma, 90 minutes obligatory kicking of the ball, 3 points and don’t catch a cold. Yes, the weather was everything else than inviting. Typical for this time of the year.

But as history learned us, it is always difficult to get a strong/ numerous team together so shortly after Christmas, mainly due to weight problems. This should not change today! After beating Shooters, 2nd record of the season: lowest participation in one Krauts match: only 13 players and even me on waiting list. Ok, considering that we bet the Shooters with 9 players, one should imaging that 6 would be enough for Oranje. Theoretically!

After their red cards Franz and Micha St. banned for this match. Franz stayed home in Germany directly and Micha as Interims-Coach today. Probably the best choice today ?who else can “read?the tactics of Oranje better than him. Congratulation also to “Excel Basic Course? which he has passed under the week, so team formation also black on white. However this list was hidden even after the match, also for me. Therefore I can only give you a rough idea on the starting line and formation. Also considering that we have a squad of 35 players, lets keep an eye on the players who were out today, because this one is by far the shorter list.

Nicolas (in the goal as I can remember), Libero Kazu (this was a solution out of missing alternatives since Olaf caught a cold), Helmuth and Micha B. as pure defenders - also Micha not 100% fit but HE PLAYED at least. Carlo and Gregor also in the defence.

In the midfield we played with Marco C., Marco France, Stefan N. and Daniel P.; Frank, Alonso and Heyko (with first appearance today ?welcome to Krauts) played as striker.

Ok, before we start with the match one thing to mention on the tactics: today we wanted to win and score a lot of goals. Therefore we played with 3 defenders, 4 midfielders and 3 strikers. And the match started promising, better end for us. Usual picture, good chances originating from our control in the midfield but too harmless in finishing. Our midfield not as strong as before (Kazu cannot be everywhere) but in minute 10 we could use the confusion among the Dutch defence in the 16m-box to score the first goal. Alonso with the 1:0 for Krauts. So after all, match develops as planned. But Oranje increased their control in the midfield and produced a couple of good counter-attacks. And somewhere between minute 15 and 20 they scored the equaliser ?perfect utilisation of chances because they only had one so far. Later in the first half they hit us even harder. Corner kick and header to score the 1:2. This is no surprise if you imagine that our defence was 1.5m on average (without Helmuth the average would be even lower).

Still we had plenty of chances to equalise even before the break but old story, same song. And most of our chances came out of nowhere. Nothing really planned, midfield was not running as expected. But positioning Kazu as libero was inevitable. So we went into the break being behind for the first time of this season (as far as another record is concerned). Don’t you think that we didn’t want to change something in our tactical formation. We were just lacking alternatives, and the result was still not convincing enough for me to pack out my boots.

Lets go for another 45 minutes, everything still open. Play as before, except the “using the chances??part. It was really a tough time for Micha St. and me to stand outside and to follow the match, a lot of “Klein, Klein?but nothing really convincing from our side. And if we had our chances, the goalie was just too good for some “schwule Schüsse? We have to show more to make him shaking. Plus our whole midfield was to unorganised today, no clear positioning ?wie im “Hühnerstall? Middle of second half we finally realised that we can play for days like this without any result. So, tactical change: Kazu back into the midfield and Micha B. as libero. And see, the match improved extremely ?for us of course. Higher ball possession in the midfield, intelligent passes and better serve of the strikers. This change we should have done earlier, but later you are always smarter…….

In minute 70 we finally used our re-born dominance. Midfield serves Alonso ?initiating attack on left side towards the goalie ?Alonso’s pass to Frank on left side with overview ?and Frank with diagonal shoot past the goalie to mark the 2:2. Finally! But not enough. We need another goal then 1 point does not make that much difference than none if you look at the table. We tried and tried and tried and if we would have played for another hour maybe?. But at around 90 minutes the game was over. NO HAPPY! 2 points lost, rather than 1 point gained ?against the 3rd last in the table. Japan won their match against Les Bleus and replaced us from the 2nd. Not a good match on the road to our target - the strong teams are still to come. Alonso man of the match but that’s all to be mentioned on this day. No party today, maybe next weekend. Then we have to play United and you know what that means?

Your “NO HAPPY?Daniel