Tirachinas FC close down on Pacific Prime

Even in the midst of a near-record setting winning streak, the best can falter. A killer Pac line up (seen rt.) didn’t mean much after 3 convincing Tirachinas goals by halftime: the second of which a long ball to one-touch sliding Pablo for a sneaky finish. It wasn’t just the busyness of Spanish wings, but the mentality of their opponent. Pac seemed off on this occassion, the ‘intensive-yet-defensive’ tactic of the T’chinas proved a noble adversary to Pacific Prime, a team with the number one and two goal scorers of the league. Pierre mentioned at half time that his team was “looking at themselves” this match. Mandela snagged 2 on the night but most of the Pac were shut down by Spaniards like Micchu and Mateo, voted Son of the Pitch for holding his backfield in place. The win sits T’chinas heavy in the midst of a Cup battle while Pac’s loss bumps them down to 2nd with a game in hand.

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ReU U19 vs. SJFC

Young ones strike first with Miles whipping a fantastic shot outside the box, and a follow up goal from Andy off the rebound put the Under 19 group up 2-0 within ten minutes. Lest we forget Shlowmo, the chuggernaut for SJFC. The Rabbi cut through the wee ones backline with great hustle, but left the whole tracking back part to his teammates Loic and Tal. With a very structured pyramid formation, the Rabbi claimed a double hat trick for the match with nearly half his team’s total goal count for the season. But it still wasn’t enough to take on the Mandela, who stepped in as captain and keeper for his U19 team. Making a series of blocks against Shlowmo, U19 took to the flanks with Andy, Thijs, Max and Dušan all doing tons of running to earn 10 goals for their team, nearly 30% of their total season goals. So it was no issue of offensive performance for either team, but ReUU19’s youthful stride combined with a widely spread formation earned them the check mark, and now only a point behind 3 very strong teams.

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Phoenix vs. Bastardos

An unexpected back-and-forth bout at the bottom between longtime teams in a league spanning 8+ years. Bastardos performance largely depends on attendance, this week the heaven’s sent Alex. He tromped around midfield pummeling anything that he could at the goal. Striking first, the Bastardos gained early momentum with 2 Alex goals, only to be squelched by the Pride of China himself, a very loyal Yang of the Phoenix flock. Yang snapped in 2 quick goals to even the score - Giamma assisting the second goal with a cozy cross far post for a one touch slammer past K. Hen-daddy to the sea. But Phoenix was largely switched off all game, until the final ten minutes and coming back by 2 goals to bring the game all square at 5-5 for a shootout. It was largely Yang, Berto and Robin that took on a great final push, but Giamma’s lucky flub was the only Phoenix penalty that landed, earning Bastardos the win.

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Atléico vs. Phoenix Reborn

Fit and physical sides clashed with aggressive floor passing in the midfield for a scoreless opening quarter, but the latinos fired first with Xavier taking a shot of a free kick rebound. Phoenix Reborn settled and finally found net in the nick of time with a crack from Hamza at the whistle. Momentum didn’t carry over for Reborn, though. Jonathan claimed SOP honors for key saves in net while his Atlético comrades Mehdi, Pedro, Moussa and Tom flared past a hard-fought Gilbert in Phoenix Reborn’s defense. Atlético’s victory etches them several spots closer to the top with next match facing their Spanish speaking rivals.

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SHANGHAI ReUNITED vs. LUCKY 13

‘Taken to the Butchery’ may be an vivid expression of the late events that unfolded for Lucky 13 in their game, at the ReUnited Butchery…which appears to have a lot of variety. ReUnited’s (count it) ten goals over 60 minutes came with a spicy side dish of shut-out. Yep, Lucky 13 didn’t manage to sneak in a cheeky finish all game as their opponents riddled their net. Radu put 3 under his belt with Oraz, Eitel and Joe all providing double-trouble and Daniel earning Son of the Pitch. It didn’t take long for all 3 Marco’s (1 on ReU and 2 on Lucky 13) to know which way this match was headed. Although the rag-tag squad sits at a meager 11th place and at times struggles to get players pitch-side, we’ve seen over the years that even the underdogs can assemble a ruthless, motivated pack to turn the tables around.

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ERS vs. COMPATTI

Another classic European mash up, nil-nil on the sheet ten minutes in but the French gained quick ground. Adrian helped out veterans Nico C, Ondrej, and James to create plenty of trouble for Compatti in their defensive end. It was a two-goal lead at half time but Compatti had some great looks at net, ERS’ keeper Victor fends off long shots like a champ. Hitting the post twice in the first half has it’s knock on effects, and although Compatti managed 2nd half goals from Max and Tommasso, ERS took to town scoring 3 more to seal a very needed 3 points to continue the fight in a bumpy season.