Sports
Soccer Program
Thursday June 19th, EURO 2008 special; training session at Swiss Club 8 p.m.
Saturday June 21st, BLAS – Hollandse FC at Dunearn Sec School at 3 p.m.
Matches Review
Sat May 18th: BLAS – British club : 0-1
This match has a long history as a few years
ago this match was played every few weeks.
The last time we played the British the game
was not as friendly as it should be. However
we were ready to give it another chance and
see what would happen. The Brits had cleaned
up their act and are on their way to becoming
a popular opponent, like Blas.
Because of the British soccer style; A straight
4-4-2 relying on long balls, organization and
physical contest we adjusted our tactics. We
played 3-5-2 as we were short on defensive
minded players. We only had 4 real defenders
so we would play man to man at the back
with Peter in a sweeper role behind. For everyone
at the back this was a new system but
after all in all it worked pretty well.
We now had
five players on
midfield for
the “Battle of
Britain” and
Monah and
Bart started up
at the front.
We had a
number of opportunities,
a
goal ruled off
side and a shot
hitting the bar
after an attack from the right. A close range
shot by Bart should have been in but was miraculously
cleared from the line. The large
number of players on the midfield meant that
we controlled most of the play but also made
the game scrappy at times. At the back we
were looking pretty good but were vulnerable
when they swarmed over us and midfield forgot
to track back. But we still had a reliable
keeper in goal and we managed to fend off
some of their dangerous attacks.
Half time was reached with a 0-0 score, and
we were happy with that. However we were
close to a win and wanted more. Second half
showed more chances. Bram had a shot on
target after a nice drop of his shoulder and
shimmy to get in the box. Henri broke the offside
trap but missed 1 on 1 with the keeper.
Monah cleverly came back from an offside position
but Henri followed up on the pass.
Their keeper was not impressed and was the
only one on the field who thought it was off
side. He let the referee know a bit too much
and his reward was a yellow card for talking.
Not long after we were punished for not scoring
any of our chances. A long kick forward
bounced hard and high on the rock hard pitch
and when it got to our penalty box their
striker calmly volleyed the ball past our
keeper. Not much you can do about that as a
defender and pure bad luck. The last 5 minutes
saw an all out attack by Blas to try and
get the equalizer. However it was not to be and after a good and fair match we suffered
the first loss since March. After the match we
were treated to some beers at the British club
Laurens & Nico
Sun 11th of May: BLAS – Patrician Boys : 6-4
What a game and what a score! As the opponents
arrived with only 9 players, Dan and
Fillip J. started on the other side. As Dan wriggled
himself in a much too small green shirt,
we couldn’t resist thinking of a green sausage.
Later on in the game, it became clear that Dan
received magical powers from this green shirt
and either became the Hulk or a Ninja Turtle
as we had never seen him that dangerous!
The game started by Dan playing the ball
through David’s legs after about 5 minutes.
This obviously wasn’t ego boosting for David
but it became a lot worse afterwards. Lucas
our new Dutch guest player managed to
equalize. He continued his great performance
with a beautiful long pass to the 2nd pole, converted
by Bart into goal: 2-1.
Dan continued to be dangerous with his green
shirt and had a number of chances. He converted
one of them to put us back at par: 2-2.
Lucas managed
to put
one more in
the net so
that we comfortably
went
into half
time.
The second
half started
with Dan
complet ing
his hat trick
(does this word come from the word hate?), taking full
revenge for never playing up front in the
BLAS team and thereby further damaging the
ego of our goalie David: 3-3. David got hurt
and thought both his ankle and knee got broken
at the same time. It turned out however
that all he needed was an excuse and his ankle
and knee were OK.
The BLAS team true fighting spirit came alive
in the last 20 minutes of the game with very
strong midfield and attacking play. With Eddy
playing in the middle, he took the ball and hit
it hard into the low right corner: 4-3. Then
Gunther was in the right place at the right
time and secured our 5th goal. On a site note,
Gunther can cook as well as score. We tried
his restaurant last night and I have to tell you
that this was the best (and most expensive)
food in Singapore I have ever had!
The opponents scored one more time out of
long pass, nicely headed into goal over our
goalie. Just minutes later, Bart firmed up the
score with a nice goal: 6-4, final score.
Laurens & Nico
Sun April 27th : BLAS – Orange Team : 1-1
This was the match were numbers would matter.
On Friday morning we only had 6 players
registered so an extra email was sent out. At the start of the match we could nearly field
two teams as we had 20+ players. Managing
substitutions was going to be the most difficult
task today.
Team Orange who played in grey shirts was a
team to be reckoned with. They played good
organized and attacking football. It was also
baking hot in the sun and no shade to be
found anywhere; even the subs were left melting
in the sun. Due to the heat and the many
players our organization suffered and we relied
most on pure passion and chasing down
every ball. Not many chances were created
and it was a closely balanced first half ending
in a goalless 0-0.
Halftime was used to re-hydrate and talk tactics.
However our brains were close to fried
and the second half showed the same kind of
style. But we were applying more pressure
and a goal was in the air. A ball was headed
hard onto the near goalpost from a brilliant
Gunther corner. I believe the header was by
our Swiss guest player Joerg. Young Weemaes
Thijs also hit the same post after a scrimmage
in front of goal. Eventually we got our noses
in front with a goal by Monah.
A nasty fall on the rock hard Bukit Timah
Field saw Philippe G. leave the pitch clutching
his arm. Luckily nothing was broken and it
turned out to be a muscle pull. Later on in the
match Orange was applying “the pressure
pushing up their players” to equalize. Eventually
the pressure got to us and an Orange team
player managed to skip two or three tackles to
score from close range.
In the dying minutes of the game we went for
the win, but eventually the match ended in a
1-1 draw. Some players thought that we
should have won and if the balls that hit the
post had gone in we would have. But that’s
football.
Nico & Laurens
Saturday April 19th : BLAS – Coka Cola : 5-2
This game was played in a far away part of
Singapore, the Jurong West Secondary School.
Being a Saturday it was busy with people and
a nightmare to get to and from the pitch. Due
to this and our adjustment to Singapore time
watching we were fashionably late for kick off.
But no-one really worried and opponents and
ref sat on the sidelines chit chatting.
We were finally with our full side and started
the match in a traditional 4-4-2 system with
Lyzia (aka Brasil) up front. I think Philippe D
and David gave him this nickname last year
when he played in a tight sleeveless Brazilian
style shirt. He would live up to these expectations
and scored a true hat trick in the first
half. Three goals in a row without the opponent
scoring and also during one half.
First goal came from a well worked attack
from the right. A low shot was fired in hard
into the near corner leaving their keeper
stunned. We were reserving our energy and
letting Coka Cola attack so we could use our
fast break, this tactic resulted in the 2nd and 3rd
goal. Late in the first half Coka Cola took more
control of their game and especially their right
back was giving us a head ache. His fluent
passing, speed and ability to easily pass players
caused havoc in our defense and resulted
in quite a few good opportunities. Just before
half time they slotted in the 3-1 and they were
back in the match.
It was half time and we knew we were going
to have our work cut out for us. These guys
were not beaten yet. Early in the second half
the referee awarded a penalty to our opponents.
It was one of the softest penalty decisions
I have seen in a long time. It was expertly
put behind our keeper and we were
only ahead by one now. Coka Cola kept on
pushing and they looked a different and more
confident side and we were pushed back regularly.
Luckily we have strong and reliable defenders
who do not buckle easily. Fillip J got
the better of his direct opponent and was able
to score two goals late in the match. The last
one he cleverly lobbed their keeper after he
failed to clear the ball. The match ended with
a 5-2 result.
Nico & Laurens
Sunday 13 April : BLAS – AS23 6-3
It was a hot afternoon and our opponent
looked eager to play. They looked fit and enthusiastic,
but they were a little short on players.
At kick off they fielded only nine players.
Gunther and Arnout switched teams so we
could play a fair 11 against 11.
AS23 stunned us with 2 fast goals in the first
ten minutes. Their first came from a curled
free kick which narrowly missed the two-man
wall and found the far corner. Their second
was a typical fast break through the center.
Their striker beat Nico on pace and skillfully
passed Peter for the 0-2. We needed to concentrate
better and keep on pushing forward. A
counter from our side resulted in a goal by
Monah. Not long after their keeper picked up
a throw in from one of their players and we
were awarded an indirect free kick. It was
blasted towards the far corner by Laurens and
Johan managed to get an undisclosed part of
his body on to it and we were level again. We
were on a roll and goals were coming fast. A
free kick from the right by Eddy was inch perfect
and Monah only needed to let the ball
come off his knee for a 3-2 lead. Not long after
another goal came from a corner kick by Filip
J. Monah was aware as a striker and headed in
at the far post. We kept on pressing our opponents which lead to a lot of chances and ball
possession. One of Johan ‘s rushes scared their
defenders so much that they back passed a bit
too hard towards their keeper. After 45 minutes
we found ourselves at a 5-2 score, not bad
considering the first 10 minutes.
Second half Gunther and Arnout joined back
with the BLAS team and Henri showed his
talents with AS23. Henri was becoming a nuisance
with his dashing runs and good ball
control. His presence and an unlucky hand
ball by Cedric resulted in a penalty, which
Henri converted. Score 5-3 and getting interesting
again. Second half was more open and
stretched than the first half and less organized
on our side. Cedric who had switched with
Filip to get some more forward runs found
himself in front of goal twice and could have
scored, but his shot was just skewed wide. Finally
Monah was involved in the last goal of
the match coming from a scrimmage in front
of goal. Not quite sure if it wasn’t an own
goal, but a striker will always claim it. Match
ends with a 6-3 score. After the match we celebrated
Eddy’s birthday with a couple of beers
during the third half. All in all a nice way to
spend a Sunday afternoon.
Laurens & Nico
Saturday 5 April BLAS – Local team : 3-2
We had many new players as the BLAS core
team seemed to be en masse on business or
holiday trips.
With great effort from Monah and Fillip J., we
managed to arrange 6 quest players (Siebe /
Oscar / John / Dimitri / Mohammed & Jaap) to
get us to a total of 14 players.
The game started as a dream and Monah was
able to score the first goal after 5 minutes.
Within 10 minutes, Siebe was awarded a penalty
which our goalie Laurens (nicknamed
Clown, explanation follows later) was able to
convert into a goal: 2 -0! The game went on
and we continued to dominate. There was
even talk of trying to make this our first 10-0
win. Later in the first half however, we
seemed to run into our old weakness again of
scoring goals and only Henry was able to
score, receiving a nice pass from Monah: 3-0.
Henry had 2 more chances to extend our lead,
but wasn’t able to convert them into goals.
The second half seemed to be a different of
game. We seemed to have lost our ability to
dominate and the opponents came out much
stronger than before. The passing became
sloppy and some silly mistakes were made.
Our Clown in goal decided to kick out the ball
straight into a waiting striker. This guy
stopped the ball nicely and shot it straight
back over the Clown (who was standing about
6 meters before his line) into goal: 3-1. We
could only look on and smile as the Clown
seemed to hate himself more than anyone at
that point in time.
About 15 minutes later, the ball was headed
high into the box and the Clown shouted to
Ivo that it was his ball (did the Clown forget
he was the only goalie in our team?). Ivo was
caught off guard and the ball was headed into
goal: 3-2.
We had a few more dangerous moments in the
back and the Clown was lucky to be in the
right spot a few times. This was obviously a
game that we couldn’t give away anymore
and we didn’t: Final score 3-2.
Sat 29 March Min. of Education - BLAS 1- 0
Our last match against an MOE team was last
summer and with that in mind we knew we
were going to have a tough match ahead. Last
match we got crushed and we were 3-0 behind
after the first half. A couple of counter attacks
and some excellent efforts from strong guest
players brought us a 3-3 draw. The ministry of
education has a couple of soccer teams and
their players are fit PE teachers.
Due to a misunderstanding we were 2 hours
too early as the kick off was apparently at 5
PM. We made the best of it and had a short
training session 6 against 6. Some of our players
needed to leave after that as they had not
counted on the delayed kick off. Luckily our
opponents were kind enough to lend us 2 or 3
of their players. As all our keepers took a day
off on the same day and few takers we saw
Laurens back in goal.
Because we already had a training session our
objection was to conserve energy and use our
counterattacks. Our stand in MOE players and
some guest players were doing their stuff. We
had John (friend of Filip J) and eddy taking
care of central
defense.
And Monah
brought a
left back
player and a
right half.
All in all we
had a well
b a l a n c e d
m u l t i -
c u l t u r a l
team with
one objective.
Staying
alive against
this fit team. We had a few small chances coming
mainly from our left wing through Filip J.
MOE were using their flanks and trying to
whip in dangerous crosses. One attack from
their left wing found its way to their striker
who could hit home from only a few yards
out. First half ended in a 1-0 deficit.
Half time was spent gathering our breath and
licking our wounds. In the second half we
faced more attacks coming at us and we all
needed to stick it out and pull together. Every
man on the pitch worked hard not to go down
more goals, my respect for that. The pitch was
not the best and Eddy was unlucky enough to
step in a hole and needed to be taken off the
pitch with a twisted ankle. Unfortunately he
would be feeling that for a number of weeks.
With Eddy gone we fought hard and with the
final whistle we could leave the pitches with
our heads high. Only a narrow defeat against
a fit team. My thanks go out to all players and especially the MOE guest players.
Nico & Laurens
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