FC Irlande 4ths

And so we had arrived at the last match day of the season. The summer had returned to Belgium and the weather was warm and sunny. FCI4 were determined to finish the season as they had started it, with a strong win. FCI4 made a couple of changes to the starting line-up with Lorenzo and Martin coming as rewards for their constant commitment. And there was greatly appreciated support on the sideline from Manu and Ben.

The early stages were pretty low key with FCI4 settling into the game and New Team quickly resorting to hopeful long balls (as the quickly realised our midfield was too strong to pass through). Around 20mins into the game the New Team defence had the ball and our forwards pressured them well. This resulted in confusion between their goalkeeper and defender and Costi was in the right place to profit and score to put FCI4 1-0 up. FCI4 remained on top for the remainder of the 1^st half but the score did not change.

Following the break, FCI4 came out determined to push on. And very quickly this bore fruit, with Lorenzo working hard down the left and putting in a beautiful cross for Costi to put into the net at the back post, FCI4 2-0 up. Shortly after this fantastic assist, Lorenzo (after putting in a very good shift) was replaced by Benoit.

The boys in green did not stop there though as a few mins later, following a throw in from Harry and a mistake from a defender, the ball fell to nick who managed to slot the ball home at the near post despite the best efforts of the opposition keeper.

Following further good pressing by FCI4, Costi managed to feed the ball to Benoit. Benoit then managed to fool the goalie with the total lack of power or technique from his left foot shot and the ball trickled into the net to put FCI 4-0 up.

Whilst the FCI4 defence dealt with the majority of the threat from New Teams long balls, unfortunately the clean sheet was not attainable. A late corner for New Team and a free attacker in the box (due to Thomas being in the wrong position at the wrong time) allowed them to score a consolation header.

All in all, a nice win to end what was a solid season in 6^th place. Next season, we aim for the promotion that this season promised at one point.

Score: 4-1

Goals: Costi x 2, Nick, Benoit

Assists: Lorenzo, Harry, Costi

Subs: Benoit for Lorenzo

Cards: N/A

They had an infiltrated asset to ensure they win the game. That asset was not playing for FC Irlande.

After two very disappointing results in the previous matches, the Boys in Green faced Fossis Cs, a team fighting against relegation. Nevertheless, this should have been warning enough, as we already dropped points against teams from the lower region of the table. While even our two Romanians showed up on time, Roman and Lorenzo were a bit late and therefore punished by driving with Benoit.
After driving for hand-stopped two hours to some random village almost in the Ardennes, Ireland found perfect conditions for the game: great sunny weather and a nice synthetic (5G) pitch. One of the worst warm-ups in the history of football was concluded by a speech of our captains, highlighting that we have nothing to lose anymore and therefore taking away the pressure from the team.
Playing in a 4-4-2 formation, Ireland immediately took the control over the game. 13 minutes into the game, a nice combination in midfield reached Thomas on the right wing. His beautiful pass was converted by Juan, bringing Ireland the well-deserved lead. Keeping the intensity high, Juan found Nick 10 minutes later free on the left wing. A, surprisingly, nice finish doubled the lead for FC Ireland. Some minutes later, Captain Thomas, clearly motivated by the presence of his parents, delivered the next world class pass. Unfortunately this time to the opponents. The Fossis striker appeared alone in front of Matteo and shortened the lead to 2-1. In the following minutes, Ireland had difficulties to regain the control over the game. Several chances for Fossis were either saved by Matteo or cleared by the defenders. Psychologically important, just before halftime, Thomas assisted for a third time. Juan kept cool as always and scored his second goal for the 3-1 halftime lead.
Only two minutes into the second half, Mihai (who spend most of the game around the opponents’ box) embraced his inner Messi and scored a beautiful lob after being assisted by Juan. Bringing on all four subs, Ireland allowed the opponent to have more possession while focussing on counters. Nick finished two of these counters by hitting the post twice. Later that day, he would of course let everyone in Brussels know that he almost scored a hat-trick. An overall calm second half reached its’ emotional peak when Matteo insulted the referee as “idiota”, earning a yellow card. With just 10 minutes left to play, Lorenzo got the ball through to Juan who scored for a third time, finally earning another burger. Nevertheless, the game was not over yet. Martin, playing as right-back, literally picked up the ball inside of the box. Luckily Thomas’ parents recorded the incident (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNSRUX5RHkk). The penalty was converted, resulting in a final score of 5-2 for Ireland.
Honouring his effort to leave an impact on the game, Martin was voted Man of the Match.

Result: 5-2
Goals: Juan (x3), Nick, Mihai
Assists: Thomas (x2.5), Juan (x2), Lorenzo
Yellow Cards: Benoit, Giuseppe, Matteo
Red Cards:
MOTM: Maaaaaaaaaaartiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

Lineup:

Subs: Costi for David; Harry for Thomas; Lorenzo for Giuseppe; Martin for Ben

On what was to be an ill-fated afternoon for Ireland, things got off to a surreal start, as the matchday convoy pulled into the Biergeois venue to find a brown mud-bath, with the opposition players warming up by raking away the standing water in the middle of the penalty box. After speculation from the captains as to whether the match would even go ahead, we eventually traipsed off get prepared for the dirty match that awaited.

First Half

The first half did not start particularly well for Ireland, with the makeshift back-line coming under pressure early on. Two great chances fell to the Biergeois right-winger. The winger contrived to miss from 5 metres out, one-on-one with Matteo after slipping through the defence. Then a few minutes later, a delivery from the Biergeois left side found its way perfectly on to the same winger’s head, but he managed to duck under it and the ball ran harmlessly out. The luck of the Irish was seemingly in.

The Irish were not so lucky on about 20 minutes, however, when a throw-in from the left caught the defence napping. A very unconvincing toe-ended clearance by David left the ball trickling across the box, and some very slow reaction times allowed a Biergeois striker to come in and strike a first-time shot on the swivel. An absolute pearler, it hit the post on its way into Matteo’s top left corner. Nothing to be done. 1-0

Ireland eventually grew into the first half and began to pose a threat, with Juan and Nick combining nicely before coming unstuck in the sticky penalty box, as the ball just would not roll for the greens. Then, with the half drawing to a close, Juan received the ball mid-way inside the Biergeois half, and spotted Nick in oceans of space on the right side. He slid a delightful ball between centre-back and full-back for Nick to run onto, and with the goalkeeper having suicidally run off his line in an attempt to reach a ball he was never going to get to, Nick took full advantage, to curl the ball inside the far post with his left foot. HT: 1-1

Second Half

Buoyed by their late reply, Ireland started well in the second half, but were unfortunate to come undone after a defensive error saw David fail to clear the ball, and the aforementioned Biergeois winger stole in on goal. Matteo charged out and made the save first time, but the ball ricocheted kindly for the attacker, who managed to tuck it away before being felled by a desperate lunge from David. 4^th time lucky for the lad. 2-1 Biergeois.

In a rare threat on goal thereafter, Juan received a tasty pass from the midfield to set him in behind the defence. With pressure arriving, he tried his trademark lobbed finish over the on-rushing goalkeeper, but got his bearings wrong before optimistically claiming a penalty.

Reinforcements entered the fray at this time, with Lorenzo stepping in for Nick first, before Arne entered for David. The substitutions were helpless to stop the third goal arriving, however, as a ball in from the flanks was turned home for 3-1.

Biergeois would go close a further two times, hitting the woodwork on one of the occasions, while the Irish threat seeped away. With the game drawing to a close, tempers frayed, and Manu saw red for arguably his best strike of the game – of the opponent’s face, after the bastard dared to speak ill of his mother. Red card, followed up swiftly by a red card for the Biergeois captain, for giving Arne a slap in the face for good measure. With that the contest was ended, and shortly after, the referee’s whistle sounded. 3-1 reverse for Ireland.

Full time score: 1-3

Goals: Nick

Assists: Juan

Yellow Cards: Manu x 2

Red Cards: Manu

Line Up:

Subs: Arne for David, Lorenzo for Nick

Guys, well done! A lot of positive things on this game:

–        Some good football played for 25mins

–        Efficiency upfront

–        Incredible resistance and fight in the last 25 mins

–        Great teamspirit (Subs came in with full motivation; Simone came back in the 2nd half to help us maintain the score after going back home for his forgotten ID)

In this end of season, most of the games will look like that one. And if we are ready to put the same efforts every weekend in our games we will have a good surprise at the end of the season. Nothing will be easy but everything depends on us. Starting for this coming weekend!

Same intensity, same motivation, same efficiency and we will have a nice saturday!

Ps: let’s just remove 2 things from last weekend:

–        Mihai, if you can avoid receiving 10 yellow cards in 30 seconds it would be nice :p

–        Roman, if you can avoid scaring us with your almost own-goal 5 mins before the end, it would be nice as well :p

And now, the report. Thanks Benoît!

Our victory against Les patrons is maybe the first one of a long serie for 2019. And we deserve it because all the team fought for it.

Before the match, there were small details that have made the difference for the victory (or not): Costi didn’t arrive last, David wasn’t drunk, Matteo facing the concurrence of Benoît for the N°1 goalkeeper and Simone who forgot his ID card.

1st half:

No time to be bored! Santi, for his first match in the midfield, needed only 2 min to give a long wonderful pass to Juan who did what he does the best: Scoring. Crosed shot near the opposite post. 0-1. The following 15 min is just pure football from Irlande 4, high pressing, fast attack and 1-2 touch playing. The oldest guy from the opponent team was 26 years old! But during these 20 first minutes, we ran more, we were stronger, we ran faster, we were just better. Man, we looked like the young and fit team!! The second goal came with an assist from Manu to Juan who won his 1vs1 against the goalkeeper. Just putting the ball next to the post. This surprised us all: no chip ball over the keeper! Juanito 2019 is here!!

After the euphoria, place to doubt. Les patrons woke up, gave more physical impact, took more initiative and 10 min later, all their efforts are rewarded and score. 1-2.

Long pass from the midfield to for their striker who was faster than our central defense and keeper to touch the ball 1st and put it inside the goal.

2nd half:

After 10 min of a balanced game, especially with Thomas, Nick and Santi who worked a lot in the midfield, the domination of Les patrons became more and more important. Irlande 4 resisted but conceded a lot of occasion.

But nothing really dangerous at first. Our defense was well positioned, and above all, all the team was fighting. Just fighting. Touching the ball, kicking it far, pushing and disturbing the opponent. Total Irish style! Roman’s knee, arne’s foot, Santi’s back, Costi’s head, Manu’s dives…there was always something to touch the ball and clear the danger!

The opponent had maybe 10 corners or free-kicks! Whatever they did, the ball was always going to Costi’s head. So, no issue J

And when it was not enough, we hopefully have Matteo to do the job: one or two brillant save and also the Italian luck when the ball touched the bar and didn’t enter the goal after a far shot from the opponent. After, the entry of Benoît and Simone who brought their freshness and energy on the pitch helped the team to secure the score.

Even if Roman tried to score a goal to Matteo and Irlande 4 finished the game at 10 players (Mihai get 2 yellow cards in 3 sec), we resisted, resisted, resisted, resisted, resisted and maintained the score to get the victory.

Very difficult win! But we deserved it! And even if we don’t, we don’t care: it’s even better!

Result: 2-1
Goals: Juan (x2)
Assists: Santi, Manu
Yellow Cards: Mihai, Mihai, Mihai, Mihai, Mihai, Mihai
Red Cards: Mihai
MOTM: Juan & Matteo

Lineup

Subs: Simone for Costi, Benoit for Thomas

Tom is working on the report. :p

Result: 1-1
Goals: Costi
Assists: Juan
Yellow Cards: 
Red Cards:
MOTM: Thomas

Lineup:

Subs: Yannick for Costi, Yacine for Thomas

Match day 14. We have officially entered the second half of the season. On arrival at our home ground, it immediately became clear that conditions for the match would be tough, with a gale force wind blowing end-to-end. It was clear that this would be a game of two halves (NB: that’s the maximum number of halves you can get, Thomas). So it transpired.

After taking the decision to play with the wind in the first half Ireland put up a strong first-half showing. Despite a number of regular starters’ absence, and an opponent who looked to get the ball on the ground and play, the boys in green – showcasing a new-look 4-4-2 formation for the occasion – showed strong fight and good spirit from the first whistle. Although the first half was not marked by many clear chances on goal, the best ones fell Ireland’s way.

Around the 20-25 minute mark, Manu, who put in another performance of resilience and class to follow on from his man of the match showing in the last home game, wriggled and squirmed away from multiple defenders around the edge of the box, before being felled and winning a dangerous free-kick. He quickly got up, took hold of the ball and lined himself up for a shot. He struck it cleanly and powerfully and directly into the top corner – their keeper had no chance. A great strike. 1-0 to the Ireland.

Several minutes later, Captain Vann-tastic emerged from a challenge inside his own half with the ball, strode into midfield before releasing Nick, who was enjoying the added freedom granted to him in a more orthodox wing role. Nick opened his stride to get onto the ball, which was a perfectly weighted 30 metre pass. He then slowed the play down by standing the defender up, before playing a cut back to Manu on the edge of the box. Manu in turn squared it quickly to Thomas, who hooked in a sumptuous cross for Costi, who tapped the ball beyond the goalkeeper. Sadly, Costi had moved too soon, and the beautiful Ireland move was denied by the offside flag.

Right on half time, the second goal should have been Ireland’s. The opposition once again tried to play out from the back, as was their style. The left centre-back shaped to pass the ball to the right-back on the half-way. Nick anticipated the pass and pushed up to press the right-back on receipt of the ball. The right-back panicked and attempted a hurried pass up the line, which Nick duly intercepted, and raced through to the edge of the box. Seeing the goalkeeper off his line and pressure arriving to his right, he attempted a lifted finish over the goalkeeper, but he didn’t get enough height on the effort, and the ball ended safely in the ‘keeper’s grasp. Chance spurned.

The second half began ominously for Ireland, as the wind really kicked in. A silly foul out wide on the left offered the opportunity to the opponent to whip a ball into the box. However, the free-kick taker, with the assistance of the wind, had other ideas. What looked like an attempted in-swinger gone wrong looped up ominously close to the far post. Jack, deputising for Matteo who had earlier turned out for the thirds, jumped and reached desperately to try and keep the ball out, but alas, the wind took it perfectly over him and under the bar. 1-1.

Things quickly went from bad to worse for Ireland, as the speed demon on the opponent’s left-wing got in behind Arne after a missed interception. He strode to the by-line before cutting back a low cross to the edge of the 6-yard box, where a queue of opponents had formed to turn it into the net. 1-2 Neptune.

Not to be perturbed by the sudden turnaround in fortunes, Ireland went for the throat from the restart, and immediately the tempo of the game changed. Camped in their half for much of the second half after their second goal, we just couldn’t seem to find the final ball to create a clear chance. Then, Costi, receiving the ball on the edge of the box after some nice interplay involving him, Nick and Thomas, drew the foul. Perfectly placed for the left-footer, Nick stepped up to take what would be a free-kick for the archives. After the referee marched the wall back the correct distance and blew his whistle, Nick let fly a low, driven effort with Roberto Carlos levels of spin. The poor goalkeeper, completely bamboozled by the shape on the ball, flailed desperately, but could not stop the ball whistling past/under his body and into the net. Nick’s first goal for Ireland – ending an unlucky drought, and putting to bed ridiculous rumours that Martin could be quicker off the mark for the season. 2-2.

Ireland were then on top, and looked for all money the favourites for the victory, until another unlucky moment saw the defence come unstuck. The previously mentioned speed demon on the left was released away down the wing, and ghosted past David. Jack charged out of his goal, but the winger anticipated this move and finished with aplomb over Jack’s head from a tight angle. 2-3.

Ireland nearly found a way back in later on as Nick, who would later be named man of the match, collected the ball and darted in-field, before releasing David with a well-weighted pass into the right channel. David skipped past his man beautifully before cutting the ball back to where Nick had followed in, but he couldn’t get any purchase on the first time finish with his weaker right foot.

A final chance to take the point that the performance merited came as Ireland pressed late and won a corner. Nick swept in a delectable in-swinger which more or less landed on Roman’s head screaming ‘head me in, baby’. However, Last week’s man of the match suddenly remembered he was due to meet his girlfriend at Funky Monkey directly after the match, and decided he would rather score on her than on the pitch, so ducked out of the header in order to avoid getting his hair all messed up. Who let him go up for the corner??

Final score: Ireland 2-3 Neptunes. A result that didn’t reflect the level of performance. There is still plenty left in this season, and we are still well placed. We go again next week. C’mon Ireland.

Result: 2-3
Goals: Manu, Nick (finally!)
Assists:
Yellow Cards: Benoit
Red Cards:
MOTM: Nick

Lineup:

Subs: Lorenzo for ?, Simone for ?

Saturday afternoon with a little bit of rain every now and then  it was
our turn to play against the top the league: FC Brain Storming. Who ever
expected that a team with such a rather weird name would also be
unprofessional on the bitch couldn’t be any more wrong. They showed up
in big numbers but so did we.

The striker of Brain Storming kicked the ball for the first time and it
was on: FC Irlande vs Brain Storming, Guinness vs French Fries, Third
against First and one of the  deciding matches aoutb who is going to
have a good chance onto the promotion . In the beginning, the ball was
mostly in the midfield where Brain Storming had slightly more
possession. However, it wasn’t their possession giving them the first
opportunity. It  was a long ball played on the right side to one of
their  fast wingers. He was able to pass by our defense line and
appeared in front of our keeper Matteo. But facing a one on one against
Matteo he lost his nerves and only brought a poor shot onto our goal
which was an easy catch for the keeper. After a couple of half chances
for them it was Manu’s time to shine for the first time in this match.
He picked up the ball in the midfield rushed forward entering the
opponents box. Here a Brain Storm defender made a questionable sliding
tackle, clearly touching the ball with his hand inside the box in the
process. The overall good referee had no other choice but to give a
penalty to our side. Manu wouldn’t be  Manu if he hadn’t taken the ball
to the penalty spot and scored the first goal of  the day.  After this
the game was again dominated by fights in the midfield until the referee
called for the break.

After the break, FC Irlande was the better team on the pitch. Driven by
a tremendous Manu controlling the midfield together with Nick and
Benoit, who one plenty of very important headers, and backed up by a
stable and secure  defense around Roman and Ben we managed to  gain more
and more possession and momentum. It was again Manu who could capitalize
of this momentum in what was for sure one of his if not the best
performance of the season. Again he picked up the ball in the midfield
rushing forward beating three defenders with ease he appeared in front
the Brain Storming keeper. In contrast to the Brain Storming striker in
the first half Manu proved to have nerves of steel. He placed the ball
with a not even so strong but very well placed shot next to the right
post inside the Brain Storming goal. Hence, FC Irlande was two zero up,
but the win wasn’t secured yet as there was still 25 minutes on the
clock. Now FC Brain Storming through everything to the front. After a
Brain Storming corner, there was confusion in the Irlande box and  a
striker managed to fire a shot onto the target. Matteo was able to block
it,  but the ball drooped again inside the box in front of a striker. He
fired a strong shot from very close distance onto target.  However, our
keeper was again on his post saving our two goals lead with another
incredible save. This guy must have had one hell of a  warm up before
the game. Nevertheless, 10 minutes before the end Brain Storming managed
to score after another corner. However, it shouldn’t be enough.  With
the help of the subs Arne and Atiilio FC Irlande managed to secure three
important points in a strong team performance with two outstanding
players, naming Manu and Matteo.

Apart from the important win and the ongoing great spirit in the team, I
think that this game showed how nice we can work as a team. Even if
important players are missing we are able  to step up and fill the ranks
beating the top of the league! Congrats to all!!!

Result: 2-1
Goals: Manu (p), Manu
Assists: 
Yellow Cards: Nick
Red Cards:
MOTM: Manu

Lineup:

Subs: Arne for Gio, Attilio for Costi

Match lost by forfeit.

REPORT

Cold and rainy Saturday at the Nossegem arena, too cold and too rainy for the referee for sure.

After the longest warm up ever, and with the decisive support of Pierre Antoine ready to whistle in the middle of the mud, the boys in green started their assault to the Fossis.

What a great occasion to find the winning attitude that seemed to be faded away after 6 shining stars in a row when the season opened.

In order to regain confidence, mister Yann from Shanghai designed the traditional 4-line in defence with the precious presence of Danny playing à la Santi, a compact midfield and the trio maravilla hispanico hablante as a goal-guarantee.

From a keeper perspective, the first half was the proof of Irlande’ superiority and the festival of the missed opportunities. Incredibly enough, Fossis came out of their confusion by creating serious troubles to our normally very organised defence. The bar, and a bit of luck safeguarded the 0-0 until the half time.

After a psychologically dense exchange near the bench, Jose offered us a one-two that was a mixture of technique and power. First he obtained a penalty after a sprint on the right side, and transformed it brilliantly; then few minutes after he exploded a great left foot shoot and secured the 2-0.

The match was however not over, to our great disappointment.

After a couple of chances neutralised, the Fossis re-entered into the game thanks to a confused action on our left flank, concluded with a ‘goal di rapina’, i.e. a naughty shoot from zero meter distance, in other words a goal like Pippo Inzaghi.

To confirm our not exciting moment, few minutes before the end, we conceded the way to equalise: on a long goal keeper ball, we were caught unprepared, showing a collective lack of focus.

Our final attacks had the only result to increase our frustration. The result however did not change.

Thanks to the even less brilliant results of Braine Storming and Gast, all in all, our ranking remains great, and even improved. But the important match is of course still ahead of us.

Tenemos que ganar, that’s for sure. However football offers always another occasion, and we will seize it together.

Result: 2-2
Goals: Jose x2
Assists: Manu
Yellow Cards:
Red Cards:
MOTM: Jose

Line up:

Subs: John for Costi

Match was forfeited by the opposition .

**spoiler alert** No spurious analogies will be made to World Cup performances here. THIS IS IRELAND. (Note from Yann : which didn’t make it to Russia….while France made it to the end…and won.)

The stage was set. After the perfect start for the boys in green had catapulted us to the top of the division with zero goals conceded, match day 4 took us out to Uccle, for a game against our ‘arch-nemesis’. The weather could hardly have been finer for a game of football, with the 3G Synthetic pitch (NOT astro) doused in an autumnal afternoon sun. Despite perfect playing conditions, pre-match preparations were less than ideal, with a general tardiness and a delay in finding a changing room leaving us with just half an hour to warm up. Pre-match conversation was dominated by the toughness of our adversary, who had crocked two of our personnel in last year’s encounter, and comfortably beaten us home and away. The thinness of the squad due to unavailability of a number of key players, including our first-choice right-back, T. Steiner, and our main man Juan, meant that we lined up with just Martin in reserve. An energy-sapping encounter awaited.

FCI IV kicked off, kicking into the sun for the first half. The pattern of play was quickly set, with FCI IV taking control of the midfield, winning duels in the middle third and taking the press to the opposition high up the park. To their credit, Uccle tried to play the ball around, with a couple of handy-looking ball-players in the middle, but Benoit the destroyer took care to break up the play, while Roman, making his full debut alongside seasoned veteran Santi at centre-back, eased his way into the contest after a couple of weeks on the sidelines with a serious bout of man-flu.

Notably, Uccle were playing a high line, which quickly became a point of vulnerability, as Jose used his pace to get in behind. From early in the match, Ireland threatened, with some neat combination play around the left-side of the box seeing Jose get a beautiful curling shot off. Their aged ‘keeper got across well to tip it around the post for the first corner of the game. Nick swung in an absolute peach of a delivery (note fom Yann: oh sweet mother of God…), which grazed the tips of Costi’s freshly cut barnet – a warning shot across the bows of the Uccle defence of what was about to come. A few minutes later, Ireland made their way down the right side, with David and Yacine combining well to find Jose, who laid it left to the approaching Nick. Sensing his opportunity to open his account he took a touch before unleashing a shot at goal. Unfortunately, he didn’t connect as he would have liked, and it proved to be little trouble for the goalkeeper who got down to it and parried it away from danger.

Nonetheless, the attacks kept coming. 10 minutes in and Ireland could smell blood (not Gerardo’s or Santi’s this time). A weak goal-kick saw Benoit gobble up another aerial duel, the ball falling to Manu about 30 metres from goal. In space, he advanced forward, before striking at goal from about 25 metres. A speculative effort, straight down the ‘keeper’s throat – except it somehow ended up in the back of the net! 1-0 Greens!! The goalkeeper attempted to beat away the effort with two fists, but got it horribly wrong, and only managed to divert it in. What a gift for the Greens. We’ll call that the Loris Karius Special.

Buoyed by the lucky strike, Ireland could sense that this game was ours for the taking. 15 minutes after taking the lead, Ireland were in again down the right-hand side – a high ball over to Costi saw him in a foot-race with their central defender – which finished with their defender bouncing off Costi and hitting the deck on the edge of the box. Costi was in on goal, one-on-one with Karius’ grandpa – and he made no mistake, burying it with a cool finish shot across the goalkeeper. 2-0 to the Ireland. A goal containing all of Costi’s greatest attributes – pace, power and dead-eyed ruthlessness.

With a more comfortable lead established, Ireland invited a little more pressure. This culminated in perhaps Uccle’s most dangerous moment of the first half, from a free kick on the edge of the box. The free kick was poorly struck, rebounding off the wall, but it fell perfectly to an on-running striker on the left-side of the six-yard box, Matteo’s goal at his mercy – only for the referee to call offside. Off the hook!

A nasty collision between Manu and his own teammate Benoit ended with Manu requiring treatment, which handily broke up the play as Uccle were getting on top. Once play resumed, a slick move down the left involving Mihai, Nick and Costi led to a throw-in high up the pitch. Nick showed fantastic presence of mind to take the throw-in quickly, catching the defence off-guard and finding Manu’s feet inside the box. Manu lifted his head up and squared the ball expertly to Costi, who made no mistake from 6 yards out. 3-0 Greens, surely game over now.

Ireland saw out the rest of the half with very little trouble, with the only scare being an attempted clearing tackle by Santi, which turned out to be a nice dummy after he completely missed the ball. Another break away saw Jose in behind the high line and he wriggled and danced past the tortured defenders before getting a shot off – just wide.

Half time whistle – 3-0 at the break.

The second half began with Ireland again on the front foot. A corner from the left was swung over by Nick, with the defence heading it back out. He volleyed a high cross back in, which Benoit did well to keep alive, heading the ball back across goal and into the danger zone. Costi was in the middle to head the ball into the net and claim the match ball – but put it narrowly wide. A small blot on the report card of an otherwise dominating performance from him, which saw him deservedly claim man of the match.

Later in the half, Jose’s dancing feet won Ireland a free kick around the edge of the box, from a ragged Uccle defence, which was starting to buckle under the pressure of his talent, and fouled him more and more consistently as the half went on. Yas swung over the resulting free kick, and Benoit found himself with a free header in the box to grab the goal that would have capped off a dominating aerial display from him. He just got his bearings a little off, however, and the ball floated wide of the post. Hard luck!

Despite pot-shots and high pressing resulting in numerous half-chances for the Greens, we were unable to add to the scoreline in the second half, which devolved into an unsavoury affair after an incident involving Manu and Karius’ grandpa’s slightly younger, stockier brother who was playing centre-back. Said centre-back lost his temper with Manu after numerous comings-together, and raised his two hands to push Manu in the face. Despite this undeniable red-card offence, the referee only produced a yellow, and to cap off the injustice, gave Manu a yellow for good measure. Tough on Manu, whose theatrical fall a few seconds after impact was worthy of the entry fee to the stadium by itself.

The general level of aggression of the opponent increased after this incident, which saw Jose the victim of numerous swipes at his shins, before losing his own patience and seeing yellow for a vengeful tackle. The referee began to blow the whistle with much greater regularity thereafter – notably any time Uccle called a foul.

The match petered out in the final 10 minutes, with two potential good opportunities to spring a counter down the left squandered by Pawley, who was clearly feeling the weight of his goalless streak on his shoulders. A nice individual run from Yas led to a shot just over the bar, but at the final whistle we were more than happy with the 3-0 victory, three points in the bag, and a fourth straight clean sheet. This later led Martin to muse about keeping clean sheets all season long – though it remains unclear if he was referring to FCI IV or his personal prolonged dry spell.

C’MON IRELAND!!

Result: 3-0
Goals: Costi x2, Manu
Assists: Manu x2
Yellow Cards: Manu, Jose
Red Cards:
MOTM: Costi

Line up:

Matteo – Mihai/Roman/Santi/David – Nick/Benoit/Yacine – Manu – Jose/Costi

Subs: None.

Start of the season. New air can be breathed in FCI4. Renewed illusions and high expectations for what is coming. And with that, a record of available players knocking at the door of the Season Debut.

This only showed one thing. Preseason is over, and we are all thrilled to start playing for points.

The contender was a relegated team, always a tough challenge. Music in the dressing room. A couple of new faces eager to do wear the oh-so-beautiful green armor for the first time. Our handsome and adorable Coach for the occasion, Martin, announces we are playing a new formation. 4-3-1-2, with Ibo as AM and in charge of connecting the team with our two superfowards, Juan and Jose. The J&J is born.

The match starts and the first 10 minutes looked really tough and mostly played on our side of the pitch. The opponent was physical and intense, and they were winning most of the aerial duels. They had a couple of corners and  free kicks that could have been dangerous, but finally well defended. But that was all they had… ten minutes. And the magic began. Benoit, Nick and Thomas got hold of the midfield. Ibo came deeper to start connecting the lines and started receiving fouls. The team got some air and started getting comfy with the game. I can say that for a team with new players, new formation and players in new positions, 10 minutes is really a good time for pieces to blend in.

And so it came. Counter attack. Long pass from the middle of the field from Jose to Juan… Juan sprints for 30 meters and wins the race to the slow defender. Controls the ball on the right part of the box. Keeper comes out… Swiiiish… Juan lobs it over the keeper and… goal. ¡Golazo papá!

The goal advantage lead to a couple of similar situations, where their defense was stubborn enough to leave 40meters on their backs, playing in line and against forwards that were faster than them. So the second goal came in the same way, Jose dribbles with space until the end of the pitch, looks backwards, and finds Juan who simply puts it in. 2-0-

It would be unfair to finish the first time without a prime mention to our Man of The Season 2017-2018. Matteo had an incredible double save in the last minute of the first half that could have changed everything. It is also fair to mention that it was the only clear chance in the whole first half for them. Good defending by the whole team.

Half time came by, but the second half started with the same trend. Boys in Green fighting strong and hard all over the pitch, outnumbering the opposition.

Manu, Yacine, Costi and Roman came in, all of them with an outstanding performance. Sometimes it is hard to jump into a match that is played with so much intensity. But all of them continued fighting and even brought new impact to the game. Such was the case that the third goal came from a pass from Manu from the right, and Costi (costi? Yes, in all of our eyes it was Costi) pushes softly the ball into the net. 3-0. Game Over.

Things were going on perfectly… until Manu got injured and had to leave the game in a demonstration of the fighting spirit the whole team was having. Even when winning 3-0 Manu sprinted to fight for a ball and crashed into a jumping opponent who brought him down to the ground. Good fight Manu and hope we can have you back with us as soon as possible!.

We were out of changes, but even with 10 men we were better than them the last 10 minutes. And so Yacine dribbles, stops in the midfield, turns around, spots Mihai, passes the ball. Mihai raises his head and plays a long ball to Juan on the left. And Juan did what Juan does. Chicky Little Bastard. Poor keeper probably had nightmares. Goal. 4-0.

Final Whistle. There were lots of positives things in the game. The concentration, the communication, the team-spirit, the blending of new players, the intensity of the gameplay. It was really important for the team to start the league with a match like this. But it is only one game. A long path is still ahead. Congratulations to everyone for the exhibition of All-Around Team Effort, and let’s focus on the next one now.

Result: 4-0

Goals: Juan x3, Costi

Assists: Jose x2, Manu, Mihai

Yellow card:

Red card:

MOTM : Juan

Lineup : Matteo – Mihai/Arne/Santiago/David – Nick/Benoit/Thomas – José/Juan

Subs: Manu for Ibo, Yacine for Nick, Costi for Jose, Roman for Arne