ASE. Chastre B

Ladies II came together in Auderghem for the match against A.S.E. De Chastre (a name that prompted Diego to ask how this is actually pronounced) on a chilly Sunday afternoon. After a solid strategic briefing of the coaches, Ladies II took to the field motivated to take on this opponent that is ranked 6th.

That the ref could become a bit of a problem was already hinted at when he ordered us to take off all our jewelery and on top of it all, asked Sephora to trim her long nails (a problem that she quickly solved by wearing gloves). We started with a strong formation: Mariana in the goal, Jenny & Sarah as center backs, Marianne and Lily as outer backs. The midfielders were Rebecca, Adina and Su, and our attackers were Fran, Liesbet & Pauline. FCI started strong and positioned themselves well against De Chastre. FCI was playing mostly on the the opponent’s half, making it difficult for them. We kept on putting pressure on the defence of De Chastre, although it was sometimes difficult to find a good position from which to shoot at the goal. On our half, Chastre only became dangerous twice – our defence was rocksolid – although it must be said that FCI was also lucky that a player of De Chastre missed a big chance in front of our goal.

The game continued in the second half in a similar vein. Pauline won possession in a dangerous position for De Chastre, she dribbled towards the goal and finished it. 1-0 for FCI, and well deserved! There were perhaps 10 minutes left. Unfortunately, a few minutes before the end, the referee marked a completely normal action by our goalkeeper as a foul, followed by a penalty for De Chastre. That made it a draw.

However, the ladies in green played very solid today as a team and almost won from a strong opponent, and should be very proud of themselves and continue in this way.

Friday night. Cold weather. Darkness (one of the lights on the stadium doesn’t work), buuut that’s football and we love playing in every condition at any hour of the day.
The “tac-tac-boom” tactics of the other team were well known and we knew we were facing a tough opponent (2nd in the league). FCI started the game very passively and didn’t show their fighting spirit in the first 30min. which resulted in a quick 3-0 lead for Chastre.
The second half started with another quick goal from Chastre after which FCI started slowly resurrecting, brought up their intensity and started creating opportunities in front of the opponent’s goal. 5 minutes before the end of the game after a good combination in the midfield and forwards, the ball finally reached the back of Chaster’s net.
Not our best game of the season, but it is part of our journey and we take the lessons learned along and look forward to the next challenge.
Special thanks to all the ladies from L1 and L3 who helped make the team complete!