Euro Union

Firsts went down 2-3 to Euro Union. Started well, had 2 great chances, conceded on the break. Then conceded again, tap in at the near post from a free. Pulled one back through Sigve after great work from Bono, assist from Arjan. HT 1-2. Had a chance to equealise straight after HT from the spot but Bono’s penalty was saved, they got a 3rd from another free kick, we had loads of chances, pulled one back through Sigve again but couldn’t get the equealiser. Lack of subs a factor again. Joint Motm Arjan, back to his best & the ageless Sigve.

Match report FC Irelande v Euro Union (match 5 – 15 October 2022)

This weekend the boys in green faced Euro Union for what promised to be an animated fixture. It is a match with a history since the fuzz last year where one of Euro’s players got fed up with FCI’s Bonaldi and decided (in full covid times) to spit him in the face, with ‘bagarre’ as a result. That’s why gaffer Alvaro called on everyone before the match to stay calm, to not should at the referee and to not get carried away. It helped that we got the message that an Abssa observer (trench coat and newspaper with holes in it to not be spotted) was coming to see how things would go, a warned man is worth two, so Bono was on his best behaviour.

The Euro Union team changed a lot though in comparison with last year, they were clearly not the team they were last year, and the boys in green started on furiously with full control and 70% of ball possession almost during the entire first half. This helped keeping things calm and resulted quickly in some good combinations, centres and chances for Arjan and Rachid. On an Alvaro corner, Kevin ‘Casimiro’ Flynn positioned himself well on the second post and headed in his second goal of the season, which makes him top scorer for now. Minutes later a nice Ireland combination created danger through Arjan, who tried to reach Thomas. In the end the ball fell into Naim’s feet who didn’t hesitate. First-touch-boom: fireworks and two-nill. Euro Union’s players started to get depressed, because up until now they didn’t even reach Ireland’s goalie Ricard. And each Union player that got stuck into the (Bermuda) triangle between James-Kevin-Bono simply vanished. Ireland kept on the pressure and the good combinations but in the second half Euro Union changed tactics and got more people up in front which resulted in more pressure on the Ireland goalie, through some dangerous corners. Ricard pulled out a great save on a shot from very close and Alvaro saved a ball of the line. Clearly Ireland needed the third goal to be save and luckily Rachid understood that message, got through on the right hand side and smacked the ball in under the Union goalie. This released the pressure and allowed the coach to experiment by bringing Daan ‘Big Dan’ in as a striker for Arjan.

Sadly though in the end the referee got loco and gave Rachid a first yellow because of his reaction after an offside, Rachid disagreed upon which the ref pulled out a second completely exaggerated yellow card for FCIs number 10 who thus got sent off. After waiting two months for his Abssa card, our man Rachid was again confronted with Abssa’s surrealism.

It was a good collective win, which was reflected in the man of the match votes, with 8 players receiving votes and a well-deserved win for midfielder Erik who played a brilliant match. Next weeks we’ll face LXG and the Brits, so up to the next moments of truth for the boys in green.

Goals: Kevin, Naim, Rachid

Motm: Erik