Football Club Schaerbeek

For the game on Sunday, 5 February, FC Schaerbeek welcomes FCI on a fantastic stage.

Before the beginning of the match, Antonio told us that no matter what, we would lose the game against FC Schaerbeek. And who could blame him? FC Schaerbeen is fifth in the league, and in the previous game against them, we lost 7-0. So, starting with that assumption, Antonio decided to risk it. We had to play with a different attitude. Always tight, but this time we had to be more offensive, setting aside our usual defensive attitude.

The first half, the second half and the end of the game (especially the end of the game) were intense and full of emotions.

The first emotion of the match arrives with the penalty conceded to FCI. How did we get that penalty? I actually have no idea. But what matters is that we got it. As in last week’s game, Naomi goes to the penalty spot. Unfortunately, the result is different, and the ball goes out. As the Italian songwriter De Gregori taught us, footballers cannot be judged by these details. Whoever takes the responsibility to kick penalties has a high chance to miss them. We should admire Naomi’s bravery in kicking the penalty and her focus and attitude after the mistake. What we thought was inevitable arrives soon after. FC Schaerbeek scores the goal of 1-0 with a great shot from outside the box. After the goal, FCI keeps doing its own game, making the ball circulate through the middle and on the wings, not letting the opponent push us in our defensive half of the pitch.

Apparently, FCI has kicked the habit of losing focus at the beginning of the second half. The game becomes tougher, and FCI replies to FC Schaerbeek’s intensity. The work on the wings shows to be really effective, but the runs of Bea are not really appreciated by the opponent, that keeps making fouls on her, which costs FC Schaerbeek the first yellow card of the game. And now the unexpected… Eva finds Patricia (Patigol from now on) in the penalty area. Thanks to her strength, Patigol creates the perfect space to kick and score her third goal of the season. Not accepting the result, FC Schaerbeek put pressure on FCI’s defence that does not break up. The only consequences of this pressure are the yellow card received by Sanda and the continuous Marie’s flies. The game ends 1-1.

Antonio was wrong, but his tactics were right. We conquered a point that has the taste of a victory. As it has been said many times, this is the best game of the FCI season. Many are factors for this: first, circulation of the ball, every ball touched, kicked or passed, is not to prevent the opponent from scoring but it is to create scoring opportunities, to allow the team to go up, even in the last minutes of the match; second, focus, the team remained focused for 90 minutes never having drops in concentration levels, sometimes witnessed at the beginning of the season; finally, intensity, never so many fouls have been committed during an FCI game, this means that we were on the ball, that we got it or were trying to get it.

Fouls are part of the game; as long as they are committed to getting the ball and not hurting the opponent, they are “allowed” and accepted. Knowing we are all there to have fun and enjoy a football game, it is not pleasant to witness some scenes that occurred yesterday at the end of the game. On the other hand, we have to appreciate who from the other team came to apologise for the unsportsmanlike conduct. However, nobody came to apologise for the lack of sandwiches.

Sentence of the day: “Bea, are you a nurse?”

On Sunday, 23 October, FC Irlande Ladies III faced on the home pitch Football Club Schaerbeek.

The first half begins in the worst way possible, with FCI conceding the first goal during the game’s first minute. Despite this initial cold shower, FCI remains focused and plays a fantastic game for the following 25 minutes: neat in defence and good circulation of the ball in attack. But at 27′, FCS scores its second goal and its third and fourth goal in the last 10 minutes.

The second half starts as well with an early goal of FCS, but as in the first half, FCI does not lose its head and keeps on fighting and playing despite the harsh results. Just in the final minutes of the FCS scores again at 85′ and 87′. The match ends 7-0, the heaviest defeat for FCI so far.

A tough and, at times, nervous match that showed our willingness never to give up. Even when we were 5-0 down, we ran like hell, giving all we could. Some of our best offensive movements and combinations arrived when already the match was, in theory, compromised. But we know we must use every second of the game to improve, try and play; the final result doesn’t matter.

After the tragic loss of one of our training balls on Wednesday, FCI players had to face another shock before the match receiving the revelation of our secret weapon: Alex as a striker. In that position, she shows her ductility and spirit of sacrifice playing in not her usual position (but considering Alex’s today’s performance, she will play there quite often).

Another round of applause to Chenai, who played her first match as a goalkeeper and got elected as the best player of the game.