FC Irlande Men 1

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.

1sts had a bad day in the office. We had a good start with high pressure and dominating in midfield with good combinations, from one side to the other one, but without clear chances to score. Grez were counter-attacking and they got gold in their first attempt: cross and nice unstoppable half volley. Trying to come back to the good track, we got even more frozen five minutes later when we conceded a goal from a silly defensive mistake. Sigve got a clear chance to short the gap, but the finish went high. 0-2 half time. Clear message to correct: show stronger defensive mentality and push 100%. We gave everything in the second half, we dominated the game and moved the ball forward, but it was difficult to concretize the chances. They accumulated many defenders around their box and short-circuited very well our attacks.
Final score 0-2, bitter result, difficult to take, but with useful lessons for the future. Keep fighting.

1sts had a really good 2-1 win against Coin Du Baili. Started well then they got on top & dominated, we switched to 4-5-1 & nullified their midfield almost immediately & started creating chances. 0-0 at HT. We went ahead almost immediately in the 2nd half, pass from Erik,shot from Rachid from 20 yards out nestled in the bottom corner. We stayed on top & went 2 up with a nice move down the right, Arjan finishing from close range, assist from Shane. Continued to dominate despite being reduced to 10, harsh 2 yellows for Arjan. They scored from a penalty in the last minute, handball, marginal call. Great win to start the year, everyone doing well, special mention to Liam & Shane for stepping in & contributing. Coach is 9 from 9 now, easy lark this.

1sts lost to bottom of the table Portugal 1-2. Didn’t play well, were thankful to Max for 3 great saves. Went 1 up with 20 to go, Alvaro cross, Sigve header. Conceded almost straight after when their forward was allowed run into the box & finish well. Second was a soft goal from a cross. We hit the bar twice but they probably deserved the win. Small margins in division one, lack of strength in depth in the squad a problem.

1sts had a good 2-0 away win against Chenois, started well, went ahead through Rachid after a 1-2 down the right with Gavin & Thomas involved. Cool finish. Went 2 up shortly after , Alvaro free from the right, thumping header from Daan, his 4th of the season from centreback. We should have added another few in the second half, missed a lot of chances, their keeper with some good saves & Thomas hit the post. We were thankful to Max for two for the cameras saves all the same. 3rds co captain Gavin was very very good at 9, big thanks to him for helping out & another big positive was seeing Sylvain back to his best, great to see.

1sts had a 2-2 draw with bottom of the table Gecko, played poorly, went 1 down, equealised through an Erik volley from a Rachid cross, 1-1 HT. Went 2-1 up through Rachid, assist from Juurs arse. Had a perfectly good Kevin goal from a corner disallowed. Last minute a phantom penalty, referee couldn’t say why was meant to have handled it, they apologised afterwards. Very frustrating but if the 1sts had have played well they would have won easily against one of the worst division one teams I can remember seeing. Unbeaten in 8 games but too many draws.

1sts were playing Choule today, started on the front foot, creating chances, went a goal up from a brilliant header from Daan, from an Alvaro delivery. We pushed further to go 2-0 up with a classic goal from Sigve. We let them into the game, but were still comfortable, they get lucky with a long ball, score 2-1, and then another goal in the next minute to make it 2-2. We fought the last 10mins, created great chances but have to settle with a draw today. MOTM Daan

1sts had a 0-0 away to a very good LTC side, a good point. We did very good in defence but were very weak in attack. So, take the point and run. Game of few chances. Ricard had not a lot to do, but at the end they came more often to us, because we couldn’t hold the ball up front and they could have score in any moment. Motm Alex, and Daan good as well. James S fantastic.

1sts were playing ambiance at home. Tricky opponents , we started really well, very good combinations and immediately went a goal up from the classic combination Alvaro cross – sigve header 1-0. Then we conceded 2 own goals from 2 setpieces. But we were confident with our style of play quickly equalised with Thomas from a corner ( Alvaro assist). In the 2nd half, we started dominating them and scored again from a setpiece from Alvaro, beautiful header from Daan. And to seal the win, Vitali came on as a sub and scored in the back post from a cross from (you know who) Alvaro.. fantastic 4-2 win , great team effort but standing out from it was our coach Alvaro who was on 🔥 4-2 FT

1sts had a tough to take last minute defeat against Brussels British, we dominated the 1st half, went 1-0 up through Thomas, nice move on the left, cross from Sigve. Sigve then had a goal disallowed, marginal offside. We should have been more up by HT. They came back into it, we lost Erik & they got on top, scoring from a corner. We almost scored, they broke & scrambled it home. Great performance, deserved a point.

Firsts had a hard fought 1-1 draw through a last gasp equaliser from Daan, his first goal for the club & a vital one. Dominated for first 15,then they got on top & scored 10 before HT. We dominated the whole 2nd half, hit the bar & had 5 other chances. A goal mouth scramble in the last minute, ball lobbed back in by Kevin, Daan with a looping header which took ages to go in. Fully deserved point against a very good team, great spirit shown. Brits next week.

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

1sts had a very hard fought & much deserved 2-0 win in the depths of Wallonia today, started the better team playing some lovely football, went 1 up after a lovely move involving Alex, Isaac, James, lovely cross from Thomas, Arjan finished brilliantly at the front post. Had other chances, 1 up at HT. Second half they came more into it but we still threatened, Ricard with 3 outstanding saves on his debut. Bono got a red card for a last man tackle but the 10 men stood firm & sub Mo scored on the break after great work from Arjan. A great victory, 1 to 13 outstanding.

1sts were playing Jeffke away on a nice sunny afternoon. We started well on the ball, against the wind, still keeping possesion. No clear chances but in the game. We got a very very harsh red card to Isaac. 0-0 HT. With 10 men , we started the 2nd half very well , they had no clear chances and Kevin scored from a corner. 1-0 up. We defended well till the end of the game. 1-0 FT 3 points

1sts lost 0-1 to Coin, very even game with little chances, they scored on the break with 15 to go, we’d a few near things but couldn’t get the equealiser, need to improve in the attacking part of the pitch

1sts draw 0-0 against strong team of Portugal. Promising start for us with two clear chances in first 5 min result of our high presure. They were getting a bit the control of the game but we were very consistent in deffense. Second half we push a bit more and we got more duels. Few chances for both teams, one very clear for them but an amazing save from Max-Casillas avoid it. Arjan got a good header at the end, but the result stayed 0-0. Good point and good intensity.