FC Irlande Men 1

The 1sts claimed a well deserved but hard fought 4-0 victory over Coin du Balai on Saturday, following a brace each from Arjan and Rachid.

Despite the heat the boys in green dominated from the off mustering energy and intent that soon had Coin du Balai heaving. The early efforts bore fruit in the 12th minute when Thomas slotted a well timed through ball behind the defence for Rachid who calmly put it away in the far corner. Not long after the boys doubled their lead when Thomas headed a lovely floated ball from James into Rachid who volleyed in from close range.

Mid-way through the first half a number of Coin du Balai’s players remarked that Irlande couldn’t keep the pace up and they were right. Tancredi had to make a brilliant save, the defence had to make some key tackles and more than one Irlande player was relieved to hear the half time whistle.

The second half started just as intense as the first with Irlande again under pressure. Alvaro judged that James was a slightly more worrying shade of red than Billy and so brought on Cillian for his daily dose of vitamin D. James, Andreas and Arjan also came on and it proved the difference for Arjan soon opened his account following some fancy footwork from Rachid in the box. Coin du Balai seemed to run out of steam from that point and in the final minutes Luke was able to cross through for Arjan to complete his brace and round off the teams performance.

A great display from the 1sts with all 15 players contributing. Alvaro and the boys remain undefeated and continue the great start to the campaign. Rachid the well deserved man of the match.

Match day 2 – Another day, another win for the boys in green!
With much anticipation surrounding the fixture against a familiar rival in Portugal FC, we were far too strong for our opponents on the day with an emphatic 5-0 win to continue the fine start to our league campaign.

Mo got the ball rolling early in the game with a clever turn inside off the right hand side before finding the far corner with a brilliantly curled effort off his left foot – his first of the season.

The remainder of the first half saw us largely control the tempo and flow of the game with particularly commanding performances from Daan and Lennart at the centre of defence, stifling Portugal’s strikers at every occasion. Similarly, excellent displays from James and Nair in midfield allowed us to keep the ball ticking over – despite the heavy rain which at this point had begun to set in.

In we went 1-0 up at half time with plenty of encouragement to kill the game off early in the second half – which is exactly what happened.

A quickly timed ball over the top, by yours truly, released the evergreen Sigve (MOTM), who skipped away his marker, before squaring across the face of goal for Lennart to apply the simple finish.

The coveted third goal soon followed, when a blockbuster from the big Norwegian finished off any prospect of the match being a contest, with the one-sided affair now reflected in the score-line.

Despite this, Portugal tried to push on, making our ever-impressive keeper Max work with a couple of strikes from distance.

Well-taken goals by Tommy P and Siggey, the latter’s third of the season, completed the rout and ensured the three points stayed in Nossegem.

A highly disciplined, combative display all over the pitch, we can take great confidence from this performance. 2 wins for 2 – roll on Coin du Balai!

Motm Sigve

Opening day of the season, a great opportunity to see what Alvaro and his men have been working on. Sean’s summer mix 21 had the boys so riled up they decided to skip the warm up as it was deemed unnecessary.

 Straight from the kick off we looked dangerous, solid and terribly unfit. Choule crumbled early on and brought down Mo in the box after his blistering speed was too much for them to handle. Naturally only one man could step up for this occasion, Bonaldinho. If you need a replay of the goal, Bonaldi has already uploaded it onto his Instagram page for the ladies to see. Choule quickly equalised from the spot after an unfair decision went against Billy but the boys were quick to respond. A desperate long ball from Boanldi luckily landed on the club Legend Sigve. Quick thinking from the Norwegian as he volleyed the ball first time over the keeper for a beautiful lob. 2-1 at Half Time.

Early in the second half, Sigve was very unfortunate not to double his tally. A beautiful chip from the right side landed on the back post. The keeper was left helpless and did not move. The last 10 minutes of the game were stressful to watch. Choule had the upper hand and looked likely the equalise. They had many dangerous free kicks and corners but they were unable to breakthrough our new keeper Max. Excellent performance from the new joiner, he made many vital saves to help the team secure their first three points.

 Naturally, we must discuss the man of the match. A well deserved reward for our center back Bonaldi. He had one goal and one assist but he won all his challenges and made us feel safe at the back. Hopefully this does not inflate his head any bigger as his arrogance and narcissism is bad enough as it is. Personally, I think the whole backline deserved to be man of the match as they were superb this weekend.

 First game of the season and first win for the team. What more could you ask for? Many positives to take from this performance but unfortunately for Alvaro some things will never change. Our tiki taka football does not look Spanish, Bonaldi still can’t tell the time and Paul still enjoys his hissy fits on the sideline. We look forward to this new season.