FC Irlande Men 2

Another match day in Nossegem for the 2nds, under a light drizzle, facing the 3rd in the league, only 3 points behind. Perfect conditions for a big battle and the 6 pointer game. The first half was balanced with very few chances on both sides, and basically one shot on target for each team. In the second half, against a tired opponent, the 2nds clearly took the advantage, putting pressure and completely dominating the midfield, creating more chances. Some smart substitutions by coach John and assistant Josh brought Lolo and Jamie in. On a corner the former putting a lovely ball in the box for Jamie with a low header, giving the lead to the men in green. Domination remained the same, with more chances, for João on a long shot over the keeper (and slightly over the goal) and a cross bar header by Benji on another corner. Despite some pressure in the last minutes, that was enough for the 2nds to clinch their 6th victory in the row.
MOTM: Jamie

Today the boys received ITT-Gecko in Nossegem on a windy and rainy morning. The begging of the game was very divided between both teams, until the 25th minute where Ireland started to take control of the game. With beautiful passes and creating chances, Irlande got a penalty, making it 1-0 as João converted from the penalty spot! 1-0 at halftime
Second half comes and Irlande was too low in the pitch, Gecko was taking charge and got a penalty, but, after losing control of his emotions, the gecko player who suffered the penalty, got sent off after tackling Matteo as if he was in the octagon. After the mess cleared up, it was 1-1. Game continued, Ireland a man up, suffered a goal at the 68th minute from a long free kick. Two minutes to go.
Ireland is now pushing and in the middle of the confusion in Gecko’s box, Matteo with a beautiful finish, ties the game, 2-2, 70th minute. Ireland rushed the ball into the centre of the pitch, the boys wanted a win!! Last minute of the game, free kick, Brioche is taking the ball…a beautiful cross comes on to find Villu, that with a beautiful header, gives the lead to FC Ireland!! 3-2 and it’s the final whistle!!! Ireland gets the 3 points, 5 wins in a row!! Keep it up boys!!! 💚🤍🧡

MOTM : Matteo ! 🎻

Today, the boys went to Drogenbos to play on a beautiful grass pitch. The game had two completely different halves, a first half dominated by FC Ireland, getting two goals, João with the first after a beautiful cross from Nate and Gaby with the second after a rebound from Benji’s shot, going to half time 2-0 up!! The second half, playing against the wind, made the game a bit harder, a lot of fighting and not a lot of football, but the spirit of this team is incredible! They were able to hold the clean sheet until the end of the game! Coming back home with 3 points in the bag! Let’s keep it going!! 💚🤍🧡

MOTM : Ahmet the « duvar » (wall in Turkish)

The beasts went to Auderghem to get 3 points in an unnecessary suffering of the game. The lads started on the wrong foot and conceded two goals. After that they shaped up, got on steam going and scored 5 goals, Joao 3, Gonçalo 1 and Villu 1. After that we gave our fans some anxiety and conceded 2 more. Kept ourselves tight and final result 4-5. Great win and spirit, let’s keep it up!

Seconds played against old friends Union JP who play out in Anderlecht. After a good warm up and an overall sense that this was our day we started very poorly and could not string two passes together. That being said we still managed to hit the post and create the better chances but to no avail. Half time came and went with little improvement. It got even worse as Union JP took the lard by scoring a lovely goal. We were lucky not to concede more. We really were not in this one. Fortunately a tactical change and super subs flipped the game. Within minutes the seconds had levelled. From this point there was only one team on the pitch. 1-4 goals from Joao 2, Luis and Gaby sealed the deal. 💚

Neighboring the 14th edition of the local ’Patattencross’, FCI played the unknown nevertheless fourth place ‘Ster’s’ on a sunny October day. Desperately needing a win The Gars showed up in numbers; young, old, healthy, just recovering and + 1’s.

Playing the first half against the wind proved difficult but not impossible. After some time a howling Benji, for once not offside, received the long ball from Neil which he ran past the keeper and split the recovering defenders to slot into the back of the net (FCI 1-0). For the remainder of the half FCI struggled to move the ball out of their half but kept the lead.

*HT* (FCI 1-0)

In their own unique way of playing FCI gave the ball away around their own box and propelled Ster’s to tie the game (1-1). Unperturbed, FCI went straight into the attack. João receiving the ball at the near post, stopping and pushing it past the incoming keeper (FCI 2-1). Next was an FCI corner kick which Benji initially dinged against the back post which then met the front post and where Mateo wacked it in (FCI 3-1). Choosing to share the ongoing goal-fest with Ster’s, FCI gave away a penalty from a corner (FCI 3-2). After some shaky minutes and valuable substitutions FCI regained their form and repeatedly found João in the box who didn’t waste a chance (FCI 4-2), (FCI 5-2) and (FCI 6-2). Thank god we found his ABSSA card!

*FT* (FCI 6-2)

The boys played away against Entente today. After a very open and chaotic first twenty minutes the boys took the lead after some good pressing from Lolo forcing the keeper to gift the ball to Luis in the box who promptly finished with aplomb..the greens missed a flurry of chances after this and were denied a clear goal where the ref claimed the ball sneeked in through a hole in the net(utter nonsense). Then 2 minutes before half time a horror show of a control from Neil gifted the opposition a chance to score which they gratefully accepted. 1-1 HT
The boys in green started the second half strongly and got a goal through Lolo after some fine “shooting” from Gineste gifting Lolo a goal from a rebound of the crossbar..a very open game ensued with Irelande missing a host of chances and getting a goal wrongly disallowed for an offside before the opposition drew level from a Matteo OG..soon after Lolo converted a wonder goal from a tight angle on the right and unfortunately from the kickoff they let in another within a minute..with both teams pushing for the win a defensive mix up from an offensive corner lead to the boys going behind for the first time in the game..we pushed hard for the equaliser with some fantastic play but couldn’t put the ball in the net..
Loss 3-4 but some positives to work on..bigger and better next week 💚

FC Irelande II- Tourinnois FC2: 0-1

Conditions were excellent on that sunny Saturday morning on the artificial grass pitch of Nosseghem: Not too sunny, not too warm, not too cold- the 4th season game looked promising with 13 players available. The 2nds had a decent start into the game, solved in the defense some pressuring and tried to find the wings whilst unfortunately leaving too much space in the midfield. Gaby had two great opportunities to score, assisted by Benji. Lolo’s corners also turned out to be dangerous but the 2dns failed to score in the first half. This was to bite the 2nds back as energy levels appeared low in the second half. The last 30 minutes lacked equally urgency and the pressuring you need to score. And as so often in football, if you don’t score, you end up conceding. Tourrinois,playing with a very slow possession football scored their 3rd opportunity and lead the game for 10 minutes with .
The 2nds seemed energy wise unable to come back despite some final minutes chances via Lolo and Gabi. Final result 0-1.

The boys in green went to get a very sweaty win of 1-0 in a game of heart and passion where a header of the big Man Ramos sealed the game. VAMOS CARALHO!

2nds played against a solid Azur Cs 1 at home in this sweltering Saturday afternoon. Play started in favor in the bus in green, but most actions and ball movement were fairly slow due to the heat. During the run of play Ryan made a scorching run through the center giving a lovely through-ball to Amadou who slotted it home for the first goal of the match, 1-0 good guys. Play continued, still in favor of the FCI but not much more happened until half time. At halftime, Mathias Gineste came for Andreas Papadopapolopolous. Once the 2nd half started, and Azur showed their quality, putting a goal gone within 5 minutes, 1-1. The heat took its toll, and FCI lacked quality leading to a 2nd Azur goal. We tried to make a late-game push, but to no avail. Final score 2-1 Azur. MOTM the imperious Ryan Self

A strong and clean start of the season for the seconds. It was 11v11 in Auderghem (no subs on either side), in what looked like a real challenge against a team coming down from 1st division.

It actually turned out to be much easier, with Higgins showing not much quality and low intensity. Ireland was head and shoulders above for the first 25 minutes, and got rewarded with 2 goals : opener from Ama (who came back from pre-retirement to help his old mates out – big up) and a clean finish from Gabby making the most of a “pass” from George he was the only one to believe in. Also, he’s so fit, which helps.
Last 10 mins of the first half were more difficult as taking a breath started to become an issue, but the boys in green held strong.

Second half wasn’t much more of a struggle, as Gabrielle killed the game with a beautiful volley off Benji’s cross (3-0) by minute 50, and Lolo nailed a penalty onto the right post in (4-0). The men in green could have conceded one as an audacious centre back tried his luck upfront several times (without being served), while those staying got into few mistakes, but caught up well.
End of the game was very low intensity as most players turned out to be out of shape on both sides, but that’s worth 3 points anyway!

Ireland 4, Mary Poppins 0. We take and we move on 💚