Team Evil vs WY Hendricks.
The final of the fossil 11-a-side summer league was contested by team evil and wy hendricks. They had previously met this opponent in the group stage beating them 2-0. They got past the semi’s thanks to penalty shoot out victory over an asoka team that we’re let down by a serious goalkeeping blunder.
Team Evil Line Up (4-4-2): Kyle – Ben, Luis, Faizel, Waylin – Zain, Ox, Paul, Lukas – Rowan, Benni :: Jorge, Mark Herman, Theo
We started the game below par with several players taking their time to find their feet. It was strange to see why Lukas, Paul, Rowan, Benni all failed to perform well in the 1st half. The wind was blowing cross field and our game was riddled with unforced errors. They had no real attacking threat and were always playing on the defensive. It seemed like Lukas and Paul had down arrow match form. This disrupted the flow of our build up play because our ball playing centre mid Paul was unable to give consistent supply of ball to the players around him. The half time whistle approached with the score 0-0 which was slightly frustrating knowing that we wasted our chances when we got to advanced positions and took take shots from long distance.
The second half was no different until WY Hendricks took the lead thanks to a headed goal from a floating cross in to the box. We will never know if it was a combination of poor marking or wind that made it so easy for them to find an unmarked player in our box. The cup final tension was simmering and i decided to sub myself off for ben who is a better player but also so that i can gather my thoughts and make a decisive adjustment to our setup to get us back in to the game. I changed formation to 3-5-2 with Luis, Faizel, Waylin in defence and Ben, Ox, Paul in midfield. The next move was to sub the under performing Benni for Mark Herman a more pacey forward. This paid dividends immediately with the ball finding its way to Zain who chipped through a delightful floating through ball for the on rushing rowan who had beaten the offside trap expertly. He advanced in goals and lobbed the onrushing keeper and the ball bouncing a foot race emerged between Mark Herman and the last defender. Mark Herman in true centre forward fashion was breaking his neck to put away the equalizing goal. Just the tonic the team needed.
The remaining moments of the game were played with little goal scoring chances from either side. Penalty shoot-out it was! Team Evil’s history in the shootout has been poor at best, previously having won only one shoot out out of four. We lost the toss and went first. Up stepped Zain and coolly slotted the ball away. Kyle Saves. Paul hits the bar missing his 3rd penalty in a shoot out. They miss. Lukas makes no mistake. They miss. Ben scores the winning goal!! Team Evil have won the double!!
A thrilling end to an exhilarating season. Having just beaten Bang Bang in the strongest Hellenic league they had become crowned Hellenic champions. The double is complete with the fossil 11-a-side summer league. It was great to see us go from strength to strength and the way we beat ARB in the semi’s was my personal highlight. The team spirit, commitment, work rate and attitude amongst the players was of the highest standard. It’s a pleasure working with such a special group.
Team Evil have entered their first golden age and 2011 is our year. With this in mind I plan on entering as many football competitions as possible. With Kyle we have a world-class goalkeeper who has become one of the stars players in the team in such a short space. Faizel has been outstanding and consistently excellent throughout the tournament. Ox without a doubt scored the goal of the tournament. Zain was immense on the wings. Rowan was prolific in front of goal taking our golden boot.
Up The EVil!!
