2009/2010
the premier amateur football league in singapore
matchreport - 09-Jan-10 - casuals v. swiss
Team
Swiss
Author
Urs Brutsch
line up
Crawley, Stokkmo (Frick), Hefti, Brutsch (Zul), Braegger (Hakim) Schulthess (Christen), Steinegger, Keiser, Kofinas, Stacher, Burzle (Williams)
The result does not tell the whole story...
Both teams eager to get the second half of the season under way and it looked like both teams would have nearly full squads available. UWC was the venue - I hope the groundsman will come back from his Christmas holiday to cut the grass....in golf speak, the green was very slow and did not allow for a quick passing game. But no excuse, the pitch was the same for both teams.
The Casuals were quicker off the mark and had the better of the opening 15 minutes. After only 5 minutes they opened the scoring when Mooney had the easiest of chances after a neat exchange of passes following a long clearance. But midway through the first half the Swiss started to get into gear and Steinegger, Schulthess and Burzle came close. It was after some superb work from Norman Burzle who spotted Heinz Steinegger just outside the box - a quick side step and a firm grounder into the net: 1:1 and game on! For the rest of the first half the game was very evenly balanced but it was the Casuals who went into the break in the lead: the man in black awarded a penalty to the Casuals, which Mooney converted coolly. I am not suggesting the player dived, he must have slipped in the long bush grass - for sure, it could not have been the Swiss defender's hand which gently touched his shoulder....One of the softest penalties you will see all season. Even more annoying for the Swiss as they had a strong penalty appeal themselves when a Casuals defender clearly blocked the ball with his hand in the box. 2:1 Casuals at the break.
The second half continued to be a game at the highest level of Cosmo league football. Two very good teams with lots of passion made this an exciting encounter to watch. The Swiss throughout the second half looked the more likely team to score. Heinz Steinegger and Norman Burzle came close, Christian Schulthess shot just wide and when he hit the target, the ball bounced off the inside post, rolled along the goal line (probably the long grass influenced the path of the ball and kept it from going over the line :-)) before a Casuals player could clear the ball. The neutral observer knew at that point that this was probably not going to be the day of the Swiss. Then came the third key decision which went against the Swiss: a Casual defender blatantly elbowed a Swiss player right in front of the linesman. The linesman duly raised the flag and informed the referee of what he saw, only for the referee, who was far away, to only award a free kick to the Swiss. If he awards a free kick, ie a foul was committed, than the player (who was on a yellow card already) should be sent off. Simple rules. With 10 minutes to go the Swiss pushed more players forward in search for an equalizer, but the Casulas clinically punished this with two well taken goals on the counter attack. 4:1 - a brutal score line in a game between two strong teams.
To compound the misery for the Swiss, number 16 was whown a red card for some words uttered in frustration after the game.
For the Swiss, it is important to take the right lessons away from this game:
1) take the chances
2) build on the strong performance of the team - this was probably one of the better games this season
3) stop blaming the referee if we can't control our mouths - the referee will always win against a player in a discussion on the field
The Casuals were quicker off the mark and had the better of the opening 15 minutes. After only 5 minutes they opened the scoring when Mooney had the easiest of chances after a neat exchange of passes following a long clearance. But midway through the first half the Swiss started to get into gear and Steinegger, Schulthess and Burzle came close. It was after some superb work from Norman Burzle who spotted Heinz Steinegger just outside the box - a quick side step and a firm grounder into the net: 1:1 and game on! For the rest of the first half the game was very evenly balanced but it was the Casuals who went into the break in the lead: the man in black awarded a penalty to the Casuals, which Mooney converted coolly. I am not suggesting the player dived, he must have slipped in the long bush grass - for sure, it could not have been the Swiss defender's hand which gently touched his shoulder....One of the softest penalties you will see all season. Even more annoying for the Swiss as they had a strong penalty appeal themselves when a Casuals defender clearly blocked the ball with his hand in the box. 2:1 Casuals at the break.
The second half continued to be a game at the highest level of Cosmo league football. Two very good teams with lots of passion made this an exciting encounter to watch. The Swiss throughout the second half looked the more likely team to score. Heinz Steinegger and Norman Burzle came close, Christian Schulthess shot just wide and when he hit the target, the ball bounced off the inside post, rolled along the goal line (probably the long grass influenced the path of the ball and kept it from going over the line :-)) before a Casuals player could clear the ball. The neutral observer knew at that point that this was probably not going to be the day of the Swiss. Then came the third key decision which went against the Swiss: a Casual defender blatantly elbowed a Swiss player right in front of the linesman. The linesman duly raised the flag and informed the referee of what he saw, only for the referee, who was far away, to only award a free kick to the Swiss. If he awards a free kick, ie a foul was committed, than the player (who was on a yellow card already) should be sent off. Simple rules. With 10 minutes to go the Swiss pushed more players forward in search for an equalizer, but the Casulas clinically punished this with two well taken goals on the counter attack. 4:1 - a brutal score line in a game between two strong teams.
To compound the misery for the Swiss, number 16 was whown a red card for some words uttered in frustration after the game.
For the Swiss, it is important to take the right lessons away from this game:
1) take the chances
2) build on the strong performance of the team - this was probably one of the better games this season
3) stop blaming the referee if we can't control our mouths - the referee will always win against a player in a discussion on the field
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