RBBFC1 vs IRLANDE 1

Outline: The white vs green derby day featuring as many as 5 games at the Rosieres.

Mixed results with 3 wins for whites and two for greens. Statement wins for the 1st and Vets 1, both aiming for top of the league spots.

Weather: Sun-unny with warm 20 degrees. 1018 hPa.

Spotted (on the bench): Ben Thom.

Line-up: Fede-Nico-Matt-Seb Jr.-Andy-Max-Robin-Seb Sr.-Luka-Boni-Paul.

Strong bench: Waneke, Daneke, Beneke.

Coach: Tarikje.

Match intro: After a great start to the season with 4 wins and last week’s draw, we faced a well-known opponent, boys in green from Nossegem. Like us, pretenders for this year’s championship. Never an easy game as one look to the result of our last game with them will tell, a last minute tap-in to claim the 3-4 win for the Brits.

First half: We opened the game well with clear target set in everyone’s mind, the 3 points to continue chasing Chaudle or even claim the top spot. British tiki-taka commenced early on with plenty of play seeing the space up front searching for the depth and a chance to score. Meanwhile, defensively we were spot on trying to clear and half treats early on higher up. I believe first chance came from a stolen ball and a quick pass to Luka who found Boni with a cross on the 2nd post and Boni narrowly missing it on a header. One or two shots from a distance and a few corners came soon after but all going wide or in the hands of the keeper. Around 15th-20th minute, Robin(?) played a ball over the defence for incoming chu-chu Seb Sr. who masterfully tried lobing the keeper who went flying out of the box aand stopped the ball in air just outside the box for a straight red. Robin and Luka stepped up and after a lot of chatter and rule clarification on (in)direct (thanks!) Luka decided for option B and went the more difficult way over the wall for 1-0. Whites continued pushing in the opponent’s half with one extra player, one such push almost brought a second goal on a nice cross from Andy with attackers nearly there. Soon after the pressure resulted in a goal from Luka for 2-0 on a stolen ball edge of the box, one touch and well aimed shot over the goalie into the far post side netting. Next goal came from a row of corners, I think 2-3 where Rob almost scored a beauty from the edge of the box on a pass from the corner. Worth mentioning he got denied twice, both times shooting very nicely. Third corner was a rebound one with Luka again aiming for far post, goalie sends it into the post and then judo move by one of the opposition hiding the ball with his body 2m from the line. After some kicks balls manages to find the foot of Max for his premiere goal of the 26/27 campaign. Amazing display of performance first half and three goal lead.

Second half: Second half started with a handbrake on I’d say where boys in white relaxed a bit and gave the Irish some chance to try and create but only managed one shot expertly cleared by Fede into a corner. Beside that and some quick one two’s that showed us we need to be in the game to protect the clean sheet, we didn’t have much to worry about and continued creating opportunities. Even more so with some fresh legs that came early on in the view of Dani, Wanis and later on Big Ben. With Irish trying to create and us defending well on these rare occasions some more space opened up, this showed where we flourish, in quick 2-3 pass football where Luka found the feet of Boni who used his unfair pace to go behind the defence and finish coldly into closer corner, 4-0. Final nail in the coffin came a few minutes later when Nigoogleto nicely intercepted the ball and found Luka who does a Robinesque move and decides to go for glory, because it seems today everything is destined to find the back of the net. Lob from around the centre line for his first(?) official RBBFC hattrick. Cold celebration no.3 incoming 😉 like I do this on Fifa daily. Overall: Excellent performance by everyone! Don’t let the fact we had a player extra for most of the match minimises this achievement. They are a team that could probably beat a few teams in the league with this scenario, but not us. We showed we wanted it more from the very start. Energy was great and passion was there, everyone looked to be enjoying playing some football and that is really what this is all about, just being kids again in a way. Onto the next game, keep the same tempo and come with the smile.

UFC play of the day: Heavy ‘tête à tête’ hit for Dani. Big ‘rrrrr’ moment, boiling Sicilian blood. Poor Mongols and their mothers might have been mentioned a few times. Glad to hear you are fine!

Final note: Not even the heavy 0-7 loss of Croatia to England didn’t manage to ruin my mood. Greetings from sunny Chantilly and looking forward seeing you all on Saturday! Big day on and off the pitch!