Match Review: Gaelic Lions FC vs German-Swiss All Stars

• DF Liam McGinley
• DF Wilfried Lapierre
• MD Petesy O'Brien
• MD Rich Sexton
• -- Anders Jensen
• -- Seb Santoro
• -- Brett Bowman
• -- Brian O'Reilly
• -- Darren Murray
• -- Ryan McEneaney
• -- Simon Lloyd

• -- Neil Corrigan
• -- Matt Heslop
• -- Conor King
• -- Rob Church

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Greetings from the North Pole everybody and a Merry Christmas to you all! The evenings are drawing in, the fires are lit, the egg-nog is nearly ready and somewhere nearby Michael Buble is emerging from his crypt, his year long hibernation is over and he is once again clearing his throat in expectation of terrorizing the planet for another month or so before disappearing once again into the abyss...... except maybe delaying his departure until he learns how to eat corn on the cob correctly (Google it.....). The team sled arrived at 2pm on Saturday to freezing temperatures in the North Pole with a very healthy Lions squad ready to play a game of association football against our old friends the German All-Stars, who were mysteriously nowhere to be seen until one minute before kick-off when The Winds of Change by top Euro-Rock favorites the Scorpions came blasting out of the tannoy to signal their arrival. The Lions lined-up in a rather unusual 4-3-3 formation with a starting 11 of Santa in nets, a back four of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, a midfield three of Comet, Cupid and a welcome return after a long injury lay-off to Donner, with a front three of Blitzen on the left, Mrs. Claus on the right and Rudolph through the middle. The Germans were in their usual strip of a black leather trousers and waist-coast combo and of course their huge walrus moustaches drooping menacingly off their faces like angry slugs. Elf Rob got us underway and the Lions good start was quickly undermined when Prancer rolled his ankle badly and his participation in the game was cut cruelly short, Churchie (ran out of reindeers, sorry, this happened the last time as well) made a welcome return to the fold and slotted in at centre-half and away we went again. After a quick sausage break we were back in action! First goal was a well-worked effort, a lovely diagonal ball across the box by Dancer was prodded back across the face of the goal by Rudolph and Comet and Cupid fought it out to get the final touch but it was Cupid in the end who got the final touch at the far post to steer it home! Hooray! Blitzen was making a lot of good runs in behind the right back and it was only a matter of time before he showed the defence a clean pair of hooves once too many and slotted in a lovely goal to the 'keepers bottom left to make it two. Hurrah! We were having similar fortune on the right with Mrs. Claus unable to get her starting point right when picking up the ball but eventually when she did she went on a lovely mazy run before slotting another neat finish into the bottom corner and I celebrated with my sixth egg-nog of the day! Yippee! The All-Stars retreated in at HT a bit deflated but after a feast of schnitzel, Rouladen, bratwurst (of course) and some Kasespatzle, they came out and, as they have a habit of doing against the Lions, made a right good game of in the second half scoring the only goal of the second 45 and the game petered away with a 3-1 victory and a good finish to a decent first half of the season for the good guys. Man of the match for the all-stars was Bastian who played with good composure all day and for the Lions it was Cupid in the middle of the park. Well done son. Now all that is left for me to do is to wish you all a Fröhliche Weihnachten from all at Lions Towers. Until the new year you little scamps. I love you all x

• Takahiro Kawabata DF
• Marius Teich DF
• Fumiaki OGURO --
• Victor Walz --
• Bastian Wolff --
• Michael Klemm --
• Nicolas Gremminger --
• Florian Gädke --
• Jan Wiechmann --
• Oscar Moreno --
• Phillip Von Pein --

• Bastian Baumann MD
• Mauricio Roa --

Good second half not enough for win

Gaelic Lions started as the clear favorite if you take the table as the benchmark. GAS, however, took confidence from 2 victories in a row though the unavailability of a lot of first team players diminished hopes of getting a surprise. Gaelic started with a lot of effort and better passing through a good organized team, and created a number of chances early on. The Germans started slow and did not fully take up the fight for superiority on the same competitive level, which resulted in Gaelic taking control for much of the first 45min. Some slack defensive work from GAS but also nicely executed and fast counter attacks, Gaelic scored 3 goals to have a good 3:0 cushion at half time. GAS had a change of mind and heart at half time and came on after the break in much better spirit and with more passion. GAS took better control in midfield and better build up, which led to a number of good chances through Michael, Basti and Mauricio. After a corner and several header attempts to score, Mauricio finally managed to get the ball over the line to make it 1:3. Though GAS continued to push for more chances, it did not manage to score more and eventually left the pitch empty handed as the score line remained 1:3.