Match Review: 1TM Latini FC vs Olympique Gaulois Singapore

• GK Pete O'Brien
• DF Andrew Mollitt
• DF Ben Tomlinson
• DF Thomas Sumantri
• MD Jamie Townsend
• MD Ethan Pizano
• ST Luke Townsend
• -- Mathieu Harding
• -- Lauritz Ritter
• -- Darren Wareing
• -- Lewis Wood

• DF Lee Bradshaw
• MD Jonathan Lukito
• -- Charly Geddes
• -- Colin Meehan
• -- Tomoya Fujikawa
• -- Abdul Zaki
• -- Kevin Maedomari

Viva La 1TM

1TM vs OG is always a tightly fought contest with the pendulum of victory swinging evenly for both teams over recent years. After each side experienced disappointing losses last weekend, 1TM and OG were keen to make amends by taking away 3 points and move up the table. Coming into this fixture, Tactical Tally had an early, but welcomed, headache to contend with as 20 excellent players all wanted to be part of the squad. The difficult decisions he had to make of firstly choosing a match day squad and then a first 11 were met with a fantastic attitude by everyone. Several changes were made from last weekend due to injuries and holidays, but the team looked strong and well balanced with players like Larry and E coming back in. A healthy competition for places is hopefully something we can make the most of this season. The game got underway with OG settling much quicker and carving out some half chances. Eventually 1TM got the ball down and played and were rewarded with scoring the opening goal with our first attack. Some good interplay between Duplo and Lozza saw the latter find space out wide and deliver a deep cross to the back post. LTG was gratefully waiting and rose like a Canadian salmon to head home from close range. 1-0. Momentum had swung to 1TM and 2 minutes later our lead was doubled with a great passage of play. The Benjamin Button of Football, Pep, received the ball deep in his centre back role and played a series of one-twos within the midfield. Rather than think like a centre back and say ‘job done’, he continued his run up the pitch. Duplo found space out wide and squared the ball into the box to Ethan. Showing a nice bit of skill and composure, he turned the ball back to an onrushing a Pep, who drilled it low into the bottom corner of the net for his second of the season. Clearly shaken, OG battled back into the game, but were unable to break through 1TM and so the game went into half time at 2-0. 1TM knew that OG would be starting the second half strongly so focus and commitment were badly needed. Once again, 1TM delivered and found themselves 3-0 up after a great example of defending from Captain Eyebrows, Dazza, which led to a nice through ball that split the OG defence. Lego found himself one on one with the keeper and slotted home. A fourth came 15 minutes later when more good wide work and a decent delivery found Ethan with the ball at his feet inside the box. He danced and weaved around the keeper and calmly chipped the ball over a defender to cap off a great individual performance. With 15 to go, both sides made changes, including a 1TM debut for Kevin aka Bambi. 1TM had several opportunities to extend the lead, but were not clinical enough or unlucky. Charly’s audacious ‘Poborsky-esque’ chip that hit the post and bounced across the goal was our closest. The only disappointment for 1TM was that we couldn’t keep a clean sheet. OG were sharper at a corner and after Remi twisted and turned inside the area, he was able to fire the ball across goal for a simple tap in by his OG teammate. 4-1 full time and a really pleasing victory for 1TM. Many thanks to those that came down to support including JR, E’s dad, Shdog and Burp. A special message of farewell goes to Burp as his time in Singapore comes to an end and he returns to Trump Land. On behalf of the 1TM family, we wish you well and hope you stay in touch. Kit: Dazza Balls: Tommy Bibs: Ethan MOM 1TM: Larry Ritter MOM OG: Jorge Garcia

• Oussama Labib DF
• Enrique Sanchez MD
• Remi Tache --
• Alexis Colmant --
• Hamza El khadir --
• Shahrizad Sallih --
• Bertrand Mametz --
• Marc Sans --
• Mathieu Debrand --
• Remi Blechschmidt --
• Frederic Ribac --

• Francois Bazin MD
• Germain Djomabou --
• Jorge Garcia --

2 weeks in a row

Despite half of the squad away / injured (already) we managed to have a good looking line up to face Latini. But again, same as last week, we paid our low ability to defend properly, making us run after the scoreline and getting exposed to quick counter attacks which was well exploited by Latini. Game started at a very good peace. First 10min were quite intense as the ref called the 2 captains after 6min only to calm everyone down. When we feel confident into the game Latini manage to score 2 goals in the next 5min making the rest of the game look easy for them. First one was a good header from Matt and then a quick & smooth counter attack finished by their central back. We kept playing high and pressure their defense but their midfield was doing intelligent fault high up to stop any chance of playing quick football for us. We reshuffled the squad in the 2nd half and introduced 2 players to bring some fresher legs. It worked quite well as we overall dominated the 2nd half in terms of possession. Most of this half was played in Latini's last 40m but again, we exposed ourselves too early. 2 quick counter attacks from Latini to make it 4-0. Game over. They could have maybe even scored a few more but it seems that some of their players were at this point focusing more on teasing and laughing at us than playing football. That is the right spirit we are looking for in the Cosmoleague...... Credit to the team that despite that never stopped playing some good football, and once again we managed to score a consolation goal from a corner. Remi controlled the ball at the first post turned and low crossed it for Marc for an easy tap in. 4-1. Scoreline looks once again really bad, but to be honest i don't think it reflects the game. Credits to Latini who played to win when we just tried to played football. They manage to exploit our lack of defensive skills and made us run after the scoreline way to early in the game. Well done to the ref who handled the match really well. Back to work for us, we need to learn how to defend if we want to take some points home. League look even stronger than before this year with each game going to be a fight.