Match Review: German-Swiss All Stars vs Singapore Football Club

• GK Nicolas Geeraerts
• DF Norik Ghazaryan
• DF Alex Baesel
• MD Nick Hennies
• MD Joshua Welch
• ST Diyar Mailepessov
• -- Adrian Stangl
• -- Nikolai Von Schlippe
• -- Joseph Sanderson
• -- Erik Zenker
• -- Derek Ang

• DF Marius Teich
• MD Gullzar Khan

GSAS signing off with a fierce battle

The setting for this game was clear: SFC had to score as many goals as possible to keep up the pressure on Latini, while GSAS had only pride to play for. Coach Micha “park the bus” opted for a 4-5-1 formation. SFC played their usual passing game and tried to get behind the GSAS defenders with long balls and some excellent crosses. One of these crosses was met by the SFC striker who headed SFC into the lead on 12 minutes. It looked like the floodgates would open early, but GSAS had other ideas. Alex and Nik W marshalled the centre of defence well, and on the flanks Norik and Erik provided excellent cover. GSAS had to make an early change as Joe badly hurt his ankle. Change of personnel, and a bit of a rejigging, but no change in formation or shape. GSAS defended well, and had a couple of half chances, usually involving Joshua and Diyar. Shortly before the break SFC doubled the lead. Into the second half, and GSAS had to dig deep. And that’s what they did. Nicolas in goal made some outstanding saves, GSAS bodies blocked numerous attempts and every player in red simply put in a very good shift. Nick H and Diyar in midfield worked their socks off, Khan and Joshua tried to provide an outlet to let the defenders breathe for a moment. The relentless SFC pressure finally yielded results with the third goal 15 minutes before the end. More heroic defending, but two late goals for a final 5:0 to SFC. The winner was never in doubt, but congrats to the men in red for putting up such a good fight. I hope we can carry over this attitude into the next season. A difficult season for GSAS is coming to an end. We had to cope with lots of injuries, departures, but also a bit of a lack of commitment. The league has become so strong, we need to improve substantially next year if we don’t want to retake the wooden spoon. Last, but not least, a big thank you to the league organizers and the officials for making the Cosmo League the best amateur league in Singapore.

• Santino Shepherd GK
• Daniel Bennett DF
• Tim Walter MD
• Michael Campion MD
• Anthony Garreau MD
• Joe Claridge MD
• Fazrul Nawaz ST
• Charlie Heth --
• Patrick Beckford --
• Josh Jones --
• Akil Pompey --

• Jack Cullinane DF
• Sam Balls MD
• Tom Phillips ST
• Ryosuke Ataku --
• Matt Hulen --

Goal Differential

SFC went into the match knowing that we needed to close the gap on goal differential if we were to have a chance at the title with 1TM in such fine form in the run in. We threw everything we had at the Germans and managed to close the gap by 5 goals. Not as many as we wanted to be comfortable, but the Germans defended valiantly against wave after wave of attack. We started the match off well scoring within the first 10 minutes through Faz of a cross from Daniel Bennett. Faz put the ball in the net a second time not long after but was flagged for offside, which was questionable given he was several steps onside when the ball was played, but that is football. Maybe next season we will institute VAR :). We officially scored our second goal through a great strike by Patrick Beckford low and into the far post from just inside the penalty area around 38 minutes in. That is how the score remained for another 40 minutes until we finally managed to get our 3rd after a melee in the penalty area that Jack Cullinane finally slammed into the back of the net. The 4th and 5th came in the 84th and 85th minutes through Michael Campion and Ryosuke Ataku, the last one controversial as the Germans were adamant it didn't cross the line. The match ended 5-0 which was a fair result of a resiliant German side and a strong SFC side throwing everything we had to cut into the GD lead that 1TM has accumulated. Cheers to the Germans for a well contested match.