Match Review: Hotspurs FC vs FC Nippon

• GK Fahmy Rahman
• DF Oliver Harbord
• DF Aaron Jones
• DF Oliver Roberts
• MD Kieran McLaughlin
• MD Craig Farnham
• MD Marco Oeggerli
• MD Ross Lando
• MD David Phelps
• ST Nick Kouvaritakis
• ST Sam Russell-Vick

• MD Darren Wiggins

Long range goals galore

Hotspurs came into the fixture on a run of poor results in addition to a very depleted squad. Hotspurs started in a composed manner with a strong structure that limited any threat from Nippon. Hotspurs went 1-0 up after a Van Bronkhorst esq strike from LB firing into the top corner from 30 yards. Hotspurs remained rigid throughout the game however Nippon fired back in the second half with a well worked goal. In very un-Hotspurs fashion another screamer from Nick K kissing the underside of the crossbar from 25 yards put us 2-1 up! The team continued to work hard with tireless running from everyone and managed to hold out for an important 3 points. A great team performance. Thanks Nippon and the refs for a great game.

• Kento Joko GK
• Katsumi Oku DF
• Enrique Sanchez MD
• Seiji TACHIBANA MD
• Javier Calvo MD
• Jaume Ferrer MD
• Takuya Hagino ST
• Marcos Mata --
• Seito Yachimoto --
• Shota Adachi --
• Shoya MIYASHITA --

• Osamu Akao DF
• Shunsuke Shiraki DF
• Ryuhei IKEDA MD
• Satoshi Hiraku --
• Yuta Shimada --

Two mirracle shots punished Nippon...

Nippon started a Sat 3pm match with a strong squad taking on Hotspurs. The team started with their usual 4-5-1 and well controlled the game in the first 20 minutes by leveraging shortpasses and their techniques. However, the opening goal was borne by Hotspurs. The left side defender fired an amazing long shot from a 35m+ distance which broke the keeper. 0-1 This didn't change Nippon's football and the Japanese kept controlling the game, but the team struggled to create threats in the vital area as Hotspurs took a defensive formation and tried to lock the goal. The first half ended without critical opportunities. 10 minutes in the second half, Kike created a chance from his dribble and made a breakthrough into the vital area. After receiving a velvet pass from Kike, Hagi directly buried it into the net and got an equalizer. 1-1 The Japanese team continued the dominate the field, but surprisingly, the god of football didn't give us luck this day. Almost 20 minutes in the second half, Hotsours found a little space in front of the defense line and beamed another super long shot outside of the penalty area. The ball was curled into the net and this became a critical score for Hotspurs. 1-2 Hotspurs pull all their efforst to defend the lead and showed supurb defending. In the end, Nippon couldn't make a difference and the game ended. Very unlucky loss, kudos to Hotspurs!