Zero points in last two games

The two last matches in the league this season both ended without points for SBVS.

The first one against TGA, where we played at the huge field at Singapore Sports School. Not much action in the game at all, the managed to score a goal in the beginning of the second half and got another one with the last kick on the ball while we where pushing forward trying to manage a draw. 0-2  in the end.

The second loss was against Gaelic Lions. It was obviously going to be difficult when they where 14 people warming up 40 minutes before the start of the game while we had a squad of 18 players signed up but barely manged to field a full team for kick off. We where 0-3 down after the first 10 minutes and after that it was only  a question about how big the margin would be - and it ended at 0-6.

Congratulations to Gaelic Lions - you truly deserved the title this year.

SCC Strollers vs SBVSFC

“Enough is Enough, I have had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane! Everybody strap in we are about to open some fucking windows”.

That´s what he said, the hard as rock, Samuel L Jackson in the movie Snake´s on a plane. Well, we had no plane, not really any snakes, but we had a sign warning for snakes and an attitude that would have scared away any snakes even trying to enter the field. Much like Mr Jackson himself.

My first game with South Bouna Vista Saints was against SCC Strollers. I was disaster; I played 2 minutes, and didn´t touch the ball, before injuring my foot. To add to the pain we also lost 5-1. We knew that we where facing a good team when we entered the field this time.

But it seems like every player in the team this day brought some “Samuel L Jacksonite” and played a really god game. SCC had the ball quite a lot but SBVS had a solid defense and never lost patience while watching SCC pass the ball around. Add to that John making a lot of qualified saves, a solid defense, an effective offense and most of all a central midfield just being excellent. Johnny and Tom contributed at both end of the pitch and kept it up for 90 minutes. In a way you can say that they where always THERE where ever THERE was.

Scoring four goals I am officially claiming the Fernando Torres Syndrom cured. Tom scored after being served by Frode and Frode scored twice after solid finishing. And even I scored, even though it was probably out of statistical necessity after missing quite a lot both this game and the last one, after being served a nice pass by Johnny and finishing it of with a header.

Conclusion: it was 90 minutes of fun, effectiveness, spirit and nicely played football. And this game the snake warning sign was not necessary as they would never have dared to enter the field, not with 11 SBVS players more dangerous than Samuel L. Jackson.
Edit: I forgot to write the end result which was 4 goals for us and 2 for the Strollers.

SBVSFC vs MDISFC

At the astro turf at Regent Secondary School the Saints managed to, finally, get a win, and it came against MDIS FC. Although the final score was only 2-1 the win was well deserved, fair and probably not big enough. South Bouna Vista Saints dominated the game against, the smaller but faster, MDIS from the moment the referee started the game until the moment he decided to call it a day and get home to do what ever it is referees do when they are not calling free kicks or wrongly executed throw-in´s. The Saints passed the ball and a large advantage in possession and an abundance of chances.

Once again we manage to NOT score as many goals as we should have and if it would not have been for Tom bringing his “sledgehammer leg” and Knut knowing how to get the ball past the goalie we probably would have been doomed to another disappointment. But luckily they scored and the beer afterwards had the taste of sweet victory, which has two reasons, one, we won, and two, Tiger just always tastes sweet (if a Tiger representative happens to read this don´t hesitate to sponsor us, it will be money well spent).

I must admit though that for the second time this season I missed the actual outcome of the game. Last time I missed that we lost when I thought we had a draw, but this time I thought we had a draw when we actually won. SO MUCH BETTER. It had some effects on my game, when I was asked to play more defensively in the end I kind of refused thinking we needed to score. And after the game I must have been the most disappointed winner in the history of winners. Luckily only for a short while until I got enlightened and transformed from a man just witnessing a draw to a winner. Not unlike the transformation of the team, last weekend experiencing a draw and this weekend breaking a curse by deserving and getting a win.

G-rated, SBVS vs British Club

Reidar with a free kick.

Edit: Roger provided some photos to make this report a lot more enjoyable!

To start of with a bang. BANG, we ended the loosing streak. Unfortunately we ended it with a draw which of course is not what we hoped or wished for. But sometimes you just have to accept what Santa gives you, even though it´s a knitted sweater with reindeers that has slightly short arms and you know will shrink as soon as it gets in contact with water.

The conditions going in to the game was good, we had a lot of players and Singapore presented a hazy weather which covered buildings and the sun in a grey quilt of tiny particles and made the temperature bearable. The physician who I consulted had, as mentioned in the last report, promised that the FTS (Fernando Torres Syndrome) would have passed by now. If that´s true I would say is up for debate, we scored but at the same time we did not score as many goals as we should have. And the player scoring might not been contaminated, but more on his goal later.

Beforehand the game was thought to be a clash of two old rivals going at each other with sticks and stones if needed. The game is a classic and loosing the last game, in a way that makes loosing seem even more horrific than usual, we where hungry for revenge.

So let the fight begin.

But the fight did not really happen. The pace was quite slow, the hard duels was conspicuously absent. It was not that it was a particularly bad game, both teams played ok (my emphasis), but it just did not develop into that clash of titans as expected.

In the midst of this peaceful gathering we got to see a goal worth of mentioning. South Bouna Vista Saints player Magnus got the ball and advanced, passed a couple of British Club players with grace, before putting the ball away beautifully high up in the keepers left corner. So we thought the FTS was no more. But I would argue otherwise. Magnus was probably not contaminated and as the rest of the game showed we still had some problems scoring.

In the end 1-1 was probably the logical result of the ninety minutes spent on the green field in the east. Ninety minutes is actually as long as most movies go on and the Motion Picture Association of America would probably have rated this game G, as in General Audiences, all ages admitted.

SBVSFC-TITANS

Last time against Titans we managed to end a loosing streak on overtime. This time the situation beforehand was much the same as we entered the field seeking to terminate yet another row of losses.

The conditions where great, the temperature was bearable and we had a big squad (which they did not), in short we had the ingredients to cook up a tasty win. Something like a foie gras of football wins, but as it turned out we ended up with something like a rancid meal of a much to chewy piece of meat. Why (?) you might ask, well I have a theory.

As we all know, viruses make their way around the globe and they are difficult to stop. My theory is that a strain of the Fernando Torres Syndrom, otherwise known as FTS, infected the Saints for this game. The disease makes football players unable to score (and on rare occasions induce a rash on the left forearm and a softening of the toenails) and may last for weeks or months, but are known to pass quickly in a tropical climate. My theory, I would say, is waterproof considering we did not score. But besides that we played an ok game, passing the ball and, at least, creating opportunities to score.

The Titans was the essence of an effective team as they managed to take advantage of the chances they had. They also played well considering having one sub and getting one player injured for parts of the game.

Back to the FTS. I´m sure a lot of you are worried and asking your self: is it going to last? Well, I have consulted a physician specialized in FTS and who has done a lot of research on Torres and found that the cold english weather prevents him from getting better rapidly. But for us apparently it should be over as of 6 days after our previous game. The doctor also said, quoting Bob Marley, "Don't worry about a thing 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right". That at least comforts me some and makes me feel confident that the loosing streak will end and that the FTS is a swiftly passing episode.

Last but not least we send our warmest congratulations to Cedric and his wife on the newborn baby!

And as further evidence for the existence of FTS: