Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

Most of our teams have participated in tournaments organized this weekend. It was good to see that the SPl teams did very well. Read all about the legendary feats of Dulwich here and congratulations to the Galacticos who won the o Malley’s Cup, which tournament was perfectly organized by E-Rouge.

We like to finish our season in style. We have rented the Excellent  Adidas Grass Pitch at the Century Park . The pitch has its own entrance at the East side of the Park.

We have two seven a-side fields set up from 11.00-13.00 PM for the teams who didn’t make it to the Cup Final, mini games will be organized by Yamada.
(not necessarily in the form of any competition, but just some mixed friendly games, anyone welcome to join in)

13.00-15.00 PM Galacticos – Lions SPL Cup Final. Exciting game with both teams very eager to win. Guaranteed a lot of goals don’t miss this spectacle !

After the final we all will go to Latina’s (Biyun Road / Jinqiao) where we will have loads of food (all you can eat BBQ at 80 rmb) and ice cold beer, wine and each team will get a free jug of Caiparinia. Young children can eat free so pls bring your family. A great Brasilian band will make sure we get into the right mood to have our Price Ceremony at 18.00 PM. Make sure you don’t miss it and keep in mind that each team can announce his MVP of the season.

Hope to see you all on Sunday 5th of July / Cheers Freek SPL President / On behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

Last Sunday in the sizzling heat of Shanghai we held our last 08/09 league games. There was a fierce battle going on for the second spot and the final standing just confirms how close it was !

E-Rouge – Japan 3-5
Last time the two teams met Japan lost 5-0 so this time it seemed that Japan was motivated not too go through the same “losing face” experience and want to end the season second in the league !

Bulls – Hawks 8-3
By far the largest defeat for the current SPL Champions and there were a lot of reasons for the loss but the Bulls are scoring machine with Nico clinching the top scorers number 1 spot  for a second year in a row with 16 goals and it simply was too much for the Hawks.

Lions – Vlis 5-0 
Lions needed to win this as they knew the Bulls were ahead of them. Hans of Vlis pulled his hamstring while trying to run the 100 meter in 12 seconds it looked bad and wish him speedy recovery as we need “Icons” like Hans in our league.

An amazing season came to an end and the standing speaks for its self number 4 Japan was only 5 points away from the Champions. Everybody will remember a bad day in the office and all the what if and what if’s but too me its sure that next year we will have several teams in a positions to clinch the Championship.

Most important of all we had a “fair-played” season with no incidents and we let everybody enjoy the games, that’s what we stand for and that’s our goal !

But wait a minute……..we are not finished yet ! We have a full program on June 21st  for all the SPL Players, Coaches, Family and Friends. This year it looks like the weather gods are with us and allthough it will be hot it seems we can avoid the rain of last year !

12.00 – 14.00 PM as per Frederik’s email we have two 7 aside fields set up for a mini tournament, 2 groups of three teams

14.00 – 16.00 PM SPL Cup Final Lions vs Galacticos (guaranteed a good game of football and fun to watch)

16.00 – 16.15 PM SPL Penalty Shoot Out (Its all about money/drinking and shooting straight)

16.15 – 20.00 PM SPL end of the season party outside at Latina next to the field, we will have long tables for the teams / We have the best samba band from Brasil playing specially for us, All you can eat BBQ at 80 rmb, beer/wine at 20 rmb. Don’t worry we make sure that each team gets in the mood and we will give you some free cocktails !

18.00 PM SPL Price Ceremony / Captains make sure to nominate one MVP each for your team / We have a CUP for every team and a special price for the Top Scorer !

 

Hope to see you all on Sunday / Cheers !! / Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

All good things come to an end but we are not done yet we have two major weekends to go and we will make sure everybody will enjoy it !

Last Sunday we had a full program three games in the heat of Shanghai :

Dulwich – Vlis 9-0
When you are struggling in the bottom of the table than the end of the season is something you want to come as soon as possible and its not easy to motivate your players to come if the final result is not positive. For Dulwich it was the last game of their mixed season but they wanted to end it on a high so that’s why the score-line was like it ended.

Japan – Galacticos 1-1
Even game Japan failing to finish which is one of their struggles this season as they scored as many as they conceded 28 goals. However they took the lead and tried to hold but Ned Kelly had other ideas he scored in the very last minute the equalizers which might proof to be costly for Japan as it reduces their chances to end second in the SPL.
 
Hawks – Lions 1-1
Heated game in the heat a few debated off-side decisions both ends added to the heat. Lions more hungry to win as the Hawks were already crowned champions but they had to settle for a draw.

This coming Sunday  the final SPL ranking will be clear, however a few teams have settled already no matter what will happen on Sunday, VLis no 8, Glacticos no 7, Dulwich no 6 and E-Rouge no 5 and finally Hawks no 1. Japan (23 points)  Bulls (23 points) and the Lions (24 points) will fight for the second spot.   

10 AM E-Rouge-Japan
The French can play free and easy and Japan needs to attack and hope the Lions or the Bulls will slip !

12 PM Hawks – Bulls
Guaranteed a lot of goals the key here is that both Bulls players Nico (12 goals) and Aydin (9 goald) are going for the SPL top scorer award. Lets see whether they pass the ball to each other…..!!

14 PM Vlis – Lions
The Lions still need to win to be sure of the runner up spot this season !

SUNDAY 21 JUNE SPL PARTY DAY AND THE CUP FINAL !

Captains first of all a big thank you to all of you for making this SPL season a success ! To be a captain in an expat league in an expat environment is a difficult job and without your support there will be no league ! In order to end the season in good spirit we have following program on June 21 st in mind.

12.00-14.00 PM
we will put out two 7- a side fields, each team beside the Lions and Galacticos can field a team (Cheers to the Dulwich College who gave us the field for free !) Pls let me know asap whether you will play with a team and in case of Japan or others of course you want you can come with two teams but we need to know this asap we play games for fun and even can consider to mix up some teams in case one team is short of players.

14.00-16.00 PM
SPL Cup Final Lions vs Galacticos (old rivals) others can chill-out at the field we make sure there is ice-cold beer.

1600-1610 PM
Biggest Penalty Shoot out competition in Shanghai (SPL tradition). Every fan and player of the SPL can join and before you know you are a hit on you tube

16.00 PM Party Time – End of the season Price Ceremony at Latina ’s next to the field in the open air ! Each team can vote a MVP for which we will have a special Cup and Reward.

 

We have all you can eat BBQ buffet with drinks and drinks and drinks. There will be a brasilian band live on stage for us to play so make sure you come and have a beer with the referee’s your opponents and your team-mates, your (girl) friends and family / children more than welcome as we know the SPL was very productive this season in newly born super stars !

 

Please confirm your place in next season SPL asap as next year will be very special as we will organize the second MINI-WORLD CUP TOURNAMENT and I can tell you it will be even BIGGER than 4 years ago !

 

See you all on Sunday / Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

Last last Sunday the people in Green-City were enjoying “live” Brasilian music and dance. The more beer they drank the louder the songs they sang. Of course they had a good reason to celebrate this occasion. After years of ruling the SPL finally a team managed to kick the Lions from the Championship Spot. The Hawks managed by Andrea succeeded to find the right mix of talented players and one way or the other he managed to let Brasilians/Chinese/Italians and Americans players blend together into a killing machine. Funny enough they lost their first game against  Dulwich (credit to them) and that was the only league game they lost during the whole season. The fact that they are the true Champions I best to see from their “goals conceded” only 9 which stands for a solid defense. For Japan the Hawks became the “angst gegner” as they lost two league games (5-1 and 6-1) and the quarter-final SPL Cup (3-1) and the Santa Cup Final (2-1).

We had a full program last Sunday and a lot of GOALLLLLSSSS  :

Bulls – Vlis 6-2 
Bulls are going for the second spot this season currently equal points with the Lions and both Nico and Aydin are eying the topscorer’s award with 12 and 9 goal scored each. These strikers are highly motivated and the Vlis defense couldn’t stop them this time.

Japan – Hawks 6-1
The Japanese players must have been nervous as it was the Championships game. Two own goals in the first half was enough to let the Hawks play their game and in the second half the quickly added more goals. The Last ten minutes they even let some Latina band members play and after the final whistle the manager and his assistant were drenched in water and champagne !

Galacticos – E-Rouge 5-0
If only the Galacticos could have put their act together in the beginning of the season they would have been in the top three. They are playing stronger by the week.

This weekend we had only one postponed game Hawks – Vlis at 10.00 AM.
It being a working day for most meant that Vlis had just enough players to play (8) and Hawks had only 2. Perhaps the remaining players were still partying on their victory.

Congratulations to the Hawks and enjoy the short dragon boat festival holiday !! Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !