Tom Booned got himself annihilated by a super strong Cancellara. The Swiss rocket arrived 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack at the Velodrome in Roubaix. A third place for Spanish rider Flecha was little consolation.

And our Flamenko boys did not fare much better.

We knew we were playing with fire when we beat the Lions - perhaps out of the title race - a few weeks back. Perhaps we should have saved this feat for the cup semi-final.

For now the ferocious beasts came out in full force... And we looked like a weakened pack of Zebra's, missing Angel, Alex, Jose, Gerd, to name just a few.

But let's be honest about this, when you step on a Lion's tail, you will get bitten. We just didn't expect to be torn apart.

Flamenkos started out well enough, though.
The game went up and down for a good 20 minutes.
But then the lions set up an attack on the left, our defense lost focus and their forward was left wide open just outside the area. He even had the time to control the pass and hit the ball out of reach of our goalie.

5 minutes after it was a similar situation, this time a rush on the right side of the field, a cross to the penalty area and the same alpha-lion was too strong for Hans. He came in front, touched the ball and 2-0.

Before long the count was 3-0, when Alex was unlucky on a try from the Lions that bounced of his hands and went into the goal. Nope, Sunday was definitely not the happiest day of our Goal keeper's life.

Then we got one back. On a rare corner, the ball landed in a scramble and our agile Brian managed to squeeze himself between all players and divert the ball into the goal.

Not much after though, it was 4-1. Same story after the break, 5-1, 6-1, 8-1. Yep, much like Boonen, we were completely destroyed. But the numbers do belie the reality a bit. While cancellara on his bike looks like a well oiled machine, we did manage to not let the Lions come into their usual game play of fast passing and midfield play. Instead most of the goals were made from kick-and-rush kind of play and individual actions.

And 10 minutes before time, the tide seemed to change. We scored our well-deserved second goal. The Lions seemed a bit unnerved and their organization unraveled. In a nervous finish we had a handful of good chances, but we were not cool minded enough to finish any of them.

But all in all, even though the score may be a bit harsh, we had a good time on the pitch. Just a slight drizzle, perfect weather for a nice game.

True in form to their - partly - Spanish roots, our cuadrilla went out into the corrida like fearless toreros.






The picadores in our midfield had little trouble in outrunning our Bulls opponents, the banderilleros in our defense led their 2-horned attack away from our goal time and over again, while our matadores made no less than 6 deadly strikes.

All this bull-fighting rhetoric just to mask that yours truly actually wasn't there. 1300h is really quite a bother when you have kids who'd rather sleep at that moment of day.

So if there's someone who can give a better eye-witness account...

Flamenkos are still unbeaten in 2010. This time the lions were tamed in a thrilling game.

Without the leader of the pack, Freek, and without their alpha Lion Michael, these kittens didn't start out all that fiercely.

They had trouble making good combinations and our midfield was able to keep them in check. Our strikers on the other hand were deadly efficient. With the lash of a whip, Sascha scored twice before the break. Both goals scored on a corner.

The second half saw these wild cats coming on a bit stronger. Our tamers got eaten a little and they managed to equal the score. Their hordes came attacking time and again, but our goalie Alex proved that he too has cat-like reflexes. But all of this was a deliberate tactic from our clever coach. Wearing them out in order to tame them once and for all.

In a crazy end of game, we got another corner and it seems our kind adversary did not learn much from the first half. Or perhaps they were targeting the wrong striker? For this time it was Jokin (if my sources are correct) and not Sascha who scored the 2-3 five minutes before the end of the game.

A nervous end saw no change in the score and after the final whistle there was much rejoicing!

We tamed the Lions!
Let's beat the rest of the circus as well!