When I arrived at the pitch I was happy to see many new faces.
Our team has grown and I am sure it has grown stronger.
Unfortunately I also didn't see many familiar faces. Some were out of Shanghai, some on their way back and we were lucky that Bart got back just in time that same morning...

Turning my gaze a bit further upfield, I noticed that the holiday had had no influence whatsoever on the turnout of the Japanese team.
I'm probably not far off when I say we were outnumbered at least 3 to 1.

This was going to be a difficult game.

For a while in the first half we managed to keep pace with the Green Tsunami. Even after they scored their first goal of the season, we kept on the pressure and managed to bring some offensive action too.

But wave after wave of Japanese pounded on our defense. And it seemed that they put their 'zeroes' in a higher gear as well.
We have to admit, by end first half we were overpowered, but also overclassed. Japan brought some real good one-touch football and we were running behind the facts and the ball most of the time.
So 3-0 down was actually a fair representation.

Second half started good enough when Alex netted our first goal of the season. Unfortunately that woke the Japanese up from their post half-time slumber, because not 2 minutes later they scored 4-1 with a good distance strike.

Whilst we were overpowered and overclassed, we did manage at times to set up good attacks. Especially Alex had a good day making quite a few good penetrations into the Japanese box. But the Japanese defense followed up close enough and neither Bart nor Brian could net any of the assists Alex put in there.

The Japanese on the other hand did find target 2 more times and so the game ended 6-1 defeat. But that's just the numbers. We all had good fun (that's if you didn't get injured - guess my knee took the 'nie pleuje' motto a bit too literal) and a few beers afterwards.

C U next week, same time!

Man of the match, I'd say Alex. For the first goal of the season. Although could also be Bart, for the first yellow card of the season :-)

A prize question to finish:
Q: Which is the only country in the whole world where you can be offside when a defender of the other team lands a header in your feet?
(OK, I admit, the defender made the header on a pass fm one of your team mates that was intended for you, but still...)

1 free Beck's for the first person to get the answer