Hello MISN,
On Saturday January 12th we played game nº12 of the Winter 2007-08 Lachine indoor league, vs. Hellas.
It’s been quite some time since I reported the news of MISN on mCalcio, but it wasn’t due to a matter of choice, but necessity rather. Being away to Italy for most of the Xmas break, it would have been quite hard for me to make the games on the week-end: the 7,000km or so separating me from the soccer field weren’t exactly the easiest obstacle to overcome. Nevertheless, I am back to Montreal now, and returned in full force last week for game nº12 of our Lachine season.
Firstly, I think a short summary of the past 3 games is in order. In one word: things are going BAD. Since game nº8 vs. mtlsoccer.com (during which we had 3 injured players and finished the game 5 vs. 7… see match report), MISN has had to deal with a big big attendance crisis. Some of its players were leaving for the Xmas holidays, others were out in the hospital/infirmary… in other words we didn’t have a whole lot of people to field for our matches.
Needless to say our performance was near to catastrophic. I think we didn’t play a single game where we had more than 1 substitute, and I’m sad to report, games nº9 through 11 (against Wood Gundy, Kelly’s Leg, and Spartans) were recorded as losses (respectively 2-8, 0-1, and 2-3).
It was therefore capital, for our first game in which we had most of our roster back, to get back on the winning road. Both for morale and for team rankings.
Attendance-wise, for the first time in a while we had the luxury of 4 substitutes present on the subs bench, an advantage which was going to make a huge difference today. Can and Tevin were still absent long-term (with Can however due back this week), and Nafee was out with a 1-match suspension (for 3 accumulated yellow cards). However, we counted the returns today of Eric, Alex, and Marco (yours truly), as well as the addition of Saber (one of Nafee’s friends) up front in attack.
| 1) Absent long-term: | Can |
| 2) Injured long-term: | Tevin, Güven |
| 3) N/A this week: | Nafee |
Here was our line-up:
| Keeper: | |||
| Defense: | |||
| Offense: |
Fully motivated and pumped at the view of our attendance sheet, we kicked off the game and immediately started pushing forward. If we were going to bring MISN their first points of 2008, we had to score some early goals in this game.
Our efforts took the right turn when we obtained the first chance of the match. Marco got sent through on the left wing by a Santi pass, then dribbled back to the center and got fouled about 15-20m from the goal. Not asking for distance, our Italian wing-back (turned offensive winger for this match) tried to surprise the keeper with a low shot into the right bottom corner, but the Hellas nº1 got a hand to it and deflected into corner. Close!
We continued to put pressure on our opponents, and made some good passing combinations with Santi, Tim, and Marco, but the Hellas defense were vigilant. In fact, a few minutes into the game it was our opponents’ turn to put pressure on our defense, getting close to the box. They had one tall guy which they were using as target man, so most of their passes were directed at him. He’d usually control, turn around, and attempt a shot. Most of time, Jon & co. blocked him, but sometimes a shot would slip through. Thankfully Jan saved the day with a couple of super-saves, and when beaten, Eric saved a shot right on the line. Some shaky defending by MISN, but the score remained 0-0.
The close shaves in defense and the good goalkeeping of Jan gave us some confidence, and eventually we got rewarded by getting on the scoreboard first! On a counter-attack following one of the Hellas offensives, the ball was quickly passed to Tim, who then exchanged passes with Saber, and went deep on the right wing. An accurate shot by our Montreal-born striker slammed onto the left post, and rebounded into the goal! 1-0 MISN!!
Before the half ended, we had a couple more near-chances: Tim got through on the right-wing to arm his shot a few times, but the keeper neutralized the threat or deflected the ball wide. The score was thus 1-0 MISN at the break.
In the 2nd half, we got a much better ball control in the first initial minutes, keeping pressure up on our opponents, and forcing the defenders to make some mistakes. A tactic which paid dividends almost immediately.
On one of these circumstances, Marco intercepted the ball from a defender, and instantaneously launched Saber through on goal in the center. Our new Algerian recruit patiently waited to get on the edge of the box, in order to beat the keeper with an instep shot on the right post! 2-0 MISN!!!
A few minutes later, with momentum building on our side, we obtained yet another chance. A kick-in from Bruno at the half-line was sent all the way to the right post, inside the box for Marco. Our Italian winger connected with a bicycle-kick, which unfortunately was off the mark. Marco’s effort however turned into a perfect assist for Tim in front of the keeper, but our striker’s shot was neutralized by the Hellas nº1 and the chance went begging. So close!
Unfortunately, following the French saying “but raté, but encaissé” our missed chance was followed with a goal for our opponents, in somewhat of a lucky fashion. A Hellas striker got through on the left wing, and slammed a shot onto the far post. It was probably going to end wide, but Eric got a touch to it, and actually ended up flicking it into the top right corner of our goal, out of Jan’s reach. 2-1.
No worries though, because we immediately increased our lead once again on the following chance. Santi combined with Marco to obtain the ball and go deep left. Putting the ball across the goal for Tim, it was eventually deflected by a Hellas defender past the keeper into the goal!!! Another own goal, but this time the other way! 3-1!
A few minutes later, Tim had another chance on net after yet another deep run on the right, but his shot hit the post and rebounded into the keeper’s arms. Argh!!
By this time however, MISN were very much in control of the match. In fact, we even got the final word because 2 minutes from the end, we obtained a free-kick on the corner of the box. Marco and Bardia had a brief talk, then Marco asked for distance to move the wall back a little bit. With 4 players in the wall, the Hellas defense left Bardia on the left completely unmarked, expecting a direct shot. Instead, Marco slid the ball across to our Iranian playmaker, who instepped a shot inside the right post! 4-1!
Ref called full time shortly after, and MISN were back to victory!!! Woo-ooh!
.
.
4-1 final score
Scorers:
Tim
Saber
Bardia
+ 1 own goal
Yellow cards:
/
.
Boy does it feel good to win again!! Those are 3 points MISN had been chasing for quite some time, and they came as a true liberation after many weeks of crisis. The team rallied, put their hearts out on the field, and results finally went our way. We still made a few defensive mistakes, but hopefully as we continue playing with a full subs bench, our confidence will continue to rise and we’ll eliminate some of the silly goals we keep taking.
Like I said before guys, I think it would pure fantasy hoping to get the league champions title this year: there is a 13-point distance between MISN and the first-ranked team (Spartans). With 10 games left in the season, I’m not saying it is impossible to reach 1st-spot but I think it’s safe to say it will be very unlikely, even by winning every single game we have left. In fact, given that the 2nd and 3rd-ranked teams are also quite far up (both 12 points away), it will be very hard aspiring to a Division 1 promotion as well.
So what do we have left for the season? Quite simply this, boys: winning as many games as possible. Our objective from now on, will be to achieve the highest possible rank in the standings, in order to get a good playoffs draw and win the Cup. Remember that in Lachine there are two trophies given out, one for the regular season champions, one for the playoffs champions. That last one boys, is ours!
GO MISN!! See you next week.
-Marco-
Posted in MISN Impossible |
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