Shanghai Lions FC

Saturday, November 1st 2003. Tianma soccer pitch.

Perfect conditions for soccer that day. Sun, good temperature, two motivated players, and beers to keep the reporters motivated too! And so players did not wait long to get into the game. First minute and French launched their first attacks, easy ball for the keeper. Two minutes later, Vikings shot a free kick from the left side, lobed the defence, and on the second post, Vikings' forward could easily control and score. Les Bleus are already one down, and supporters fear the nightmare's coming. However, the team did not give up. Well organized in midfield, serene in defence, the ball was mainly Bleus for the remaining of the first half. But efforts did not seem to pay, and time passed. Happily, one minute before half-time, a long ball was nicely deflected by Amer with a header, Gregory controlled it swiftly, and won his duel with the keeper. A deserved 1-1 at half-time.

The start of the second half was similar to the first. Les Bleus dominated the midfield and pushed to take the lead. As the game reached the hour mark, Amer outflanked the red defence on the left, and sent a good cross. Jerome was there to head it in. 2-1 Les Bleus. But Vikings were still fighting. A long ball found their forward just behind the offside line. He rushed to the keeper, but Willy kept the ball out thanks to a nice reflex. Minutes later, he had to punch a high corner kick. Vikings were pushing, and the players were getting nervous. On another corner, a red falled in the box, the referee showed the penalty spot. The forward took his time, shot... and Willy was there again to save the day. The ball was finally kicked out. A few minutes later, Les Bleus counter-attacked. The ball moved to the right to Adrien, who fought his way to the goal line, and crossed. A little too high for Bertrand, but it reached the second post, were Jerome calmly volleyed it in the net. 3-1 Les Bleus!!

Comments: finally, the first win of the season. Everybody had a serious game. Adrien was named player of the day, but with no offence to his good game, I'd wish to address a big congratulations to Willy who saved the day during the 20 minutes when our team was under pressure. It's good now, three points make us move up three position in the league table. All we have to do now is confirm!

Saturday, October 25th 2003. Tianma soccer pitch.

Here comes the big test. Les Bleus are up against Shooters, and after their two first games, there was some apprehension before the starting whistle. But after several minutes, it was gone. The team was well positioned, and Shooters had trouble to play their football. It was mainly played in the midfield, as both teams were fighting hard to get a hold on the ball. Les Bleus didn't have much opportunity however, except from long balls up the field. Shooters did not have much more, but two were enough! First one was a classic: good cross from the left and header. The second was unlucky for Les Bleus, and came at a bad moment. Just before half-time, the ball came from a free-kick inside the box. The defense missed the clearance, and one Shooter was there to send a powerful ball through a wall of defender. Edu couldn't see it coming. 2-0, half time.

The second half started as the first. A battle in the midfield, but alway in good spirit. And slowly, it seemed that Les Bleus were getting better. Unhappily, on one quick counter-attack, Edu went up against the attacker. The ball bounced back into Shooters feet, and it was 3-0. But Les Bleus did not give up, and during the last 20 minutes played most of their time in their opponent's half. David Y. received a good ball from Santiago, and shoot from 25 meters. Nice shot, a deserved goal, 3-1. Despite more efforts, the score did not change.

Comments: Certainly our best game this season. We're only missing a little more passing skills that would create the space and opportunity for goals. The most important is that we did not take goals in the last 20 minutes as usual, but even scored one. Let's hope it will be a new start for us.

This news is no more a scoop... Max is back. But not only he is back, but now he has things to say! And now in hiw own concise but efficient style, he accepted to answer our questions. Here it is, the long awaited Max' interview:

1 - Hello Max, you've reached a position in Les Bleus committee this year. The first two results of the season were not so good. Any reason for such a bad start?
Don’t worry… everything is under control! These two first game lost have been scheduled… we actually decided to have a strategic start this year… we didn’t want to be the favorite team too quickly in this competition. But now It’s time now to play!
2 - Some players start to ask questions. For example, "where is Amer? at what time does the game start? which jersey color do we wear?". More personnally, how can Max do his job while he's always away?
We are a team, you know. And other team members can professionally handle this hard job.
3 - There's been rumors that you've been spying on the Big Bamboo Voodoo team. Any new revelation?
You’re right! I was surprised to see on big bamboo voodoo roudoodoo (or whatever it is) presentation some presumptuous slogan such as “keep beating the French”. What are their tricks? I didn’t find any explanations, sorry… But look how they look motivated before and after the game! [NDR: exclusive pictures included below!]
4 - Saturday's game is against Shooters. Do you think the team will be ready?
As I said previously, we had a strategic start this year. To be honest, the team is ready since early September. This is the time to show off our real level… I fell sorry in advance for the Shooters…

Well, thank you Max, and good luck for Saturday.

Saturday, October 18th 2003. Concordia School soccer pitch.

As Les Bleus were exempted that Saturday, a friendly game was arranged against Lions 2000 to prepare the tough encounter against Shooters. First surprise of the game: Max was back! Some other players made their come back: Adrien Choux, back for some time, Santiago after his interlude for Lions, and Oruma.

The game started on a fast pace. Lions had the ball and their circulation was good. However, Les Bleus starting line up was well positioned on the pitch, and they did not leave much space for their opponents. Lions couldn't really approach the box. It slowly turned to the advantage of Les Bleus, who developed several quick counter attacks that could have ended in the net. The first half ended with a draw, 0-0.

The second half started very quickly. In the first minutes, David Y. got a good ball on the right side. He crossed it perfectly to the second post for David O. who headed it! 1-0 Les Bleus! As the coach wanted to try different solutions, some changes were made on the line-up. It seemed to slightly change the balance of the midfield. Lions took the opportunity, and it did not take long before they came back in the game. In the next 20 minutes, they even scored two more goals. Some more changes later, and Les Bleus seemed to come back into the game. The team was in good shape, and physically slowly took over their opponents. Damien put the game back in the right direction with a far shot that surprised the keeper (and maybe even the shooter!). Les Bleus had several opportunities, and finally, Damien gave a good pass to Jerome on the right, who crossed first touch a nice ball in the box. Amer was there to head it. Final score: 3-3.

Comments: "We had a solid first half. We needed to make changes to try some new possibilities before next week game. The team had a good come back. The other good point is that we are physically fit. Training starts paying!"

A la fin de la saison dernière, une grande nouveauté chez les Bleus, deux filles ont rejoint le club. Plusieurs mois sont passés, et elles sont toujours là. Notre reporter s'est penché (mais non, pas parce qu'elles sont petites!) sur la question. Encore une interview exclusive!

1 - Est-ce que votre intégration dans ce monde masculin a été difficile?
Cécile: Non pas de difficulté particulière, personne ne m'a (encore) jeté de cailloux ni demandé de cirer ses pompes (et ce n’est même pas la peine d'y penser les gars!)... non dans l'ensemble y a pas a se plaindre tout le monde est absolument adorable (ou fondamentalement hypocrite va savoir!)....
Emmanuelle: d'un point de vue physique, j'ai cru mourir lors des premiers entraînements! Sinon, à part les regards sceptiques, voire condescendants [NDR: pour les footeux, c’est un vrai mot qui existe, à ne pas confondre avec regarder bêtement vers le bas… quoique…] de la part de grands garçons qu'il m'est arrivé de marquer cet été ou lors du premier match, je suis l'avis de Cécile, ils sont plutôt sympas chez les Bleus.

2 - Le football féminin s'améliore, comme on le voit à la Coupe du Monde. Alors, comment vous situez vous par rapport au reste de l'équipe?
Personnellement je pense que ma situation par rapport au reste de l'équipe dépend des jours : le mercredi pendant le footing c'est plutôt (loin) derrière, le samedi c'est à côté (sur la touche faut bien que quelqu'un garde les bières pendant le match!) et le reste de la semaine si c'est pour aller voir des matches de foot á la télé, se faire une bouffe ou boire un verre c'est plutôt devant!
En dessous, niveau taille; au dessus niveau pectoraux......Enfin et surtout nettement moins raleuse qu'un mec sur un terrain de foot. On dit que les gonzesses, ça piaille, mais alors les mecs, faut toujours que ce soit de la faute du coéquipier s'ils n'ont pas attrapé le ballon (eh, mal lancé), la faute de l'arbitre s'ils sont hors-jeu, la faute de l'adversaire si leur pied a buté dans une motte de terre.... D'une mauvaise foi hallucinante parfois.

3 - Sérieusement, n'est-ce pas juste pour voir de beaux mecs athlétiques que vous participez?

Vous n’aviez pas encore compris depuis tout ce temps?!?!?! Mais en fait Manue, pour ça je me demande si on ne s’est pas un peu trompées d'équipe quand même....
Ca, c'est une question piège, à vous foutre une scène de ménage... Mais bon, puisqu'on en parle, c'était pas le principal, mais effectivement ça avait un côté attrayant au départ, surtout avec les photos censées être de l'équipe qu'on m'avait montrées pour me recruter [NDR: cf photos incluses ici]. Je suppose d'ailleurs qu'on t'avait montré les mêmes, Cécile. Il semble bien qu'on se soit faites eues, même si je reconnais qu'il y a quand même quelques petits culs pour les grands dimanches (j'déconne, Jérôme, y a que le tien qui compte!)
4 - Est-ce que vous arrivez a boire autant de bières que les autres?
La concurrence est rude mais de ce cote la je me défend nettement mieux qu'au footing y a pas photo! A samedi au Smokies? (Un bon journaliste se doit de vérifier ses infos, non?!). [NDR: un journaliste de terrain ne peut refuser, quel scoop ça va être… si je m’en souviens encore le lendemain!
Je pense que je me situe dans la moyenne de l'équipe. En revanche, si on parle de boire plus tous alcools confondus, je pense avoir une bonne place. Max, on lance les paris?