New Year Soccer 7s
YC&AC,  Sunday 4th January 2015

Firstly a very Happy New Year to you all. Here is another tournament report where I attempt to sum up 28 seperate matches without repeating the same old Footballing cliches. So I will try and write this report in two halves by typing from left to right and making sure I keep it tight and keep all the letters boxed in.

The last 4 tournaments I have arranged the rain god has done it’s best to give me man flu. After the cancelation of our last 7’s tournament due to a typhoon the sunday morning clear blue sky was a welcomed sight.

12 teams had signed up for the day of football. A smaller tournament meant a later start and and an earlier finish. At 09:50 the last team arrived and it was ready for the Captains meeting. I made it clear in the meeting that all teams would play at least one match after the group stages. That did not stop one team getting changed after the group stage and they were preparing to go home until YC&AC’s Satoshi spotted them and told them to get their boots back on and play!

On to the matches. Group A saw YC&AC defeat  7s newsboys Subareshee 3-0 and Swiss Kickers draw 2-2 with Musketeers. Group B saw our International competitors Seohyeon Celtic who came over from Seoul to play take on the Chinese team of CCJ. Luckily Kazu kept things under control. The Korean Kanto Celts won 3-2. Ataway Panthers also scored 3 against one of the three Nepalese teams Gorkhali Samaj.

As the group B matches were taking place Swiss Kickers Zweite approached me to see if any team had a spare player. King George were yet to KO and had a squad of 10. After a small discussion it was agreed that I would be loaned out to Swiss Kickers for the day. 5 minutes later I was changed and squaring up to the mighty KGFC. The match started with the 2nd serious injury of the day. After the Musketeers Goalkeeper had left the tournament with a suspected serious shoulder injury, it was time for Winston the super quick King George forward to twist his knee. Best wishes to both players. It was a slow start from both teams but King George kept up their solid start to the season with a one nil victory. The other group match saw Sid’s FJ Masters team draw against 7s regulars Nepal Utd.

The second round of matches saw a few big scorelines. The Swiss teams managed to score 11 goals between them. Panthers scored another 3 to beat Seohyeon Celtic and King George made it 2 out of 2 with a 3-1 victory over the FJ Masters.

It was all to play for in the final group matches. The goals kept flowing. Musketeers scored 5. No doubt Division 3 top scorer Mr Oogami scored a few of those goals. YC&AC beat Swiss 2-1. CCJ narrowly lost out to Panthers who scored another 3 goals. FJ Masters were showing signs of their age as Zweite knocked 6 past them.

There was a short break where players went off to the food stand to munch on the famous YC&AC kebab. The tournament then separated into the Cup and Plate knockout rounds. The top eight would battle it out in the Cup ¼ finals and the bottom 4 teams went straight into the Plate semi final.

All the Cup ¼ final matches were close. Musketeers scored another 5 goals to defeat Gorkhali Samaj 5-3. Panthers scored 3 quick goals against KGFC. King George did score a consolation goal midway through the match but the Panthers held firm. The KGFC players headed to the bar where they would be seen some hours later sitting there discussing numerous subjects such as ‘favorite type of Buffet’ and ‘Olympic puns’. Feel free to discus these topics with your friends!

The other matches saw Swiss Zweite narrowly defeat Celtic 1-0. YC&AC did what they do best in the 7s knockout rounds and beat Swiss 3-2 on PK`s.

The Plate semi finals kicked off and FJ Masters decided to up their game and knock 6 past Subarashee FC. Nepal beat CCJ in the other match.

Both teams lined up for the final knowing that they were equally matched after playing out a 1-1 draw in the morning. After 18 minutes the game went into Golden Goal time. With the score at 2-2 and some tired legs running about it looked certain that the game wouldn’t be decided on penalties. A few minutes into the 5 minute GG it was Nepal who broke FJ Masters hearts with the killer blow. Congratulations to Nepal who claim their 3rd 7s title.

The Cup Semi finals saw Panthers destroy Musketeers 6-0 and Swiss Zweite edge out YC&AC 2-0.

Like the Plate final it was an entertaining final. Both teams currently sit at the top of the TML Div 1 table, both had scored 29 goals between them in the lead up to the final so it was all to play for.

Swiss went 1-0 through Shimon Kato. Panthers equalised only for Shimon to score again. With 30 seconds remaining Panthers scored from a cross. The whistle went and once again both teams had to prepare themselves for 5 minutes of golden goal action. Both teams played patient football and due to this the match went to penalties. Karl Ring stepped up and missed. Panthers then scored their next two as did swiss. It was down to Panthers new signing Danny to settle things and he fired his PK into the bottom corner. A great final and Panthers deserved their victory after playing good attacking football throughout the tournament.

A big thank you to YC&AC for hosting the tournament and a big thank you to the three referees: Simon, Kazu and Jonathan who looked after the matches well and kept note of the 110 goals scored throughout the day.

For photos of the day please click HERE.

All the best for 2015.