Le Samba FC

Week 4 Review

2008-11-20T13:46:00.001-08:00

Mid Game Tankers > Early game intels and late game Agi’s

That pretty much sums it up for Le’Samba’s performance in week #4. Despite the improved gameplay from our side, it was evident that size,power, and brute strength overcame us and steam-rolled us down.

D’Knights were definitely formidable opponents, with Sam, Damo and Venkat’s speed, minute-but-agile goalie Lavin, and a whole lot of strength pouring in from Arasan and Lawrence. After their 1st shock win against former Darkhorses, GM, DKnights have been falling behind and they would definitely want to use us as a pedestal to climb back in form and rise in the RFL table. Of course, we had plans of our own too …

Our starting line up comprised of Magz, Abz, VK and Lingesh. The game was rather slow in the opening minutes with incomplete attempts on both ends of the field. Most our attacks thwarted by stalwart Damo, championing their backline while Lawrence playing his blockade role rather well. His size was a factor in halting most attacks from our side. Lawrence looked dangerous at one point taking a wild shot at Min Jie, but it brushed the side.

After the 3rd minute, VK subbed Harin in to provide some creativity in our front line. This proved to be the turning point of the game when a brief 1-2 between him and Kay saw an opening in Lavin’s goal. Harin took advantage of that and sent the ball into the net. 1-0 to Samba.

Abz was forced out of the 1st half early result of a clash with Lawrence. The Parameds were required to attend to his busted right shin, hopefully allowing him to play in the 2nd half.

Right after the kick-off, the excited Harin charged down the field and claimed the ball from Lawrence in attempt to double the lead. Lavin did a great job stopping him before help arrived. At that point, 4 red shirts surrounding our lone striker, his attempt went wide. Arasan’s appearance in the 5th minute changed was well timed. His attacking prowess opened a few opportunities for himself and his teammates.

On the 7th minute we had another casualty, our midfield dependence, Kay. VK had to immediately come in for him after a clash with bigman Lawrence. With Isaac in too, this provided some pace in Samba’s attack as result in a quick steal, a trio effort led the ball to Harin again for the taking, but Lavin did a fantastic job saving it from point blank.

On the 9th minute, D’Knights were given a corner kick. Poor man-marking left Lawrence open to fire the ball in low corner. 1-1.

The 2nd half was pretty interesting with both sides looking for that 2nd goal and the chance to seal the 3 points. The attacking was superb, our side especially with Harin really pumped for the win. He solo-pushed our attacking stance with a few shots on goal, a superb free-kick and he covered the empty mid-field which Kay left behind.

All in all, it was a fantastic game for us. We could’ve won it if we had taken our chances properly and if we didn’t lose Abz and Kay early on. Our gameplay has definitely improved for last year, and we’re hoping to maintain that for our games to come. GG to Harin, man of the match definitely.

Week 3 Review

2008-11-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

Le' Samba FC vs Spartans

Let’s make a Steal..

With 2 draws against the 2 teams we have lost to, things were definitely looking gloomy for us. With the absence of Isaac, we lost some credibility in our backline. Shugan, after getting his hand checked up, is now definitely sidelined for another month. His swollen fingers as a result of Lavan’s shot was now made worse with Agni following suit last week.

From the moment the whistle blew, the Spartans showed no mercy towards us with constant berating on our defense. After 1 min, a lapse focus led to poor clearance of the ball, the Spartans opened their account with a low shot beating Min Jie. Our defense looked so shaky in the opening minute, I would imagine what would come at the end of 20mins. Gotta be consistent !

1-0 down.

So we are now trailing, not a good place to be in with Spartans still pushing, still hungry for more. Imagine dining in hell with Ice-cream, that was how luxurious they had it in the 1st half. Continuous flow of attacks, pounding 1 after another..

Le’Samba had Abz to thank for. Playing a more centralized role this season, he has opted to be more involved with the backline. Apparently the mallu has spent all his magic scoring imba goals last season, he hasn’t any left for now. I think he plans on sucking some of that aura from DnC’s mallu poacher!

Well yeah, Abz covered for the faulty backline. Magz and VK having an off-day it seems. Things had to change, fast !

Le’Samba had a break in the 5th minute with 2 continuous corner kicks, with the latter resulting us pulling back 1. Starting with Abz, he blueprinted a perfect setpiece between him and Lingesh before sending the ball home. The goalie deflected Abz’s shot only to find Samba’s hitman, Harin, already in air to head the ball into the wide open net. This was exactly what we wanted, the end of our dry spell.

The 1st half has now got even more interesting, with Satish coming up with crazy shots all over the midfield threatening MinJie in goal. Rama’s cheeky turnover opened up our defense but he had no support to finish. Spartans had at least 5 shots on the post, talk about bad luck.

The 2nd half was basically a replay of what we went through in the previous 10mins. We had zero passing chemistry, something we had displayed in our previous fixtures. We didn’t really see much of the ball that night. It was all Spartans for the taking! Kay looked promising at one point when Harin gave him an excellent pass but that Chinko-bekker had to aim for the crossbar !

And then came the Game-Breaker.

18th minute, a good intercept by Kay took the ball away from the Spartan’s backline. Abz received the pass and managed to wiggle past GK on the sideline, a beautiful display of passing between Abz & Kay saw VK open waiting in front of goal. He had no reason not to score. As the ball rolled into the back of the net, the atmosphere in the zal changed.

With 1 minute to go, we couldn’t screw this up. Then again, the proud Spartans not going down without a fight, picked themselves up and went full throttle on the attack. They even came really close when a poor clearance left the ball open for Rama to tap in, instead he sent the ball wide.

The final whistle blew, the game ended with Le’Samba emerging as the victors. This game was definitely a steal, it wasn’t our best performance and yet we stole the 3 points from them. Ladyluck must be shining down upon us ..

Got to keep our defensive line consistent, passes fluid and finally play properly.
Back on track, looking forward to more goals and wins now !

Week 2 Review

2008-11-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Le’Samba FC vs Copa Cobana

Coming from a disappointing game 3 weeks ago, we were all hoping the Diwali break would do us some good and help restore some finishing touch we used to have. Meeting Copa Cobana in week 2 isn’t the best of fixtures, they were on of the top teams vying for glory last time around with a perfect squad. This year though, they have a couple of key players and we were looking forward to take advantage of this. Min Jie was still standing in for our инвалид Shugan, still spent with his finger injury.

Copa had a setback last week with a 1-1 draw with the mighty Spartans. I’m sure Shazli had other plans of his own to bounce back into form this season, using us as bait-boys of course. The only danger in the blue outfit was their top finisher Nabeyl, Shazli and lastly Syafiq.

From the whistle, we were pretty solid towards Copa’s attacks with replies of our own. One of Syafiq’s shot deflected the post in the 1st half and many other fast moving attacks were well parried by Min Jie and our defensive line. Nabeyl’s quick thinking and fast passing opened us up really well at times, but ever faithful Min Jie was there to save us.

Just to let our readers know, Abilash has bribed Syafiq with food to not score against us. Nasi Ayam + extra chicken ! !

Obviously Syafiq couldn’t be bothered with a small meal guys, next time think big and go TGIF ! JD Steak and BBQ Chicken etc !

In the 2nd half, the game proceeded as normal. Nothing major happened till the 15th minute when a clever intercept by Copa’s captain saw him 1 on 1 with Min Jie. Min Jie an amazing job stopping him but the rebound landed on none other than Syafiq himself. The low shot on the right was enough to beat Min Jie and Samba was now 1-0 down.

A few minutes later, a defensive error by our backline saw Nabeyl with a cheeky turnover and another low shot past Min Jie. 2-0 to Copa.

We did put up a good fight this game, seeing we improved the scoreline from last season’s 6-1 to now 2-0. It was a great game nonetheless, we had fun as always.

Need to improve our finishing before the 3rd fixture.

Week 1 Review

2008-11-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

Le Samba FC vs Saints FC

What a way to open RFL’s 08/09 season, our boys taking on Toh’s saints. In our previous match-up, we shocked em’ real good and took 3 points from under their noses.
With Shugan injured (swollen fingers thanks to Lavan and his imba shots), we had to call in for back-up, ‘The Great Wall’ Min Jie. Nice of him to accept our request despite the late notice seeing he has decided to take a break from RFL for the time being. An addition to the squad, Linges, a new student who just arrived a few weeks back decided to join us. After the long break, we were all keen to see how much we have improved ( or better yet, gotten worse !).

The game started off pretty slow. Both sides didn’t really show any potential of scoring goals. Yep, that’s it, another boring 0-0 draw coming in our way. Saints did look dangerous couple of times but Magz and Min Jie had it all covered. We did attack a couple of times, but Toh is definitely a good Goalie, credits to him. With Gajen playing up front, we were entertained by the long throws from Toh’s goal for him to intercept and finish. Didn’t really materialize in the opening half.
Then comes the 2nd half, once again, it was rather dull and slow. We were a shadow of our former selves; making tonnes of mistakes but yet flashy on the attacks and getting the much needed goals.

This time around, luck wasn’t on our side. As much as we improved our basic play, we have lost the touch up front. Our strikers were clueless on why we couldn’t net even 1 goal despite the efforts and number of tries. Fantastic opportunities from Abz, Harin, Kay , VK (even the new signing Linges had his share of shots) but we were all shot down. We did play well, finishing was rather poor. Well, that’s football for you.

We looked more dangerous in the 2nd half, hoping to break the deadlock there. As calculated, Agni’s presence in their line-up was definitely a tough one. He was all over the field marking his presence and making sure no one made a mistake.
And then came the goal, a slight tug to Siva from Abz granted the Saints a freekick. Agni launched a high one towards Min Jie. As the Great Wall jumped, he was followed by Saint’s marksman but Gajen’s towering presence took his focus off and the ball landed in the back of the net.

It was rather unfortunate. But we never give up, so we went harder on the offensive looking for an opening, but still met a dead end there. Towards the end of the game, we managed to get a free-kick right outside the box. This was definitely an opportunity not to be wasted. As Abz stepped up to take it, his shot deflected off the wall and the whistle was blown.

All in all, it was a great game, too bad we didn’t emerge as the victors in this meet. Perhaps next time.

Gallery Opened!

2008-10-29T04:36:00.000-07:00

Le' Samba's gallery is finally done.

Help yourself to pictures from the games and practices. You can download them if you want. :)

Have a nice day!

The Site's Finally Up!

2008-10-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

The site's finally up!

It is not perfect. But it is at least working ;).

The players' profiles are still under construction. And the gallery too. But the others are working fine.

Feel free to drop a comment if you think the site needs some changes. I will try my best to make it better.

Have a nice day!

Once more for the docks, once more..

2008-10-18T02:31:00.000-07:00

Season 08/09.

After a fantastic and memorable 1st season, Le’Samba FC are definitely here to stay. Our accomplishments last season was beyond anyone’s expectation and we are aiming to finish top 6 this season.

The squad, unchanged, still consists of RFL’s Boy Wonder Abilash who seems to find the net from the most imba situations. Harin, sticking around to provide some form of consistency in our attacks powered by Isaac and Kay. VK and Magz still at the drawing board on how to plug the leak in their defense and who could ever forget the most lovable Goalie in the RFL, Shugan !

Le’Samba is the only team outside the top4 that has maintained a 1 goal a game scoring average. Scoring 20 goals from 11 games is respectable feat for players of our low caliber; we weren’t made for the pros you see.

Our main goal this year is to maintain that goal scoring streak and manage a top6 finish. Even if it doesn’t work either way, we are here to have fun !

As always, if you ain’t laughin, you ain’t livin’ !