Forbidden City FC 紫禁城足球俱乐部

Palace,

Our next league game is against the Chinese team King World on this coming Saturday, 19th of November.

The time of kick off is 2 PM and the venue (please pay attention to this) is: CHAOYANG STADIUM.

Can you play?

Please reply ASAP and remember to come to training on Wednesday evening 8-10 pm at the Lido as usual.

Cheers,

Patrick

It was a beautiful sunny day when Summer Palace met to face a high school team for the second time this season.  On the squad were faces new and old.  Hailing from old Mexico was Felipe, a young midfielder full of promise, and from Forbidden City we had our old friend Barrie George in goal. In a shocking decision, the captain showed up to the game sans facial hair, perhaps wanting to appear closer in age to the day’s opponents.  This flies in the face of the tenants of Movember (moustache month) and everything his club represents (teamwork, accountability, etc.).  The defense was also missing some parts, with Peter unavailable and Adam needing to conclude some business at Chaoyang sports complex before coming to the game.

After play commenced both trams began trying to impose their own style of play.  Palace opening by trying to work possession and use dangerous wing play to their advantage, and ISB using quick passing and probing with their quick strikers.  Both teams had some chances and Palace seemed more like to score after a series of set pieces.  Finally after Ben Roberts took a fine free kick, Lee Russell found himself in the right place at the right time and sent a shot through the crowd in front of goal, 1-0 Palace. Palace had no time to relax however, as the young ISB only seemed to grow more threatening after conceding and they had plenty of 13 year old firepower waiting on the sidelines. The score remained the same until halftime, despite ISB having a couples of one-on-one with only Barrie George to beat.

The halftime talk was optimistic, but it seemed that everyone knew there would be more goals in the game.  But if more goals were to be had, they would be bloody hard to come by.  Time after time Palace’s attacks came away with nothing, and Barrie George kept stunning the ISB forwards with gut wrenching saves.  These same young forwards who had taunted the City standout after the halftime whistle by calling him lucky were now finding that Barrie George makes his own luck.

Luck can go both ways, and just when it seemed that ISB simply had to have a bit of luck, Andy Mo found himself with the ball and an open net gaping.  No one needs to tell Andy Mo where to stick it 2-0 Palace. That was only justice in fact as minutes before that, the (half-blind?) referee managed to miss that one of the ISB defender had cleared the ball from behind his goal-line using both hands!!  Palace then saw the tireless Jason Dorey taking a turn at striker and doing his best to cover himself in glory and getting booked by the ref. Joining him was Felipe who showed a good deal of flair and a penchant for flick-ons.  Amir showed everyone he loves being offside as much as he loves herbs.

The game ended 2-0 in favor of the Palace, and the majority of the team stayed to see City give the Barbarians a 4-0 thrashing and then went to the traditional spot afterwards. At Lugas the voting commenced over a bottle or two of tequila and the usual amount of wisecracks. Adam walked away with the donkey with a massive nine votes for being at the wrong field at the right time.  Ben Roberts got the Man award with five votes for good play and leadership despite a woeful gaffe with the whiskers and also forgetting sunscreen again.  Really, if I looked like that after sun I would wear sunscreen to bed.

Go on Palace!

Lee Russell

Palace,

Our  next league game is scheduled for this coming Saturday, 12th of November. We are playing the high-school team ISB Dragons. Kick off is in the morning at 11AM at the LIDO, Who can play? Please reply ASAP.

Remember to come to training tomorrow, Wednesday 9th, 8-10 PM at the Lido pitch as usual.
Cheers,
Patrick

The rain stopped just in time for the league’s curtain raiser of the weekend, the showdown between the league’s ‘lethal-est’ attack and league leaders, Celtics, against the league’s tightest defence, Palace. The game started with Celtics playing their aggressive and physical brand of football, preventing Palace from playing their free-flowing pass and move game. City initially struggled to adapt as dangerous challenges were flying in from everywhere, and the game was in danger of spilling over as Celtics were getting away with some studs up challenges and Palace getting increasingly frustrated with the inept refereeing standards. A Palace goal on 15 minutes managed to calm some nerves, though no one could make out who scored, as Adam chose to coolly stroll back from the melee leading to the goal (Adam was the scorer, if this is still unclear). Shortly after, Ben put in a defence splitting through pass to Olly, who tucked it coolly under the advancing Celtics keeper to make it 2-0. As the half wore on, Palace upped the tempo and their pressure was rewarded with a stunning first time volley (Paul Scholes style) off a corner, hitting the inside of the post and nestling in the top corner of the net, from Gio right at the stroke of halftime, def a nominee for goal of the season. 3-0 HT.

The Celtics started quicker off the blocks in the second half, particularly posing a threat from their giant striker (flicking long high balls)-quick forward combination (Duncan Ferguson kinda stuff), but this was effectively neutralised by Peter, sticking to the tall guy like glue (and irritating the hell out of him). Totally against the run of play, Palace made a quick counter attack with Kieran squaring unselfishly to Amir who tapped in from close range. 4-0 to Palace. As the game threatened to taper off, Palace scored again through another blistering attack down the wing, albeit this time through an O.G as the Celtics defender deflected Ben’s cross into his own net. Palace was about to run riot though, as they turned on the style, moving the ball around, resulting in Nils, putting in a MoM worthy performance, rounding the Celtics goalkeeper Robin Van Persie style and rolling the ball into the empty net. He was not done though, as minutes later, he hit a first time half-volley which hit the base of the post. Celtics were still posing a threat though, coming close with well-taken free-kick that rattled Jason’s crossbar before earning a dubious, soft penalty (by a Peeri Weepu lookalike). Not to be undone, and preserving his awesome Palace penalty record, Jason (nursing a terrible hangover and injured wrist) saved the penalty, but unfortunately for us, the rebound rolled back out to the Celtics forward who put it away, which took some gloss off our scoreline. The game tapered out till the end, as we wish Jason all the best in recovering from the kick he got on his hand from the Celtics forward. Full-Time score Palace 6 – Celtics 1. That result makes us top of the league table (although Dong Ren have a couple of games in hands).

In fairness, it could be said that Celtics fielded a weak squad as they were without their star player Johnny White (who played in goal for the first 15 minutes), and their talismanic fleet footed winger. But this should not take any credit off the Palace performance as all 18 players put in a good game with the goals coming from different guys. Perhaps, Palace’s role model player of the game award goes to Adam, who demonstrated his commitment to the cause by not only tracking the Celtics winger all over the park and also from one end to the other, as the Celtics guy was getting substituted off the pitch! Brilliant! Votes for Man-of-Match and Donkey were in-part done at Luga’s just after the match and in part done in the evening at the Teppanyaki near Gongti. The combined result of the votes for MoM went to Adam, Nils and Peter (with 3 votes each), while Donkey was awarded to Adam alone.

Aaron

It would seem fitting that on the 29^th of October, palace found itself playing a night game on the dimly lit, some would say spooky, old field at the Chaoyang Sports Center.  An eerie mist hung over the field during a vigorous warm-up that left some (Gio) short of breath.  The late arrivals joined an ample crowd of around six in watching the opening minutes of the game.  Although Palace enjoyed most of the possession at first, we only managed a few looks at goal and none were truly threatening.  Making matters worse, the red cards were not ready to capitulate so early and showed real menace for about 15 seconds, which was all it took for a neat pass to find a streaking forward who belted a brilliant ball over Jason, who had to that point been merely a spectator.  In response, palace turned up the pressure.  After making some substitutions, Palace began a renewed attack that put the Japanese on their heels for the remainder of the half. So it was, Palace 1-0 down at the half-time whistle.

The second half began with more droves of attacking from Palace.  Red Cards were doing all in their power to stave off the determined palace forwards, at points wasting time simulating injuries.  The equalizer finally came when an on form Ben Roberts put a ball into the middle.  Lee Russell came to meet the ball and volleyed it off the post.  Fortunately the rebound fell to him and he stuck it in the back of the net, after which he promptly celebrated by sprinting back to his own side and then accepting high fives.  It then seemed that Red Cards would be happy to end on a tie as they didn’t seem interested in a go ahead goal as much as wasting the rest of regulation. Giovanni changed the equation with 15 minutes to play when, following Kieran outflanking the Japanese defence from the right, he took possession of the ball in the penalty area and showed us a tricky finish which sliced under the keeper.  Lee R celebrated the Italian’s beautiful goal by running off by himself and having a geriatric fit.  Red Cards finally seemed to show some urgency, and managed some probing attacks, but left themselves open when good defence yielded a counter that started by Jim So. His lobbed pass send Amir to run free towards the goal, who, instead of “shooting like [he] should have” passed the ball to Lee Russell for a tap in goal. Final score: 3-1 for Palace.

After the game, a large gathering made their way to Luga’s where they voted while watching the English premiership (and memorable Arsenal vs Chelsea).  It looked as though Giovanni would take both man and donkey honors, but Lee Russell eventually got Man with 5 votes (Gio with 4), and Giovanni walked away with the Donkey on 6 votes earned primarily for his manful attempts to fit his posterior under the fence at training on Wednesday.

Good Game, Good Goals, Good God get the man some cheesecake

(a report from Lee Russell)

Palace,

Well done to those involved last Saturday when we got a well-deserved win against the Japanese from Red Cards. A match report for this game will follow soon, Lee Russell is writing it up. In the meantime you can have a look at the attached Excel spreadsheet that summarizes our season so far.

This coming week-end we are playing Celtics, who among the title contenders. We can expect a tough game as usual when we play them. The match is scheduled for Saturday 5th November, kick off at 12 noon, the venue is Chaoyang Stadium (on the new pitch).

Who is available? Reply ASAP and don’t forget to attend training this Wednesday (8-10 pm at the Lido). We should have a good session this week.

Also, if you fancy a game of  5-a-side, and especially if you cannot make it to training on Wednesday, please make an effort to play 5′s. Their next game is tomorrow evening , Tuesday 1st of November, 8PM kick off at Chaoyang PARK. Please contact Jason Crawford if you want to play tomorrow.

That’s all for now,

Patrick

Ok lads,

Our league match this weekend is confirmed. We are playing Red Cards, at Chaoyang Stadium, this Saturday, kick off6pm, 1800 hours.  Please confirm availability by Thursday afternoon.

Red Cards always give their best shot against us, so it is sure to be a competitive match.

I especially asked for a late kick off so Amir can shake off his hangover and Lee’s weekly stray cat has time to go home for her milk. Also, it may mean some of the coaches can play?  Actually 6pm is the only free time and even then we are not on our usual pitch, but directly west of the main stadium. Arrive by the same entrance.

I suppose it does mean you can go out on Friday, but don’t end up in hospital. Better still, why don’t you save yourself for an impromptu Palace night out directly after the game. Beer, food, more beer then Lattee… it is Halloween after all.

See you at training tonight and earn your place on the team!

Hit reply now and tell me yes or no …

Get involved!

Pikey

Hi Lads,

It looks like we’ll be playing our league match vs Red Cards this Saturday at Chaoyang Stadium. The exact time is to be confirmed, but this is advance warning.

So don’t make plans for nights out involving Wudaokao, souju, mcdonalds+taxis+hospitals, milk, milf, or whatever other debauchery you may get up to on any other Friday night!!

I will follow up with the team call to arms and more details soon.

Aaron, great match report, but I hope the reference to a certain ‘milf’ was a spelling mistake and not a Freudian slip.

Thanks,

Pikey

On a hazy saturday morning where the smoke (and effects) from the Wudaokou Korean BBQ night still lingered in the Beijing sky, only 6 guys (and a lady) were present half an hour before kickoff. However, the smoky skies meant that sunscreen wasnt needed for the midday game as Ben rightly said, ‘the pollution will do the job’. Nevertheless, the remaining players arrived in time and Palace was able to field a good 11 against a youthful Lao Hu side, whose starting 11′s average age seem to be half that of Palace’s.

The game started with Lao Hu using their speed and agility to move the ball around and across looking to penetrate any gaps in the Palace defense. Lao Hu dominated majority of the possession but could find no way through the well drilled and organised Palace team. They were restricted to the occasional long shots from outside the area, and tested Jason on 2 occassions, who pulled off first a brilliant diving save from a swerving dipping shot which bounced right in front of him. The 2nd on was equally as brilliant, saving from a first time shot by Lao Hu’s star midfielder as it threatened to dip right under the bar. It wasnt all one way traffic though as Palace threatened through the indomitable, undestructible Olly as he gave the Lao Hu centrebacks a very hard time. On a blistering Palace couterattack, Lee Russell managed to beat their centreback and goalkeeper only to see his shot hit the post.

The 2nd half was a diffferent story though as Lao Hu turned up the tempo as Palace started to show their age. However, Lao Hu’s very talented midfielders found it difficult to get past Palace’s gritty midfielders and anything that went through were either efficiently swept up by the defense or kept out by Peter’s ‘stylish’ sliding tackle technique. On the few occassions they managed to fashion up chances, they just could not find an answer to Jason ‘Great American Wall of China’, who sealed the draw for us with a point blank last minute save from 5 metres out.

So 0-0 was the final score, possibly the first time a Palace’s game ended without a goal being scored.

Following tradition, the guys (and a lady) proceeded to Luga’s where discussions were dominated not about the game, but about cheeses, sausages and milk? Nevertheless, MOTM was awarded to Jason Dorey for his goalkeeping heroics (after a close battle with Olly and Peter) while Lee Russell was voted Donkey (by a distance) for his involvement in ‘milf’ and ‘shoes’?? Lee sportingly downed a shot of milk, along with the B52 after that, to ‘celebrate our tie’

Aaron

Palace,

We have a league game this weekend, and a tough one!

We’ve managed to re-arrange a fixture so that we could play Lao Hu Inter this weekend in replacement on the originally fixture against Red stars.

This game is now scheduled for this Saturday, the 22nd of October, kick off is at 12 (noon), be at the pitch at 11:30am at the latest. Beware of the bad traffic on YaoJiaYuan Lu, take enough time to arrive on time, thanks.

So, who is available? Please answer ASAP

Patrick