Football - SIFL
Tuesday, 17 November 2009 02:11
Written by Tom Gurney

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The Manila tournament may have ended a week ago but the Shanghai International Football League's defenders seemed still hung over on Saturday. Seven games saw 36 goals in a day that left some SIFL managers wishing they had booked an extra week on Boracay's beaches.

Despite the flood of goals, defence remained very much on top in the weekend’s stand out fixture. The Azzuri were unable to be the first team to take all the points from the Puxi Lions, as the two teams shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw.

The result was capitalised upon by Japan FC who will celebrate their 15-year anniversary at the top of the table after turning over Oranje 5-2. Urbanatomy congratulates Shanghai’s fairest team and all of their players both past and present.

James Boyle was breathing a sigh of relief on Saturday evening as the Cosmos picked up their first points of the season, beating the Shanghai Vikings 3-2. Last year’s first division runner’s up were able to overturn a 1-0 half time deficit thanks to goals from Sam Russell and a brace from Jordan Campbell. The result leaves the Shanghai Vikings firmly planted at the foot of the table with zero points from their first five games.

Reunited recovered from losing last week’s battle of the Beavers by dispatching the Sauerkrauts 5-2. It was not all easy sailing however. Two first half goals from Mark Xiang put the Sauerkrauts in a seemingly unassailable lead at half time as the Germans looked to move to third place. But as the saying goes, never bet against a Becker, and so it was true. An inspired half-time team talk from Reunited’s manager Sebastian Becker fired up Reunited to pull off one of the come-backs of the season. A couple a piece from Adebowale and Lazarovicz put Reunited ahead whilst Milot put the icing on the cake of an improbable victory. Urbanatomy wishes a speedy recover to Pierre Marconnet who broke his leg in the game. Reunited will be hoping for more of a lucky break when they play the Voodoo this weekend in the weekend’s stand-out fixture.

The Voodoo were not to be outdone though. They saw off the challenge of promotion hopefuls Shanghai 2000 by 4 goals to 0, though Ned Kelly’s men had to dig deep to maintain their 100 percent start to the season. The absence of Jon Levitt at the back proved to be a blessing in disguise, as impressive performances from Mark Brett and Paul Gallagher in particular created the platform from which their the Voodoo were able to hit 2000 with some fine passing play. The woodwork, a slice of luck and some poor finishing ensured SIFL’s meanest defence was not breached while slick inter-play at the other end set up next weekend’s encounter nicely with Reunited.

Zhi Jun Zhang staked his claim for the SIFL’s golden boot award, smashing in four goals on Saturday and helping the Corean’s see off Long Tang 6-2. Goals from Hantao Ren and Chen Gang proved mere consolations for Long Tang, who were trailing 3-1 at half time.

Ian Lee became the Anzacs’ all time top scorer on Saturday as he grabbed two to help defeat the Crazy Turks 3-1. Connor Trendell put the icing on the cake as the Anzacs leap-frogged Shanghai 2000 into fourth place. The Crazy Turks remain second from bottom, just above the Voodoo Child who had a break from playing this weekend.

November 14 Results
Premiership
Azzuri 0 Puxi Lions 0
Shanghai Japan FC 5 - O’Mallyes Oranje FC 2
Shanghai Vikings 2 - Cosmos 3
 
First Division
Shanghai 2000 0 – Voodoo 4
Crazy Turks 1 – Anzacs 3
Shanghai Reunited 5 – Sauer Krauts – Die Zeite 2
Corea International 6 - Long Tang AFC 2

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