Day -1 and -2 round-up
The Ipeland and Hutt River team have got off to a great start in the VII Summer Olympics, winning both their football games, which took place before the opening ceremony tomorrow.
Women's: Ipeland and Hutt River 3–0 Taeshan
Held on Day '-2' of the Olympics, which meant it was one of the first events to take place. It was a good start too, the amateur women, using a slightly unorthodox 3-2-5 formation, thumping the unnamed Taeshan team 3-0. The team's fantastic performance was helped by a great performance from striker Tia Harding, who scored two of the three Ipeland goals.
Ipeland held most of the possession in the game and had most of the chances. Well, most is a bit of an understatement. We had 21 shots while Taeshan had 3 so it was pretty much total domination. Straight from the kick-off it looked like the team would totally dominate, especially with the ball being in Taeshan's half for most of the first five minutes. The first goal was scored within those 5 minutes, Tia Harding just inside the D of the box hitting a thunderbolt over the Taeshan goalkeeper. It was a fantastic goal that was applauded by the sparse crowd. The first half finished with plenty more chances but no more goals. The second half was quiet for most. Our women seemed to lay off the attack, and let Taeshan have a few shots. They dominated the last 5 minutes of the half and attacked once more, scoring two more goals. Harding tapped in from a corner from defender Kochanski. Kochanski got a goal of her own with a accurately placed shot from inside the box.
Overall the game was pretty even until the last 15 minutes or so, where Ipeland tried to save themselves from an embarrassing draw against a team no-one in the country had ever heard of. As with Taeshan's women the players were unnamed. Tedoka got off to a flyer in the 4th minute after a flurry of chances, their no. 8 headed in from halfway inside the box from a poorly defended corner. Tedoka then doubled their lead on the half hour mark, with again some poor defending and a bad error by young goalkeeper Rogers Nelson, who was picked to start instead of Lister, leading to their No. 10 to tap into the empty net. It was a poor half for Ipeland who didn't take their chances.
Wholesale changes were needed for improvement in the second half. The manager made the maximum changes allowed at half time, putting Lister on for Nelson, Jacob on for Saunders and Ramses Niblick III on for Kryten. Theses changes made an immediate difference as Ipeland scored essentially straight from the kick-off, Ramses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Oops Where's My Thribble doing a fantastic solo run after dispossessing the opposing team's midfielder, dodging two defenders and chipping it over the goalkeeper. The other two Ipeland goals came from corners. The first came when The Cat tapped in from a Moore corner, and then Jacob managed to head the ball into the net in the last minute of the game, which managed to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win.