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Post by hedges on Sept 15, 2015 22:53:14 GMT
So I know its not all your cups of tea but thought its worth a mention.... Oxford City Lions beat Baku in the opening league game of the 2015/2016 futsal season at berinsfield on Sunday 3 - 2. To put this into some kind of perspective...Baku are bankrolled by a bunch of Russian millionaires and are based at one of the indoor arenas at the Olympic Park....no cheap venue....and pay their (mainly top grade) players more money than any other team in England can pay by a significant margin, they are also the only full time futsal team in England....think Man City or Chelsea x2. Until Sunday Baku had not lost a game against an English based team for 3 seasons and have simply cleaned up in every Futsal competition this country can offer for those seasons. City went in at half time having been dominated and 2-0 down seemingly written off. However they came out in the second half and put in a marvellous performance to pull it back to 2 - 2 before scoring a 3rd with just seconds remaining on the clock making it 3 - 2 at full time. Clearly the Russians don't like being beaten and instantly sacked there manager for losing ONE GAME IN 3 YEARS!!...  Anyway I think the achievement is worth a mention and ill now consider this the 2015/16 Futsal thread. |
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Post by exile on Sept 16, 2015 7:17:45 GMT
Great report, Hedges, and a good reminder of just how far the Lions have progressed. They are great ambassadors for the Oxford City brand!
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Post by hedges on Sept 17, 2015 8:25:44 GMT
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Post by Rijs on Sept 17, 2015 20:12:00 GMT
Amazing! Thank you for letting us know. What a great start to the season for more than one City side!
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Post by hedges on Sept 20, 2015 18:28:22 GMT
The Futsal Team won again today beating London United 4 - 1 in London.
No game next week, so The L:ions are up against west London Futsal away at Brunel University Uxbridge on the 4th October. One im contemplating getting to since im not going to Chelmsford.
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Post by hedges on Oct 4, 2015 19:31:32 GMT
Oxford's great start to the season continues with a comprehensive 7 - 2 victory over West London Futsal.
I believe we have a full house with the 1st team, nomads, nomads dev and futsal team all having comprehensive victories over the weekend.... great time to be a city fan.
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Post by hedges on Nov 2, 2015 0:20:15 GMT
Oxford City Lions have made it 4 out of 4 wins now after Comprehensively beating Reading Futsal Club.
Final score was 12 - 4 this afternoon at the City Indoor arena.....could have been a hatful more as City hit the Bar and Post another 4 or 5 times.
First time ive seen the lions this season and they looked quicker,sharper, fitter than last season, though the opposition was poor and the Lions looked a class above, the previous results have suggested as much.
We now top the table on both points and goal difference by some margin.
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Post by hedges on Nov 8, 2015 16:48:04 GMT
The Lions roll on....This afternoon they beat Bristol City Futsal Club (A Tie in with BC football club) 10 - 6 away from home.
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Post by hedges on Dec 6, 2015 18:32:45 GMT
The futsal Team beat Genesis Futsal from London 7 - 1 today at home.
We went in 3 - 1 up at half time with Genesis not looking like a second from bottom team....Second half the first few minutes were evenly matched but a great shot from distance beat the genesis keeper at his near post from City opened the flood gates and we dominated from there. 3 incredible strikes including a volley from distance and some superb 1 touch quick passing to create the final two.
City now have a massive double header, home and away to 2nd placed team Helvecia Futsal Club, winning these two would put City in an extremily strong position at the top of the summit.
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Post by hedges on Dec 14, 2015 18:05:34 GMT
Following on from my Comment on the TAG thread.... Heres a Video of the Eric Abidal Foundation Charity event and U12 Internatioanl futsal Tournament that EG took an Oxford City U12 team too. 1:30 you see the famous hoops!  |
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Post by hedges on Dec 20, 2015 18:12:56 GMT
The Lions are also at it, losing their 100% Record away to London Based Helvecia Futsal Club 4 - 1 today.
As with the first team, hopefully a blip....and there next match is the home turnaround against Helvecia in January.Which has now become their game to define their season.
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Post by hedges on Jan 7, 2016 0:49:35 GMT
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Post by Mark Neal on Jan 10, 2016 18:51:35 GMT
Well done to the Fustal team who beat Helvecia 6-2. Felipe Barcelos on the Helvecia team i see.
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Post by hedges on Jan 10, 2016 19:31:32 GMT
Indeed! Was a great game but no means as easy as the scoreline suggests.
We dominated the first half going in at H/T 3 - 0 up and playing well, this included a penalty which was scored for a calumniation of fouls. However some handbags came out at the H/T whistle after a feisty first half. Helvecia came out and battered us for the first 5mins of the 2nd half and scoring two goals in quick succession, Barcelos scoring after a break away goal and slick side foot into the net. Making it 3-2 and a tense 12mins or so which could have gone either way as both teams created chances, Helvecia having the best of those only to be thrawted by City's keeper.
As the second half moved on City finally made the break through to make it 4 before scoring another two in quick succession to wrap it up and see the rest of the game out.
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Post by hedges on Jan 18, 2016 0:44:02 GMT
The Futsal Team have unfortunately lost their place at the top of the table after losing 4-2 to Baku at the Copperbox arena today.
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Post by Mark Neal on Jan 18, 2016 12:47:04 GMT
When is there next game? Do they a have a game Sunday?
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Post by hedges on Jan 18, 2016 13:49:36 GMT
They have a game on Sunday 24th - 4pm kick-off
City Lions vs London United (5th in League)
OCFC Areana
Tower Road,
Berinsfield
OX10 7LN
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Post by Mark Neal on Jan 18, 2016 14:41:01 GMT
I have a free Sunday so plan to pop along and check it out.
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Post by hedges on Jan 24, 2016 13:00:10 GMT
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Post by Mark Neal on Jan 24, 2016 14:33:02 GMT
Thanks Hedges, was planning on popping along but something cropped up, will potentially watch a stream if i get chance. Good luck to the Lions!
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Post by Mark Neal on Jan 24, 2016 19:24:49 GMT
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Post by hedges on Jan 25, 2016 18:22:59 GMT
As the score line suggests Oxford were faster, stronger and all round more powerful than there London counterparts in this one. The first few minutes were quite slow, London looked like they were here to disrupt and try and contain City. Hanging back and defending deep allowing City to maintain possession and probe. This lasted for about 5 minutes (a long time in Futsal!) before City made the inevitable break through, swiftly followed by a second. As London then knew they had to move in onto the attack Oxford counter attacked at pace and were given what looked like quite a soft penalty midway through the first half which was cooly dispatched effectively putting the game beyond the visitors. Another two were added before half time making it 5-0 at the break. The hope amongst us watching the lads could really go on the rampage.
Sadly that didn't really happen as London upped there game and battled hard for a consolation through out. It took a red card for a London player (apparently for swearing at the ref) meaning they played 2 minutes a man down and city Capitalised, before the 7th came on a pacey Counter attack. Dispite London's determination in the 2nd half they never truly had a golden chance due to solid defending from city and the city keeper handled what he did have to do well.
All in all excellent performance and a clear sign City are on the up!
This result leaves City in Second as Baku beat Reading 9- 2 to go onto 27 point, City currently have 24 and Helvecia have 18 with two games in hand before a large gap down to 4th.
Losing to Baku in any form is certainly nothing to be ashamed of, they are currently ranked in the top 20 futsal teams in the whole of Europe...the fact we have beaten them once and given them a very hard game this season is a good measuring stick to how much the team is improving.
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Post by hedges on Feb 10, 2016 14:13:04 GMT
The Lions have been drawn at Home to face FS Salisbury or Birmingham Tigers in the 2nd Round of the Futsal Cup...
(The Futsal equivalent of the FA Cup)
The Lions had a bye in the 1st round. Birmingham Tigers play in at the same level as City in the Northern Division and currently sit 4th in the league.
FS Salisbury play in Division 2 South and are 7th in their division.
Oxford Futsal (Who are also now based at Berinsfield and has several City and Nomads players playing for them) have been drawn away to Coventry Futsal Club.
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Post by hedges on Feb 14, 2016 19:11:00 GMT
So yeah, just back from the Futsal and Oxford put in the best performance I have seen yet and frankly ran riot winning 11 - 0 against 4th placed West London.
London came, as most teams other than Baku and Helvecia do, to contain for the first half. Defend, defend, defend and try not to concede and London while riding their luck almost made it, it took over 15 mins of the 20 minute half to get the first goal as the London keeper was peppered time and time again but kept City out....we also hit the bar once and the post twice and as half time approached you began to think surely not one of those days....
However with just 4 minutes remaining in the half, City got a controversial kick-in which looked to come off a City player last but was given our way....London players surrounded the Ref causing an immediate chant of 'Are you Ebbsfleet in disguise'...this decision turned it as City scored from it. A low pass in to the box a step over dummy and the player behind drilled it home. City had a second a mere 20 seconds later and this was London's resistance broken.
London tried to push forward but lost the ball cheaply, Oxford players ran forward and a precision cross Hall pass was volleyed back across goal to be volleyed home....3 passes between 3 players and the ball never touched the ground!
London then spent the last 3 minutes playing Rush keeper. But city was just to quick on the break and scored another 3.
In 5 minutes City had scored 6 goals.
Second half was more a cruise, City playing simple possession football before hitting the trigger and launching a lighting attack scoring another 5.
With about 3 minutes remaining City played Rush keeper...which was a little head scratching, while the game wasn't in jeopardy we thought the clean sheet would have looked good.
I asked EG about the reason for that after the game and he said they haven't had a chance to play Rush keeper yet this season and felt they needed to try it and experiment before the finals day(s) and knock out football.
One thing I did notice was the team tackled hard....I mean very hard for futsal, slide tackles, use of the body to sheild the ball and even some pretty heavy shoulder barging going on. Possibly EG taking some lessons from the 1st team in that department and bringing them back into the Lions.
While the whole team played exceptionally a small shout out to Liam Palfreeman, he was immense today and put in the best performance ive seen yet from him.
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Post by hedges on Feb 21, 2016 9:46:54 GMT
Just thought id put this out there, The Lions are playing Reading Futsal Club away this afternoon. The game is not in Reading though its in High Wycombe at the Sports Centre just off the Handy Cross Roundabout. 4pm K/O On my Doorstep so im going along! |
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Post by Mark Neal on Feb 21, 2016 19:33:40 GMT
Reading Futsal 1-9 Oxford City Lions. Great win, look forward to Hedges report later. |
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Post by hedges on Feb 21, 2016 19:34:30 GMT
The Lions beat Reading 9 - 1 Away today but the dominating looking scoreline was harsh on Reading.
City were certainly not at their clinical best, passes were going astray and they didn't look quite as strong as they did against West London last weekend. Reading Defended resolutely for the first half and while failing to create any clear cut chances themselves seized on opportunities where mistakes from City had given the ball away. City however were also struggling to create clear cut chances and the two first half goals came from long shots rather than the short quick passing moves we've become used to.
Second half City tried upping the tempo and Reading responded, this allowed City more space and the good chances started to come. City finally made it 3 and that was the game.
Reading had put a lot into the game and due to fatigue were struggling for the last 8 minutes and it was this time that City was able to really turn it on and start scoring with virtually every attack, they scored their last 6 goals in this period.
The deserved Reading consolation came after a mistake from Oxfords reserve goal keeper and was well finished by the Reading Forward.
Today was a great demonstration of how strong the City squad is. Straight away you could see Reading only had 3 subs, City had 6, this meant City could rotate the entire team every 2 or 3 minutes which it massively advantageous especially if the subs are at the same level of quality or round about as the strongest 5!!
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Post by hedges on Mar 1, 2016 0:05:29 GMT
This coming weekend see's the penultimate fixture for the Lions Super league season and could be the weekend that defines their Season.
City take on bottom of the table Bristol City FC Futsal in their final home game, where a win would all but guarantee a place at Finals Day thanks to a +15 goal difference to league leaders Baku and +16 to 3rd place Helvecia who are 3 points behind City and have a game in hand.
Bristol Meanwhile have only one win to their name all season so there is nothing to suggest City won't win and complacency could turn out to be City's worst enemy. However Since Helevecia still have the game in hand and could challenge City's goal difference, I expect City will be focused on getting goals, goals and more goals.
Baku kick off against Helvecia immediately after the Lion's game which could confirm the championship.
If Helvecia, who's squad includes Filipe Barcelos beat the odds and overturn Baku, it would open the door for City to head into the Final game of the season against Genesis Futsal Club knowing a win will make them Super league South Champions and a much easier finals day in May awaits.
If Baku win then it depends on what Helvecia do with their game in hand as to where City stand and what they need to do in their final league game.
If you havent had a chance to Check out Futsal (and the arena), this weekend might be the game to get along to!!
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Post by hedges on Mar 6, 2016 20:15:10 GMT
Oxford City Lions mauled bottom of the table Bristol City FC Futsal 13 - 1 today.
Apart from the dominance in possession of the ball it could and perhaps should been more as Oxford hit the bar and post another 6 times throughout the piece.
City went in at half time 8 - 0 up and it continued in the same vain in the second half. Bristol consolation came after a rare badly placed pass turned over possession and there man broke and finished well past the Oxford Stopper.
The day didn't quite end all City though as the late kick-off saw top of the table Baku United play 3rd place Helvecia who drew 2 -2 at the London Copperbox arena. City now need a draw to confirm there spot at finals day and for Baku to slip up to become superleague champions south.
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Post by hedges on Mar 10, 2016 14:27:38 GMT
Ok so not for the first time Ive lead everyone up the garden path. Thanks to the changes in Structure before the start of the season the system is slightly different to how I understood it.
Basically Baku will probably finish first (though its not certain more on that in abit) City Second, Helvecia 3rd with either West London or Genesis 4th.
While the Winner will get the pride of being Champions of the south they don't automatically go through to finals day....an Amercan style play-off is played instead, as follows-
Winners of South vs 4th in North
Runners up South vs 3rd in North
3rd South vs 2nd North
4th vs North Winners
These games are played over 2 legs home and away and the 4 finalists go through to Finals day at st Georges. So that means there will be at least one more game at home for City as well as the Futsal Cup games .
Now onto Baku, there was a report in Spain yesterday that Baku United and dominant English champions had been dumped by there money men and were going to be wound up as early as yesterday afternoon. A Statement from Baku late last night confirmed a major sponsor had pulled the plug and the team will go through a transition period until the new sponsors come in.....sounding like new investment has already been lined up and they fully intend to see this season through.
On the ground however several big star players have been told to return to Spain and there head coach has Left. It all seems pretty much like Chaos and West London's chances of causing an upset will surely have increased dramatically.
Baku lets not Forget made history last season by being the first English based team to make it to the knockout stages of the UEFA Futsal Cup.....being knocked out by eventual winners, none other than FC Barcelona.
UEFA Ranked Baku as the 16th top team in Europe....which gives some indication of where City are and the incredible progress being made.
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