FCKL First Team head coach Keshika reviews the side’s performance as they pick up their eighth win of the season
We had to switch our game plan rather drastically as our goalkeeper informed us five minutes before our meet up time that he was unable to make it as he pulled his back muscle that morning. We had to come up with an alternative plan 20 minutes before kick off. Our centerback, Danyal who is 15 and plays for our U16 Eagles, volunteered to step in goal.
The First Team are a deliberately lean squad to ensure we focus on quality of training and players. Danyal going in goals, and us missing our goalkeeper left us with only one substitute. We had to quickly alter our game plan and went from 4–3–3 which is what we have used for the past year to 3–4– 3, a formation we have never played before. One thing that we really emphasised was that we wanted to maintain our playing style, our tempo despite the last minute formation and positional changes.
The First Team play 3 x 30 mins. Our captain Yusuf scored our first goal 10 minutes into the match. 4 minutes later, our goalkeeper, Danyal started our attack from the back and our midfielders Fatih, Ashraf and Nikhil played brilliant one twos through midfield, passed to our winger, Waliid, who provide a brilliant assist to Yusuf.
We ended the first third 4–0. We went into the second third wanting to try out new ideas. We have been working on one touch passing for the past couple of weeks as part of the technical portion of our training sessions. We wanted to test that out in the second third of this match. Fatih managed to get two goals through the one touch build up.
For our final third, we wanted to switch back to our usual style of play. Fatih and Yusuf managed to complete their Hattricks, Nikhil got close with a brace and Zak, one of our youngest players, stepped up from our u16 Eagles, scored a goal as well.
Our 10–1 win is a testament to the versatility of our players who have brilliantly adapted to numerous positions throughout the season as well as this new formation, at a moments notice. This, along with their mental strength has allowed them to consistently perform at the standards we demand in the face of some unique challenges faced this season. Every player in the squad should be proud of their sustained effort at training and in games to adapt and thrive in this league.
