Once arriving at the hotel, we found that the hotel had no record of the booking, but this was quickly corrected by the staff and we were soon in our rooms. While most of us went to sleep, there were a few that most likely found their way into some good times that night… All of which i know nothing about.

Saturday morning!! We get to the pitch and everyone meets our joining squad and sees the new kits. Excitement is not enough to say what Kevin was feeling upon seeing the Purple Tottenham Away kits. As we take to the fields for our warm up, the announces notes to the rest of the tournament how organized and well disciplined we all are. As we laugh to ourselves, the other team all realize that we came to play!

The first game was not some of our best football but we push through and win 1-0 against the Tournament Hosts BKK German Allstars. Our second game,saw us play Farangutans FC, a bunch of hooligans who would prove to have drank too much the night before, and we ended the game 2-1 ( I think ).
The third game of the day saw us against rivals Olympique de Saigon, and as always they played well. Jordy somehow broke through our defense and was able to slide one past our keeper for our only goal against of the day…. In the second half we answered back, making it a 1-1 finish. Finally we played the German Allstars Singapore team, not much to write home about here, a nice way to end the day feeling good with a 3-0 win. This saw us at the top of our group, and going into Sunday as the top ranked team.

Saturday night like all things, started off so promising. We went and watched the Saigon Heat win against the BKK team, and went  to dinner in a couple groups. 1 of these groups went home after dinner, 1 did not. Im sure this worked out for everyone, including those who stayed in the lobby. But by the end of the night it was clear that we should have gone to bed earlier….

Sunday morning and Hotshots with a few less players than the day before, and some changes to the line up. These players were sorely missed. We started out the day playing the German Allstars team. They had qualified as the last team to stay in the cup competition by beating Raiders earlier in the morning. We played hard, but not good football really, and 1 kick from 35-40 yards was able to bounce and go over our goalie’s head. We were eliminated from a top finish just like that. Our second game saw us playing the Champions from both 2011 and 2010, we actually played football in this one, and ended up winning 3-1 against a team that also could have won again. Finally our last game and everyone had been well into drinking beers at this point. We played, went to penalty kicks and then ended up finishing 6th. Olympique ended up playing and beating the German Alsstars in the final 1-0, bringing the CUP to Saigon for what I believe is the first time ever!

That night we hit the town in style and I can say that I think we all had a good Sunday night and Monday morning. The team paid for dinner for the team, Kevin passed out in the taxi on the way there, and might be legally married to a “shexy lady boy” now. After dinner some of found Insomnia, and met with players from other teams, before meeting lots and lots more “shexy ladies”. McDonalds was key in helping hangovers, and lots of water was in order for most of us for at least the next 24 hours. Making the trip back is never as fun, and work was the last thing we all wanted to do on Tuesday, but I am sure we will be back next year. This truly is one of the best organized tournaments in Asia!

Thanks again to everyone that was able to join this tournament and team outing. I think everyone had a great time and hopefully next year we will take the Cup home!

A few special mentions to:

Kevin – took Goal Scorer of the Tournament, 4 goals.
Ryan – Fell through the bleachers and busted up his ankle.
Philipe – Scored a nice bender!
Laurent – Will be practicing penalties for a bit
Paul – Did a great job in D all weekend!
Justin – Did a great job getting girls.
Loic – Is the most in shape person for his age on our team!
Raph – Eats more food than anyone I know.
Antoine – Is the most in shape person to hurt himself in the first game.

All in all a great time, and great effort by all players on and off the pitch!!! Really good work for our first tournament!!!

Our Sponsor and Anatolia BKK for helping make it happen.

Looking forward to seeing our full team in Cambodia at the beginning of June for the Bayon Tournament!

I also have not have a chance yet, but I should have some footage from the tournament. I will try to do a little editing this weekend, time permitting.

See everyone Sunday!!!

NTV scored first after a nice pass through from the Japanese Midfielder who was awarded player of the year last season. The second goal from NTV, scored by the same number 9 was obviously offside but it was a warning for Saigon Hotshots that the offside trap would not work with those referees.

Despite being led 2-0 after just 15 minutes, Saigon Hotshots continued playing their passing game. We were also better in all challenges and more physical than our opponent.

Jordy scored his first of his three goal from a 20meter shot with an assist from Fred Martin. A few minutes later after a nice cross from Kevin, our younger player, Philippe smartly passed to Jordy who equalized before half time.

With 2-2 at half time, we were glad we came back and also had a couple of opportunities. NTV could also scored on free kicks as our defense did not let opponent any chances by playing deep and tackling though. Viet, our goalie, was also granted a great performance saving a powerful header of NTV’s japanese striker and numerous other saves staying concentrated all match long.

Our third goal came after a deviated shot from Miroslav. Jordy was following and scored a hat trick and reaching the 2nd rank in the best scorer ranking of the league with a total of 9 goals in 8 matches. Kevin Fox is the third in this ranking. Nice statistics behind the NTV’s Japanese striker who count the amazing 23 goals in 11 matches.

Leading the match 3-2, we were afraid conceding a goal so we did not produce good football anymore. It was mostly challenges and the referee needed to show some yellow cards on both side. However, Saigon Hotshots team spirit and eager to win this game had the most of our opponent and The Haou, Haou, Haou (should ask Yorro how to spell it?) sound of the victory could resonate in the whole district 9!

This victory brings us third in the league, 4 points behind the leader, NTV but with one game in hand.

HOTSHOTS ROCKS!!!!

The team probably played the best football they ever played since the beginning of the season. We almost did not see any technical mistakes except the one of Charly, repositioned center back, giving the first goal to Faustin Bartoli after 20minutes in the first half. Fitzie, Jordy and Kevin were controlling the midfield while Antoine brought some speed both offensively and defensively on the right wing.

As a matter of fact, the whole team including Philippe, Loic and Miroslav gave 200% for this match and nobody was ever tired of running. We had a couple of opportunities with some long shots from Jordy and Kevin but we finished the first half 1-0 down.

We started the second half with the same hunger than the first half. After a free kick on the left side from Jordy, Miroslav scored by a header for his first appearance and his first ball. The Chilean has been dangerous 2 or 3 other times.

This equalization gave us faith in winning this game. We fell like a draw was not enough at this moment of the game. Ten minutes later, Antoine passed the ball after a throw-in on a left side. With only 3 touches, Jordy gave space to himself for a long shot in the top corner of the net. Beautiful deserved goal and the sixth goal in six matches for the omnipresent midfielder.

The key moment of the match has been the two consecutive yellow cards for Kevin Fox who let us finish the game with only 10 players. Despite playing with 5 defenders the last 10 minutes, Olympique pushed and had 3 or 4 opportunities to score. Charly and Viet saved it but this is Thomas Thiebault who equalized by a header 5 minutes before the final whistle higher than anybody else after a corner kick.

Olympique even had the opportunity the win the game in the last minutes of the game but our goalie Viet was solid until the end which valued him the Man of The match award from our opponent.

The numerous spectators who attended the game enjoyed a lot the show as both team elevated their level of football pretty high. Finally a fair draw for both team who deserved to win.

The first 20 minutes were pretty difficult to us. OS was keeping the ball, pushing us, passing the ball as they wanted. We were not keeping our position, we were playing too deep and they were able to do nearly what they wanted to until they started to be tired. In these 20 first minutes, they had a lot of opportunities to score (hit the crossbar once, miss two face to face and two shots at a distance…)
Then, it was a little better. We started to play football, we were not loosing the ball after two or three passes and we managed to be dangerous a few times: Jordy face to face and Laurent shot. These were after simple passes play.

The second half was different. We started to play and to press them more. We were playing much more on the wings and that’s how we were the most dangerous. Even if we were doing mistakes (that we really need to change: bad controls, bad passes because of misunderstanding and non-communication), we were playing a little higher and keeping our position. We manage to score at the good time and then we tried our best to score a second one. Obviously, we wanted more and this is a great thing.

Take note that they did not play a lot this summer and it seems that it was only their second game. They will be much better next time and in better condition.

However, this team was maybe the best we have played against since the end of the season. It is maybe the reason why we had more difficulties also.

The rest of the game did not bring much more action but there was much better ball movement once the game started to stretch itself out. At the end of the game the score finished 2-0, with Hotshots taking a total of 14 shots, 9 on target. The Raiders were able to get off 4 shots, with 1 being on target.

Now with an undefeated streak of 10 games, Hotshots are focusing on preparation for the league’s start in October and are looking forward to what promises to be the biggest year of football for the SIFL.

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We are proud to have them as our sponsor and look forward to seeing them on new kits!

In the list of victims, Saigon Hotshots count 2 victories against NTV including a severe 6-2.
Yesterday, Kevin Fox was coming back after a foot injury and score 3 goals in an exciting match against a new comer in the League: “the fighting cocks”.
Indeed, We were leading the game 3-1 before ending the half time 3-3. After being down 5-3 20 minutes before the end, we continued to play good football until the end and won the game 6-5. Yorro, Charly and Jordy (penalty kick) have their name on the scoring list.

We are now 1 month from the beginning of the SIFL league where Saigon Hotshots will certainly be a serious contender. With the U18 back to training next week, the senior team is pretty much ready. Pretenders can however try their chance.