Hoboken, June 15, 2019
The New York Dutch Lions FC All Star team played their annual game vs Central Park Soccer on Saturday June 15 at 7.30pm on Sinatra Park Soccer Field. The game ended in a 5-2 win for the All Stars after a 1-1 score at halftime.
Coaches John Rep and Foppe de Haan were very clear in their pre-game talk: “let the ball do the work, make the opponent chase the ball with a high speed of circulation”. With a midfield with Orlando Engelaar, Kenneth Perez and Theo Lucius and Olaf Lindenbergh, Patrick Paauwe or Hans van de Haar moving into midfield now and then, the All Stars had players to do exactly that. The All Stars were dominant from the beginning although Central Park Soccer probably had their best team in three years. After two early chances it was Michael Mols who opened the score in the 10thminute when Theo Lucius played a perfect ball into space on the left side. Mols cut back but then “lifted” the ball beautifully over the goalkeeper in the back corner: 1-0. The All Stars were in control of the midfield, but CPS’s defense marked very tight on Roy Makaay, Michael Mols and David Mendes da Silva. CPS started to play more long balls behind the All Star’s defense with some danger coming from the left side. This also resulted in CPS scoring the equalizer in the 20thminute: 1-1. The All Stars started pushing more and got several good chances but Lucius (2x), da Silva (1x) and Mols (1x) could not find the back of the net. CPS almost scored as well but their goal was called off side.
In the second half the All Stars got more space up front, which resulted in several goals. First it was Roy Makaay, who proved his nickname “Das Phantom” with goal in the box in the 50thminute after a turn and solid strike in the left corner. A few minutes later Kenneth Perez scored a nice goal penetrating in the box on the left side, receiving the ball from the right, cutting inside and placing the ball high in the left corner: 3-1. The All Stars did leave some bigger spaces open in the midfield giving CPS a chance to create numbers up front, but they were unable to score on a few breakaways. It was actually the Lions who scored two more goals, both very similar with substitute Erik Tammer coming into the game and showing his “nose for the goal” on two crosses (by Roy Makaay’s son Dani) beating his opponent: 4-1 and 5-1. In the last minutes of the game CPS was able to score their second goal, making the final score 5-2 for the All Stars.
Overall the best game by CPS in three years making it hard for the All Stars. But also another great night at the fantastic Sinatra Park Soccer Field in perfect conditions and with some outstanding soccer from time to time. After the game the teams got together (again) at the House of Que across from the field with live music.
Line up NYDL FC All Stars
Stefan Postma, Ferdi Vierklau (Mike Mossel, 40th), Hans van de Haar (Erik Tammer, 50th), Patrick Paauwe, Olaf Lindenbergh, Orlando Engelaar, Kenneth Perez, Theo Lucius, Michael Mols (Dani Makaay, 59th), Roy Makaay, David Mendes da Silva (Martijn Reuser)
Coaches: John Rep, Foppe de Haan
Weather: partly cloudy, 78F
