February 3, 2013

Hi Guys,

Today's match versus Huiwen was one of the better games we've played recently in many ways. Not only did the competition provide just the kind of tough game we needed but we also rose to the challenge and played some great football.

Huiwen showed up with just about 11-12 guys, apparently their "A" side, perhaps preparing for some upcoming tournament. About five minutes into the match, they scored first on a lucky shot from the right. However, Cesar equalized at 9:30 minutes. The score remained tied until the 36-minute mark when Lukas jumped on a ball put across the net by Ben and headed it in.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, the final outcome of the game seemed anything but certain with Huiwen putting a tremendous amount of pressure on Compass, which had to keep scrambling to keep them out of our net. Things began to change, however, at the 69th minute, when Cesar did a nice heel flick to Ben, who then flicked it back to Cesar, who when right down the middle to score his second goal. A mere 45 seconds later, Lukas went down the left and gave to Cesar, who wrapped up a hat trick (his second in a week!).

Despite this sudden setback, Huiwen continued to pressure and were rewarded with a goal at 75 minutes off a nice outside shot that arced just under our crossbar. Three minutes later Chris put a cross to Lukas, who scored his second header of the day. Chris got his own goal at the 84th minute on a flick from Cesar. A minute from the closing whistle, Huiwen had the final goal of the match on a nice corner kick that curled into the far side of our net, leaving the score 6-3.

Compass played much better football this week, with more precise short passing, control and possession, combined with aggressive physical play. As someone noted afterwards, today's level of performance would sink most of our opponents, including the Tubbies.

Beyond all that, it was great to see Benoit today, who joined an injured Caleb and other Compass supporters on the sidelines to cheer us on. We fully to see you back in Taichung fairly soon, Benoit!

Best wishes to all of you for a enjoyable vacation and start to the Year of the Snake!

Doug