It’s 2 PM and the Vikings Cosmo team are meeting for their first match of the season. The weather is great, resembling a Scandinavian summer day, slightly raining and freezing cold at 24 degrees.

The newly appointed coach Dom starts off game day by running all players through our goals for this season, our values as Vikings players and the details for today’s match. After the pep-talk, everyone is very motivated and feel hyped to go out and get the first 3 points and set the trajectory for the season!

A strong team was selected, including two new young guns and one high jacked from the vets team, starting off the game in a standard 4-4-2.
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Whistle blows and both teams are off to a nervous start. Players are trying to get a feel for the wet pitch and more importantly their legs after a long holiday break away from anything remotely resembling physical activity.
It became clear from the first couple of long punts from the Swiss defence that they had one playmaker (#3) they looked to pass as often as possible, as well as one target man (#13) looking to out-pace our defence by long runs on their left wing.

When Vikings started to pick up the pace, chances immediately occurred. A very high pressure from the front six players led to interceptions that translated into plenty of good chances for the Vikings. Despite this, the many fans on the sidelines had to wait 30 minutes for the first chance to be converted - a well placed lob cross over both two defenders and a goalkeeper leaves Christian with a clear-cut header (pretty much in the goal line). Vikings up 1-0.

The second goal came shortly after: A good run from Lasse into the box and a layoff to Brian in front of goal meant for 2-0.

Even though Swiss had some very good runs from their wingers, keeper Dragsbeak was never really challenged. So to make things more interesting, he passed the ball short to Anders who fumbled the ball, leading to Swiss’ first shot on goal: 2-1…

Halftime

The Vikings continued to look like the better team after the break still piling on the high pressure on the Swiss defence. Amidst the many chances, Christian found himself with the ball in the Swiss box and took a strike. Well done, 3-1 Vikings.

After 15 minutes of play, Karl Martin was subbed on. It was clear that coach Dom sent him on the pitch with the mentality of testing the keeper because with his (most likely) first touch on the ball, he optimistically took a go at goal from an angle, 30 meters out, towards the back post. GOOOOOOOOAL! Definitely a goal of the season contender for Lord.

The morale was high and Vikings wanted even more, so the pressure was kept high and the pace even higher. Finally, striker Leslie was able to convert with a well-timed header to bring the game to its final score: 5-1.

A well fought match displaying fantastic team effort, also reflected in the many MoM mentions.

Thank you to Swiss FC for a well fought match, and thank you for everyone on the sideline for support.

Turf City

Match details

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Kickoff

Meet time

Instructions

Player of the match