As we reach the twilight of the first League of Gypsies in Guangzhou, we were lucky enough to be presented with the official competition trophy, sculpted by Xu Hong Fei. The Trophy looks magnificent and will prove to be a fitting prize for the overall winners of the tournament every year. Also, with only two weeks of the competition still remaining, the time has come to select the top 34 players to take part in the 11-a-side all-star matches taking place after the final round of the league. The two teams will be randomly selected from the shortlist of players and will play in a competition with other teams from around Guangdong. The shortlist for the players selected will be released on Monday, 07/06/2010. You all still have one final chance to impress the selectors, so bring on your ‘A’ game.

Some surprises in the games this week, including the long-overdue first victory for Las Pistolas. It has been a huge struggle for the team, constantly putting in strong players and often linking up well, but without success. This time it was an altogether different story... a 9 – 0 win over The Jets, including a hat-trick for Kallo in only his second game for the club. Let’s hope they can get a couple more wins in their last two games.

Now onto the more balanced games, in terms of scoreline; The Tigers took on Pearl United in a very tense match on Pitch 2. The first half showed Pearl United to be very disorganised and confused. The Tigers took advantage of this fact and made four easy goals before the break. With a good motivational team-talk, Pearl United seem fully refreshed and focused on the task ahead and gave The Tigers a run for their money and a nerve-racking finish as the game ended-up 4 – 3.

The Final game on Pitch 3 also saw another ‘game-of-two-halves’ with scorelines being built and then reversed. The Jackals looked very strong at the beginning of their game against Auto – X. Some early goals seemed to put the win out of the reach of Auto – X, but as The Jackal were suffering from player suspensions and injuries, the Chinese-based team started to edge back into the competition with another three goals for their top scorer Guo Zi Nan. There were also two great goals for Hassan in that game, scored with great determination.

Another win for both Locomotive and The Lions as they try to catch up with the League leaders, The Jackals. Two more goals for Craig, as he looks to secure his place in the all-star competition, and a great first-half strike from defender Andrey helped Locomotive to a 5 – 1 win over The Colts. The Lions played a very tough game against The Eagles that finished 4 – 3. The Eagles put up a strong defensive team to counter-act the power of The Lions, and also had some great chances to level the game, but the kings of the jungle prevailed in the end.

The final game to discuss was the match between Dynamite and The Wolves. The Wolves put in a solid performance against Dynamite. The early goal from Patrick for Dynamite was the spark that spurred The Wolves on to their sixth victory of the competition, with two fast goals from their nippy attacker, Gong. Congratulations to all the winners and commiserations to all others.

This week’s games are without problem, cancellation or postponement. So see you all on Sunday...

Thank you

Simon Cormack

Manager, League of Gypsies