|
Hachioji Park, Saturday 5th September
Hachioji, or "Eight Princes," is near the spot where for hundreds of years the eldest offspring of the eight, great families of the Saitamic Shogunate would gather for plum-gathering and the friendly tests in the bushido arts. Centuries later football's finest from Mexico, England, Brazil, Ecuador, Ireland, Switzerland, the U.S., Japan and probably some other countries gathered there in a twisty battle to the draw between FC International and Hibs.
International are looking comfy in the 1st Division, they shocked BFC in 7's and beat up on co-promotees Zion in their first game. They also gave Hibs 2.0 all we could handle. The game was played at a zesty pace throughout, with both sides pushing forward and looking for the glory.
Hibs had a few good chances early, including a point-blank header from Tomo that he put over the top, but we couldn't find the net. Then International's speed came into play, they were zipping around and taking advantage of some disorganization on the green back line. Eventually one speedy forward broke loose on the left, pulled everyone over, and floated a nice cross to TML favorite Ono, who left Hitoshi no chance on his free header, 1-0. Int had several other chances but were stymied by Hitoshi and last-ditch defending, including one we cleared off the line.
In the second half the mighty Dave came back to help out on defense and it had an immediate result, we were able to beat off their attacks and pour forward. We won numerous corners and came close to knocking a few in before Jay (!) got his head on one, 1-1. With a few great saves from Hitoshi we slowly got control of the game, the chances came but we couldn't put it away, the best was Eduardo's blast off a cleared corner, inches wide as time expired. So 1-1 it was, it left a bad taste for Hibs, but unfair it wasn't..
Report by Jay Alabaster
|
 |
