Football Fever

This week in Blue Class we have been in a Football Frenzy as we approach the World Cup. The children were put into groups and assigned a home city around the world. Each group then came up with a name for their football team and designed their kit. With a budget of £70m and a limit of 1500 player points, the groups then had to put together a squad of 15 players.

The groups designed and built their own football stadiums, which had to meet a given set of criteria.

Each day the groups had to put forward two teams, taking into account injured players, to compete in two matches. In each match, the team with the highest player points won.

On Wednesday the groups were given the opportunity to boost their teams with a transfer day. Corporate sponsorship gave them an extra £500,000 per win. Following the transfer window, an additional two games were played on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the children learnt how to write a match report. An example is shown below.

Berlin Bears V  London Lions Results.

No travelling was needed for the Berlin Bears when they had a match against London Lions right in their home, Berlin. They had a match which had the audience on the edge of their seats with a strong result of 2-0.

The crowd was buzzing as we started the match on a rather nice day with the sun shining brightly on the lime green rug within the stadium.

On 13 Gerrard started off through the middle getting at least 16 yards before the Wild Cats’ striker pulled in front of him, forcing to feed Noone his precious cargo.

All of a sudden Noone curled round Davies and nodded the ball successfully into the awaiting net. The spectators went wild, even the 272 from London.

After Michael Solmen shouted for play, this time London’s forward, Cattermole burst ahead passing back and forth with Campbell. Getting too close for comfort for the Growlers Campbell nodded it wide and a disappointed murmur spread across the crowd.

At the next whistle, the players gathered in the center for half time. After that the players trooped into the tunnels.

The long whistle signalled that they had to come out. Whitaker took the center pass and stabbed it straight to Shelvey, Shelvey received it even though  the wild cats’ midfielder Cole gave all his effort to block the pass. So Shelvey was off playing into the space on the right, dodging and sprinting, the ball always in front of him until Cole was back again sending in a slide-tackle within a whisker of Shelvey’s shin.

Despite that attack on the 78th minute Shelvey managed to screw his volley perfectly- Sczensay didn’t stand a chance. That sent the crowd wild- the Berlin Bears were in the lead! 2-0

Now with 3 minutes left in the game the Wild Cats’ center pass went to Jenidae however he only got 19 yards before the last whistle sounded. It was over.

The growlers won and celebration was in store!

by Naomi

By the end of the week, tensions were high as the top teams, Rio Mosaic and Paris Penguins battled it out for first place, while Brahman and The London Lions were trying to avoid relegation.

The final points score looked like this:

Match >	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
The London Lions	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Rio Mosaic	3	3	3	3	0	3	3	0	3	0	3	3	27
King Kong	0	0	3	3	0	3	3	3	3	0	0	0	18
Berlin Bears	3	0	0	3	3	3	3	3	0	0	3	3	24
Paris Penguins	0	3	0	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	0	0	24
Majestic Parrots	3	3	3	0	3	0	0	0	3	3	3	3	24
Brahman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	3	6

6-a-Side Football - Semi Finalists

This afternoon, on a beautiful winter's day, it was the turn of the football team to take part in the latest sporting competition.

Yet again the children's determination and efforts were evident as they battled their way to 2nd place in their group following a win, draw and a defeat in their three group matches. This meant that we qualified for a place in the last four against the winners of the other group, Wortham.

A strong and skillful Wortham side were given a tough test but ran out 2 - 0 winners to progress to the final.

However, all of the children should hold their heads up high. Amongst the 10 members of the squad there were 3 Year 4s, 5 Year 5s and 2 Year6s so the future is certainly bright. It was incredible to see how you have progressed both as individuals and as a team and you certainly entertained your supporters!

Worlingworth Football Tournament - Runners Up

Earlier today, Earl Soham took part (for the first time ever) in the Worlingworth Fete 5-a-side Football Tournament.

During a rather windy afternoon, victories were accomplished against Wilby (A and B), Dennington, Worlingworth and Easton. When added to a defeat against Bedfield, Earl Soham picked up a total of 15 points in qualifying, meaning that they progressed to the final.

In a very tense and hard-fought final, Easton ran out the victors with a 1 - 0 victory, courtesy of a fantastic strike. However, the Earl Soham boys can hold their heads high with a hard afternoon's work resulting in a thoroughly deserved silver medal.

I

Sizzling Summer Soccer

Earl Soham entertained their very welcome guests from Melton Primary School for two friendly football fixtures. With Earl Soham turning out in their new kit for the first time, the sun shining and an almost capacity crowd, a footballing feast was on the cards. 

Both matches were evenly contested with with the result against the first two teams on the pitch ending in a 

5 - 1 victory for Earl Soham, whilst the other match resulted in a 4 - 2 success for Melton.

Goalscorers in the first game were Ashwell with a very cool hat-trick, Austin (G) with a ferocious free-kick and Nesling (H) with a flick header. In the second game the goals were supplied by Norton with an absolute scorcher and Brinton, who was actually playing in goal!  

It was so nice to see two very different schools competing against each other in the right manner - well done to you all.

Ipswich Town v Derby County

This afternoon saw the final event of this year's school calendar... a trip to the football. There were a total of 20 in the Earl Soham party, in amongst an official attendance of 17,256.
Whilst it wasn't the most stimulating of matches, a 1 - 0 victory for the home side saw most fans go home happy. The goal, which came courtesy of Keith Andrews early in the second half, in many ways summed up the whole match...rather confused and unsure.
This is the 3rd match of the season that we have attended so far, witnessing 2 wins and a defeat very much in the style of one of the best westerns ever - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Ipswich Town v Reading

Twelve members of our school community attended the latest offering at Portman Road this afternoon. Whilst the tickets were exceptionally good value, the same cannot truly be said about the level of entertainment on offer. Although there were a total of five goals, unfortunately, only two were scored by the 'Tractor Boys'.It all started quite promisingly with Ipswich taking the lead in the 2nd half and then regaining the lead having conceded a rather soft equaliser. As the clocked merrily ticked its way into 'added on time' Reading hit the home side with, firstly ,another equaliser, and then the winner with just seconds remaining.
Still, football is a 'funny old game' so, who knows what is in store for the next school ticket special on 17th December against Derby? Ho hum!

Small Schools' Football Tournament

Two Earl Soham teams travelled to Stradbroke for the annual small schools' football tournament. It was a great achievement to be able to enter two teams for the first time ever and all involved should be rightly pleased with their efforts. One team managed to finish 6th (Played 7, Won 1, Drew 2, Lost 4) whilst the other tam finished 3rd (Won 4, Drew 1, Lost 2). Hopefully, this effort and commitment will continue on to next week's 7-a-side fixture at Melton

Ipswich Town 3 Brighton & Hove Albion 1

With a handful of Earl Sohamites taking advantage of the reduced admission prices for school groups, added to the recent good form of the 'Tractor Boys', spirits in the South Stand were quite high.
With weather more suited to cricket than football, the pitch was in need of much watering. In fact it reminded me of my own back garden in many ways, apart from the fact that there's not a mad long-haired lurcher 'scrabbing' it all up, neither is there a 9 year old whizzing around on her cycle speedway bike, a privet hedge or a large swing. In fact, that is probably one of the worst comparisons ever, but the heat can do funny things to a person's thinking!Brighton brought along a vociferous following who were clearly enjoying their day 'up North' as they described it. The early exchanges on the pitch were certainly more favourable to the home side, although the visitors were probably ahead in the singing stakes with their range of witty melodies. Half time saw the two teams return to the dressing rooms with the score exactly the same as it had been 45minutes previously.
The visitors took the lead early on in the 2nd half with a cracking goal from Vincente Rodriguez but, little did we know what to follow. In fact, some 20minutes later, Ipswich had turned the game on its head with an almost identical brilliant brace (alliteration!) from Michael Chopra and a powerful far-post header from Ibrahima Sonko.
It was a great afternoon's entertainment, with all Town fans leaving the ground with big smiles and plenty to talk about.
The next opportunity for cut-price tickets is Saturday 26th November against Reading.

Ipswich Town v Hull City

A handful of fans from Earl Soham saw a dull and dreary afternoon lit up by a promising Ipswich Town display. Unfortunately, despite taking the lead through Jason Scotland in the 58th minute, Ipswich were unable to hold on for all three points. With just five minutes left on the clock, Hull equalised with a very neat back-header by substitute Jay Simpson.

Like the weather, the half-time chips were soggy, but overall a fairly entertaining afternoon for the 19, 135 in attendance.

Schools' promotion tickets are next available for the Crystal Palace fixture on Saturday 9th April. It could be time for the masses of Earl Sohamites to witness a victory this season!

Small Schools' Football Tournament

Earl Soham made the journey to Stradbroke for the annual small schools' 6-a-side Football Tournament. The boys did themselves proud with sterling performances which saw them defeat Wilby 'B' 2 - 0, Worlingworth 2 - 0 and Thorndon 4 - 0. Their only defeat in qualifying came at the hands of Wetheringsett, 1 - 0.
Therefore, Earl Soham qualified for the semi-finals against Group B winners, Wilby 'A'. Playing against a school with a fantastic footballing tradition, Earl Soham put in their performance of the tournament, narrowly going down 1 - 0 in a scintillating match.
Boys, all of us who were there were so proud of you. You've come a long way over a short period of time - keep working hard at training!

Melton Football Tournament

Our gallant team took part in the Melton Football Tournament on Friday evening for the first ever time. Faced with some tough fixtures against much bigger schools, Earl soham remained unbeaten in their four group games, narrowly missing out on a semi-final appearance. On the hottest day of the year and against such opposition, this was a highly creditable performance.

We also excelled at reaching the summit of the climbing tower, eating burgers and winning prizes on the Tombola!

New Football Kit Inspires Victory!

Earl Soham took to the field looking resplendent in their fantastic new kit, courtesy of the Football Foundation.

It's been a hard few years for the footballers of Earl Soham, but following many hours of hard work on the training ground a victory in a league match was finally secured at 4.24pm on Thursday 29th April 2010. Earl Soham 2 Bedfield 1.

It was a determined all-round performance from all ten of the players who thoroughly deserved their victory in a close fought, but friendly game.

Children and their families from both schools should be delighted in how well everyone conducted themselves before, during and after the game.