Date
Saturday October 3, 2009.
Participants
Southern California Subbuteo Club Dominic Hutchinson, Simon Hutchinson, Wayne Smith
Lega Liga Odense Anders Bruhl Hansen, Jesper Staal Nielsen, Kristian Staal Nielsen
Former Singapore Lions now in Tucson, Arizona Ric Rivas, Seow Yin Rivas
Results
| Jesper Staal Nielsen | 3 | v | 1 | Dominic Hutchinson |
| Anders Bruhl Hansen | 4 | v | 0 | Ric Rivas (Mercy rule) |
| Simon Hutchinson | 4 | v | 0 | Seow Yin Rivas (Mercy rule) |
| Kristian Staal Nielsen | 4 | v | 0 | Wayne Smith (Mercy rule) |
| Dominic Hutchinson | 3 | v | 0 | Ric Rivas |
| Jesper Staal Nielsen | 4 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson (Mercy rule) |
| Anders Bruhl Hansen | 4 | v | 0 | Simon Hutchinson (Mercy rule) |
| Jesper Staal Nielsen | 2 | v | 1 | Wayne Smith |
| Anders Bruhl Hansen | 2 | v | 2 | Wayne Smith |
| Simon Hutchinson | 1 | v | 0 | Ric Rivas |
| Kristian Staal Nielsen | 3 | v | 2 | Simon Hutchinson |
Report
Why the name Carl Nielsen Memorial Challenge? The Danish composer Carl August Nielsen was born on June 9, 1865, in a small village to the south of the city of Odense. He died on October 3, 1931, 78 years prior to this event.
We welcomed three Danish guests from the Lega Liga Odense Subbuteo club, Anders Bruhl Hansen, Jesper Staal Nielsen, Kristian Staal Nielsen. And we were joined by former SCSC member Ric Rivas with his wife, Seow Yin. Ric had left the USA to emigrate to Singapore and marry Seow Yin in 2005. They moved back to the USA earlier this year and are living in Tucson, Arizona.
This event was named a "challenge" rather than tournament as we wanted to have as many people play each other from the different groups present, rather than have players play those they face on a regular basis.
Jesper Staal Nielsen 3 v Dominic Hutchinson 1
Dominic: A score of 3-1 was a good indicator for how the game played out.
Jesper has most of the offense and made about six shots. I had two shots,
one of which included a stranded goalie, of which the ball stopped on the line.
The second shot chipped his goalie.
Anders Bruhl Hansen 4 v Ric Rivas 0 (Mercy rule)
Ric: One of the fastest guys I ever played, I learned a lot. Rust
showed.
Simon Hutchinson 4 v Seow Yin Rivas 0 (Mercy rule)
Simon: It is always hard to play a beginner as when you help them you have
to tell that what you are going to do and encourage them to obstruct your move.
I did have several shots on goal that Seow Yin saved well. But the shots
that scored were good ones I can be proud of.
Kristian Staal Nielsen 4 v Wayne Smith 0 (Mercy rule)
Wayne: It was brutal.
Dominic Hutchinson 3 v Ric Rivas 0
Dominic: I deserved to win, surprised I only won 3-0.
Ric: I'm off my game, I did not have my heart in it. But Dom is
vastly improved. When the rust of off, watch out.
Jesper Staal Nielsen 4 v Simon Hutchinson 0 (Mercy rule)
Simon: His skills are so much better than mine. I had flashes of
good play, but his better skills overwhelmed me.
Anders Bruhl Hansen 4 v Simon Hutchinson 0 (Mercy rule)
Simon: It was so one sided I think it could be described as a massacre.
Anders is the best player I have ever played.
Jesper Staal Nielsen 2 v Wayne Smith 1
Wayne: I lost 2-1 after taking a 1-0 lead. We both played poorly.
I missed wide open goals and he consistently hit the wrong side of the ball.
Anders Bruhl Hansen 2 v Wayne Smith 2
Wayne: I played my best game of the three. I was still a bit lucky
to get the draw.
Simon Hutchinson 1 v Ric Rivas 0
Simon: A good goal. I could have done a lot better if I
concentrated. Fortunately Ric was as distracted as I was.
Ric: Still showing my rust. But one of the better games. At
least I got a corner.
Kristian Staal Nielsen 3 v Simon Hutchinson 2
Simon: At times I felt that Kristian relaxed and allowed me to score.
There were long periods of time which he attacked and I had to make a string of
great saves to keep this from being a repeat of the scoreline of my previous
games against the Danes.
At the end of the day the Lega Liga players were undefeated, having won seven of their eight games and tied the other. The Californians were reminded the difference in level between themselves and European opponents.