December-27-09 Lions Update

Between exhibitions, tournament, and league play, the FCW Lions have had no rest the past week and a half. In fact, just one day after Christmas, the team had three games! The hectic schedule has not been beneficial to the team or players, and the Royal Lions have had a mediocre start because of it.

The Royal Lions started the season 3-1-2. Here are the past week's league results:

12/22: L 2-1 Vs intermilania #20

12/23: L 4-3 @ Boondock Saints #9

12/24: D 1-1 @ Red Bandits #15

12/25: W 4-0 Vs Sonics #16

12/26: W 4-1 @ Football Club Vancouver #19

12/27: W 7-1 Vs Forest City #14

Winnipeg goal scorers for the week:

Trevion Collins - 7

Jeremain Kolk - 5

Gerald King - 3

Aescby Lorenço -2

Pemton Florent - 1

Herbert Hamner - 1

Brahim Dumets - 1

The Royal Lions struggled early on, which included a 2-1 lose to intermilania; intermilania's only win so far this season. Since the end of an intense World 90 Champions Tournament round robin schedule however, the Royal Lions have taken off. They have won their last three games outscoring their opponents by a margin of 15-2. It was a scary start, but the team is beginning to take form, and give hope to Winnipeg soccer fans.

"It was rough. Even our tournament games were rough at the beginning. We were doubling the opposing team's scoring opportunities and still getting out shot, and outscored. It was completely unacceptable." said team leader Trevion Collins.

"Last year's Canadian Champions had three losses. To lose your first two games, and one to a team like interm. Depressing." said Lorenço.

"I let my team down. We out-chanced them, they out-scored us." said sophomore goalkeeper Martha.

In other news, the FCW Lions have been knocked out of the World 90 Champions Tournament by putting up a sub-par round robin record of 2-0-4. If they had won their final game, they would have qualified to the quarterfinals, however they lost 3-1 to the NEAC squad. The FCW Lions won the previous year's tournament.

Kolk was available for comment on the matter "It was unfortunate, but it has been a whirlwind of emotion, we have had a very intense schedule and greet rest with accepting hands even if it means elimination. We wanted to move on, but we just couldn't get out of our rough patch in time."

One milestone worth noting as the season goes on is Trevion Collins's chase for 100 career goals. He currently has 96 career goals in 132 career games. In the current season, he leads his team and league with 7 goals in 6 games played.

Here is the FCW Lions schedule for the week of December 27th:

12/28: @ Renegades #5

12/29: Vs Ontario FC #11

12/30: @ Lambeth FC #2

12/31: Vs Futbol Club De Montreal #12

1/1: @ FC Bigfoot #4

1/2: Vs Cardinal FC #13

1/3: @ Warriors #18

Season 7 Preview

With Season 7 just around the corner, all the teams from World 90 are gearing up for what they hope to be a championship season. The FC Winnipeg Royal Lions are looking to be serious championship contenders in Canada this year, as they hope to bring home their first national championship. They also look forward to defending their World 90 Championship title in the second World 90 Champions Tournament.

Here is the Royal Lions' schedule for the tournament:

12/21: @ North Eastman Athletic Club (#8 Canada)
12/23: @ Great Plains FC (#7 USA)

12/24: @ Paisly Scorpions (#1 Scotland)

12/25: Vs Paisly Scorpions

12/26: Vs Great Plains FC

12/26: Vs North Eastman Athletic Club

Expect to see these off-season signings, highlighted by star midfielder Pemton Florent, on the team this season:

27 year old - Herbert Hamner (Canada) D - $216,000 p/y 1-year

30 year old - Dirk-Heijndrikse Dierckx (Netherlands) D - $150,000 p/y 1-year

27 year old - Pemton Florent (Canada) M - $460,000 p/y 1-year

27 year old - Gerald King (Canada) M - $350,000 p/y 1-year

25 year old - Midas Hardy (Netherlands) D - $90,000 p/y 3-year (Transfer from Hamlet FC for $50,000)

It was the first time the FCW Lions' players could be reached for comment since the end of last season. Here are the comments:

Trevion Collins: "I think we have high expectations for the team this year, more so than in previous years. We made a lot of key signings that will strengthen our midfield and defense. We brought in some key players such as Florent who will be able to command play, and quarterback us both offensively, and defensively at the same time. With that being said, I think we are ready for our first national championship."

Vibert Caravallo: "Some of us are going to be in a constant battle for starting positions. I played in 35 of the 38 games last year, and now I am projected to be on the bench for the first game. Other guys are in the same position and it is frustrating, but at the same time, it promotes a healthy competition between teammates."

Alex Stewart: "I'm in my fifth year of contract with the team and haven't played a game. **** it. They have made it clear I will be released at the end of the season. I only wanted to be part of professional soccer for the partying anyway."

"Alex said that?" questioned 19-year old keeper Boudewijn Martha. "I'm not surprised, I never even saw him at practice last year. The other 25 guys are all committed to excellence however, we hope to bring home a national championship, along with the World 90 championship in my sophomore season."

The pricing of free agents was a question both the owner and Sébastien Bruce were willing to tackle.

"I should have waited a couple of years before signing with anyone," said Bruce who is currently earning $88k p/y. "I've seen guys my caliber sign for upwards of $500k! It is crazy."

"We did pay one or two free agents this season more than we would have liked, but we had the money and we needed to get the deals done," stated owner Tute_Fruy. "The inflation in the market this off-season was tremendous."

Be sure to catch the FCW Lions when they kick off the regular season 12/22 Vs intermilania.

Season 6: Year in Review

Season 6 has been a rollercoaster for the players, staff, and fans of the FCW Lions. Last year the team made only one off-season acquisition due to the retainment of 25 of the 26 player maximum allowed on the roster. This acquisition was an 18 year old goalie from the Netherlands named Boudewijin Martha. It was an odd choice seeing as the club still had Phil Digby, who started 37 of the 38 games in each of the past three seasons. Martha became one of the most improved players in the entire world, as he improved from his original scouted rating of 50, to 59. He also managed to usurp the starting job from Digby starting in 33 of the team's 38 season games, including all exhibitions.

Still, many thought the Royal Lions would fall in the standings from the Season 5 fifth place finish, as the acquisition of a lone 18 year old goalie would not have much affect. They were wrong. The Royal Lions finished a franchise best 27-4-7 to capture their second runner-up placement in three years. They were led by veteran Trevion Collins who led World 90 in scoring with 33 goals in just 31 games. The Royal Lions finished second only to the powerhouse Boondock Saints who clinched their second championship with five games remaining in the season. Despite the champion already having been established, the last game of the season pitted the #1 Boondock Saints up against the #2 FCW Lions in a fun rivalry match. The Royal Lions came out with a 5-3 victory handing the Saints only their third loss all season.

If you think the season was already a great success let me enlighten you about the First Official World 90 Champions Tournament. The FCW Lions found themselves as a last minute replacement for a non-responsive Group A team. In the tournament of sixteen teams from all around World 90, the FCW Lions got off to a great start. They finished 3-2-1 in group play to clinch first place from Group A. In the quarterfinals they faced off against the Scottish champions, the Scorpions, winning (2-2, 3-2), to advance to the semis. In the semi-finals they went up against another Scottish team, Gibsha, and found victory again (1-1, 3-0). Next up: the finals.

The FCW Lions faced off against the #2 seed from the Netherlands, Hamlet FC. Hamlet was victorious in every game of the tournament except for two draws in group play. In the first half, the Royal Lions came out strong, taking a 3-0 lead at halftime. Two of the goals were provided by goal-scorer extraordinaire Collins, and one by his forward counterpart, Kolk. However, Hamlet came out flying in the second half, scoring three goals in fourteen minutes to tie the game 3-3. Not until Caravallo scored twice, striking first in the 70' minute, did the Royal Lions look strong again. Trevion Collins finished off his MVP season by getting the hat trick in the 90' minute of the game to lead his team to win the First Official World 90 Championship 6-3 over Hamlet.

Season 6 Results:
World 90 Canada - 27-4-7, +60, Second Place
World 90 Champions Tournament - 6-4-1, +12, Champions (6-3 Win @ Hamlet)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FC WINNIPEG ROYAL LIONS FOR WINNING THE SEASON 6 WORLD 90 CHAMPIONS TOURNAMENT