This week's match report is brought to you by Sam "Diving-Gold-Medalist"Gozlan who runs harder-better-faster-stronger than you probably.

Ah, that time of year when we can stop complaining about the heat and start complaining about the cold. Wonderful isn't it?

What is for sure is that lots of players didn't look forward to that 9pm game on Randall's Island. Rumors started spreading that NY Greek Americans were purposely picking that time to weaken the opposition... Will this late game give the Greeks a mental edge? We were about to find out.

Back to the weather! As players were dressing up and debating if they should play with a hat and tracksuit, Nick, who was taking over gaffer (note: I've been learning so many British slang this year it's been incredible!) duty was making sure all players were accounted for and ready to fight. I'll answer the burning question now. Gary, the official NY International FC manager, was in India on a PR roadshow. Some say he hid a club sticker somewhere inside of the Taj Mahal.

Warmup was very important for that game as the cold was already threatening players' organisms. Jon, our captain for this game, led a clean session to get everyone going. Nick takes over. It's time for the announcement of the starting eleven. He explains to the team that it will be mostly the same lineup since the gaffer wants to reward the great performances of last week. With that out the way, and after our usual "1,2,3... Lions!" rallying cry, the players entered the pitch.

The first half started really strong from the men in Black and Gold. They confiscated the ball from the Greeks and went onwards pushing for an early goal. Plays on both wings led to a few opportunities from inside and outside the box but with no ability to conclude. Something was missing to score that first goal. Around the 10 minutes mark, Abdel could be seen struggling with his shoes. He asked Paul who was staying warm on the sidelines to get him his "green shoes"... ?‍♂‍ Paul's execution at the task was flawless, and while Abdel was making the swap, I was giving Abdel a small motivational boost. "Cut to the inside, cross are not working. You'll be scoring in the next 5 minutes." Of course he went on to prove me wrong in the best way possible. In the very next play on his wing, after receiving a sumptuous pass from midfielder Coco, Abdel beat his defender and puts a strong cross first post. Lucky us, one of NY Greek Americans defender hit that cross into his own net beautifully. 15' mark, 0-1 in favor of NY International FC. A few minutes later (21'), and against the run of play, the Greeks scored from a corner kick to level the score line. 1-1. The Lions kept their cool. Dominating the play and giving nothing to the opposition, they were able to easily move the ball from defense to midfield. Where it was harder was in the creative play to position themselves for shots. They kept making wrong decisions for the last pass or simply dribbling too much. "Release the ball!!!" could be heard shouted from the sidelines. On the defensive front, Davide was relentless, following his man very closely. At one point, he literally hunted down one of NY Greek Americans player and tackled three times in a row in his own half. Point made. Don't mess with the Davide. Back in the attack, the team's hard work paid off a few plays later when Kennedy, coming from his right wing position to provide more options, received the ball inside of the box after all of our attacking players touched it, to slot a nice curved precision shot pass the keeper. Right into the side netting. Goal! 1-2 for NYIntFC (33'). Nothing much after that, end of first half.

Second half. No substitutions to start. The Lions had a good talk. They all agreed they needed to simplify their game and move the ball up the field with less touches, especially in the attacking third. You could sense they wanted to push more and get that win! The Lions kept dominating, but couldn't score more goals. According to plan, Paul, Victor and Samuel sub in for Teddy, Kennedy and Abdel. Different players, same story. A lot of plays happening on both wings, Coco and Paul distributing to make it happen, but it doesn't want to go in. Mostly because of wrong decision in the last third. Simon comes in for Oz. At the 64' minute mark, not long after Rufus left Samuel and Simon ball less at second post, a nice combination on the left led to Paul scoring our third goal. 1-3! A few more substitutions happened on our side. Unfortunately, a drop in focus in the Lion's defensive line allowed the Greeks to put one back. After a misread from CB Lolo on one of their long ball to their attacker, a cross-shot pass our GK Alex who couldn't reach brought the suspense back. Goal for the Greeks! 2-3 (79'). With ten minutes remaining on the clock, Nick ordered to close shop and bring the win home with a set of very clear instructions to run the clock down by keeping possession. The team (mostly) complied and pocketed the win a few minutes later.

As always, we are learning with each game, and if more accurate in the box with the last pass, NY International FC would have for sure scored a few easy tap-in goals. This didn't have a big impact today as we won, but something to keep in mind and work on improving in future games. We can all agree, if we can score 4 in a half, things get much easier from there.

In summary, even if the score line would make you believe it was a contested match, it wasn't. The Lions were dominant all game, the whole team was concerned, and did enough on the pitch to get what they came for, the 3 points and the guarantee to stay at the top of the Metro division one more week.

Gary's MOTM (live watching from India) is Davide Giri: The Italian Stallion put in a stunning performance nullifying the opposition attacks time after time. Add in a dash of beautiful passing and you end up with the recipe for a fantastic man of the match performance.