London Titans Football Club

Dawn broke on Day 5 in Mexico and the highly anticipated clash for the Titans with San Francisco Spikes 1.

Having enjoyed ‘light refreshments’ with the Californians the evening prior, Los Titanos were aware that their team had a strong spirit (along with strong spirits) and a fair amount of footballing talent to boot.

Rolfy, Ollie and Coady also learnt a lot about their goalkeeper (!), information which was to prove totally salacious and utterly useless in the context of the match.

Another tournament started in Europe on Friday but all eyes were on the prize in southern Mexico City. This was the battle for 5th place.

By now most of Los Titanos had been staying in Mexico for a week and may well have relaxed their approach to the local delicacies, in hindsight a bad decision if the look of queasiness and general unease pervading the faces of half the squad was anything to go by.

Jardine was to return for this match following suspension and, after a self diagnosed broken finger ruled Luka out of goal, Beal stepped up hoping to fill the large frame of the goal.

The match started tentatively. Passing was rushed from both sides and chances were snatched at.

Amine had a snap shot, Jardine another half chance but nothing to seriously test their keeper. Half time creeped up upon us and, despite the presence of cameras at the match, there surely were little highlights to be had for Los Matchos y Dias.

Club manager, veteran attacker and Golden Sombrero joint leader Ed Connell rallied the troops. This was our last game, our last half and our last opportunity to prove to all the values and ethos of the Titans.

Ed’s words lifted us and the first 10 minutes of the second half were manic. Shortly after the start a through ball by Amine put Ollie on the attack with their defenders closing. His shot narrowly missed the near post corner.

More half chances presented themselves culminating in shots on goal, Los Titanos were on top and, most impressively, Chris King was on top, in defence.

The breakthrough was not to be found however, and shortly before the end of the match we had our best chance. A ball over the top from Beal bounced deceptively and Ollie ran on to it.

Their keeper sprinted out and the Titans striker lobbed the ball over him only to see the height judged perfectly but for it to veer wide.

Full time, hand shakes, congratulations. Penalties.

As you may recall, Los Titanos had lost on penalties the previous day to miss out on a spot in the Semi-Finals.

Titans Luka – scored
Spikes 1 – scored

Titans Beal – scored
Spikes 2 – hit the post

Titans Miller – scored
Spikes 3 – scored

Titans Ollie – scored
Spikes 4 – saved

5th place was secured, Los Titanos has finally won a shoot out at a major tournament, the crowd were going wild. Admittedly, the crowd were Argentinian and were singing songs for their team who were on next, but they were definitely going wild!

In the evening, the team headed to the Azteca stadium to watch the World Cup Qualifier between Mexico and Guyana.  The stadium is the 5th biggest in the world and made for a memorable occasion! (pic below!)

Day 6 is the final full day in Mexico for Los Titanos and in the evening we will be having our end of tour dinner where awards and presentations will be made. A full round up of the awards and highlights of the trip will be online tomorrow.

Adios chicos!