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It's been a very good week to start for Ssangyong United. We'll finish our post-season friendlies tour and then look at the three league wins to start out our season.

First of all, our home stand against Polish side Golnica Ryczywol went very well, with goals from Spencer Kenny and Rolland Cloud providing our American contingent some hopeful eyes as they edged 2-1 in front of our 990 boisterous fans. SUFC had less fortune away in Finland, where home team Tuonelan joutsen comfortably dispatched SUFC 2-0. The only win we got from that situation was the cash injection their 1869 fans offers our bank, after a spending spree that saw virtually half of the team changed out.

All in all, signs were positive as the team opened the season against Smasherz. An impressive crowd of 3,386 fans came from all around wherever the heck this middle-of-nowhere stadium happens to sit. And the home team did not disappoint, with goals coming oddly from our defenders to send Smasherz home, smashed 3-nil. Ruben Garay took home the plaudits after an impressive defensive display that helped keep the clean sheet, as well as earning an early goal that helped the team on their way.

A sterner test from Rowdies soon followed, having lost their first match to Agartha 4-nil. In front of their home fans, the team played more resiliently, but Ssangyong still managed to come out clean winners, after Rolland Cloud continued his post-season scoring habits with a brace before coming out in the 70th minute. The midfield battle raged on for the whole match, and even late, there were scoring chances for both sides, but it was a comfortable 2-nil win in the end.

Cleansheets were in demand as Ssangyong United returned home to face _insert_name_here_30536. Despite an opening draw, a 7-nil drubbing at home against Agartha (seems to be a pattern drawing here...) left the visitors in a tenuous state of mind. The fact that Ssangyong carved open the opposition three times in the opening 10 minutes was enough to put to ease the minds of any of the 3866 fans who came to watch. With the rest of the half put to rest with minimal opposition - the visitors hadn't registered any shots on goal - the second half started with Rolland Cloud earning the second goal of three on the night. Shortly thereafter, new German striker Kenny Roth earned his own second. In the end, Franklin Malveiro, Volker Krauss, and Sam Palmer all earned goals in what ended up a 8-nil goalfest. More critically, the home team managed to earn yet another crucial win without conceding a goal, to put Ssangyong United firmly in the top half of the table in second position, just behind Agartha on goal difference.

In between these matches, Ssangyong United played out some more friendly matches to continue to build up the team chemistry and test out the youngster's progress. They returned to Finland for another visit, this time facing against Pajatson Piste, and earning a nil-nil draw in the process. There were chances on both ends, but in the end, a draw was justified - more so for the defensive obstinancy that SUFC had displayed. A home match against French side Clermont Foot 63 ended in a narrow 1-nil victory after Milan Miso converted a penalty. The visitors were remarkably profligate in front of goal, while SUFC were surprisingly efficient on possession. Unfortunately, both sides showed a rather rough display, with both teams ending the match with 10 men. Another home match against Serbian side F.K. Šećeranac Ada ended in a nil-nil draw, even though Ventzislav Minchev had the opportunity to steal the win from the penalty, only for the opposition keeper to parry the ball off the crossbar. There will be another opportunity for Ssangyong United to see F.K. Šećeranac Ada, with another scheduled match away in Serbia set for next weekend.

Other matches in our future include league fixtures away against South Sounders 1990, at home against _insert_name_here_58395, and away against ob thunder. Also scheduled are friendlies against Austrian club Priekulu and Slovakian side FC Barka, both at home.

In other news, we'd like to thank our supporters for their vociferous support. Unfortunately, we're going to have to ask all of our supporters to avoid using vuvuzelas in the short term future, considering as one of our neighboring beehives complained that the noise was disrupting their activities. Additionally, the number of bricks we're collecting from aggravated tourists and commuters is becoming so large that we'll soon have enough to start building a new stand (if we had the money for it).

Next week, we'll have an exclusive interview with Rolland Cloud following the match against South Sounders 1990.

SUFC PressKorps

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