Goal!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Full-Time Report

On a day when Manchester United was about to see through a shaky 3-1 victory over blue rivals City in their local derby, Munjen Portugal FC scrapped off a win of a similar scoreline over rivals RI team in a match that can be said to be a traditional derby.

Certainly, a repeat of the 9-2 win in our first meeting was the talk of local coffeeshops around going into the game. However, that was not about to be the outcome.

Pre-match concerns were immense. Salman is still serving international duty, while Darius, Siu Sing, and Haris have joined this growing 'players overseas' list. Darius, as stated earlier in the team's official blog, is on a much-needed holiday in Thailand. Haris is currently undergoing trials at the Shah Alam Stadium with Selangor FC, whereas Siu Sing is back in his homeland Hong Kong to receive the inaugural HKFA Young Player of the Year 2006 award. Congratulations, Siu Sing!

Meanwhile, Jiewei and Sanjay were unavailable for the match due to National Service call-up and injury respectively, whereas Adrian's absence was a last-minute shock to the team.

With our lethal striker out, destroyer Izzat was drafted in as striker by captain Weeyang in a surprise move.

Aaron reported late for the match, and as a result delayed the kick-off by an hour. His case would be brought up to the Board of Directors.

Starting Line-Up: Wee Yang (GK/Capt) Aaron (RB) Jeremy (CB) Von (CB) Hithaya (LB) Firdaus (RB) Nalu (CM) Wenxoing (CM) Terence (LB) Edmund (ST) Izzat (ST)

Substitute: N/A

Referee: Azharuddin (SINGAPORE) - he is Shamsul Maidin's younger brother, see the similar Din at the back?

The RI team in white kickstarted the match, and were soon in control of the game. MPFC, donning our familiar yellow, took some time to adjust to our new team line-up.

Both teams had an equal share of the early exchanges. MPFC got an early free kick just outside the penalty box, but Firdaus saw his shot disappointingly over the crossbar.

MPFC soon got the goal we needed to settle into the game. Left winger Terence showed some fine dribbling down the left flank, and passed on the ball to Hithaya. What later seemed to be a cross sailed mesmerisingly into goal. A sweet left foot strike!

The RI team soon pushed up their tempo, and it paid off with an equaliser. Some fine attack saw their shot rolling into goal. A last ditch dive by Von in an attempt to steer the ball away from goal only managed to see the ball seemingly rolling on the line.

The goal sparked off some controversy as the referee had earlier judged the ball not to have crossed the line. However, after some persistence from the opponent's fans and a very vocal makcik behind the goalpost, the referee awarded the goal to the RI team.

Some pressure in the six-yard box later by Edmund and Izzat saw the opposition goalkeeper Amin handling a back pass. The referee blew for a foul, and a free kick was awarded, in the penalty box.

Firdaus, Nalu and Edmund gathered over the ball, and a set-piece was planned out. Firdaus to lay, Nalu to shoot, and Edmund as decoy. The set-piece worked perfectly, Nalu striking the ball firmy into the back of the net, above the heads of the opponents, who had tried parking their team bus in goal.

RI team surged for an equaliser, especially through some great wing plays, and had several good chances. Our defence quartet of Aaron, Von, Jeremy and Hithaya stood firm seeing off the attacks, with Wenxiong, Nalu and the wingers assisting. A couple of defensive blunders nearly caused us to pay the price, but luck was on our side.

Both teams returned to their spots below the trees with the score 2-1 to MPFC.

The second half saw a switch in venue; both teams returning to the familiar pitch, home to the 9-2 trashing.

Only difference was that, this time, this pitch was under repair, and the goalposts were netless. A change is however, inevitable, as our time on the 'legal' pitch was up, no thanks to the late kick-off.

MPFC started out much stronger in the second half, and took control of the midfield, especially due to a notable emptiness in the opponent's midfield engine.

A quick throw-in by Izzat released Terence down the left flank, whose jinking run and cut-in was stopped abruptly by a crunching tackle in the six-yard box. The referee looked to the spot, and this time, it was a penalty.

Edmund stepped up, and blasted the ball into goal with sheer composure. 3-1 to MPFC.

The game was then interrupted by stadium (pitch) officials, who by then had caught us red-handed for illegally playing on that pitch. The pitch was actually under maintenance; and threatening to bill the damage done to us, they succeeded in getting us to abandon the field.

That wrapped up the game, with just 19 minutes into the second half. A 3-1 victory to MPFC, our second win on the trot!

-fir

11:57 PM