From Yang Yuan:

Squadlist – GK Weeyang (capt) RB Siusing LB Wenxiong CB Amin, Jeremy RM Vishal LM Terence DM Aaron AM Jiewei FW Edmund S Adrian. Subs N/A for 1^st half.

Pre-match teamtalk – Weeyang, Terence jus had morning training so fitness is in doubt. Amin is on loan from RIFC for e foreseeable future. Vishal is having another guest appearance for MPFC. Adrian is playing despite doubts on his ankle injury. Nallu is presumably sick, while Darius is injured. Firdy, Hithaya and Haris have religious commitments.

Opponents – SexBFC (excuse the pun) drew with them not long ago at MJ field. Rumour has it that a lethal opponent lurks amongst this otherwise ordinary outfit.

One week after Chelsea’s magnificent comeback win over puny Everton, Munjen Portugal did something quite as extraordinary as to comeback 3 times from behind to grab a well deserved point from SexBFC in what was a open and thrilling encounter from both teams.

MPFC, recently going through a rough patch after 2 successive defeats, yet again head into a match with 10 million substitutes. Nevertheless, MPFC started the encounter with a bang and soon took control of the match. With MPFC in the dricing seat in the first 10 mins, midfielders Jiewei, Terence and Vishal surged forward in search of the elusive opener.

Indeed, within a short time they conjured up a few decent passes and a resultant cross down at the right found a wide open Adrian in the penalty box with only the keeper to beat. However, Adrian’s first-time shot went blasting over the crossbar into row Z, with the opposition keeper totally beaten.

A few moments later, MPFC again surged forward from a brilliant counter-attack. Jiewei picked up the loose ball in midfield, looked up, and threaded a nice throughball to the yet again wide-open Adrian with acres of space to shoot. Probably the thought of how to celebrate the goal caused a moment of lapse of concentration and the keeper easily parried the shot. Hence, SexBFC survived the early MPFC onslaught.

The game’s temperament escalated after 18mins, despite the pouring rain, as Aaron awfully mistimed his tackle on an opponent and landed 7.487% of his studs on his ankles. A heated confrontation looks unavoidable but aaron sensibly apologized and the matter was resolved.

Then, disaster struck as an opposing defender, in an attempt to shoot down a harmless bird supporting MPFC on the rooftop, rammed the $80 Mikasa ball straight up. And there it was stuck in no man’s land to the horror of Wenxiong.match resumed using a replica ball of the opponents.

As superstitious footballers will tell you, its because of the change of ball that resulted the turning of the yellow tide against it, forcing MPFC on the back foot. This, coupled with some kind of a “dog-shit” luck in favour of SexBFC, they scored through a wonderful half-volley despite Amin’s best efforts to close down the shot. The shot looped over the defence into the left corner, and Weeyang didn’t even flinched.

The game enters a boring stalemate after that goal and errors from both teams were aplenty, since both are eager to not let in goals in the dying minutes of the first half. Nevertheless, MPFC gained from strength to strength and some nice work down at the right mid saw Vishal put up an excellent cross into the path of Adrian, only to find it halted by the devil’s hand of the defender. Referee of the day Mr. Invisible immediately blows to the penalty spot!

Adrian steps up to take the penalty by default despite strong challenges from the captain Weeyang. Maybe the pressure, both from the fans and the pouring rain, got the better of Adrian and despite his best efforts to place the shot into the right corner, the ball again went agonizingly wide off the post, and Mr. Invisible blows the whistlr for halftime.

Halftime teamtalk: Firdy, Haris, Hithayaarrives from the mosques after Friday prayers, though they were still late 15mins from their scheduled time of arrival. Firdy’s excuse was that the cleric complained about a stomachache and thus delayed prayers for 15mins, resulting in their latecoming. Individual reports on this incident has been tendered to the MPFC BOD to be further evaluated, to confirm whether disciplinary actions will be taken on these players. Substitution: Haris, Firdy, Hithaya for Edmund, Aaron, Siusing.

The introduction of the malays brought some much needed flair into the MPFC midfield and Firdy was busy threading throughpasses to the strikers and Hithaya was literally manhandling his puny opponents.

After some early pressure again by MPFC, a corner resulted, and the cross glided towards the far post. It looked a certain equalizer as it ricochets off several legs before a defender kanchiong-spider-ishly cleared it to safety.

A counterattack quickly ensued and as midfielders were chasing back, a high ball from the right lobbed over the entire defence with Wenxiong the last man to head the back away to safety or to the keeper’s hands. Yet, in a moment of sheer madness, he did a 270degrees turn (exaggeration to boost newspaper sales) and struck the ball towards his own net. With such bizarre circumstances, Weeyang was again left nailed to the ground and any hopes of the ball, which bounced off the post, of reaching safety were dashed as it kindly landed on an opponent’s foot to guide it into the open net. 2-0 the score reads.

The deficit would have crushed the confidence of most teams, but not MPFC, as we came roaring back from the dead in search of vengeance. Yet again, it was due to some hard work plus flair play down at the right by Vishal that brought about MPFC’s equalizer.

He saw Adrian’s off-the-ball run through the midfield and chipped in an exquisite pass into the path of the striker, but yet again, some clumsy defending and a dangerous lunge force Mr. Invisible with no choice but to award a second penalty. After much debate, Weeyang chuffed away all challenge to his authority to the kick and confidently guided the ball into the middle with no mistake at all. 2-1, and GAME ON!

The rain stopped, and it was as though the heavens opened the way for MPFC to finally push for the equalizer. And indeed, in the 67^th min, a brilliant through ball from the midfield found the lively Harris, who exchanged a quick one-two with Adrian to find himself wideopen with only the keeper to beat. He made no mistake and calmly chipped the ball into the right corner. 2-2! And now MPFC looks set to accomplish what Chelsea did last week to win at 3-2…

… but unfortunately, it was dealt a sucker punch by the opponents, who like headless cockroaches who still manages to move about, took the lead again after another counterattack through the middle and another soft looking goal. 3-2 with only 10mins to play.

It does appear to look as if the quick succession of goals within 15mins is due to both team’s midfield’s reluctance to track back and defend and close down opposition. This is bound to result in some hairdrying treatment (much-needed due to the rain) from the gaffers of both teams.

Sub: Aaron for Amin, who played a solid match despite being on loan from rivals RIFC, and put his body in the line of fire many times. Kudos and gracias.

It wasn’t until late in the 86^th min that the elusive equalizer was found, by none other than the lethal Harris who intelligently eluded 2 defenders down at the right. The keeper came charging out to narrow the angle of a cross, but left his goal wide open and Harris neatly slotted the ball under the armpits of the keeper to finally level the score! 3-3! Will MPFC win it at the death?

Quite possibly, as Mr. Invisible waved away 2 last minute penalties, first when a vengeful defender charged down Adrian millimeters outside the penalty box, the other when a corner saw another clumsy defender knocking down Terence onto the ground with an elbow. The game ends in a stalemate but it was truly a down-to-the-wire match and the scoreline at 3-3 is pretty much justified.

Man of match: Harris for his brace.

Food watch: huh?

Verdict: well-needed scoring game for MPFC as strikers need to find the mark more often. Midfield needs to be more hardworking, and defenders have to be more composed.