ARFC ends 2008 on top of league after double-header victories over FC Ventz

ARFC ensured that it will end 2008 at the top of the league (JUST LIKE LIVERPOOL) with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over FC Ventz, thereby completing double-header victories over the same team.

Playing in front of 99,999 fans at Xinmin Sec under the scorching heat of 39.99 degree celcius, the attendance was not ideal as only 12 warriors turned up since most as most were either injured during the last game or on "depression therapy" (aka holiday) to overcome the disapointment of the Lions in the Suzuki Cup, experiencing the Singapore Flyer incident as well as seeing Man Yoo winning the Club World Cup). However, all 12 warriors were determined to put on a great show to maintain its lead at the top, especially in front of the WAGS of Alvin (Irene), Elvis (Anna) and Guoxiong (Tracie), who chose to avoid the sale frenzy going on in Orchard and support their beaus.

ARFC started with his line-up:

GK - Jinzhong

RB - Guoxiong

CB - Elvis

CB - Toh

LB - Bernard

RM - Tong

CM - Soon

CM - Tjioe

LM - Hee

FW - Blackburn

FW - Alvin

Sub - Haron (chose to anlayse the game 1st before coming in, in other words, asking his team-mates to tire the opponents first before he plays)

ARFC started the game well with some neat passes around defence and midfield, however was a bit disapointing in the final third as either Alvin lack the support or Blackburn failing to hold onto the ball longer than was expected from him.

In the 9th min, Ventz nearly shocked the crowd when their tall and big Ang-moh striker took a venomous shot from the right side of the box, despite being double-marked, and was seemed to be going in, if not for the excellent and alert save of Jinzhong whom parried the ball away. World-class reflex that would have make Peter Schmeichel very proud!

Encouraged by the above moment, ARFC stepped up a gear in search of a goal but somehow could not penetrate the crowded backline of the opponent.

By the 29th min, the heat was slowly taking its toll on the players as some were seen slowing down or panting hard. Even the bald-headed referee who was a distant nephew of Pierlugi Collina, had to take a few seconds break by rushing to his bag at the side of the field, to find his suntan lotion and thereafter applying it on his clean shaven head, before resuming play amidst the giggles of the crowd.

To make matters worse, FC Ventz were busy making substitutions in freshening up their play as they intend to give each of their 18-man squad some time in the game. While ARFC had one only sub, which they finally used in the 39th min as Haron came in for the out-of-breath Tjioe. The tactical change saw Haron deployed as striker with Blackburn moving to RM and Tong covering the centre.

The above tactics somehow paid dividends, as ARFC grew more purposeful in attack. And from one of such relentless attacks made, they got their goal. With his back towards goal, Toh hooked the ball over everyone as he instinctively sent it into FC Ventz penalty area where Haron was lurking and the latter making no mistake, side-footing it past the goalkeeper with his left foot for his 132nd ARFC goal. 1-0!

ARFC nearly doubled their lead a minute later, when a dangerous cross from Blackburn into the penalty area nearly met Toh's diving header and Haron at the far side but alas it somehow missed everyone.

Thankfully for every ARFC warrior, the weather changed for the better in the 2nd half as it kicked off in a slight drizzle. FC Ventz got back into the game aggresively as they try to get the equalizing goal, making numerous tactical changes and countless substitutions. ARFC on the other hand, defended stoutly as they try to play their passing game and extend their lead through the soak and strike strategy ala inspiration from Vietnam. And they nearly got their reward when Haron's overhead kick from the right side of the goal missed the left post by a mere 0.99mm.

As the game wore on, the tired legs of ARFC warriors soon started to give way as one by one fell victims to cramps and other injuries. As there was only ONE substitution available, a lot of changes had to be made, thus somehow affecting ARFC's skillful play.

We even played with 10 men at one point of time with Tong and Toh suffering from cramps, Tjioe had abrasions on his left knee after falling off the pavement that was at the side of the field while Hee was boot-studded on his left knee by the opponent's clumsy defender. His shouts of pain could be heard almost 99 blocks away as it was thought that he would never play football again. However ...... miraculous of all recovery, Hee who was subsituted earlier, made his entrance a few minutes later and nearly made a dazzling goal with a virtuoso solo run from the halfway line. His pass to Alvin was however thwarted by the opponent's on-rushing defenders.

Nevertheless, ARFC never gave up and that 2nd goal finally came in the 90th minute as Alvin made amends from his earlier opportunity to slam the ball home in the penalty box for his 75th ARFC goal. 2-0 the final scoreline.

It was truly a hard-fought game won by all 12 deserving warriors out there today. Kudos and credits to all of them. I could not have asked for more contribution as they bravely withstood the opponent's attacks, the searing heat in the 1st half, did not succumb to their injuries without a fight and played intelligently when it mattered. It was a pity though that we only had 1 sub and missed a lot of our regular players.

While everyone had played their heart out, special praise has to go to Soon for another sterling MOM performance again. He ran when most of us has stopped and covered every blade of the grass even when he does not have to. His countless interventions in foiling the opponent's attack and control of the midfield was also stupenduous.

Now you may note why the numbers did not start or end with 7, and instead 9. It is simply because this report was penned by Haron (with very minimal editing)...

Cheers....

Father of Marco Mak is out of action!

Bad news to ARFC and extremely good news to the other teams in the League:

David Mak, father of Marco Mak and husband of Dora Mak, has been ruled out for at least 7 weeks after doctors at the famed Queenstown Polyclinic diagnosed that his 9th rib was cracked and 8th rib was almost cracked.

As a result of this injury, pl do not tell any jokes to David now as he cannot laugh since such movement would aggravate his injury.

However, he is still able to perform his "husbandry duty" though the pattern would be restricted to only missionary position and not any other patterns.

On behalf of ARFC, we wished him a speedy recovery.

ARFC in comfortable victory

Playing its 6th tournament match at the very poor pitch at West Spring SS again, ARFC crushed K-1-K FC 4-1 with an impressive display of team-work.

Needless to say, 77,777 fans packed the venue which caused residents to complain to the authorities. However, there is nothing much the authorities can do as they are also fans of ARFC!!!

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Mean-machine Hock
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

Anyone who took a look at our subs bench will surely shiver and beaten mentally. The subs are as follows:

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Reliable David
Hardworking Tong
Powerful Alvin
Speedy Hee


ARFC was determined to show that its draw with the same team was a fluke result. Hence, it was no surprise that the warriors came out firing, with Haron and Hock impressing.

In the 17th min, ARFC opened the scoring. Tong, who just came on for Tjioe 77 seconds earlier, threaded a superb through ball right into the heart of their defence. Haron dummied the ball and in came Hock who cut in from the right and steered the ball past their keeper with his left foot.

This goal was his 17th ARFC goal and most significant of all, it is ARFC’s 900th goal in its illustrious history!!!!!

Strangely enough, ARFC was tentative after scoring the first goal. David and Alvin then came on to replace Guoxiong and Blackburn respectively, with Guoxiong having twisted his problematic ankle on the uneven pitch.

In the 2nd half, Elvis came in at right-back with David switching to the left, replacing Bernard. Hee also came on for Haron.

Just 7 mins into the half, ARFC got its second goal, again courtesy of some good work by Hock who terrorized their left-back no end. He latched on to a high ball and nipped ahead of their defender who had no choice but to pull him back, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot.

Sebastian then stepped up to send their keeper the wrong way for his 61st ARFC goal. His reward for scoring? Been replaced by Tjioe immediately.

ARFC added its 3rd goal in the 57th min to effectively killed off the match. Blackburn’s precise corner from the right was met by the on-rushing Soon almost at the edge of their penalty box on the left. Soon connected with a world-class glancing header which flew over their keeper and into the top-right corner of the keeper’s side. Though there was a covering defender, he was unable to prevent Soon from scoring his 9th ARFC goal. 3-0

Edwin then came close but his superb curling free-kick was pushed over the bar by their keeper. From the corner, Toh nearly scored but their keeper again came to the rescue.

In the 77th min, Hee put the result beyond doubt. However, all the good work was done by Tjioe before that as his strength enabled him to muscle his way to the ball and side-footed the ball through the keeper’s legs. With the ball just 0.77 cm from the goal-line, Hee showed his famous speed as he almost came from nowhere to toe-poke the ball home for his 62nd ARFC goal. 4-0.

The opponent then pulled a goal back. 4-1

Sebastian then added more drama to the match when his poor back-pass was intercepted by their striker who rounded Jinzhong and shoot the ball towards the empty net. Sebastian, however, rolled back the good old days when he sprinted in and deflected the ball away for a corner. For the poor back-pass, he received a rollicking from Elvis.

This was a match where every warrior played to his ability. The ARFC defence of Edwin, Toh, Bernard, David, Guoxiong also put in yet another good show, with Edwin and Toh, and later on Elvis, particularly dominating at the heart of the defence. Of course, Hock was again the star performance, and also Alvin, Haron and Hee ensured that their defenders had a torrid time.

Special credit for the good attendance yet again.

The only negative point to emerge from this match is that ARFC paid a heavy price for this victory. David suffered a suspected crack ribs, Guoxiong had a twisted ankle and Jinzhong had a bad kick on his shins. David is confirmed out for this sunday, while Guoxiong and Jinzhong are doubtful.

Holiday greetings from ARFC

On behalf of ARFC, I would like to wish ARFC scoring legend Haron and his family and all our Muslim brothers a Selamat Hari Raya Haji....

Cheers....

Haron snatched late winner in 5th tournament match against RSM

Playing its 5th tournament match at the very poor pitch at West Spring SS, ARFC came from behind to snatch a last-grasp 2-1 victory over the impressive RSM.

Due to the Standard Chartered Marathon held early in the morning, Soon and Khim were missing, as were the usual 77,777 fans. Hence, only 7,777 fans turned up, including Haron’s wife, daughter and MIL. Guoxiong also made a speedy recovery to take his place as right-back.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh;
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Mean-machine Hock
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hardworking Tong
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron;


The subs bench reads who’s who as follows:

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Speedy Hee;
WO Jeffrey Neo;
Reliable David


ARFC started the match gingerly, due in large part to the really poor pitch where passing of the ball on the ground was extremely difficult. Also, the opponents, RSM, was quite a decent team, especially their right-winger who gave both Blackburn and Bernard a torrid time.

Indeed, their opening goal came after good work by the same right winger who broke into the box and Sebastian clumsily stuck out a foot and brought him down. The penalty was converted but nearly saved by Jinzhong.

In the 37th min, Hee came on to replace Alvin which proved to be an inspired substitution. Within mins of coming on, Hock chipped in a delicious ball over their defence, ala Glenn Hoddle, and in came Hee who chested the ball expertly ala Ryan Giggs, and sped clear ala Ryan Giggs. Obviously, their last defender had absolutely no chance of catching Hee who then clinically placed the ball home for his 61st ARFC goal. His goal also allowed him to over-take Sebastian as the top-5 scorer for ARFC. 1-1.

In the 2nd half, David, Jeffrey and Elvis came on to replace Blackburn, Tong and Toh respectively. Jeffrey continued his good performance at right-back and made many vital interceptions while David gave a calm and assured display at left-back. Sebastian, on the other hand, continued his sorry performance when he time and again sent the ball too near their keeper. As a result, he was substituted.

Both teams continued to press for the winning goal and both teams had chances.

The break-through finally arrived in the 87th min. Alvin, who improved in the 2nd half, broke down the left wing and powered past their defenders. Looking up, Alvin sent a cross in and eluded everyone. The ball landed at the feet of Sebastian, who had replaced the injured Jeffrey, who kept his cool and squared to the lurking Haron who without breaking his stride, proceeded to thump the ball past their keeper for his 131st ARFC goal!!

Sebastian was relieved to have atoned for his amateur mistake and Haron finally scored after missing several chances earlier in the match. Upon seeing the goal, Fiqah nearly dashed onto the field but was held back frantically by Su and her mother.

Mins later and nearing the end, David had a great chance to increase his ARFC tally of 23 goals. His first shot in the box was parried, Haron’s follow-up was also blocked, David followed up again and saw his shot saved and Haron’s effort was blocked yet again and eventually, the ball was cleared away for a corner.

For this match, it was very clear that the Man-of-the-Match is none other than Hock who gave a powerful display.

Special credit also for the good attendance yet again.

ARFC won 4-2 in friendly match at Tampines SAFRA

In a friendly match at the Tampines SAFRA pitch on 05 Dec 08, ARFC defeated a rather-youthful team 4-2 in front of 77,777 fans which included Su and Fiqah (Haron’s family) and Caren, Sebastian’s wife who finally lend her support after so many matches away due to tattoo aspirations.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Mean-machine Hock
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee;


The subs bench reads who’s who as follows:

Towering Toh;
Sublime Khim;
ARFC scoring legend Haron;
Hardman Tjioe;
Deadly Robin;
WO Jeffrey Neo

Clearly, the quality of the bench will send shivers down the spines of any opponents including the formidable clubs like Liverpool and Real Madrid.


ARFC immediately seized control and it would be a matter of time before ARFC open the scoring. True enough, the opening goal came in the 7th min. Hee was fouled and Sebastian played a quick one by chipping the ball over their right-back to Alvin. Alvin broke clear on the left and when their keeper charged out, he lofted the ball over him and it seemed that he would add to his 74 ARFC goals. However, Hock charged in and make sure of the goal as their defenders were chasing back and Hock simply rolled the ball into the net for his 16th ARFC goal. 1-0

7 mins after the goal, shouts of “ARFC!! ARFC!! ARFC!!” rang loudly down the pitch. It turned out that WO Jeffrey had made a long-awaited appearance and he had brought along his 7 platoons of army recruits to lend support and they were shouting war-cry which WO Neo had taught them.
Strangely enough, ARFC went soft after this goal and several golden chances were well-saved by their impressive keeper. On the 25th min mark, ARFC made 5 substitutions (except Jeffrey as he was still in his No. 4 uniform).

Half-time 1-0.

In the 2nd half, WO Neo made his appearance at right-back, replacing the injured Guoxiong who played on despite his ankle injury sustained just the night before.

Special credit must also be given to Jinzhong who also played despite a thigh injury.

In the space of 7 mins, ARFC conceded 2 goals and went 1-2 behind.


ARFC upped its tempo as the fans were getting frustrated with the insipid display.

The equalizer came into the 57th min. Haron, who had a great match, was fouled outside the box and Edwin shrugged aside Sebastian to execute a world-class bendign free-kick that even Beckham would be proud of. The ball was dropped and spilled and in came Khim, who learn from Hee, to poke the ball home before anyone could do so. It was Khim’s 36th ARFC goal. 2-2 now.

Not contented, ARFC went in search of the break-through goal and it came in the 77th min. Sebastian sent in a long high ball to Hee who was lurking in the box. Holding their defender off excellently, Hee spun and thumped the ball home for his 60th ARFC goal. The goal allowed him to go joint-5th with Sebastian in ARFC’s leading scorer chart.

The icing on the cake came on the stroke of half-time. Hock’s sizzling corner-kick was met emphatically by Edwin and despite their keeper getting a hand to the ball, was unable to prevent the ball from trickling in. It was Edwin’s 3rd ARFC goal and 2nd goal in successive match. 4-2.

All ARFC warriors played well and it was really difficult to single any warrior out as Man-of-the-Match. The exceptional warriors are Alvin, Elvis, Hock, Haron and Hee.

For this match, special mention must be given to the defenders, Toh, Elvis, Edwin, Bernard, Guoxiong, Blackburn, Jeffrey and Jinzhong for giving a stable display which allowed the midfielders and attackers to launch attacks without much worries. Defenders have a thankless job. Mistakes made by them usually ended in goals and they are made villains, whereas for midfielders and strikers, they can miss tonnes of chances and when any one of them scored the winning goal, they would be feted and accorded hero status.

The attendance for this match is also fantastic. Again, special credit must be given as no warrior was unhappy at the limited playing time due to the rotation to try and ensure all have somewhat equal playing time.

ARFC annihilated FC Corpus Christi 7-0

ARFC continued its red-hot form with a 7-0 annihilation of FC Corpus Christi in front of 77,777 fans including Su and Fiqah, Haron's gorgeous wife and lovely daughter respectively.

Those warriors present were:

Dependable Jinzhong, hard-running Guoxiong, astute-reading sweeper Elvis, uncompromising Edwin, reliable David, hard-working Tong, dynamic Soon, mean-machine Hock, hard-man Tjioe, powerful Alvin, speedy Hee, ARFC scoring legend Haron, unpredictable Blackburn and left-foot wizard Bernard.

In the 1st-half, Edwin opened the flood-gates with the 2nd-ever ARFC goal ala Sashikumar's goal in Tiger Cup final against Vietnam 98. Soon capped an outstanding performance with a ferocious drive for his 8th ARFC goal.

ARFC added 5 more goals in the 2nd half through Haron (2 goals), Blackburn (73rd ARFC), Hee (59th ARFC) and Alvin (74th ARFC).

Haron's 2 goals signalled to all and sundry that he is back to his scoring form and it seemed that everytime his wife and daughter were present, he would score.....He has now reached 130 ARFC goals.

Man-of-Match is without doubt Soon.

ARFC's top-10 goal scorers

Haron - 128
Alvin - 73
Blackburn - 72
Robin - 69
Sebastian - 60
Hee - 58
Jeffrey - 48
Tjioe - 44
Khim - 35
Toh - 27

ARFC posted easy 4-0 victory

In its 3rd tournament match played at the Bukit Timah pitch II in front of 77,777 fans, most of which are house-wives doing their shopping at Giant, ARFC finally showed its championship mettle with a easy 4-0 victory over Ventz FC.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Right-mid: Mean-machine Hock
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

Subs:

Reliable David;
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Versatile Kiat;
Left-foot wizard Bernard
Speedy Hee;

David made an interesting observation when prior to Hee’s late arrival, ARFC’s 4 subs are all capable and experienced defenders!!

ARFC wasted no time in seizing domination but their keeper came up with several world-class saves, including a late tip-over from Blackburn’s thunderous shot that was headed for the top corner.

With such clear domination, it was no surprise when ARFC opened the scoring in the 17th min. After some superb exchange of passes between Haron and Soon, Hock powered in and thumped a left-foot shot that their keeper could not see and simply picked the ball out of his net. This was Hock’s 1st goal in ARFC’s new jerseys and his 15th ARFC goal. 1-0.

ARFC kept up its relentless pressure and was soon rewarded with a 2nd goal. Sublime Khim was the scorer for his 35th ARFC goal. 2-0. The predominantly house-wives went crazy and repeatedly chanted Khim’s name for 7 full minutes.

In the 2nd half, Hee again showed the world his renowned speed when he scored the 3rd goal. He headed the ball upwards into the box and before anyone can react, Hee followed up with another header to beat their keeper for his 58th ARFC goal. With this goal, Hee was credited with an assist and a goal – something not even Robbie Keane, Pele and Maradona could do!!! 3-0

In the 67th min, David picked up the ball at right-back, advanced 7 metres, looked up and chipped in a delicious ball over the top for Alvin to run through. Their keeper charged out but kicked thin air, giving Alvin the simplest tap-in for his 73rd ARFC goal. With this goal, Alvin overtook Blackburn and officially became ARFC’s 2nd highest goal-scorer in its history!!!!

For this fear, Alvin has David to thank and Alvin has promised David 77 free taxi-rides for David, Dora and Marco EACH!!!!!

This was a match where every ARFC warrior played their hearts out and all did extremely well. I really can’t see who is the Man-of-Match, but Hock, Soon, Haron, Guoxiong and Toh really stood out.

Tong shines in 2-2 draw

Courtesy of 2 penalties from Sebastian, ARFC salvaged a 2-2 draw against Mammoet in its 2nd League match in front of 77,777 fans at Yio Chu Kang SS.

The venue was packed to the rafters after news filtered out that Towering Toh will be back after one month out of action through eye surgery. He has also turned down an offer from Melbourne Victory FC to continue to play for ARFC. Mean-machine Hock also made his 2nd appearance in ARFC’s new jerseys. Bernard also returned after missing the league opener.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Reliable David
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Hardworking Tong
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hard-running Guoxiong
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)


Subs:

Uncompromising Edwin;
ARFC scoring legend Haron;
Towering Toh;
Mean-machine Hock


Despite some nervy moments in the early stage, ARFC soon settled and dominated proceedings for about 30 mins. In the 7th min, Blackburn was fouled in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Elvis declined to take the penalty and upstepped Sebastian to send their keeper the wrong way for his 59th ARFC goal. 1-0.

Blackburn and Alvin were having a fantastic game with their pressing but Alvin squandered a couple of good chances. His replacement Haron came on to rapturous applause and created more havoc at their defence.

However, in a crazy period of 7 mins, ARFC somehow conceded 2 goals. 1-2.

Edwin and Toh came on to replace Elvis and Soon, with Tong moving into centre midfield.

In the second half, Hock was introduced at the expense of David who worked his lungs out on the right. With Hock’s entrance, ARFC created waves after waves of attack but could not put away the chances. Soon then took a heavy knock and was replaced by Hee.

With numbers thrown in attack, ARFC risked being exposed at the back and indeed was nearly punished on 2 occasions. Luckily, Jinzhong came up with 2 world-class saves to keep ARFC in the game. Edwin and Toh, ably assisted by Tong, also repelled many attacks by them.

ARFC finally equalized in the 67th min. A quick exchange of passes between Hock, Tong and Haron saw Haron displayed his deft footwork that eluded several defenders despite the tight space all the way in the box. He was brought down and Sebastian stepped up again to again send their keeper the wrong way for his 60th ARFC goal. 2-2.

ARFC continued to press hard but could not find the break-through and the final score remained 2-2.

Despite scoring 2 goals from the penalty spot by Sebastian, the real hero of the match has to be Tong for his excellent display at central midfield.

Sebastian apologises for rare outburst

In the post-match press conference, Sebastian apologised to the opponents, team-mates, fans and everybody for his rare outburst. He was merely trying to prevent the opponents from using "intimidating tac-tics" on his warriors. Nevertheless, it was still unbecoming of him to lose his temper during the match.

ARFC in hard-fought 2-2 draw in League opener

ARFC kicked off its league season with a hard-fought 2-2 draw against K-1-K FU at Anderson SS. As usual, 77,777 fans, including Elvis’ beau Anna, turned out to support ARFC. Top UOB Banker Boon also made a surprise appearance after his afternoon nap was disturbed by the whistle-blowing and shouts from both teams.

ARFC welcomed back Elvis and Jinzhong from their injuries. But the surprise of all surprises was when mean-machine Hock finally made his long-awaited appearance for ARFC in its new jerseys.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Uncompromising Edwin
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

Subs:

Influential Sebastian;
Speedy Hee;
Reliable David;
Versatile Kiat;
Mean-machine Hock


ARFC knew it was in for a tough match when the opponents stroked the ball around and impressed with their balls to their wingers. It took ARFC quite some time to settle down and it was clear that Tong was not match-fit due to his twisted back. Just 10 mins into play, he was replaced by Sebastian.

The opponents continued to penetrate down the flanks especially the right flank where Blackburn struggled against their much-younger and energetic winger. So it was no surprise when they scored their 2 goals with crosses from the left-flank and converted by their forwards. ARFC was down 0-2.

ARFC woke up and gradually found its feet and Khim combined well with Haron to carve out 2 good chances but shot narrowly wide.

7 mins before half-time, David came in for Guoxiong. David’s first contribution was to bring the ball upfield for about 27 metres ala Gary Stevens in his Everton and England days before threading the ball to Haron just outside the penalty box. Haron took a powerful shot which was spilled by their keeper and Alvin quickly followed up. In his haste, their sweeper cleared the ball but only succeeded in clearing the ball against Alvin’s out-stretched foot and the bal; trickled into the net. This was Alvin’s 72nd ARFC goal.

Hock and Kiat then came on for Tjioe and Elvis (injured) respectively.

Half-time 1-2. Hee replaced the ineffective Alvin as the forward.

ARFC’s misery worsened when Haron has to limp out with mins into the second half. Alvin came on and seemed determined to redeem himself after a poor first half.

Indeed, he almost did that when his excellent through ball had Soon facing their keeper alone but he scuffed his shot and their keeper easily saved.

By now and roared on by their fans, ARFC was fired up and went all out in search of the equalizing goal. It duly arrived in the 67th min. ARFC won a free-kick on the left which was taken by Sebastian. The opponents expected him to float the ball into the penalty area but he surprised all by laying the ball into Khim’s path. Killing the ball with his exquisite ball control, KHim spun around and unleashed the ball that sailed high over their stranded keeper and into the net for his 34th ARFC goal. This goal was also ARFC’s 880th goal since its inception and 130th goal in the year 2008.

Gaining in confidence, ARFC’s defence, now superbly marshaled by Edwin and ably supported by Kiat, Blackburn, Guoxiong and David, was giving them no space at all. Tjioe and Tong also provided strong screen in front of them.

ARFC could have won it at the dead. Hee, who had a great game, was fouled and Sebastian took a quick free-kick to Haron who only had to beat their last defender. With a drop of his shoulder, Haron side-stepped him but unfortunately placed his shot just a little bit too high. The whole stadia rose to their feet and you can hear their collective groans all the way from East Coast Park after the miss.

In all fairness, this draw was a fair result for both teams.

Left-foot wizard Bernard returns....

After his clinic sessions with Nakamura, left-foot wizard Bernard has returned as a better player. We expect him to deliver killer passes from set-pieces to other warriors this sunday.....

Hardworking Tong back in Singapore

We are sorry to hear that hardworking Tong has failed to land a deal with the Thai Farmers Bank even though he has impressed their selectors.

Rumours has it that his failure was NOT due to his footballing ability. Rather, the selectors were fearful that his vast popularity with the Thai babes would distract him further and his fitness (after many rounds with the babes) may be suspect.

Towering Toh on trial with Melbourne Victory FC

Courtesy of the fact that he is ARFC's highest-scoring defender, Towering Toh has attracted the attention of Melbourne Victory FC which has invited him for a trial till 28 Oct 08.

Currently, Melbourne Victory FC is topping the Australian A-League with 14 points from 7 matches, scoring 16 goals while conceding only 6.

We are confident that Towering Toh, given his proven pedigree, would be able to secure a permanent contract with them. We wish him all the best.....

ARFC in hard-fought 4-4 draw

Playing its 2nd match in 3 days, ARFC conceded a last-min goal to allow a very talented youth team to claw back a 4-4 draw at the magnificent artificial pitch at Tampines SAFRA. With the draw, ARFC maintained its unbeaten run at the venue.

As expected, Elvis was ruled out with a serious back injury sustained during last Sunday’s match. However, credit to him as he still turned up to support, as did Jinzhong and Elvis’ beau, Anna. Robin also made his rare appearance for ARFC.

Buoyed by last Sunday’s crushing victory, the usual 77,777 ARFC fans turned up despite the late kick-off at 9 pm, thereby causing the electronic car-park system at Tampines SAFRA to crash. Surprisingly, Boon, the UOB Banker who used to dominate ARFC’s right flank, turned up to support for the last 17 mins.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (guest keeper from Rendezvous FC)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Left-back: Speedy Hee
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Deadly Robin
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron

No subs for the match.


When play started, it soon became obvious that ARFC would be in for a tough night as the opponents, led by their fast and skilful Terence, posed big problems to ARFC with their swift passing movement and runs. Having said that, ARFC is not ARFC for nothing and soon began to match them pace for pace, movement for movement despite the vast age gap of about 10 years.

ARFC feel behind in the 17th min. 0-1.

ARFC tried to equalize but was really unlucky when firstly, Edwin’s superbly-taken free-kick from 27 metres struck the wood-work and bounced clear. 7 mins later, Haron was the unlucky one when his sweetly-struck volley hit the cross-bar. Really unlucky!!!

ARFC, however, was not to be denied in the 37th min. Winning a free-kick near the centre circle, Sebastian took a quick one by chipping over their defence for Alvin to run through and beat their keeper for his 69th ARFC goal, thereby equaling Robin’s record which had previously been eclipsed by Haron and Blackburn.
Just seconds before the half-time, Khim delivered yet another sublime diagonal ball all the way from his left flank to Haron who had made a run down the right side. Bringing the ball down, Haron was not to be denied and volleyed the ball home for his 128th ARFC goal. His goal had the crowd to their feet who was still amazed by his goal-scoring instinct. 2-1.

The opponents equalized 7 mins after the re-start. 2-2.

Though tiring, ARFC continued to press for their 3rd goal and it duly arrived in the 57th min courtesy of an amateur mistake by their left-back who cleared the ball straight to Alvin who was inside the penalty box. Taking up such generous invitation, Alvin easily side-footed the ball home for his 70th ARFC goal and moved up to 3rd highest goal-scorer in ARFC’s history, after Haron and Blackburn.

ARFC got its 4th goal in the 67th min. Blackburn was the architect when he played a quick ball to Alvin who was lurking inside the box. The opponents were still dreaming but Blackburn did not ask for the wall. Alvin appeared to have lost control of the ball but his softest of touch managed to fool their keeper and the ball trickled into the net at a speed of 7 mm/hour. 4-2 now and it was Alvin’s 9th ARFC hat-trick, equaling Haron’s record but still behind Robin’s record of 10 hat-tricks.

It was after going 4-2 up that Blackburn was up to his usual antics again and began wondering about and neglected his defensive duty and position and thereby causing huge confusion for the midfield pairing of Sebastian and Soon.

A mistake by Sebastian resulted in their 3rd goal. 3-4.

With seconds remaining, their play-maker Terence scored the equalizer. 4-4.

Though ARFC should have won the match, it was no shame that it ended in a 4-4 draw. The opponents were full of running and skills and in fact, the organizer had actually predicted that ARFC would be thrashed by them as they had not been beaten at Tampines SAFRA. Their player, Terence, was one of the best, if not the best, social player that I have seen for a long, long time. In fact, the organizer said these words to me about Terence:

“Many players can’t even chase his shadows and many players had tried to fight and kick him off the park but he still came back for more with his dribbling……”

All 10 ARFC warriors (excluding keeper) deserved special mention for their commendable efforts in the match, especially for those who were limping and yet still soldiered on. My Man-of-the-Match has to be Guoxiong for his fabulous defensive work and several forays unfront.

ARFC cruised past OVA

In scenes unseen since the Malaysian Cup days in the 80s, jam were seen stretching all the way from Marine Parade Road/Siglap Link till ECP (near Rochor Road exit) and huge crowds were observed to be rushing to Victoria Sch at Siglap Link since 1300 hrs yesterday. The reason? The return of ARFC Scoring Legend Haron after his one-month puasa.

Indeed, 2 hours before the kick-off time at 4 pm, 77,777 fans were already in the school compound jostling for the best seats in the house. Of course, the fans included Anna (Elvis beau), Tracie (Guoxiong’s beau), Brenda and Dylan (Khim’s lovely wife and cute son). Credit must also be given to Jinzhong, out with ankle problem suffered during a basketball session with Kobe Bryant last Saturday night, who turned up despite his injury to lend his full support.

About 27,777 others were either on their way or locked out from the match venue. The huge squeeze caused several warriors to be late – namely Kiat, Haron, Khim and Jeffrey and guest star, Ron.

Prior to the match, ARFC suffered a huge crushing blow when it was announced over the stadia that Towering Toh would be out till at least Nov 08 due to his eye problem. Sources had it that Toh’s eye problem, caused by Rob Styles’ awarding of the penalty for the blatant diving antics of the Portugese “slave” in the match against Bravo Bolton (reported in previous match), was worsened when the referee incredulously allowed Wes Brown’s goal against Blackburn when their keeper was already fouled by Man Yoo player who elbowed Blackburn’s keeper. Incredible decision that favoured Man Yoo yet again. Sometimes, I wish Liverpool had such good luck.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (guest keeper from Rendezvous FC)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Uncompromising Edwin
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Jans (Tjioe’s boss from ex-Bayern Munich fame)
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs: Sublime Khim
Versatile Kiat
WO Neo
ARFC scoring legend Haron
Combative Ron

ARFC started with some cagey moments and was not helped by the searing sun which affected Jans the most. However, by the 7th min, ARFC already settled down and began to play its passing game and started dominating proceedings. Elvis and Edwin stood out for their marshalling of defence. As Jans obviously could not take the heat anymore, Khim came on for him.

In the 17th min, ARFC opened the scoring when a corner was half cleared by their defence. The ball went to Hee who was standing at the top edge of the penalty box. Chesting the ball down expertly and before the ball had dropped to the ground, Hee smashed a smashing volley, ala Paul Scholes, that had goal screaming all the way. True enough, the ball flew high over their keeper for his 57th ARFC goal. Strangely, the reward for his goal was that he was replaced immediately by Haron who was treated to raptous applause from the fans who finally got to see what they have been missing for the past month or so.

Despite more chances, ARFC could not increase the score-line and it suffered a scare when Elvis hurt himself while trying to clear the ball and was replaced by WO Neo. Kiat also came on for Guoxiong and he immediately fired a shot just narrowly wide. The first half remained 1-0.

In the second half, Ron replaced Tjioe who took the time to mingle with his boss at the touch-line.

It did not take long for ARFC to double its lead and who else but Haron to do that. 7 mins after the re-start, Ron hooked the ball back into their penalty area to Haron who took the ball down well. The ball seemed to be at an awkward height and everybody was expecting the ball to be skied. But Haron is no ordinary striker and he showed all and sundry that his predatory instinct is still there by arching his body downwards and executed a half-volley that flew past their shocked keeper who clearly did not expect such a shot. Wonderful and it was Haron’s 126th ARFC goal.

ARFC scored again 7 mins later. ARFC won a free-kick and Sebastian quickly passed to Khim who was lurking freely at the left wing. With their defence caught off-guard, their keeper dashed out but Khim showed all his sublime skills by simply side-footed them and easily rolled the ball into the unguarded net for his 33rd ARFC goal. Brenda and Dylan were seen jumping up and down non-stop.

In the 67th min came a goal straight out from the soccer book. Weili’s goal-kick sailed high over their static defence who naively asked for an off-side decision (Note: Goal kick no off-side). Seizing the chance, Haron bored down on goal in a flash and of course shot past their keeper, given his pedigree. 127 ARFC goals for Haron!

ARFC could have got its 4th goal in the 77th min. Sebastian passed to Alvin who faced the keeper one-on-one. Alvin spotted Sebastian running free and passed to him, but Sebastian chose not to shoot at the empty net and passed back to Alvin whose shot was saved by their keeper. Wasteful!
Alvin finally scored 7 mins after the miss. Jans, who returned to the field after the weather turned cooler, sent in a precise cross from the right which landed right at the feet of Alvin. Without delay, Alvin cushioned the ball and duly toe-poked the ball home for his 68th ARFC goal. 5-0 was the final score.

All ARFC warriors played superbly well. Man-of-the-Match? It has to be Soon, though Hee, Guoxiong and Khim came very close.

Boosting of attendance....

Our attendance for the past few matches have not been ideal.

As a measure to boost our attendance, starting from this sunday, ARFC warrior who is present for our matches will earn himself a chance to enter the "ARFC Grand de Lucky Draw" where the warrior with the best attendance will stand to win an iPhone which is sponsored by Mobile Hub Pte Ltd, a chain of mobile phone stores owned by our Hard-running Guoxiong.

Hardworking Tong in Thailand for soccer trial

As a result of his consistent impressive performance for ARFC over the years, hardworking Tong has been invited by Thai Farmers' Bank for a soccer trial from 03 Oct to 10 Oct 08.

We wish him all the best.....

Left-foot wizard Bernard on soccer clinic in Japan

Courtesy of ARFC which is footing the bills, our left-foot wizard Bernard will be going to Japan for a soccer clinic conducted by Shunshuke Nakamura and is expected to return on 09 Oct 08.

While there, Bernard will learn more about delivery and kicking of balls from the left-footed Nakamura. It is expected that after the soccer clinic, Bernard will not miskick any balls again in ARFC's matches.....

Holiday greetings

ARFC would like to wish ARFC scoring legend Haron, his babelicious wife Su and lovely daughter Afiqah Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.........Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslims in Singapore......

Also, Happy Children's Day to the children of ARFC warriors and the whole of Singapore......

Determined Huiming on 6 month's trial with LA Galaxy

As part of ARFC's "Elite Outreach Programme" with its world-wide football partners, determined Huiming is currently undergoing a 6 month's trial with LA Galaxy. He is expected to be back in Mar/Apr 2009.....

We hope that after his trial where he will get to learn free-kick tips from David Beckham amongst other footballing aspects, Huiming will take all free-kicks and corner-kicks for other warriors to score more goals......Towering Toh is expected to be the main beneficiary of this if it happens....

Seriously, Huiming has just joined 3M and has left for US last Saturday (27 Sep) for a 6 month training programme.....

We wish him all the best.....

ARFC's unbeaten run at Tampines SAFRA

ARFC's unbeaten run at the magnificent Tampines SAFRA pitch:

06 Oct 2007 - 2-1 against Westminister
17 Nov 2007 - 4-4 against Yellow submarine
22 Mar 2008 - 2-1 against Yellow submarine
11 Sep 2008 - 7-0 against Yellow submarine
28 Sep 2008 - 2-1 against Essex

Hope that this wouldn't jinx ARFC and may the unbeaten run continues......

ARFC posted an easy 2-1 victory

Despite clashing with the Singapore F1 Grand Prix weekend, a total of 77, 777 fans, including Elvis’ babe Anna, still turned up to watch ARFC eased past Essex 2-1 at the magnificent pitch at Tampines SAFRA. The victory also ensured that ARFC remained undefeated at the ground.

Prior to the match, ARFC lost Towering Toh when he was struck down with en eye sore caused by Rob Styles’ awarding of the penalty for the blatant diving antics of the Portugese “slave” in the match against Bravo Bolton. Nevertheless, Toh still turned up to give his support for 37 mins.

ARFC then called up Combative Ron, the hard-man of Kampong Boys, to help out.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Combative Ron
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

No subs as only 11 warriors turned up

Not wanting to disappoint the fanatical fans, ARFC quickly stamped its authority in the match and created many many chances but all were wasted, in large part due to their goalkeeper who read our through balls well and smothered many chances.

To sum up the first half, it is almost like in the Liverpool vs Stoke match where ARFC totally dominated.

Though the half ended 0-0, the fans continued to encourage and applaud the warriors as they can see the great play dished out by ARFC. In a way, they know that the goals would come soon.

True enough, within 7 mins of the re-start, ARFC opened the scoring with yet another flawless passing and movement. Khim started the move from the left and dragged the ball inwards towards the centre. When the opponent tried to close him down, Khim passed to Sebastian who lobbed the ball to the left wing where Alvin had already started making his move when Khim had the possession. Breaking clear, Alvin crossed from the left and there was Hee who, well, had already made a speedy run into the penalty spot area and duly swept the ball home for his 56th ARFC goal. This goal had the guest commentator, John Barnes, astonished and he remarked that it was almost identical to a Liverpool goal involving him, Beardsley, Dalglish and Rush in 1989.

Before the opponent could recover from such a well worked-out goal, ARFC struck again. Again and not surprisingly, Khim was the architect. With the ball on the left, Khim advanced in 3 stages of 7 metres all the way up to the edge of the penalty box. Despite much close attention by the opponents, Khim seemed to have the ball stuck to his feet and made a “no-look pass” to release Alvin in the left. Taking up the inviting chance, Alvin fooled their keeper and squeezed the ball into the hear post instead of the far post as normal striker would do for his 67th ARFC goal.

ARFC kept up its relentless pressure and created at least 7 chances but due in large part to poor delivery from Blackburn, those were wasted.

Blackburn also conjured up with the Miss of the Decade when he amazingly side-foot the ball wide when faced with a gaping goal from less than 0.77 metres. Blackburn however had struck the bar from about 37 metres out which again matched up to his nick-name “Unpredictable”.

Soon also blasted high and wide when presented with an open chance.

In the last 15 mins of the match, ARFC warriors were fast tiring and a mistake by Sebastian led to them pulling a goal back. 1-2 which remained the final score.

This was a match where ARFC again played brilliantly and the victory was all the more commendable as there were only 11 warriors with no one to change.

Again, all warriors played exceptionally well but Elvis gets the Man-of-the-Match award for his commanding display in defence. Special mention must also be given to Tong for his tireless running and closing-down, Soon for his Ever-Ready stamina and energy, Guoxiong for his Cafu-like show at right-back, Khim for yet another sublime performance and lastly to Ron for his tigerish performance at stopper where he gave nothing away at all!!!

Sluggish ARFC forced a 1-1 draw

Playing under Sahara-desert-like weather at Bishan Park SS, ARFC came from behind to force a 1-1 draw against a very youthful and hardworking team in front of 77,777 fans inclduing Elvis' beau Anna.

Amongst the 77,777 fans were also a platoon of NSF from Staff Neo's camp as they heard that Staff Neo would be making a rare appearance after missing for many many months. Indeed, when Staff Neo was presented with his Pioneer ARFC Warrior award before the kick-off, the whole platoon gave a standing ovation for 7 mins and also performed 7 Mexican waves and set off 777 pyrotechnics which were left over from this year's NDP celebrations.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hardworking Tong
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Speedy Hee (late)
Staff Neo

ARFC started well enough but the opponents soon proved equal to ARFC and both sides had chances to take the lead but could not. It was also clear that ARFC, being the older of the teams, were finding the hot weather hard to bear and began to tire out.

ARFC fell behind in the 27th min. 0-1

Just 7 mins into the 2nd half, ARFC equalised. Blackburn's throw in to Tong (or Tjioe??) was returned to him at the left flank. Looking up, Unpredictable Blackburn sent in a high cross that well, unpredictably, sailed over their keeper and nestled into the top right corner for his 72nd ARFC goal. Wonderful!!

As the second half wore on, it was clear that ARFC had not much energy left and the opponents thus almost controlled the match. ARFC's cause was not helped by the lousy performance of Sebastian, who gave probably his worst performance in ARFC's colours.

In the end, ARFC was grateful to Guoxiong who saved the team with a sliding move that prevented the ball from crossing the line. Indeed, Guoxiong was voted the Man-of-the-Match by all.

Special credit must also be accorded to Tong who turned up despite feeling unwell in the morning. HIs attitude must be saluted by all concerned.....

Alvin scores ARFC fastest goal in its annihilating 7-0 win

Alvin scored the fastest goal in ARFC history to inspire ARFC to a thumping 7-0 roasting of Yellow Submarine at Tampines SAFRA in front of 77,777 fans which again included Elvis’ beau, Anna.

Prior to the match, ARFC received a huge dose of boost when deadly Robin announced his availability thereby adding to the fans’ excitement as they have been missing his deadly finishing.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (solid keeper from Rendezvous FC)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Sublime Khim
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs: Hardman Tjioe (late)
Deadly Robin
Raymond (guest player)


Prior to kick-off, Sebastian expressed his disappointment that ARFC have not been playing to its usual high standard which is unbecoming and unforgivable considering the quality and experience the tam possesses. All warriors then shouted a war-cry which was warmly received by its fanatical fans who responded with 7 rounds of Mexican waves. Upon seeing the hot reception, ARFC warriors looked fired up.

True enough, ARFC scored the fastest goal in its history. From the kick-off, Alvin touched the ball to Hee who then played to Sebastian who then passed to Bernard who then passed to Toh who then passed to Khim who then passed to Blackburn. Looking up, Blackburn sent in a low dizzling ball straight into the box and Alvin seized the chance and opened the scoring for his 63rd ARFC goal. The clock was timed at 17 seconds and many ARFC fans were still trickling into the stadia and missed the great goal.

7 mins later, ARFC doubled its lead. From the top of the box, Sebastian passed to Hee on the left and he drew the defenders to him before squaring to the unmarked Alvin who promptly tucked home for his 64th ARFC goal. 2-0 now.

In the 17th min, Alvin got his hat-trick. Unsurprisingly, Khim was the architect when he broke clear at the left-wing and from the touch-line, he touched the ball to Alvin who was lurking at the left-hand edge of the box. Taking his time and ignoring a chorus of call for the ball from Hee and Raymond, Alvin expertly planted the ball to the keeper’s left for his 65th ARFC goal. It was also Alvin’s 8th-ever ARFC hat-trick which drew him even nearer to the records of both Robin (10 hat-tricks) and Haron (9 hat-tricks).

Upon his hat-trick, Alvin was withdrawn, to rapturous applause, to be replaced by Robin. Tjioe and Raymond also came on for Soon and Blackburn respectively.

In the 37th min, Hee scored his 55th ARFC goal. Again, Khim was the architect when he combined well with Tjioe to put Hee clear at the left side. Facing the keeper and also ignoring loud calls from both Robin and Raymond, Hee fooled their keeper by curling the ball to the keeper’s right and somehow the ball managed to squeeze in. Fantastic strike!

In the 2nd half, Khim was replaced by Soon which was not well-received by the fans as they always wanted to see Khim in action after having paid $77 for the ticket.

Off a corner, Toh had a header cleared off the line but it did not take long for ARFC to further its lead. 7 mins after the re-start, Soon scored his 6th ARFC goal. From the right, Sebastian played a quick short corner with Khim who turned the ball into the path of Soon. Soon flicked the ball up and volleyed the ball over the despairing dive of their keeper. World-class goal.

Soon was not done yet. Alvin was played through and after rounded their keeper, appeared to lose any angle for a shot and chose to square the ball across the goal. The ball seemed to be over-hit but luckily our workhorse Soon arrived to the far post and stroked the ball into the unguarded net for his 7th ARFC goal.

Alvin was not done. In the 77th min, Hee was sent clear by Toh and he wrong-footed the keeper and the ball broke loose to Alvin who scored from 7 yards out for his 66th ARFC goal, putting him just 3 goals shy of equaling Robin’s 69 goals.

When the referee blew the final whistle, it was clear the opponents were relieved of their agony as they were totally outplayed by the marauding ARFC warriors.

ARFC had played the same opponents on 3 previous occasions and all 3 score-lines were very close (4-4, 2-1 and 4-3). Hence, it was a great achievement for ARFC to emerge victorious with an annihilating 7-0 score-line. In fact, it could have been double-digit as Sebastian, Blackburn and Robin (hit post) wasted glorious chances that came their way.

Special credit must certainly be accorded to ARFC’s defence once again. Elvis marshaled the defence well and Toh did not allow their ang moh striker to have a sniff at goal at all. Guoxiong, Bernard, Blackburn and Khim gave nothing away and even their speedy striker could not get past any of them.

This was also a match where I have the biggest headache in singling out a Man-of-the-Match as all warriors were very very very impressive. But if still must, then these warriors really stood out: Alvin, Toh, Khim, Guoxiong and Soon – in descending order.

ARFC collapsed in 2nd half

Playing under 77,777 fans which included Elvis’ beau, Anna, ARFC crumbled in the second half to lose 4-2 after leading 2-1 at half-time.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: ARFC scoring legend Haron
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs: Unpredictable Blackburn
Dynamic Soon


ARFC wasted no time in trying to seize control of the match. Just mins into the match, Sebastian nearly opened the scoring but his left-foot curling shot came off the cross-bar. Unlucky!!

Our forward line was giving the opponents lots of headache but was unlucky to open the scoring. ARFC’s defence also did well in containing the opponents with several intelligent off-side play led by Elvis.

In the 17th min, the opponents opened the scoring. 0-1.

ARFC did not give up and took just 7 mins to level things up. Alvin’s ball into the box had Hee pressuring their defenders and in a moment of panic madness, their goalkeeper steered the ball into his own net. 1-1.

In the 27th min, ARFC took the lead after Tong cleverly intercepted a ball and played to Hee. Hee sold their defender a dummy and dashed straight into the box and duly thumped home his 54th ARFC goal. 2-1 now and the whole stadia was in ecstasy.

Sebastian then came off at half-time due to night shift and Haron gamely stayed in goal till 10 mins later as he has to break fast. Alvin went in goal.

ARFC then conceded 3 goals and lost 2-4 in the end.

Special thanks must be accorded to Haron for turning up despite being on fast. Wonderful footballer and person.

Sebastian's hat-trick in easy win

In a match played under the watchful eyes of 77,777 fans which included Anna, Tracie and Caren, partners of Elvis, Guoxiong and Sebastian respectively, ARFC brushed aside its opponent 5-4 on the back of a brilliant hat-trick by Sebastian.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Influential Sebastian
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis


ARFC started the match on the slippery ground and several warriors were undone by the slippery condition and lost their footing. The opponents also anyhow slide and the warriors had to be careful not to incur unnecessary injuries.

ARFC took the lead in the 7th min. Hee chased a ball into the box and pressured their defence and keeper which resulted in their keeper clearing the ball upwards. The ball flew to Sebastian who was about 7 metres outside the penalty box and instinctly planted a looping header over their back-pedalling defender and just dropped into the far corner for his 56th ARFC goal. This goal was almost similar to Diego Maradona’s headed goal for Napoli against Torino (or Verona) in a Seria-A match in the late 80s.

Sebastian’s headed goal was probably his first headed goal since his teenage years when he headed in a goal against a Combined School’s Team comprising Aide Iskandar, Zakaria Awang, Fahmy Abdullah, Nasiruddin Sawardi and the likes in a match sometime in 1989 or 1990.

Things got better for Sebastian in the 17th min. Hee’s corner was cleared back to him and he sent in a high looping cross. The ball seemed to hang in the air for 7 seconds and Tjioe was about to go for a shot when he heard Sebastian calling for the call and moved aside. In almost a similar position where he scored his headed goal, Sebastian struck a sweet volley without the ball dropping that sizzled past their keeper and nestled into the bottom left corner.

Sebastian then wasted a chance when he was selfish and did not pass the ball to Tong who was free and for that, he endured a stinging verbal volley from Tong and several warriors.

Half-time 2-0.

After yet another selfish moment, Sebastian finally got his hat-trick in the 57th min. After some intrigue passing between Tong, Blackburn, Soon, Alvin and Tjioe, Sebastian showed some fancy footwork before curling the ball low into the bottom right corner for his 3rd ARFC hat-tricks. His previous 2 hat-tricks were on 20 March 1994 and 30 Jun 1996. Upon seeing the hat-trick, Caren was so ecstatic that she did 7 Mexican waves on her own.

Jinzhong then spilled a shot to allow them a goal. 1-3 and shortly after ARFC conceded another goal. 3-2 now.

Blackburn then showed all what he is capable of despite his age in the 77th min. His dribble ala Zidane had their defender all at seas and was brought down, giving the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Up stepped Elvis to send their keeper the wrong way for his 5th ARFC goal. After scoring, Elvis sprinted all the way to Anna who planted a kiss on his not-so-thin cheeks. 4-2 now.

The opponent then pulled another goal back. 4-3.

ARFC was not done and got its 5th goal in the 87th min. Blackburn was again the architect as his left-wing cross was chested into goal by their defender after some pressure from Alvin. 5-3.

Elvis and Toh then became Santa Claus again and gifted another goal to them in virtually the last kick of the match. 5-4 and ARFC and its fans went home happy.

Huiming becomes Property Agent

Our own pioneer ARFC warrior, determined Huiming, has become a property agent. With this determination as shown on the pitch, we can be sure that he will be equally as determined when out selling/renting houses.

Besides offering our very well-wishes to him, we can also help him out by recommending any of your colleagues, relatives, friends, B2s, FLs, Thai discos babes, Ah Lians and Ah Huays, etc etc... who are selling/renting their houses to him.

Cheers....

ARFC in dominant victory

In a match played under almost Water-Polo-like condition, ARFC dominated throughout to post a 3-0 victory over an out-classed though much-improved Raven.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Dependable Jinzhong
RB - Hard-running Guoxiong
LB - Left-foot wizard Bernard
Sweeper - Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper - Towering Toh
CM - Influential Sebastian
CM - Dynamic Soon
RM - Hardworking Tong
LM - Sublime Khim
SC - Speedy Hee
SC - ARFC scoring legend Haron

subs: Powerful Alvin
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Due to the heavily water-logged pitch, ARFC could not display its usual passing moves at all and several chances were squandered due to the ball stuck in the water.

In fact, the condition was so bad that the referee stopped the match after only about 15 mins or so. Luckily, the weather turned for the better and play then resumed. Once again, ARFC was let down by several poor finishes, with Alvin and Haron the chief culprits, a sight that the ARFC fans was totally unfamiliar with at all.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, Alvin again wasted several more golden chances and ARFC was almost made to pay, but thankfully ARFC's defence once again stood firm, with Toh and Guoxiong outstanding.

ARFC finally opened the scoring in the 70th min. Sublime Khim threaded a world-class through ball to Haron who broke clear and faced their keeper one-to-one. Haron was brought down after trying to round their keeper and the referee had the easiest decision in the world to point to the spot. Haron dusted himself up and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 125th ARFC goal. This goal was also ARFC's 100th goal in the year 2008.

ARFC doubloed its tally in the 77th min. After Alvin fumbled yet again with a golden chance, Haron picked up the loose ball and squared to Sebastian. Dragging the ball pst their covering defender, Sebastina then duly thumped in a left-foot drive to easily fooled their keeper for his 55th ARFC goal. HIs left-foot goal was almost 7 years after scoring with his left-foot.

7 mins later, ARFC got its 3rd goal. Hee, who was outstanding as well, sent a brilliant ball down the right flank for Haron to chase. Haron brought the ball to the touch-line and squared it to the on-rushing Guoxiong who had sprinted 77 metres all the way from defence to their penalty box. Without breaking his stride, Guoxiong side-footed the ball expertly for only his 5th-ever ARFC goal. Fantastic!!

Speaking to the 44 SingTel Grand Prix grid girls after the match, Guoxiong was overly esctatic with his goal. Besides promising to give each SingTel Grand Prix grid girl a new iPhone each, Guoxiong also promised to deliver a iPhone to each and every ARFC warrior in 7 days' time.

Ex-ARFC warriors John Goh getting married....

After years and years of "elle-elle", our ex-ARFC warrior and sponsor John Goh has finally decided to settle down.

His ROM is on 18 Oct 08.

On behalf of ARFC, congratulations to him. We hope he can "elle-elle" soon with his wife to enjoy the "not-so-attractive-afterall" baby packages announced by the government recently.

Hard-man Tjioe switches to Table-Tennis

Hugely inspired by the brilliant performances of China 'B' Team of millionaire Li Jiawei, a butch-looking Feng Tianwei and "pei du ma ma" Wang Yuegu in the Olympic Table-Tennis tournament, hard-man Tjioe has decided to learn table-penis, oops...table-tennis.

He is now in Beijing for a 7-month centralised training programme. He will train under the watchful eyes of Zhang Yining, the lass with the killer stare.

We wish him all the best and hope that when he returns, his command of Mandarin would be better.

ARFC's unfortunate and controversial loss

In a match refereed by the worst referee ARFC ever faced, ARFC was extremely unfortunate to lose 1-2 to Nova after a very controversial penalty awarded in almost the last kick of the match.

ARFC welcomed back sublime Khim after few weeks’ absence and versatile Kiat also made a surprise appearance. Sebastian’s wife, Caren, Khim’s wife Brenda and son Dylan were also there to lend their support.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Reliable David
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hard-running Guoxiong
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs: Speedy Hee
Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Versatile Kiat


The opponents were equal to ARFC and play was 50-50 until a very lousy off-side call by the referee which resulted in them scoring first in the 17th min.

7 mins later, ARFC nearly equalized after Sebastian broke through from the centre mid but his hesitation let the team now and the chance was gone.

However, ARFC did not take long to equalize. Toh’s chipped ball landed at Khim’s feet who fashioned a ball to Blackburn. Without breaking his stride, Blackburn unleashed a venomous volley that struck the underside of the bar and over the line, in a goal similar to Geoff Hurst’s 1966 World Cup Final goal against West Germany. 1-1 and it was Blackburn’s 71st ARFC goal.

Play was still equal throughout the match and both teams had great chances to score. For ARFC, Alvin burst through on the left flank and his shot was saved, Kiat’s follow-up was also saved and Guoxiong’s another follow-up was also saved.

David even had a well-struck 37 metres shot that was saved by their keeper.

The referee tried his best to spoil the good match and in the 2nd half, he did not even blow for off-side at all despite some very obvious off-side by the opponents.

With almost the last-kick of the match, the referee awarded the MOST softest and controversial penalty ever seen in modern football. 1-2.

ARFC was really unlucky to lose this match, thanks to the super-incompetent referee. The match also ended Alvin’s 9-match successive scoring run, nevertheless still an ARFC record itself.

ARFC defence & Soon inspires ARFC's victory

Shrugging aside last week’s unfortunate loss, ARFC returned to its winning ways with a resounding 5-1 thrashing of its opponents at Yio Chu Kang SS just now.

ARFC was hit with the tragic news that ARFC scoring legend Haron would be out for at least with a knee injury. Fortunately, ARFC received a huge boost when hard-running Guoxiong turned up unexpectedly. Sources revealed that his mobile phone business has recently been listed at SGX and hence he did not have to tend to the shop every Sunday now. This only spelt good news for ARFC in future as Guoxiong would definitely add pace, aggression and determination to ARFC’s defence/midfield.

During the pre-match briefing, Sebastian also apologized to all ARFC warriors for his outburst last week. To show his sincerity, he did 77 push-ups and sit-ups before the start of the match.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Talisman Derrick
Right-back: Reliable David
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Speedy Hee
Uncompromising Edwin
Hard-running Guoxiong


ARFC was determined to put up a good show to erase last week’s debacle. Upon the start, all ARFC warriors pressed the opponents relentlessly and were unfortunate not to score after missing several chances.

In the 17th min, ARFC fell behind after a comical error by Derrick which resulted in a penalty being awarded against him. To the credit of ARFC, not one warrior blamed Derrick at all s it was kind of him already to volunteer his services as keeper even though he was still injured. 0-1.

ARFC did not lose its cool and equalized almost immediately. Tong and Sebastian exchanged passes which saw Tong flying down the right flank and delivered an inch-perfect cross into the penalty box. The ball was met by the muscle-bulging chest of Alvin who chested the ball home for his 60th ARFC goal. 1-1.

With this goal which was his 9th successive match, Alvin broke the record of most successive goal-scoring feat (8-match) jointly held by Robin and Haron.

ARFC pressed on but was really unfortunate not to go ahead. Mid-way through, Hee replaced Blackburn and Edwin replaced David.

In the 2nd half, Edwin took over Elvis as sweeper as the latter received a knock on his ankle. Guoxiong came on to raptures applause at right-back. Hee was moved upfront to revert to 442 formation, with Sebastian taking over at left-mid.

ARFC again came close but failed to go ahead. In the 57th min, Hee bravely challenged their keeper to a high ball. He won the dual but was floored by their keeper. Unfortunately, his header just went slightly wide. Fortunately, he was ok.

Blackburn then replaced Tong and moved to left-mid with Sebastian taking over at right-mid.

This move soon reaped rich dividends. Blackburn and Tjioe combined to set up Alvin who then teed up the on-rushing Soon to side-foot home for his 4th ARFC goal. His goal seemed to ease ARFC warriors who then stepped up a notch.

Just 7 mins later, ARFC then 3-1 up. Sebastian’s perfectly-measured through ball to Hee resulted in Hee using his lightning pace and broke clear. Unselfishly, Hee drew out their keeper and squared the ball to on-rushing Alvin who had the simplest of task to roll the ball into the empty net. 3-1 now.

Elvis then came on to replace Toh who had a slight twist at his ankle, and David also came on to replace the impressive Bernard.

Another 7 mins later, ARFC got its 4th goal. Sebastian used his pace and skill to hoodwink their left-back and he squared the ball to Hee who was lurking just inside the penalty box. Again using his Robinho-type footwork, Hee dummied the ball and Soon was on hand to side-foot the ball home in an almost-replica of his earlier goal. 4-1 and it was Soon’s 5th goal for ARFC.

ARFC was not done yet. In the 77th min, Sebastian finally executed his dream-long-awaited-Jamie Redknapp-Alonso-type of pass when he sent in a searing diagonal ball from right flank all the way to the left-side. The ball eluded all defenders and even their keeper and Alvin needed no second invitation to side-foot the ball home into the empty net for his 7th hat-trick and 62nd goal for ARFC. However, he is still behind Robin (10) and Haron (9) in terms of hat-tricks for ARFC.

7 seconds from time, David nearly scored the goal of the match but his lob from 37.77 metres was just narrowly wide. Unlucky.

Full credit must be given to ARFC’s defence of Elvis, Edwin, Toh, Bernard, David and Guoxiong who did not allow the opponents to have any direct sniff at goal throughout. It is with their assured display that ARFC was able to concentrate on its attack. But the Man-of-the-Match must clearly be given to Soon for his all-round display and of course his 2 goals. His first goal for ARFC in this match was particularly crucial as it broke the opponents’ resistance and calmed ARFC down.

Sebastian fined $7,777 for rare outburst

The ARFC Board of Directors have decided to fine Sebastian $7,777 for his rare out-burst at the match just now. Sebastian has also issued an apology to all players, fans and supporters as it was unbecoming of him to lose his temper on the pitch.

The $7,777 collected will be donated to Ren Ci Hospital due to its decreasing donations amount due to the monk's arrest and charge.

ARFC suffered 2nd loss in the year 2008

Playing on the Ahmad Ibrahim SS pitch for the 2nd time, ARFC put up an abysmal showing to lose 2-3 to a very enthusiastic and determined Indian team, thereby snapping its 11-match unbeaten run. The defeat was also only ARFC’s 2nd loss in the year 2008 thus far.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Reliable David
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Hardworking Tong
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Speedy Hee
Towering Toh (both slightly late)


Perhaps due to the lack of their love ones, ARFC was not in its usual elements and was put under pressure by the opponents in the opening minutes, made worse by Blackburn’s casual balls which added more pressure to the team.

In the 7th min, however, ARFC scored with almost its first direct attack. Sebastian’s through-ball was latched on expertly by Tjioe who came running to the heart of their defence. Continuing his scoring form, Tjioe easily beat their keeper with a cool finish for his 44th ARFC goal. 1-0.

The opening goal seemed to lure ARFC it complacency and the opponents almost grabbed an equalizing goal if not for some superb goalkeeping by Jinzhong.

Toh and then Hee came on to replace Bernard and David respectively mid-way through the 1st half.

In the 37th min, off a very controversial off-side decision, they equalized. Television replays confirmed that the referee had made a bad call as their scorer was clearly miles off-side. Unlucky ARFC!!!

In the 2nd half, Blackburn continued at left-back which proved to be a fatal move. In the 47th min, he did not move up which played their right-winger on-side. Clumsily, he clipped the heels of the opponent and gave the referee no chance but to point to the spot. 1-2.

Blackburn was again at fault for their 3rd goal as he allowed their play to turn him easily and unleashed a rather lucky shot into the roof of the net. 1-3 now.

ARFC tried its best and was really unlucky when Toh, Alvin, Haron, Tjioe all had good shots and headers blocked.

ARFC finally pulled a goal back in the 87th min after Tjioe flicked on Sebastian’s through ball and Alvin broke clear. Keeping his cool, Alvin rifled the ball high into the net for his 59th ARFC goal. Alvin had now scored in 8th successive match which was an ARFC record.

However, Alvin’s goal proved no more than a consolation goal as time had run out.

When the referee blew the final whistle, the faithful ARFC fans sunk to their feet in total disbelief as the opponents were clearly inferior. Many babes were seen crying and burning their bras and panties in frustration, and some of them even turned hysterical by throwing their tops onto the pitch.

Hee's market value sky-rocketed to $77million after wonder goal

After scoring a wonder goal never seen before by any living human beings, animals and plants, Hee's market value has sky-rocketed to $77 million.

Strong rumours also came out from the Bernabeau Stadium that Real Madrid has given up its pursuit of THAT Portugese monkey. Instead, Real Madrid is lining up a bid for Hee and ARFC Board of Directors is now seriously considering the transfer.

ARFC powered to 6-3 victory

Playing on the Damai SS pitch for the very first time, ARFC overcame an early setback to crush its opponents 6-3 in front of the watching 77,777 ARFC faithful fans including Dora and Marco Mak, 2 hyper-active kids, and Haron’s wife, Su, and daughter Afiqah and Su’s mother.

ARFC welcomed back several stalwarts who were missing from last week’s match, namely Sebastian, Tjioe, Elvis and Huiming. David also made a long-awaited comeback with his appearance. As Haron and Soon were late, ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Determined Huiming
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: ARFC scoring legend Haron
Dynamic Soon
Reliable David

Prior to the match, Huiming and David were rewarded with a swarvoski crystal trophy in recognition of them being the pioneer ARFC warrior.

ARFC immediately wrest control of the match right from the kick-off and they were defending desperately to prevent ARFC from scoring.

In the 7th min, off their very first attack, the opponents opened the scoring. 0-1.

ARFC, however, did not panic as the warriors know their pedigree. Just minutes after going one goal down, ARFC equalized. Blackburn was fouled at the left-hand side and Sebastian took the free-kick. His lob ball almost hung in the air for about 7 seconds and Tjioe out-jumped their keeper to head in for his 41st ARFC goal.

Less than 7 mins later, ARFC went ahead like a carbon-copy goal of the first, but this time it came from the right side. Tong, who had a superb match, won a free-kick after being fouled near the right touch-line and corner spot. Sebastian again stepped up and whipped in a wicked ball and Tjioe simply had to power home with his head for his 42nd ARFC goal. Fantastic!!

Tjioe and Sebastian were soon tiring and had to be replaced by both Soon and Haron respectively. Alvin was also replaced by David after taking a slight knock.

ARFC threatened to score again but some chances were squandered. Half-time score 2-1.
In the 2nd half, Sebastian and Alvin came on to place Hee and Blackburn.

ARFC continued its relentless assault on the opponents’ goal. Just 7 mins after the re-start, ARFC got its 3rd goal. Sebastian’s delightful Jamie Redknapp’s through pass saw Haron breaking free. However, he dragged the ball too wide away from goal but thankfully he squared the ball back to Alvin who “tone-joed” the ball home for his 58th ARFC goal. His goal continued his red-hot scoring streak of scoring for the 7th consecutive match.

Playing under the watchful eyes of Su, Afiqah and mother-in-law, Haron could not bear to disappoint them. 7 mins later, he got his 124th ARFC goal. Tong and Alvin combined to press their player which resulted in the ball breaking loose to Haron. With a clever touch, Haron pulled away and with his renowned scoring prowess, naturally he side-footed the ball home. Once again, Afiqah smiled at the sight of his father wheeling away in celebration. 4-1 now.

In the 57th min, Sebastian almost scored but his left-foot lob was touched on to the bar by their keeper and Haron just missed with his follow-up header.

By now, Tjioe was looking for his hat-trick and he finally got it in the 67th min. Off a corner by Blackburn which created a melee pin-ball in their penalty box, Haron and Toh almost scored and the ball broker kindly for Tjioe to thump home for his 2nd ever hat-trick for ARFC.

After going 5-1 up, ARFC became complacent and let in 2 more goals for them to make it 5-3.

In the 77th min, Soon was unlucky not to add to his ARFC tally as his header goal was ruled out due to the referee spotted a foul by Toh. Unlucky Soon.

The goal of the match came in the 87th min from Hee. Sebastian’s outside foot through ball had Hee facing their keeper one-on-one. Hee then showed the watching crowd his new trick when he dummied with his right-foot and in just a split 0.7777 seconds, used his left-foot to connect with the ball. This world-class move fooled everyone in the stadia and the ball rolled gently into the net. His goal sparked delirious celebrations as it was the 1st time any footballers, fans, commentators, managers and WAGs had ever witnessed such an exquisite finish!!!!

To be fair to Hee, this was not the most significant contribution from him. His best contribution was his voluntary switching to the left-mid role when Blackburn was clearly losing the plot which created so much pressure and holes for David to plug alone. A tiring David had no choice but to be replaced by Bernard who added much-needed steel in the defence.

For this match, all played well and it was a much-improved team performance from every warrior concern. All credit to most warriors as they were asked to play in different positions in this match which they took it in their stride and performed to the best of their abilities.

ARFC in 4-1 victory

In a match against Ismail's team (Haron's brother-in-law) at Greenview SS, ARFC emerged tops with a resounding 4-1 thumping victory over them.

Scorers: Alvin's 2 goals lifted him to 57 goals, thereby edging closer and closer to Blackburn and Robin's record of 70 and 69 goals respectively.

Haron added one to bring his tally to 123 goals.

Toh scored in successive weeks and boasted his tally to 27 goals.

I was told that the Man-of-the-Match award is shared by both Blackburn and Tong, who both had dominating match.

ARFC top-ten goal-scorers

After the 29 Jun match, the top-ten goal-scorers are:

Haron - 122
Blackburn - 70
Robin - 69
Alvin - 55
Sebastian - 54
Hee - 52
Jeffrey - 48
Tjioe - 40
Khim - 32
Toh - 26

Cheers......

Edwin celebrates debut goal

Edwin was over the moon at scoring his debut goal for ARFC yesterday. What's more, it's the equalising goal for ARFC. To celebrate this occasion, Edwin will be planning an all-expenses paid trip to Club Kabuki this Friday @ 7.07 pm

All ARFC warriors (only) are welcome....

ARFC mimicked Liverpool's Istanbul come-back

ARFC performed a Liverpool-Istanbul-type 2005-performance by coming back to draw 3-3 against a very talented youthful team full of movement and passing after being down 0-3 at half-time.

Prior to kick-off, there was a big uncertainty on whether ARFC could actually field 11 warriors. Fortunately, Khim changed his family dinner to lunch and Derrick also announced his availability to play keeper even though he is still carrying an injury. Hence, kudos to both of them for putting ARFC before self which I think a lot of other warriors can also do the same in future matches.

The match was also full of ARFC supporters like Haron’s babelicious wife Su and lagi-babelicious daughter Afiqah and mother-in-law, Khim’s gorgeous wife Brenda and cute son Dylan, Blackburn’s entire cute family of his wife and 2 jewels, Elvis’ wonderful girlfriend Anna who especially flew in from Vietnam for our match and Guoxiong and his hot girlfriend Tricia.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Speedy Hee (as talisman Derrick was late)
Right-back: Influential Sebastian
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Talisman Derrick


Before the match, ARFC was warned that the opponent, though young, are decent footballers and it turned out to be very true. However, ARFC was able to contain them and in fact was having the upper hand when Haron twisted his ankle after a challenge by their impressive last man. Elvis then came on to replace Haron, with Blackburn shifting to striker while Sebastian took over the right-mid.

Haron’s departure seemed to have a demoralizing effect on ARFC and through a series of poor defending and comical goal-keeper, was down 0-3!! The score remained this way and the fans’ jaws all dropped to the ground as it was probably the first time that ARFC was down 0-3 at half-time.


In the second half, Derrick came on as keeper with Hee taking over the poor Blackburn at striker.

ARFC was clearly embarrassed by the 0-3 score-line and after a fierce tongue-lashing by Sebastian, all warriors came out determined and with big fire in their bellies. All played with new vigour and vowed to give all fans and supporters a good match.

About 7 mins after the re-start, Tjioe’s persistence paid off when he refused to give up on a seemingly lost cause right at the right edge of their penalty box. His square ball was slid home by Toh who was lurking in the 6-yard box, a goal which was almost similar to Gary Lineker’s goal against Poland in World Cup 1986 (pass from Steve Hodge). This was Toh’s 26th goal which moved him to 10th position in ARFC’s goal-scoring chart.

About 7 mins later, ARFC pulled another goal back. Again, Tjioe was the architect when his cross skimmed off the head of their defender and sailed high over their defence. Alvin too aim, leapt and plant a Miloslav Klose-like header past their keeper for his 55th ARFC goal, thereby enabling him to over-take Sebastian into the 4th position in the goal-scoring chart. 2-3 now.

With the score at 2-3, all ARFC warriors, fans and supporters alike sensed that a 3rd goal was imminent. However, despite a slew of goal-scoring chances, ARFC could not grab the 3rd goal.

In the 77th min, came the equalizing goal. Sebastian’s corner was hit low which cause a melee in the penalty box. The loose ball dropped at the feet of Edwin who was just 0.77 metres away from the goal-line. With his back to goal, Edwin grabbed his debut goal for ARFC when he mimicked Thierry Henry’s goal (think it’s against Spurs or Blackburn) when he back-heeled the ball between his legs for his first-ever ARFC goal. 3-3 now and the whole stadium erupted and many fans were seen with tears rolling down their cheeks, eliciting tears of joy!!

ARFC continued to press in its attempt to secure the winning goal but could not get the 4th goal. In fact, ARFC was nearly punished in the 87th min when the opponent took a venomous shot that looked destined for the goal. Derrick, who was impressive in goal after coming on in the 2nd half, stretched out and showed a strong hand by parrying the ball away, just like what Gary Bailey had been doing in his Man Utd years.

This was a match where ARFC was taught another foot-balling lesson in terms of movement and passing. Also, it taught ARFC never to under-estimate any opponents, be they young or old. Hence, in the space of 2 weeks, ARFC had dealt and learnt to cope with opponents with wide difference in age.

Nevertheless, I’m proud to say that ARFC had displayed its never-say-die attitude and managed to claw draws in both matches after trailing. This attitude is what made Liverpool a great team, and ARFC is a great team.

ARFC almost mimicked AC Milan's Istanbul collapse

In a Jeykell and Hyde performance, ARFC was held to a 4-4 draw by a very experienced veteran team who kept the ball extremely well.

Playing in front of its usual 77,777 which included Haron’s lovely wife, Su, and even lovelier daughter Afiqah, at the magnificent pitch at the United World College, ARFC welcomed back the injured Derrick but had to make do without Elvis and Kiat who pulled out in the last min. ARFC’s line-up is hence as follows:

Keeper: Ismail
Right-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Sweeper: Uncompromising Edwin
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: ARFC scoring legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Influential Sebastian
Talisman Derrick


Before the match, ARFC was already warned that the experienced opponents would pass and keep possession and true enough, they were really good at passing the ball around. ARFC had no answers in the first 5 mins to their passing.

However, with virtually its first foray in their penalty box, ARFC opened the scoring. After a break down the left, the ball was centred to the central area of the penalty box and Tjioe showed nifty footwork by shuffling the ball between both his feet and expertedly stroked the ball home for his 40th ARFC goal. 1-0.

The opponents did not lose heart and almost equalized but Ismail was equal to the task. In the 27th min mark, Sebastian and Derrick came on to replace Hee and Tong respectively.

Derrick made a telling contribution almost immediately. Soon chipped in a free-kick won in the middle and Derrick broke through and reached the ball ahead of their keeper and squared the ball to the left for the on-rushing Alvin to thump home his 54th ARFC goal. This goal moved him level with Sebastian in the joint-4th position in the ARFC scoring chart. 2-0.


Sebastian then made the double substitution worked perfectly to plan when he sent in a high through ball right to the lurking Haron in the centre circle. As Haron was in our own half, the opponent appealed in vain for an off-side decision and Haron duly sped clear and with his calibre, how could he miss? He rounded the keeper and easily slid the ball home for his 122nd ARFC goal. Once again, a smile appeared on Afiqah’s cute face when the ball hit the net……..3-0 at half-time.

When 2nd half resumed, ARFC experienced the most bizarre collapse in its illustrious history, even worse than AC Milan’s Istanbul melt-down, when it conceded 4 goals to trail by 3-4.

Luckily, about mins before the end, Tjioe latched on to a loose ball and touched the ball high and over their defence to Alvin who broke clear. Alvin used his outer-right foot to square the ball to Derrick who was totally unmarked and he lashed the ball for the equalizer for his 19th ARFC goal.

ARFC could have snatched the winning goal but the referee turned a blind eye after Derrick and clearly and brutally brought down by their keeper. Unlucky!!

This was a match where no particular ARFC warrior stood out. Almost all put in mediocre performance thought credit should not be taken away from the experienced opponent that taught ARFC a valuable lesson on passing and keeping possession in matches.

ARFC overcome Manchester United Supporters' Club (Spore Branch)

Inspired by Huiming’s performance, ARFC overcame a stubborn, resilient and youthful Manchester United Supporters’ Club (Singapore Branch) 2-0 in front of its fans including Elvis’ gorgeous girlfriend, Anna, and Kiat’s lovely wife and daughter Josephine and Teajanz respectively.

Before the match, ARFC was rocked by the withdrawal of 121-goal scoring legend Haron due to fever. ARFC’s line-up is as follows:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Determined Huiming
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Left-foot wizard Bernard
Right-mid: Hardworking Tong
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs: Dynamic Soon
Speedy Hee
Versatile Kiat


As in its usual match, ARFC tried to seize proceedings from the match go but the opponent was no easy nut to crack with their fast forwards and quick closing down of play. ARFC’s defence stood firm and easily waved off their attacks.

Just 7 mins into the match, ARFC won a free-kick on the left when Khim was fouled. Sebastian’s free-kick sailed high over their defence and their hapless defender deflected the ball into the net for an own goal. To the whole world’s astonishment, the referee chalked off the goal when he blew for a foul but was unable to pin-point the offence and the offender. Strange!!

After some chances went abegging, ARFC finally opened the scoring. Blackburn’s long throw from the right landed at the feet of Alvin who turned and laid the ball to Khim on the left of the penalty box. Showing his nifty footwork ala Zidane, Khim side-stepped his shadowing defender, swiveled and lashed the ball home for his 32nd ARFC goal. The goal had the stadium turned wild.

Kiat, Soon and Hee then came on to replace Khim, Tjioe and Alvin respectively in the first half but the score remained 1-0.


In the second half, ARFC again came close to double its lead but was denied either by their keeper or defenders. The opponents threatened to equalize but ARFC’s defence once again put on a world-class display by easily repelling their attacks. Particularly, Huiming and Toh were extremely impressive while Elvis and Bernard were no slouch either. Jinzhong also showed a safe pair of hands once again. Tong also combined effectively with Huiming to make ARFC’s right-side a fortress.

By the 70th min mark, ARFC was clearly tiring and was on the back-foot. Hee even had to play as a lone forward at one stage which he did impressively and had one of his best performance in an ARFC jersey.

After some more near misses, Alvin finally settled ARFC’s nerves with a late goal. Elvis, who once again led ARFC’s defence admirably, chipped a ball forward which dropped right at the feet of Alvin. With a sharp turn, Alvin accelerated forward and duly thumped home his 53rd ARFC goal even though their keeper got a touch to it. 2-0 and this was ARFC’s 141st victory.

Man-of-the-Match? Very close between Huiming and Toh, but I would choose Huiming ahead of Toh, but only very slight difference.

After the match, some journalists were perplexed at the decision to drop Soon from the starting line-up. This caused ARFC Board of Directors to issue a statement that reads:

“No doubt Soon has been impressive so far and has attracted the attention of several leading overseas clubs. However, seniority has to be observed and respected and therefore Soon has to bid his time and play more matches first. This is similar to the case of Alvin who was reserve in his earlier ARFC matches but has since established to be the leading forward for ARFC.”