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.
No comments:
Post a Comment