In the 2nd round of the D2D Cup, ARFC easily dismissed the feeble challenge of Ultras 6-0 on the back of a very impressive team performance in front of nearly 100,777 fans at Broadrick SS. The fans included Haron’s family Su and Afiqah, Alvin’s beau Irene, Guoxiong’s girlfriend Tracie and Elvis’ newly-minted wife, Anna.
The main reason for the extra fans instead of the usual 77,777 fans was because Ron was officially recruited as an ARFC warrior in mid-week for $7.7 million. Because of the huge turnout, all the burgers at the nearly McDonald’s and KFC at Kallang were sold out 2 hours before the match. The sugar-cane and drinks stalls at the Old Airport Road market was also snapped up by the eager fans.
ARFC started with this line-up:
Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong (captain)
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Speedy Hee
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Subs:
Combative Ron
Hardman Tjioe
ARFC started strongly in the match and both forwards and Hee were causing the opponents plenty of stress and headache with their power and pace. Coupled with Khim’s guile, Sebastian’s direction and Soon’s closing-down, the opponents simply had no answers.
Hence, it was no surprise that ARFC opened the scoring in the 17th min. Picking up a loose ball at the left flank, Khim whipped in a cross and in came Soon from the blind side to plant a looping header which the keeper got a touch but could not prevent the ball from crossing the line. 1-0 and it was Soon’s 19th ARFC goal.
From a rare attack, the opponents nearly scored but Jinzhong managed to push their shot onto the bar and then he picked up the loose ball. World-class goal-keeping!!
Ron came on to replace Soon in the 27th min and immediately made an impact with a superb through ball to Haron who sprung their off-side trap. In an extremely rare moment of hesitation, Haron stumbled and fumbled with his shot and a good chance goes to waste. For that miss, Afiqah was observed to be stomping her feet in disgust!!
Tjioe then came on for Hee with Sebastian going to the right. The substitution of Hee was greeted with a chorus of disapproval as Hee was causing their left-back all sorts of problem with his pace but he was clearly tiring.
With two imposing central midfielders in Tjioe and Ron, the opponents simply could not cope with the muscle, power and strength.
Just minutes before the break, ARFC doubled its lead after Tjioe threaded a brilliant through ball for Alvin who powered clear and slotted in at the far post for his 98th ARFC goal. 2-0.
In the second half, ARFC experimented its defence with Ron replacing Toh as stopper and Soon coming back in at central midfielder. The substitution of Toh was also strongly protested as the fans are not used to seeing Toh being taken off.
Just 7 mins after the re-start, ARFC got its 3rd goal. Sebastian’s corner was aimed at Haron who was clumsily pulled down by their defender, giving the referee an easy decision to award a penalty. Blackburn shrugged off everyone and thumped home the penalty for his 79th ARFC goal. 3-0
By now, the opponents were gone case as ARFC grew from strength to strength. The opponents also started finding fault with the referee as he is the easiest target to blame. However, the referee had a good match.
Alvin then gamely asked to be substituted and in came Hee as the other striker. Again, Hee continued to cause them so much problems and was a perfect foil for Haron.
In the 57th min, Tjioe latched on to a pass and spotting Khim at the far left end, fizzed in an out-of-this-world cross-field ball to Khim. With this superb touch that brought the ball down perfectly ala Thierry Henry, Khim turned and lashed the ball home for his 43rd ARFC goal. 4-0
After a couple of near-misses, Haron finally made amends after breaking their poorly-co-ordinated off-side trap from a through ball from Ron. Haron lifted the ball over their advancing keeper and headed the ball into the empty net for his 149th ARFC goal. 5-0. His reward? Substituted by Alvin.
Khim then was replaced by Toh with Blackburn pushing up to left mid and Elvis taking the left-back position.
ARFC put the icing on the cake with yet another superb move. Hee broke clear at the left and then unselfishly laid the ball to Alvin although Hee could have gone for goal himself. As expected, Alvin thrashed the ball which nearly bulged the net for his 99th ARFC goal. 6-0
ARFC could have scored more goals but several chances were saved by their keeper.
This was a great team performance and every warrior did very well. But if there is a Man-of-the-Match, it goes to Tjioe for his assists and powerful display which turned back the clock on what he is capable of.
No comments:
Post a Comment