D2D League Match against The OC

02 Jan 2011 9Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
East View SS
Opponent is The OC

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

ARFC's near-flawless performance in last match of 2010

In the last match for 2010, ARFC put in a sterling display to comprehensively dismiss the tough challenge of KB United 4-1 at the magnificent artificial pitch at 1st Toa Payoh SS under the watchful eyes of 77,777 fans including Anna and Tracie, WAG of Elvis and Guoxiong respectively.

Prior to the start, the 77,777 fans treated ARFC with 77 rounds of Mexican waves at the stadia. ARFC also officially welcomed the superbly-impressive En Dian into its fold.

In addition, ARFC welcomed back Jinzhong from his long-term ankle injury.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong (captain)
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs:

Steely Tze Ern (late)
Precocious En Dian
Combative Ron
Hard-man Tjioe
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Absent:

Sublime Khim
Long-throw specialist Norman
Wonder Wayne
Speedy Hee

ARFC was really determined to produce a good show to thank all the supporters for their unwavering support through these years and especially in 2010 when ARFC suffered its worst defeat in its illustrious history.

All starting-11 warriors were really fired up and also for fear of being replaced quickly by the substitutes’ bench where one look at the composition would send fears down the spines of any opponents including the best teams in the world now - Barcelona and Liverpool.

Guoxiong was appointed match-day captain for him to redeem himself.

ARFC served its intent as early as the 7th min. Derrick, who was constantly fouled throughout the match, played in Alvin who cleverly eluded the opposing defenders and faced their keeper. Everyone in the stadia was also preparing to celebrate but Alvin’s outside-right foot shot unfortunately rebounded off the post. Real unlucky!

Once again, Kenny and Derrick created so much havoc down both flanks but ARFC was unable to capitalize on the chances that came their way.

Jinzhong then showed the fans that he had not lost his sharpness despite his long lay-off when he got down very fast ala Pepe Reina to smoother a through ball and was kicked by the opponent. Thankfully, nothing severe came out of it.

Tze Ern and En Dian then replaced Soon and Alvin respectively. Shortly after, Haron and Tjioe came in for Blackburn and Sebastian respectively. Ron then joined the fray when he took over Toh.

ARFC finally drew first blood in the 27th min. Kenny and Haron combined to great effect down the left flank which saw Kenny sped down the bye-line to deliver a low square ball into the penalty area. Haron pressured their keeper and the ball fell loose. En Dian followed up and laid the ball for the on-rushing Derrick who expertly arched his body to thunder in a right foot shot that saw the ball laced the net like Dirk Kuyt’s goal. Fantastic strike and a good combination play by ARFC! This was Derrick’s 30th ARFC goal and ARFC’s 1170th goal since inception.

Half-time 1-0.

The half saw several reshuffles with Kenny, Derrick and Elvis taking a well-deserved rest.

Just 7 mins into the half, ARFC doubled its lead. Soon chipped in a superb ball down the left flank and in came En Dian who dashed in from deep and eluded the offside trap. En Dian then looked up and crossed in for Haron to tap into the empty net for his 163th ARFC goal. Yet another fantastic build-up goal from ARFC! 2-0

Alvin also produced a snap shot that hit the side-netting.

ARFC put the result beyond doubt in the 57th min. Again, En Dian was the architect when he sent in a cross from the left flank and amidst the chaos in the penalty area, Haron pop up to prod the ball over the line for his 164th ARFC goal. 3-0

En Dian nearly chalked up another assist when he again broke clear at the left flank. His low square ball was deliberately dummied by Haron and the ball rolled to the unmarked Derrick on the right. Just when the world is expecting a goal, Derrick inexplicably side-footed the ball into the side-netting! Amazing miss!

However, Derrick made amends for his incredible miss when he wiggled his way down the right flank and squared to Haron who completed his hat-trick with his 165th ARFC goal. 4-0

Haron’s hat-trick also fulfilled his promise to his fellow subs in the 1st half that he would net a hat-trick!!

Mins before the end, the opponents pulled a goal back. 4-1

This was possibly the best match that ARFC has produced in 2010. A near-flawless performance capped by 4 great goals, good passing and fabulous movements. Every warrior did very very well and all supported each other superbly.

But quite obviously, En Dian is the Man-of-the-Match with his 3 assists and enterprising runs down the flanks.

Statistics of 2010 + through the years

Dear ARFC warriors:

These are the stats:

2010: P (36), W (21), D (3), L (14), GF (121), GA (73)

Through the years: P (328), W (208), D (48), L (74), GF (1173), GA (586)

Friendly match - 26 December 2010

Friendy match details:

26 December 2010 (Boxing Day) - Sunday
3 pm = 1500 hrs
1st Toa Payoh SS (artificial pitch)

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

10-warrior ARFC secures passage to round of 16 in D2D Cup...

In the D2D Cup round of 32 knock-out match at Tanjong Katong SS, ARFC put in a gritty performance to grind out a 2-0 victory despite playing almost the entire 2nd half with 10 warriors.

The win was witnessed by the 77,777 fans which of course included Anna and Tracie, WAG of Elvis and Guoxiong respectively.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

Keeper: Chun Haw
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong (captain)
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Unbeatable Darren (late)
Dynamic Soon (early but went to take jersey when match starting)
En Dian
Jason (Alvin’s friend)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong
Sublime Khim
Combative Ron
Hard-man Tjioe
Long-throw specialist Norman
Wonder Wayne

The ground was where ARFC suffered its worst defeat in its illustrious history and ARFC had also never won on the ground. Hence, all warriors were determined to reverse this unwanted record.

ARFC had the upper hand from the match go and was largely due to Hee, Kenny and Derrick who drew many fouls.

Hence it was no surprise that ARFC took the lead in the 7th min. Sebastian’s corner was poorly taken but fortunately the ball rebounded back to him. His low return into the crowded penalty area caused mayhem and under string pressure from Toh, their defender inexplicably turned the ball into his own net and past their despairing keeper. 1-0 and this was the 22nd own goals conceded by ARFC’s opponents.

By now, Kenny and Derrick were having a field day down both flanks. Hee also did well to pressure their defenders.

7 mins after the goal, ARFC could have doubled its lead. Hee received Derrick’s ball from the right flank and managed to hold off their defender. Hearing a call from Sebastian coming from deep, Hee laid the ball nicely but Sebastian side-footed the ball over the bar.

7 mins later, Derrick was fouled yet again. Kenny stood over the ball and his venomous curling shot was just 0.77 inches over the bar. Unlucky!

Jason then replaced the tiring Alvin with Derrick moving forward to partner Hee. Mins later, soon also took over Tze Ern.

ARFC then turned complacent and allowed opponents into the match. However, ARFC’s famed defence, marshaled ably by Elvis, held firm.

En Dian then replaced Hee and couple of mins later, Toh had an awkward fall and was replaced by Darren.

In the 2nd half, Tze Ern, Alvin and Toh took over Sebastian, Derrick and Blackburn respectively.

Tragedy struck less than 7 mins from the re-start. Captain of the day Guoxiong, who had just being booked 77 seconds earlier, retaliated after an entangle with the opponent. He was duly shown the red card.

Soon then moved over to right-back with En Dian dropping deep to provide cover at centre mid.

Playing with 10 warriors and with the young and energetic opponents, it was no surprise that ARFC was on the back foot for almost the entire 2nd half. Again, ARFC’s defence with strong cover provided by Tze Ern, kept the opponents at bay. Kenny also contributed greatly with some recovery runs to aid Darren at left-back.

ARFC nearly conceded an equalizer but the talented Chun Haw came to the rescue when he produced a world-class one-on-one save to turn the low shot over the bar. Wonderful goal-keeping!

Sebastian then nearly gifted the opponent the equalizer when his hesitation allowed the striker in but he fired over the bar. For that, Sebastian was given the hair-dryer treatment by Elvis… J

With less than 7 mins remaining, ARFC scored a break-away goal to secure the victory. The ball was played out from the back by Elvis to Darren who then passed to Soon. Soon passed to Sebastian at the middle and Sebastian then drilled a long through ball down the right flank for Hee. Hee did very well to beat their left-back and squared across for Alvin who could have taken a 1st-time shot. Instead, Alvin stopped the ball and with a quick swivel, turned the defender and spotted En Dian running in from left side. Alvin then served the ball on a platter to En Dian who then gleefully fired past the keeper for his 7th ARFC goal. 2-0 and what a wonderful build-up goal by ARFC ala Barcelona (current) and Liverpool (in the 80s).

This was really a match where team-work did the work especially after Guoxiong’s dismissal. All warriors put in a determined performance. ARFC’s defence stood tall, Kenny and Derrick did most damage down the flanks, Soon and Tze Ern provided much industry and steel and Hee was relentless in his pressuring.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Elvis and En Dian.

D2D round of 32 Cup match

19 December 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Tanjong Katong Sec Sch
Opponent is Unido FC

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Tze Ern nets debut goal in 4-2 loss

In an evenly-matched friendly at Tampines SAFRA, ARFC put in a good shift but was undone by an unprecedented 2 own goals to eventually go down 2-4 to its opponent.

The loss was witnessed by the 77,777 fans which of course included Anna, wife of Elvis

ARFC started with this 4-5-1 line-up:

Keeper: Chun Haw
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)

Subs:

Long-throw specialist Norman
Wayne
Nippy Kenny
Jason (Alvin’s friend)

ARFC welcomed back Haron from his intensive 3-week overseas training in Nepal and he was made captain of the day.

In the opening exchanges, ARFC knew that they would be in for a tough match when the opponents created a couple of chances. However, Chun Haw, the super-impressive 14 year-old keeper, came to the rescue with his top-notch saves.

ARFC then conceded a goal in the 17th min. 0-1.

Barely 7 mins later, ARFC drew level when Derrick released Haron down the right flank. Showing much-improved speed, Haron sped to the right bye-line and flashed a shot across goal. The ball looked to be safely picked up by their keeper but to their horror, he spilled the ball and turned it into the net! 1-1 now and this was the 21st own goals conceded by ARFC’s opponents all these years.

ARFC took the lead in the 27th min. The move started from our right-back position when Guoxiong dispossessed their skillful left winger and laid the Khim. With a quick swivel, Khim prodded the ball through and in came Tze Ern, who again put in an impressive display, from deep and galloped down the left side. Their keeper dashed out and tried to intercept the ball but Tze Ern was always first to the ball. Without hesitating, Tze Ern chipped the ball with his left foot and the ball sailed over their keeper and nestled nicely into the empty net. 2-1 and this was Tze Ern’s debut goal for ARFC.

The score stayed at 2-1 at half-time.

By now, it was clear to all that ARFC was tiring whereas the opponents still had many subs. They drew level when Guoxiong conceded an unfortunate own goal as he tried to clear the ball with a slide but only diverted the goal into our net. 2-2

ARFC conjured up a couple of chances and Kenny was particularly impressive but could not get into the score-sheet. Kenny also drew the most fouls as the opponents recognized his threat.

In the 67th min, ARFC went behind when Khim also scored an own goal. 2-3.

Alvin then missed some great chances when his first touch let him down.

In the 77th min, ARFC conceded another goal after failing to clear a corner. 2-4.

This was a match whereby I was happy with our display even though we lost the match. But it is no shame as the opponents are also a decent team. All warriors did well, including Blackburn.

Friendly match on 28 Nov (Sun) @ Tampines SAFRA

28 Nov 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Tampines SAFRA

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Tze Ern powered ARFC to victory

After a 3-week hiatus, ARFC played a friendly match against Eastburns at the Bedok Green SS artificial pitch in front of 77,777 fans that included Elvis’ latest wife and usual supporter, Anna.

ARFC was boosted by the sudden appearance of Khim while Derrick also made a last-minute appearance after inking a $7 million renovation contract with a local MNC.

As ARFC did not have a proper keeper, Darren gamely volunteered to be one.

ARFC started with this 4-5-1 line-up:

Keeper: Unbeatable Darren
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern (captain)
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Talisman Derrick
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Sublime Khim
Speedy Hee (only arrived at half-time)
Wayne
Yoong
Jason (Alvin’s friend)

All ARFC warriors were itching to play and it showed from the renewed fire in their bellies. Right from the start go, ARFC warriors showed some very good passing and totally dominated the opening exchanges.

Hence, it was no surprise when ARFC took the lead in the 10th min. Their defender needlessly handled a long high ball and the referee awarded a free-kick about 27 metres from goal. For the 2nd successive match, Sebastian stood over the ball, took aim, breathed for 7 seconds and duly and fiercely side-footed the ball low round the wall and although their keeper got a touch, the velocity of the ball proved too much as their keeper was unable to keep the ball out. This was Sebastian’s 76th ARFC goal. 1-0

However, ARFC turned careless and conceded a goal. 1-1.

Alvin had a chance to restore ARFC’s lead after Sebastian’s no-look reverse through pass sent him galloping away. However, Alvin was thwarted by their on-rushing keeper who kept his shot out.

ARFC restored its lead in the 27th min. Off a free-kick taken by Sebastian who hit the ball into the danger zone between the keeper and the 6-yard line, who else but Toh dashed in and connected with what else but his world-renowned fore-head to plant the ball beyond the reach of their keeper for his 43rd ARFC goal. 2-1.

Khim then replaced Norman and scored with his first touch! Derrick did very well by executing an overhead kick into the penalty box. Khim made a clever run into the box and before their keeper could reach the bouncing ball, Khim looped the ball over him with his head for his 45th ARFC goal.3-1 and what a cleverly-taken goal.

The opposing defence appealed for an off-side but the referee correctly brushed their appeals aside as Khim had come in from deep.

By now, ARFC was firing in all cylinders. After some clever work, Derrick found himself with space on the right. Without much hesitation, he let fly a rising shot that just flashed past the far post by 0.77 mm. Unlucky!

Guoxiong also found acres of space down the right flank but his various deliveries were not met. Blackburn also tried his luck with several long shots from his half!

Toh then sportingly made way for Wayne while Yoong took over from Soon.

In the 2nd half, Derrick sportingly become the keeper and gives Darren a chance to play at left-back. Hee also replaced Alvin, Jason took over Derrick’s right-wing position while Blackburn replaced Sebastian at centre-mid.

The 2nd half began in exactly the same fashion as the first with ARFC still dominating. From a quick counter-attack in the 47th min, Yoong made space for himself at the left before unleashing a venomous stiff grounder that took a wicked deflection off their defender to wrong-foot their keeper for his 9th ARFC goal. 4-1 now.

The opponent then pulled a goal back. 4-2.

Toh restored ARFC’s 3-goal advantage in the 77th min. Alvin’s precise corner from the left was floated in very high and over their defence to the far post. The ball looked to have reached beyond Toh but he took about 2-3 steps back and summoning all his 777 neck muscles, he thumped in a header (what else?) back to the near post area and although the covering defender tried to clear, the header proved too powerful. 5-3 and this was Toh’s 44th ARFC goal (I think about 40 goals were from headers) and a goal that Alan Shearer or Olivier Bierhoff would be very proud of!

The opponent scored a goal back. 5-3.

Man-of-the-match is undoubtedly Tze Ern who really gave a lion-hearted display in the centre of the field and reveled in his captain’s role.

Friendly match this sunday (21 Nov)

Dear ARFC warriors,

After a 3-week hiatus, ARFC will be playing a friendly match this sunday. Details as follows:

21 Nov 2010 (sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
Bedok Green Sec Sch (artificial pitch)
Opponent is unknown.

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Thanks a lot.

ARFC melt-down in last 15 mins to lose 1-4

Playing FC Simpang for the 2nd time in the league, ARFC took the lead but self-destructed in the last 15 mins to go down 1-4 at the poor East Spring SS pitch.

ARFC welcomed back Wayne who was out with a shoulder injury suffered after scoring his debut ARFC goal in the 5-1 win over Team Kangtao on 22 Aug 2010. However, he has to be contented with a place on the bench together with his smoke-drink-sex buddy Tjioe.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Chun Haw (talented 14 year-old keeper)
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis (captain)
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Wayne
Hard-man Tjioe

The first half was evenly matched and Hee impressed with his relentless pressure but was unable to score. Alvin also showed his prowess by cutting in from the left but his shot hit the side-netting.

1st-half ended goalless.

In the 2nd half, chances were far and few though ARFC threatened with a couple of corners and free-kicks.

The break-through finally arrived in the 67th min. Tjioe did very well to win a foul right at the edge of their penalty box. Wayne joined their defensive wall and Sebastian steadied himself to take the free-kick. Wayne then broke away, creating a hole in the wall and Sebastian duly obliged by firing in a low shot that went through the hole vacated by Wayne to wrong-foot their keeper who was anticipating a high curling ball. 1-0 and this was Sebastian’s 75th ARFC goal, ¾ to the centurion mark but would probably take another 10 years to reach the 100-goal mark.

Strangely enough and to the huge surprise of the crowd, ARFC conceded 4 goals in the last 15 mins to go down 1-4.

10th Tournament Match details

24 Oct 2010 ( Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
East Spring Sec Sch

Opponent is FC Simpang

Pls bring both colours and e-mail/SMS Sebastian of your availability.

Thanks a lot

ARFC put in impressive showing in front of potential sponsor

Taking on Holland Park for the 2nd time in its 9th tournament match, ARFC put in their best performance in recent times by posting a comprehensive 4-0 victory, but which could have been more, at Punggol SS.

The match was witnessed by Cerine (beau of Jinzhong), En Dian (injured) and Toni (potential jerseys sponsor).

ARFC received 3 doses of boosts when Soon, Ron and Darren made last-min appearances. Special mention to Soon for turning up even after his morning marathon run.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Combative Ron
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Chun Haw (talented 14 year-old keeper)
Dynamic Soon
Talisman Derrick (late)
Minghui (guest player)

ARFC and in particular Cerine suffered a huge heart-ache when Jinzhong lasted only about 7 mins after his right foot was caught in the ground after attempting a clearance. In came Chun Haw to take his place.

In the 17th min, Darren was booked for a very fiery protest against a wrong decision by the otherwise-excellent referee. Just mins later, Darren turned his anger into productive energy when he made a Roberto Carlos-like run down the left bye-line and squared the ball in. Blackburn did very well to dummy the ball to Derrick who had replaced Norman just mins earlier. Derrick rolled the ball back to Alvin juts outside the 6-yard box and the latter duly drove the ball towards goal that bounced off the left post, then the right post before slowly crossing the line for his 132nd ARFC goal. 1-0

Excellent build-up goal.

ARFC only led 1-0 as a couple of chances went awry.

In the 2nd half, it was clear that ARFC would be the winners as it continued to dominate the match. Just 7 mins after the restart, ARFC doubled the lead when Darren won possession at left back, laid the ball to the impressive Minghui who spotted Alvin from inside his own half. Minghui released Alvin who then sped away, looked to have lost the ball to their keeper, but somehow managed to prod the ball past their bewildered keeper for his 133rd ARFC goal. 2-0.

By now, the opponents were deflated and ARFC created chances after chances. Hee had 2 very good opportunities spurned, Derrick’s shot did not carry enough power, and even Toh showed Beckenbauer-like skill when he moved from his stopper position all the way just outside the penalty box but he screwed his shot high and wide.

ARFC’s 3rd goal finally arrived. Picking up a shot, Chun Haw showed great awareness beyond his youthful years when he spotted Alvin at the half-way line. With a great strong kick, the ball flew to Alvin who shrugged off their defender’s challenge and flew down the right flank. Bringing the ball into the penalty box, Alvin was unselfish when he lured their keeper out and squared the ball to the unmarked Blackburn who gleefully placed the ball home into the unguarded net for his 93rd ARFC goal. 3-0

In the 77th min, Blackburn did a Xabi Alonso when he chipped the ball into the net from almost at the half-way line. Though their keeper tried his best to back-pedal and keep the ball out, Blackburn’s precision was simply too much for him to handle.4-0 and this was Blackburn’s 94th ARFC goal, just 6 shy of the century mark.

This was a match where every warrior did very well and there was no warrior who disappointed the crowd and sponsor.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Ron (who did everything right at sweeper) and Alvin (who put in a captain’s display but must watch the off-side more often).

9th Tournament Match Details

10 October 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Punggol Sec Sch
Opponent is Holland Park

Pls bring both colours.

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Thanks a lot.

Kenny hit double-digit ARFC goals in easy win

As tournament opponent FC Tempestalla pulled out at the 11th hour due to insufficient players, ARFC played a friendly match instead against a social team at Pei Hwa SS in front of 77,777 fans including Anna (Elvis’ beau), Irene (Alvin’s wife) and Tracie, newly-minted wife of Guoxiong.

This was the 1st match for newly-married Guoxiong and hence he was given the honour to captain ARFC for this match.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Chun Haw (talented 14 year-old keeper)
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong (captain)
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Combative Ron
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Hardman Tjioe
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs:

Steely Tze Ern
Powerful Alvin

Straight from kick-off, Kenny unleashed a powerful shot which was picked up by their keeper who was dropped the ball to the ground. The keeper then picked the ball up again and the referee awarded an indirect free-kick right outside the 6-yard box. Unfortunately, Kenny’s venomous thunderbolt was blocked by their wall on the goal-line.

After 7 mins, it became obvious that the opponent was at least 2 or 3 class below ARFC. Kenny and Norman repeatedly found space and Kenny was particularly unlucky when he flashed 2 low drives wide after being put through.

Alvin came on for the ineffective Blackburn and immediately posed problems with his powerful runs and scuffed 2 shots wide.

Sebastian then put Guoxiong, who seemed to have found extra spring in his steps after his recent marriage (maybe got 7 rounds?), through but Guoxiong was hesitant between choosing to shoot himself or square across for the unmarked Alvin. As a result, his shot also went wide.

Tragedy struck in the 27th min when incredibly, they scored after a defensive error. 0-1.

Tze Ern then came on for the injured Ron at stopper and put in an impressive performance as stopper.

After yet another couple of near misses, ARFC finally equalized. Sebastian found Norman galloping down the right flank with an exquisite overhead chip. Looking up, Norman delivered a cross, ala David Beckham, that sailed over their entire defence and keeper and it was so precise that Alvin simply needed to put his forehead to the ball and nod home for his 131st ARFC goal! 1-1

In the 2nd half, ARFC continued its domination and created so many chances that the fans were anticipating a huge win. However, all these chances were spurned by Blackburn, Kenny, Alvin and all.

Particularly heart-breaking moment came in the 67th min. Kenny did very well to speed away down the left flank ala Ryan Giggs and his excellent centre found Alvin right inside the 6-yeard box and about 0.77 metres from the goal-line. Incredulously, Alvin stopped the ball just nice for their keeper to pick it up when a volley would have found the net.

Guoxiong then won a foul about 37 metres away from goal. Sebastian took aim and curled the ball over the wall which looked destined for the top left-hand corner. From nowhere, their keeper showed Peter Schmeichel-like reflexes when he flung himself across goal to tip the ball over for a corner.

ARFC finally made the break-through in the 77th min. Sebastian played a quick short corner to Kenny who tried to hit a shot but was blocked. The rebound fell kindly back to him and he steadied himself before whacked in a high curling shot which the keeper got a touch but was unable to keep out. Wonderful world-class goal which was similar to those type of goals that Matthew Le Tissier used to score. 2-1 and this was Kenny’s 10th ARFC goal.

Man-of-the-Match award is jointly given to Sebastian and Kenny.

"Half-ARFC" fell to The OC

Despite playing with a superior numerical advantage, ARFC still fell 1-2 to The OC at Compassvale SS yesterday.

Prior to the match, ARFC was already confirmed to be missing many key warriors due to Guoxiong’s wedding, Andrew’s birthday party the night before and many injuries sustained in last week’s heavy defeat by Team BI. ARFC was further rocked when Toh was caught in JB and could not make it back in time for the match. As such, ARFC called up an unprecedented 5 guest players for the match!!

Thankfully, Tjioe turned up despite having a strong hang-over and Hee and Derrick also made last-min appearances.


ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili (Rendezvous FC’s steady keeper)
Right-back: Sng (Rendezvous FC’s marauding right-back)
Sweeper: Daniel (Rendezvous FC’s vocal sweeper)
Stopper: Bob (Rendezvous FC’s central midfielder)
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Talisman Derrick
Glenn (guest player – Wayne’s friend)
Hardman Tjioe

Playing with a lousy ball on a lousy pitch, ARFC’s passes were all under-hit and the strong anti-wind direction often resulted in balls not reaching our warriors. In addition, The OC’s impressive sweeper seemed to mop up every balls played to our forwards.

ARFC had Weili to thank for when he made 2 superb one-on-one saves. With ARFC failing to conjure up decent chances, it was no surprise that the half was goal-less.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals to trail 0-2.

With 7 mins to go, Sebastian sprinted down the right flank, cut inside and beat their left-back and squared the ball to the lurking Alvin just outside the 6-yard box. Alvin eluded their defenders and was brought down, giving the referee an easy decision in awarding a penalty. The offender was shown a yellow card and as this was his 2nd yellow, he was dismissed.

Sebastian stepped up and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 74th ARFC goal.

ARFC then pressed forward in its bid to grab an equalizer but it did not come.

There is no Man-of-the-Match award to ARFC warriors as no one played well enough to deserve it. (Note: The guest players are not eligible for the MOM award.)

Speaking to the angry crowd of fans after the match, Sebastian apologized for the abject performance of the warriors. Mirroring the current state of the greatest team in the world, Liverpool FC, Sebastian said:

“We need funds to rejuvenate ARFC as our jerseys are past the sell-by date with all names, sponsor’s name, numbers all falling apart. Playing with such torn-and-tattered jerseys, it is no surprise that ARFC warriors could not raise their standards. Hence, if there is any kind millionaire soul willing enough to sponsor, please contact me immediately.”

8th Tournament Match Details

26 September 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Compassvale Sec Sch
Opponent is The OC

Please bring both colours.

Please e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

ARFC suffered heaviest defeat since formation

ARFC suffered its heaviest defeat since its formation in Jun 1991 after going down 0-8 to Team BI at Tanjong Katong SS.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Nippy Kenny
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)
Striker: Yoong

Subs:

Dynamic Soon
Long-throw Specialist Norman
Talisman Derrick
En Dian
Hardman Tjioe

ARFC actually was the better team in the opening 15-20 mins but after Ron suffered a serious right ankle injury from a heavy tackle, ARFC simply fell apart.

ARFC suffered yet another blow when the impressive En Dian, who came on for Haron, also departed after suffering a left knee injury.

Half-time score was 0-3.

ARFC conceded another 5 goals to go down 0-8.

Kenny almost pulled a goal back from a free-kick in the dying mins but his powerful shot was parried by their keeper and Derrick was unable to capitalize on the rebound.

Besides the injuries to both Ron and En Dian, other warriors like Toh, Elvis, Tze Ern and Sebastian also had heavy knocks and remained doubtful for the coming match.

For this match, our ARFC forwards did very well but unfortunately, our midfielders and defenders, except Darren, simply had a bad day.

Ironically enough, there is nothing to fault on attendance this time round as the attendance of 16 was fantastic. But things just did not go the way of ARFC and to their credit, Team BI was really a class apart for this league. I think they should be playing in a higher standard league rather than D2D League. It is no good that they have been winning leagues for the past few seasons and stayed unbeaten throughout.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Yoong, Kenny and Darren.

7th tournament match details

19 September 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Tanjong Katong SS
Good grass pitch with decent size.

Opponent is Team BI

Pls bring both colours

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

ARFC welcomes Alvin back in easy 6-1 win

ARFC’s 7th tournament match against FC Tempestella was cancelled at the last min but thankfully, the organizer managed to arrange a last-min friendly match against Ultras at the same venue and time, Pasir Ris Crest SS and 5 pm respectively.

For fear of affecting attendance, the warriors only found out when they turned up at the match. The fans were subsequently treated a feast of goals from ARFC.

ARFC’s attendance was boosted by Kenny (cup final cancelled) and Alvin who wanted to see if he had fully recovered. ARFC was also supported by Anna and Tracie, beaus of Elvis and Guoxiong respectively. Kenny’ love, Joyce, also made her first appearance as ARFC supporter and hopefully, we will see more of her soon.


ARFC started with this strong line-up:

Keeper: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)
Right-back: Sliding King Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw Specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Left-mid: Talisman Derrick
Striker: En Dian
Striker: Nippy Kenny

Subs:

Dynamic Soon
Influential Sebastian
Unpredictable Blackburn
Powerful Alvin

Within mins of the match, ARFC almost opened the scoring after En Dian was put through. However, his attempted dink was pushed away for a corner.

ARFC was not to be denied its goal soon. In the 7th min, Derrick worked his way down the left flank, looked up and sent in a delicious ball for the lurking En Dian to plant the ball home with his head for his 6th ARFC goal. En Dian’s goal was also his 3rd successive header goals for the past 3 matches. 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead just mins later. Again, the goal came from the left after Darren galloped down the left bye-line, left their defender for dead and chipped in a high ball into the penalty area. From pressure by Toh, their keeper fumbled and Toh was on hand to sweep home his 41st ARFC goal. Fantastic proacher goal. 2-0

ARFC then conceded a goal after our defence failed to block their shot. 2-1

In the 17th min, ARFC regained its 2-goal lead straight from counter-attack. Guoxiong and Ron did well as right back and won the ball. The ball was passed to Tze Ern, who again had an impressive match, and he brought the ball upfield before releasing Kenny with a slide-rule pass. Kenny gleefully latched on to the ball and with Joyce taking photographs from behind the goal, duly obliged and placed the ball to the far bottom corner for his 8th ARFC goal. 3-1

Soon, Sebastian, Blackburn and Alvin then replaced Derrick, Toh, Kenny and Darren respectively.

Haron then made a world-class save when he palmed the ball over the bar from a venomous shot by the opponent. Simply brilliant ala Pepe Reina.

ARFC got its 4th goal in the 27th min. Norman did well to win the ball at the right flank and guoxiong powered into their danger area just outside the box. Ignoring calls from Alvin, Guoxiong fired in a powerful left-foot shot, which is rare, and the ball took a wicked slight deflection to wrong-foot their keeper for his 11th ARFC goal. 4-1.

Just 7 mins into the re-start, Kenny got his 2nd goal of the match after some strong pressure by En Dian, Alvin and Sebastian saw the ball rolled towards Kenny. With a quick swivel, Kenny fired in a high curling right-foot shot that sailed over their keeper with the ball nestled nicely into the far right stanchion for his 9th ARFC goal. Again, the goal had Joyce performing 7 Mexican waves. 5-1

ARFC had a scare when the opponent spotted Derrick out of his goal-line after his clearance. Turning back the years, however, Derrick showed quick feet to rush back and turned the ball away for a corner.

From the corner, the opponent nearly scored but Guoxiong was on hand to head the ball away. World-class defending ala Ashley Cole.

Kenny tried his best to secure his first-ever hat-trick for ARFC with 2 power-packed shots but both did not find the target.

In the 77th min, Sebastian’s well-aimed corner found Darren’s head at the far post but the ball was deflected away for a corner.

From the ensuing corner, ARFC got its 6th goal. Blackburn played a quick short corner to En Dian who spotted Toh in the 6-yard box. The cross was precise and even before Toh got to the ball, the 77,777 fans were already up on their feet in anticipation of a goal. True enough, Toh obliged as he emphatically thumped home with his head ala Alan Shearer for his 42nd ARFC goal. 6-1

Alvin nearly capped his return his a goal after he went one-on-one with their keeper. Unfortunately, his long lay-off was telling as he used his outside right foot to shoot wide when an easy place-shot would suffice.

Toh also nearly scored his 1st-ever ARFC hat-trick but his left foot instinctive shot went wide.

In the last 10 mins, ARFC displayed fantasy football with clever and quick passing that totally bamboozled the opponents.

Credit must be given yet again to both keepers, Haron and Derrick with the latter only playing about 20 mins in the 1st half. For that, his match fees was waived.

The attendance was once again good. The only negative point is that ARFC still did not keep a clean sheet.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to both Darren and Tze Ern.

Friendly Match Details

05 September 2010 (Sun)
1700 hrs = 5 pm
Pasir Ris Crest Sec Sch
Opponent is Ultras

Pls bring both colours.

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Darren's debut ARFC goal in 5-2 victory

In a totally dominant performance, ARFC demolished New Easteroids 5-2 at the rather-poor pitch at East View SS in front of 177,777 fans including Anna, Cerine, Suhana+Afiqah, lovely beaus of Elvis, Jinzhong and Haron respectively.

ARFC received a tremendous boost when ARFC Scoring Legend Haron declared in his personal blog www.ilovesuhana&afiqah.haron.sg hat he will just play in one half due to fasting. Because of that, an additional 100,000 fans turned up for the match.

Jinzhong also returned to goalkeeping after being unavailable for 2 weeks due to injury.

ARFC started with this strong line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Sliding King Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw Specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs:

Combative Ron
Talisman Derrick
En Dian

Prior to the match, it was noted that the opponents had in their ranks a 1.97 metre centre forward and Toh was forewarned that he would be in for a good aerial duals with him. Thankfully, Toh showed his experience by containing him very well, with strong help from Darren and later on, Ron.

It did not take long for the fans to realize who the eventual winner would be as ARFC completely dominated possession. Within minutes, Haron showed quick feet ala Steven McManamam when he eluded 3 defenders by shuffling the ball between his feet. Unfortunately, he was forced out too wide by their last covering defender and could not get a good shot in.

7 mins later, Haron looked to have scored after being put through. Unfortunately, he was challenged very strongly by their burly last man but still managed to toe-poke the ball towards goal. Miraculously, their keeper stuck out a foot and deflected the ball away for a corner. Totally unlucky!

Sebastian then executed a sharp volley from 37 metres but the ball flew wide.

Ron then replaced the tiring Soon. En Dian also came in for the disappointing Blackburn, and Derrick replaced Norman.

ARFC finally opened the scoring in the 27th min. En Dian picked up a long ball down the left flank and held the ball well. Sebastian called for the ball just outside the penalty box and En Dian duly obliged. Hearing a call from Ron, Sebastian laid the ball for Ron who took a touch, looked up, and let fly a venomous shot which landed at the top left-hand corner. The shot was so powerful and precise that their goalkeeper could not keep out at all. In fact, even any world-class keepers like Neville Southall, Peter Schmeichel, Pepe Reina or David Lee could do nothing too. This was Ron’s 2nd successive goals after he opened his accounts for ARFC last week. 1-0

The opening goal settled the nerves and ARFC doubled its lead 7 mins later. Derrick was fouled at the right flank area and Sebastian took the free-kick. For the 2nd week in a row, Sebastian again found his range as his high free-kick to the far post sailed over everybody and in came En Dian to plant a looping header over their keeper at his far post ala Alan Shearer for his 5th ARFC goal. 2-0

Half-time score was 2-0 and during the break, ARFC was reminded not to be complacent and to avoid the previous match error against the same opponents.

True enough, ARFC scored its 3rd goal just 7 mins after the break. En Dian did very well to power down the right bye-line but as he was about to square the ball, he was brought down clumsily, giving the excellent referee an easy decision to award a penalty. Darren was cajoled to take the penalty and after much hesitation, he stepped forward and sent their keeper the wrong way for his 1st-ever ARFC goal. 3-0

Toh looked to have ended his goal-scoring drought (last goal on 13 June 2010) when Blackburn’s excellent corner found him. However, Toh’s powerful header hit the cross-bar. Unlucky!


ARFC turned complacent and conceded a goal. 3-1.

En Dian or Derrick then hit the post.

In the 67th min, ARFC scored its 4th goal. Derrick picked up the ball and slalomed his way just outside the penalty box. He exchanged wall-passes with En Dian and powered into the box. The ball looked to be cleared by their keeper but Derrick did not give up and stuck out his foot. Fortunately, heavens was smiling at Derrick as the keeper’s clearance hit Derrick’s foot and Derrick then rolled the ball home into the empty net for his 28th ARFC goal. 4-1

ARFC was then awarded a 2nd penalty in the match when Derrick was cruelly brought down in the box which warranted a red card for the defender who only got a caution. Norman was also coaxed to take the penalty but unfortunately, he sent his kick just 0.77 metres wide.

No worries there as even regular successful penalty takers like Sebastian and Elvis had also missed before.

ARFC then wrapped up the match with a 5th goal. Darren’s excellent cross-field ball from his position found Norman dashing in from the right flank and broke their off-side trap. Norman was then unselfish when he squared the ball across goal for Derrick to gleefully tap into the empty net for his 29th ARFC goal. 5-1. Wonderful goal in terms of movement.

ARFC then conceded an unfortunate own goal. 5-2

Once again, credit must be given to the team attendance which is a good number. Particularly, special mention must be accorded to Haron for his willingness to come for the match despite on fast and most importantly, he did not show any ill-effects of fasting as his movements and dribbles were very good. For that, his match fees would be waived.

Once again, ARFC’s defence of Guoxiong (and for a short while Norman), Darren, Toh and Elvis was really a fortress. Jinzhong also showed that he was not rusty with some very safe catches and saves, and the 2 goals conceded were totally not his fault.

In midfield, Tze Ern and Ron also provided the muscle and tenacity with their never-ending pressing of opponents, while Soon was relentless in his pursuit of opponents and any loose balls. Sebastian also showed that his set-pieces are slowly getting back into shape in this match.

Derrick also provided some flash-backs of his wing-play with some excellent dribbles that totally dazzled the crowd.

Norman also improved on his positional play while En Dian again showed why he would be a huge asset to ARFC with his clever runs and hold-up play. Also, he provided another alternative to Toh in the air with his good jumps and timing. Blackburn also improved in the 2nd half after putting in a woeful performance in the 1st half.

There is no individual Man-of-the-Match for this match as every warrior played very well.

If there is anything that ARFC should strive for, it is that we should all try to keep a clean sheet in our next match. From my records, the last clean sheet was 12 matches ago, a 1-0 win over Serangoon CSC on 16 May 2010.

6th tournament match details

29 August 2010 (Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
East View Secondary School
Opponent is New Easteroids

Pls bring both colours.

Pls e-mail to Sebastian of your availability.

ARFC walloped Team Kangtao in a superb team performance

Fired up by the gritty performance by the Cubs’ 3-2 win over Montenegro in the YOG, ARFC thrashed Team Kangtao 5-1 after captain of the day Kenny put in a virtuoso performance at the artificial pitch at Bedok Green SS in front of 77,777 fans that included Elvis’ beau Anna.

ARFC had lost 1-2 to the same team the previous week due mainly to insufficient substitutes. Thankfully, there were 15 warriors present as Derrick went to the wrong pitch and only arrived late in the 2nd half.

ARFC was further boosted by the return of Elvis after his 2-week reservist duty to serve the nation.

ARFC started with this strong line-up:

Keeper: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (stand-in keeper)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Dynamic Soon
Striker: Nippy Kenny (captain)
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Wayne
Norman
Tze Ern
En Dian
Talisman Derrick (only arrived late in the 2nd half)


ARFC was determined to put things right from the word go. Our two speedy forwards impressed with their constant harassing at their defence.

ARFC took the lead in the 17th min. Sebastian, whose set-pieces delivery in last week’s match was very woeful, finally got things right. From a free-kick on the right, his curling kick eluded their defence and Ron dashed in and turned the ball for his 1st–ever ARFC goal. 1-0

The opponents then equalized after a rare error by ARFC’s defence. 1-1

Straight from the kick-off, ARFC immediately regained the lead. Hee touched the ball and instead of passing backwards, Kenny pushed the ball 0.77 cm forward and let fly a venomous shot towards the goal. The ball was deflected by their sweeper outside the box and bounced towards goal. Their keeper allowed the ball to bounce once and incredibly he was fooled by the violent spin of the ball and parried the ball into his own net for a comical own goal. 2-1 and this was the 20th own goal conceded by ARFC’s opponents.

ARFC extended its lead in the 27th min. From defending a corner, ARFC counter-attacked and Kenny showed world-class speed ala Ryan Giggs and sprinted down the left flank. At the same time, En Dian, Soon and Wayne also set off towards their goal. Kenny looked up and sent a cross-field ball to En Dian at the right flank. Killing the ball, En Dian paused a while and crossed the ball into the box and there was Wayne to slid the ball home for his 1st-ever ARFC goal. 3-1

The downside is that in scoring the goal, Wayne aggravated his right shoulder injury and had to be replaced. L

In the 2nd half, ARFC almost scored within 77 seconds. Kenny pressured their keeper into spilling the ball at the left-hand side near the touchline. Kenny headed the spilled ball towards the empty net and En Dian dashed in but just narrowly failed to connect and the ball trickled just 0.7 cm wide. Unlucky!

ARFC continued its dominance and twice from Sebastian’s corners, Toh and En Dian both went for the same balls and the chances were lost.

Blackburn was next to come close but his turn and volley flew narrowly wide.

Soon also flashed a shot high over the bar after Norman’s corner was half-cleared to him just outside the box.

ARFC finally scored the 4th goal. From Borman’s excellent corner on the right, En Dian rose majestically and headed the ball home for his 4th ARFC goal. Incidentally, En Dian’s previous goal was also a header at the same field! 4-1

At this point, Derrick immediately changed though there were only about less than 7.7 mins to go.

With almost the last kick of the match, ARFC scored its 5th goal in the match. Derrick made an immediate impact upon coming on. He won the ball at the middle and passed the ball down the right flank for Norman. Norman’s cross found Derrick in the box and Derrick then passed the ball out to the left for the lurking Kenny. Kenny fooled their keeper into committing a challenge ala Messi and rifled the bal into the roof of the net for his 7th ARFC goal to cap off a virtuoso captain’s performance. 5-1

This was a match where every warrior played their hearts out to avenge the previous week’s defeat to the same team. It was earlier predicted that with enough substitutes, ARFC can defeat them which, true enough, was achieved. Hopefully, ARFC will always have about 14-15 warriors for every match.

ARFC’s defence of Guoxiong, Darren, Toh, Elvis and later on Ron, reminded everyone of the famed defences of both Liverpool (Steve Nicol, Jim Beglin, Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen) and Everton (Gary Stevens, Pat Van de Hauw, Derek Mountfield and Kevin Ratcliff) in the 80s. In particular, Toh repeatedly repelled their aerial attacks from their long throw-ins, and Darren and Guoxiong also gave their wingers no chance at all. Haron, despite being on fast, showed good reading in the keeper’s position by coming out for a few balls. Wayne did his part when covering at left-back and did very well in scoring his first goal for ARFC.

The midfielders were also alert in this match with Tze Ern, Ron and Soon impressing. Sebastian also regained his accuracy with his set pieces and is really close to regaining match fitness after being out for so long. Blackburn contributed by his ability to play in so many positions in a single match. Norman assisted with 2 goals and will be a good replacement for Derrick in matches to come.

Up front, En Dian proved a perfect foil as a 2nd forward with his clever running into space. If En Dian can join ARFC on a permanent basis, ARFC can at least balance the loss of Alvin who is likely to be out for a long time. Hee showcased his world-class speed with his constant harassing and also took in a few hard tackles at the same time.

This leaves me with Kenny, the captain of the day, who inspired the victory by working endlessly and was finally rewarded with a goal with the last kick of the match. If I remembered correctly, this is also the 1st time that he completed a full match for ARFC. So, Man-of-the-Match goes to him.

5th tournament match details

22 August 2010 (Sun)
5pm = 1700 hrs
Bedok Green Secondary School (artificial pitch)
Opponent is Team Kangtao (again)

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Haron's heroics failed to save ARFC from defeat

Resuming its tournament match after the last tournament match on 11 July 2010, ARFC took the lead first but succumbed 1-2 to the young and fit Team Kangtao at Tanglin Sec Sch.

Prior to the match, ARFC was disrupted by the last-min notice on the change in match venue from the East side (Bedok area) all the way to the west end at Tanglin SS. This change caused panic and confusion amongst the warriors as several warriors had to detour and ended up arriving just 7 mins before the start. Due to the change, many of the fanatical ARFC fans did not turn up to support as only 77 fans managed to make it there.

To make matters worse, ARFC lost the prowess of the powerful Alvin who was ruled out for the rest of the season after the doctors at SGH diagnosed that his slip disc had, well, slipped.

Thankfully, Derrick recovered from his metersalalalala injury on this right foot and Haron also made a great sacrifice to volunteer as keeper despite being on a fast.

ARFC started with a 4-5-1 line-up with Darren captaining ARFC for the very first time:

Keeper: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren (captain)
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Yoong

Subs:

Wayne
Norman

ARFC dominated proceedings in the opening 20 mins with Yoong and Hee particularly impressive. In the 17th min, ARFC took the lead after Blackburn’s free-kick from the sweeper position found Yoong just outside the box. With a sharp turn, Yoong made space for himself and unleashed a stiff grounder that left their keeper rooted to the spot for his 8th ARFC goal. 1-0 and it was a fantastic strike.

ARFC warriors, however, quickly tired out with Norman replacing Derrick at right mid. Mins later, Ron’s boots gave way and was replaced by Wayne. By now, ARFC switched to 4-4-2 with Hee moving upfront and Soon moved over to left mid. Messi salivating. 2-0

Haron then produced a world-class save when he brilliantly tipped a ferocious free-kick over the bar.

7 mins later, he again produced a low diving save to parry the ball for a corner after the ball looked to have skidded into the net.

ARFC nearly doubled the lead when Sebastian’s corner kick from the right hit the cross-bar but no warriors were on hand to tap in the rebound. Unlucky!

ARFC had a couple of half chances but could not capitalize.

The turning point came when Yoong departed at half time as he had another match at Tampines SAFRA. With just one sub left and tiring quickly, it was no surprise that ARFC was under heavy pressure from the opponents.

Thankfully, Haron again showed his great goalkeeping when he kept out at least another 2 or 3 saves to preserve ARFC’s slender lead.

Upfront, Derrick pressured their keeper into spilling the ball but his curling kick from near the right touch-line just failed to trickle into the net. Unlucky!

In the 57th min, Toh then bundled the ball, and their keeper, over from Sebastian’s corner but it was correctly ruled out for a foul by the excellent referee.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals in the space of 5.7 mins. 1-2.

Towards the end of the match, Norman’s several missile throw-ins threatened to bring the match to parity but to no avail. ARFC then lost for the first time in the tournament.

Man-of-the-Match is obviously Haron who came up with several top-notch saves.

4th tournament match details

15 August 2010 (sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Damai SS @ Bedok Reservoir area
Opponent is Team Kangtao (formerly known as Oogleee Boys)

Pls inform Sebastian of your availability.

Thanks a lot.

ARFC paid heavy price for thrilling 3-2 win over Raven

In a 9 pm friendly match at Tampines SAFRA, ARFC paid a huge price for their thrilling 3-2 win over perennial rivals Raven as Alvin suffered a serious injury on his right hamstring that threatened to rule him out for the rest of the season.

ARFC started with this strong line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wayne
Norman
Tze Ern
Yoong

This was the 11th time that ARFC had played against Raven and the past results were:

(i) 26 August 2001 – 5-0 @ ITE AMK;
(ii) 14 April 2002 – 3-1 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(iii) 25 August 2002 – 0-1 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(iv) 21 September 2003 - 2-0 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(v) 05 February 2006 - 4-4 @ ITE AMK:
(vi) 11 March 2007 - 6-0 @ Blk 367 Yishun Ring Road;
(vii) 29 April 2007 - 1-5 @ Admiralty SS;
(viii) 24 August 2008 - 3-0 @ St. Wilfrids;
(ix) 20 December 2009 - 3-2 @ Pioneer SS;
(x) 09 May 2010 – 5-1 @ Regent SS.

Interestingly, this would be the 1st time that both teams are playing at night.


ARFC quickly put the opponents on their back-foot with some quick passing. Within 7 mins, Kenny spurned 2 great opportunities after being put through but put both shots too near to their keeper. Unlucky!

At the 20th min mark, Yoong and Norman came on for Kenny and Derrick respectively. 5 mins later, Tze Ern replaced Soon, and later on Wayne took over Sebastian with Blackburn moving into centre mid role and Toh dropped to sweeper with Wayne covering him at stopper.

In the 27th min, Yoong’s superb long throw was headed on to Tze Ern who was lurking just inside the penalty box. Unfortunately, Tze Eern’s well-struck sweet volley was parried away for a corner by their keeper.

The worst news came soon after when Alvin pulled up with a hamstring injury after chasing a long ball. Kenny came back on for him and soon redeemed himself.

Khim, who was having a superb match, back-heeled the ball for Kenny who galloped down the left flank. Looking up, he crossed in and the ball was spilled by their keeper. Blackburn picked up the loose ball just right outside the 6-yard box, shaped to shoot but eluded one covering defender. As the subs were getting ready to “scold” him, Blackburn still did not shoot and evaded another defender. Blackburn then rifled the ball into the roof of the net for his 92nd ARFC goal. 1-0!

ARFC doubled its lead just 3 mins later. Again, Khim started the move with a world-class through ball to Kenny who broke the off-side trap and expertly placed the ball to the far corner for his 6th ARFC goal. 2-0!


In the 2nd half, Sebastian gave a well-deserved break to Guoxiong and Toh which drew a chorus of boos from the crowd. Thankfully, the fans later realized that ARFC is having a grueling tournament match on Sunday afternoon. Derrick came back on and Norman dropped to right-back. Sebastian also played as the sweeper, and Soon tok over Blackburn in the centre mid role.

The opponents seemed fired up in the 2nd half and actually controlled proceedings in the opening 10-15 mins. In fact, they could have pulled a goal back but Jinzhong produced a world-class one-on-one save to deny them. Fantastic stuff!

Raven also came close with several half-chances.

ARFC then settled down and scored its 3rd goal. Soon’s clever through ball to the right saw Yoong latching the ball on and moved into the right side of the box. From an almost acute angle, Yoong fired the ball past their keeper for his 7th ARFC goal. 3-0

Kenny could have scored his second goal in the match after Sebastian’s pass was too weak to reach him at the left hand side but their right-back “lobang” the ball. Without breaking his stride, Kenny hit a curling right-side-footed shot that bent over their despairing keeper but the ball struck the left post. Totally unlucky!

Raven was then given a reprieve by the referee who wrongly awarded a penalty to them. Toh cleared the ball but the ball struck his own hand which was totally unintentional. Despite going the right way, Jinzhong just narrowly failed to keep the ball out. 1-3.

With 10 mins remaining, Blackburn produced the “Kelong Act of the Century” when he “purposely” let the ball run through his legs and their striker duly struck home. 2-3

The last 10 mins was tense as the opponents looked to grab an equalizer. Thankfully, ARFC held firm for a 3-2 victory.

For this match, every warrior played very well and all contributed to the victory. Particularly impressive were Tze Ern, Wayne, Derrick, Khim, Kenny and Yoong.

Friendly match at Tampines SAFRA - 11 Aug @ 2100 hrs

Dear ARFC warriors,

Friendly match on 11 August 2010 at 2100 hrs = 9 pm @ Tampines SAFRA.

Pls e-mail Sebastian and Toh of your availability.

Thanks

ARFC faltered to a 2-2 draw

In a friendly match held to commemorate Singapore’s 45th National Day, ARFC led 2-0 before being held to a 2-2 draw by a young Chinese team at East Spring SS.

As it was a long weekend, ARFC was missing a host of regular first-teamers and no WAGs were present. In fact, only 77 fans turned up to watch a patch-up ARFC side comprising 3 guest players.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Guohui (guest player)
Right-back: Sze Meng (guest player)
Sweeper: Combative Ron
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Tze Ern
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Speedy Hee (captain)
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Wayne
Norman
Yaoyang (guest player)


ARFC opened the scoring in the 17th min when strong pressure from Derrick, Blackburn and Hee caused panic in their defence. Alvin picked up the loose ball outside the box and with a quick sharp turn, eluded their sweeper and powered just right to the edge of the box. Before their sweeper and keeper can blink their eyes, Alvin executed a outside right foot shot that gave their keeper no chance at all to react. 1-0 and this was Alvin’s 129th ARFC goal. 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead courtesy of yet another Alvin goal. Derrick’s clever through ball found Alvin who again showed world-class deadly skill by thumping the ball past their keeper for his 130th ARFC goal. 2-0

In the 2nd half, ARFC sportingly gave the better performer in the form of Sze Meng to the opponents as they were short of players.

In the 2nd half, ARFC continued to conjure up golden chances but all were spurned. Tze Ern, who impressed with his biting tackles but lacked match fitness, found Alvin with a slide-rule pass but Alvin was denied his hat-trick by the save of their keeper.

Next up, Derrick’s precise right wing cross sailed over their keeper but struck the cross-bar. Hee dashed in for the rebound but his header also struck the same cross-bar. Unlucky for both!

Alvin again had another chance denied when his shot was again saved by their keeper.

Hee had a golden chance to increase ARFC’s lead when their keeper’s clearance found Hee about 37 metres outside the box. Alas, Hee’s lob was agonizingly just 0.77 metres wide.

Off a quick corner from Alvin, Sebastian’s chip was nearly headed in by Toh but he was just a fraction late.

The young and fitter opponents then scored 2 goals after ARFC warriors tired out in the last 20 mins.

Man-of-the-match is jointly given to Darren (for making the left back a fortress in the match) and Alvin (for his Ian Rush-like finishes).

Special mention to Ron for volunteering to be the keeper in the 2nd half.

Friendly match details - pre-National Day

Dear ARFC warriors,

No tournament match but I have arranged a friendly match to celebrate our National Day.

Match details:

08 August 2010 (Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
East Spring (not ease-spring) Sec Sch
Bring both colours

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability.

Thanks so much! I love Singapore!

Goal of the Season from Blackburn in easy win

Playing a morning match for the 1st time since more than 10 years ago, ARFC walloped the ST Engineering team 10-3 at Tampines SAFRA on the back of a Man-of-the-Match performance from Blackburn who scored the goal of the season so far.

As the match was played at 9 am, no WAGS were around to support this ARFC’s easy win. However, the 77,777 supporters were treated to a feast of goals from the team. The bonus was that they got to see sublime Khim play as he made a last-min appearance.

On behalf of ARFC, Sebastian officially welcomed 3 new recruits into the team – Wayne, Norman and Tze Ern.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Talisman Derrick
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Towering Toh
Stopper: Wayne
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Combative Ron
Tze Ern
Norman
Yeong

The ST Engineering team started well but was quickly pegged back by the irrepressible ARFC warriors with Alvin and Blackburn particularly impressive at closing down the opponents.

It was from such pressing that ARFC opened the flood-gates in the 7th min. Their keeper cleared the ball after some pressure from both Blackburn and Alvin. The ball was cleared to about 37 metres from his goal and was picked up by Tjioe. Despite being spotted drunk with 3 PRC ladies at Dragonfly just hours before the match, Tjioe showed no signed of drunkness when he side-footed the ball which sailed over their entire defence including their keeper for his 56th ARFC goal. 1-0

Immediately after his Xabi Alonso-like goal, Tjioe screamed “I want to be a Liverpool supporter from now on!”

ARFC doubled its lead moments later. Sebastian chipped in a long ball down the left flank for Alvin to latch on. Powering into the box and could have scored himself, Alvin was not selfish when he squared the ball across for Blackburn to tap in his 90th ARFC goal. 2-0

Guoxiong then exchanged one-two with Blackburn and embarked on a lung-bursting run down the right flank. His precise cross was gleefully side-footed home by Alvin for his 128th ARFC goal. 3-0

Blackburn then created another goal when his delicate chip found Khim moving in from deep. Khim got ahead of their on-rushing keeper and lifted the ball over him for his 44th ARFC goal. 4-0. However, Khim suffered a kick on his chest ala Nigel De Jong’s karate-kid kick on Xabi Alonso in the recent World Cup final, and had 3 stud marks to show his lovely wife and children at home.

ARFC then turned complacent and conceded a goal. 4-1

Soon was next to get into the scoring act when he picked up a loose ball 27 metres from goal. Looking up, Soon executed a shot that flew over their keeper for his 33rd ARFC goal. 5-1

Thereafter, Yeong replaced Alvin and staged his own hat-trick show with 3 world-class strikes that gave any keeper in the world no chance at all! These 3 goals were his 4th, 5th and 6th ARFC goal. With the hat-trick, Yeong joined a selective band of hat-trick heroes in ARFC.

Half-time 8-1

In the break, Sebastian did the craziest thing when he offered 3 power players, Norman, Tze Ern and Yeong, to the opponents as they were short of players and fitness. The gesture immediately balanced the match in the 2nd half as the opponents scored 2 more goals.

It was then that Alvin and Derrick began their “circus act” when they tried to out-do each other on entering the “Hall of Flame of Missed Chances”. Derrick had at least 3 one-on-one opportunities spurned while Alvin missed from just 0.77 metres from goal ala Yakubu in Nigeria’s match against South Korea.

Seeing the host of missed chances, Blackburn decided to show them how to score instead of his usual scolding by netting the goal of the season. From his right-back position, Blackburn brought the ball up and exchanged wall-passes with Sebastian at the centre mid area. Continuing, Blackburn then one-two with Derrick outside the penalty box, and brought the ball all the way right up to just outside the 6-yard area. Seeing the keeper off rushing out, Blackburn delivered the deftest of touches and the ball rolled past the keeper and rolled into the empty net at 7 km/hr for his 91st ARFC goal. 9-3

After seeing the goal, Derrick finally re-discovered his scoring touch when he was put through by Khim and duly planted the ball past their keeper for his 27th ARFC goal. 10-3

Once again, good turnout which was good considering the scorching sun. Also, special credit to both Derrick and Darren for volunteering to be keeper in each half.

As mentioned earlier, Man-of-the-Match is clearly Blackburn.

friendly match details - Sunday morning

Dear ARFC warriors,

We are playing a friend match this sunday as follows:

25 July 2010 (Sun)
9 am = 0900 hrs (MORNING)
Tampines SAFRA
Opponent is ST Engineering

Pls e-mail to Toh and Sebastian of your availability.

Pls bring both jerseys sets.

Thanks a lot

ARFC's deadly duo inspires victory

Courtesy of two brilliant strikes from the deadly duo of Alvin and Haron, ARFC continued its 100% winning start to the D2D league with an easy 2-1 win over New Easteroids. It was an easy win because ARFC was denied time and again by their goalkeeper who kept out at least 4 or 5 certain goals.

ARFC’s victory was witnessed by Anna (Elvis’ wife), Cerine (Jinzhong’s potential wife) and Irene, the newly-minted wife of Alvin. As usual, Sebastian brought along his vuvuzela to support ARFC.

ARFC started with this all-star line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong (captain)
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Left-mid: Nippy Kenny
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Influential Sebastian
Combative Ron
Speedy Hee
Tze En
Wayne

ARFC wasted no time in dominating play with some clever passing, movement and support. The match was just 7 mins old when Tjioe reminded everyone of his box-to-box strength when he embarked on a 47-metres run from midfield all the way to face their keeper one-on-one. Unfortunately, his shot was deflected away for a corner.

Toh also came close with 2 headers that just flashed wide, while Blackburn and Kenny were having a field day at the left – Kenny was particularly dangerous with his incisive runs down the left flank.

In the 17th min, Guoxiong powered down the right flank and delivered a cross that bounced off the cross-bar. Haron followed up but to no avail.
After a couple of near-misses, ARFC finally opened the scoring 7 mins later. Elvis long high ball from his position was only partially headed backwards by their defender. Coming from behind and without breaking his stride, Alvin duly and expertly volleyed the ball home for his 127th ARFC goal. 1-0. Upon seeing the brilliant goal, Irene was spotted rounding round the field 7 rounds. Marco van Basten, who was watching from his stands, stood up in salute to Alvin’s goal.

ARFC doubled the lead just 7 mins later. Showing quick feet, Haron mesmerized the opponents by slaloming his way past their defenders and cooly slotted the ball home for his 162nd ARFC goal. Truly world-class dribble and goal that have Messi salivating. 2-0

Credit must be given to Jinzhong for saving ARFC on 2 occasions after some sloppy defending nearly gifted the opponents a goal or two.

In the 2nd half, ARFC could not extend its lead despite creating many chances. The most unlucky chance came in the 57th min after Haron tricked his way down the left bye-line. Squaring the ball across for the unmarked Soon, Soon’s shot was somehow kicked away by their keeper! Totally unlucky!

With virtually the last kick of the match, the opponents scored. 1-2

This was a match where ARFC could not capitalize on its dominance to create a bigger winning margin. However, a win is still priceless.

Special mention too on the good turn-out yet again. Hopefully, we can continue to have such good attendance for every match. Also, ARFC did not receive a single yellow card despite being provoked on a couple of occasions. This is very good.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Jinzhong (for his saves) and Haron (for his intelligent movement and world-class goal).

3rd tournament match details

Dear ARFC warriors,

Our 3rd tournament match details:

11 July 2010 (Sun)
3 pm
Serangoon Sec Sch
Opponent is New Eastroids
Bring both colours

Pls e-mail to Toh of your availability....Thanks so much!

7 cheers to Mr Azahari of D2D

Dear ARFC warriors,

Due to a "super cock-up" by the Singapore Sports Council, tournament organiser IC Mr Azahari was informed late by SSC of the cancellation of our match against team Kangtao last sunday. To Mr Azahari's credit, he took all the blame and quickly remedied the situation by giving our team a FOC match this coming Sunday.

For this kind gesture, I think ARFC should give 7 cheers to Mr Azahari and 7777 boos to the Singapore Sports Council for such irresponsible behaviour.....

3rd tournament match details

04 July 2010 (Sun)
5 pm
Deyi Sec Sch
Opponent is Team KangTao

Bring both colours.

Pls e-mail Toh of your availability.

ARFC maintains 100% record in new season with emphatic 2-1 victory

Following the victory over FC Simpang last week, ARFC went up against last season D2D Div 2 Champion, Holland Park XI, this week. Buoyed by the superb 2-1 win last week, fans were elated and they continued to turn up to show total support to ARFC, despite a change in match venue and kick-off time.

The morale of ARFC warriors were lifted when they see the return of influential player-manager Sebastian after more than a month out on fatherly duty, with the vuvuzela. The match was also witnessed by Anna and Cerine, partners of Elvis and Jinzhong respectively together with the lovely family combo, wife and daughter, Su and Atiqah of Haron.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Dependable Jinzhong
RB - Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering Toh
LB - Unbeatable Darren
RM - Talisman Derrick
CM - Dynamic Soon
CM - Hard-man Tjioe
LM - Nippy Kenny
SC - Unpredictable Blackburn
SC - Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs:
Influential Sebastian
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
En Dian (guest player)
Wayne (guest player)

For the first time in God-knows how many games, ARFC was able to field the same starting line up as previous game that had done well to stamp its authority and flow in the game. Particularly, captain of the day Alvin epitomised ARFC’s high morale when he went charging at their defenders right from the kick-off. His “Didier Drogba-like” charge must have scared the hell out of their defenders.

This same line up really clicked well right from the start as within minutes of the first whistle, ARFC had the chance to take the lead in the game. The first clear cut chance fell to Toh who had gone upfield for a corner kick earlier and stayed up. The ball was chipped in from midfield over the defence and Toh did well to make space for a shot at goal. However, from 15 metres out, he could only volley the ball over the keeper and crossbar. Chance wasted.

Less than 15 minutes later, the next clear-cut chance fell to Alvin who had powered past the last defender to latch on to a through ball from the right. Facing the keeper one on one, Alvin placed the ball to the left, but the keeper was equal to it and palmed it out for a corner kick. Unlucky!

Next up in the unlucky list was Tjioe who had done well to get into the penalty box. Guoxiong continued to show his ability to send pin-point cross when he found Tjioe from way out on the right. Tjioe could have cushioned the ball down to take a clear shot at goal but his touch failed him and the ball trickled to the keeper instead.

ARFC showed the similar type of domination as seen in previous game and should have been a couple of goals up by then, if not for the woeful finishing. And as always, when you do not take your chances, you will pay for it. True enough, off a counter attack, and most probably the only significant attack by the opposition, they scored and ARFC had to start chasing after the game.

ARFC continued to dominate the game, despite being a goal down, and believed that the goal will come ultimately. However, even with the introduction of Sebastian, Haron and En Dian (guest player), ARFC can only create chances but not find the elusive goal. HT:0-1.

Even though ARFC was a goal down at half time, the team was satisfied with its dominating play and quietly confident that the all important goal will come in the 2nd half.

The 2nd half started in similar fashion as the first half, domination by ARFC. However, this time round, ARFC did manage to find the break through. Within 15 minutes of the restart, Kenny continued his tormenting of their right-back. With a sharp change of direction, Kenny beat the right back easily with his speed and sent in a cross from the by-line. The ball seemed to be too close to the keeper and he looked to have the ball, but the heavy spin in the ball deceived him and it spun between his legs. Haron showed his predatory instinct and dashed in immediately to nip the ball into the empty net for his 161st ARFC goal. 1-1. Su and Atiqah were both seen jumping up and down 9 times, celebrating with the sounding of the vuvuzela.

Finally breaking the duck, ARFC was quick to add in another goal to show its dominance. Tjioe spotted the run of Derrick on the right and send in a cross field pass into his path. Turning back the years, Derrick showed his speed by rushing down the flank and he crossed in a delicious ball onto the head of En Dian who had the easiest job of nodding it past the keeper from 2 metres out for his 3rd ARFC goal. 2-1! Comeback completed.

After going 2-1 up, ARFC continued to dominate but was unable to add on to the goals despite the many chances created. Toh, the main culprit, had another couple of chances to put the game beyond doubt but was denied by the defender at the far post and also for heading the ball over with just the keeper to beat. En Dian also had a chance to add on to the scoreline but his shot came back off the post. In the end, there was no more goals ended and the scoreline remained for another ARFC victory. FT score: 2-1 to ARFC.

Man of the Match goes to Tjioe for controlling the midfield, thwarting most of the attacks from the opponent and also creating the winning goal by sending a great ball to Derrick down the right flank. Elvis did very well too in commanding the defence.

Special mention must be given to Blackburn as he played in striker, right-mid and left-back without any complaint at all. Truly versatile and team player!!
The victory was ARFC’s 10th in 19 matches in 2010.
This is another match where all ARFC warriors showed great spirit and determination. Despite being a goal down, the warriors all showed beliefs that things can be turned around. The reason why the warriors think so was probably due to the fact that there were ample substitutes who can come in anytime and continue to dominate the game. That was why strength in numbers is important and if ARFC can have a decent attendance for any game, we will be able to give any team a tough fight.

2nd tournament match details

27 June 2010 (Sun)
3 pm
Bedok Green Sec Sch
Opponent is Holland Park XI

Pls bring both colours and let Toh know of your availability. Thanks.

Hee's last-grasp winner secures ARFC's victory in league opener

ARFC kicked off its D2D league against FC Simpang. As the match promised to be a close game as evident from the 1-1 draw and 2-1 narrow win last season, 151515 packed the venue as they wanted to show total support to ARFC. The match was witness by Tracie and Cerine, partners of Guoxiong and Jinzhong respectively.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Dependable Jinzhong
RB - Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)
LB - Unbeatable Darren
RM - Talisman Derrick
CM - Dynamic Soon
CM - Hard-man Tjioe
LM - Nippy Kenny
SC - Unpredictable Blackburn
SC - Powerful Alvin

Subs:

Speedy Hee
Battling Andrew
Zi En (guest player)
William (guest player)

Previous encounters with FC Simpang have always been close and eventful affairs littered with clashes, hard tackles, cards, penalties, penalty misses, etc... The first game of the season for ARFC against them was no exception as well. With a healthy turnout and playing at a more comfortable 5pm kick off time, ARFC had the luxury of employing “wheel tactic” aka “che lun zhan”, where ARFC was often the victim of it, on FC Simpang.
Right from the start of kick-off, ARFC tried to stamp its dominance by closing down the opponent fast, chasing after every loose ball and going in for every challenge, knowing that standbys were all ready on the bench, able to come in anytime when needed. That proved to have an impact as the opponent were being pinned back in their half for most of the 15 minutes.

It was no surprise that on the 15th minute mark, ARFC took the lead. Off a throw-in, Guoxiong received the ball on the right and spotted Alvin lurking dangerously outside the penalty box. Without looking for further option, he sent in a well-weighted cross into the box that sailed over the heads of the defenders and nicely to the head of Alvin for him to power a header beyond the outstretched hands of the diving keeper and into the back of the net. 1-0! This is Alvin’s 126th ARFC goal.

With the tenacious running, the midfielders full of running were then replaced. Derrick, Tjioe and Soon were replaced by Hee, Zi En and William with Blackburn dropping to midfield. The substitutions allowed ARFC to continue pressuring the opponents, but the absence of both Soon and Tjioe in the middle of the park was definitely felt as the opponent started to get back into the game and was able to mount some attacks.

The match was now evenly contested with end to end actions for both sides. ARFC could have added another goal, if Blackburn had put on his goal-scoring boots as he sent a couple of his shots sky high instead of at the goal.

15 minutes from half time, disaster struck as there was a mixed up in defence. Guoxiong, able to clear the ball with his left foot, left the ball for Elvis to clear, thinking it was easier for him. However, the opponent striker took the opportunity and nip in to tap the ball away towards goal, leaving Elvis no chance but to hack him down for a penalty, which they converted. 1-1.

Just before half-time, the opponent had a chance to take the lead with a pot-shot at goal which was destined for the top corner of the goal. ARFC had dependable Jinzhong to thank as he stayed alert and dived full stretched to tip the ball over for a corner. World class save! HT:1-1.

During the half-time team talk, Elvis pointed out that if the sole of his boots had not come off, which slowed him down, he would have cleared the ball before the opponent get to the ball and the penalty could be prevented. Really unlucky! Thus, Blackburn took over his place as sweeper for the 2nd half as Elvis started mending his boots. Derrick, Andrew and Soon came in for Alvin, Elvis and Zi En.

The 2nd half started with ARFC showing the same tenacity as seen in the first half determined to get back into the lead. However, the opponent was just determined as well and the game was locked in a midfield battle. It was great to see ARFC displaying the fighting spirit and going in for the challenges, especially the midfield and attack. The “wheel tactic” continued with Alvin and Tjioe coming in for Hee and Derrick to continue the pressure.

Less than 15 minutes later, ARFC had the chance to take the lead. Off the corner, the referee judged that the opponent had pushed Alvin and pointed to the spot for a penalty again, this time to the benefit of ARFC. Up stepped Alvin to restore the lead, but to the astonishment of the crowd and ARFC warriors and even the opponent, Alvin put too much power into the side-foot and even though he sent the keeper diving the wrong way, he also sent the ball pass the wrong side of the post. Unlucky for Alvin as he will now be banking on scoring goals from open play like what Fernando Torres does best. The score remained 1-1.

The penalty miss seemed to fire up the opponent as they pressed for a goal as well. Off along ball floated in to the right, the opposition striker run through to face one on one with Jinzhong, who was once again alert and dived in bravely at the foot of the striker to prevent him from scoring. Great save and brave goalkeeping by Jinzhong.

With 15 minutes of the game to go, Blackburn gave the crowd and warriors the scare of the game by sending a goal kick straight to the opposition striker. Luckily, the defence was able to cover in time and a catastrophe was prevented. Before more unpredictable things can happen, Elvis came in for Guoxiong to replace Blackburn as the sweeper, Hee came back on for Tjioe on the right of midfield.

The match continued as a midfield battle and looked set to end up in a draw. However, with 15 seconds of normal time left, Kenny, who has been impressive down the left with his ferocious running, had other ideas. He spotted Hee on the right flank unmarked and sent a cross over which Hee done well to bring it down first time facing the opponent’s keeper. Hee then took a shot, hitting the ball directly at the keeper which the keeper palmed away comfortably. All players in the field and supporters out of the field thought that the chance was lost, but little do they know that Hee recovered from his shooting position and sped to the palmed away ball to coolly tap the ball into the empty net, with the keeper still on the ground. Clearly, the opponents and supporters had forgotten Hee’s world-renowned speed which only Usian Bolt can match!

Hee’s goal also ensured he reached another significant milestone as this was his 80th ARFC goal.

ARFC was in ecstasy while FC Simpang was in disbelief. And that was to be the last significant attack by either side till the referee blew the final whistle. FT: 2-1 to ARFC.

Man of the Match goes to Jinzhong for the two world class saves, one in each half, which prevented the opponent any chance of taking the lead. No one can deny the importance of his presence and contribution to the team.

This is a match where all ARFC warriors showed great spirit and determination from defence to midfield to attack. The way which the win was carved out made it even more satisfying. This is definitely the type of games that ARFC warriors are looking to be part of every week.

1st tournament match details

ARFC will kick-off its tournament as follows:

20 June 2010
5 pm
Bedok North Sec Sch
Bring both colours
Opponent is FC Simpang

Pls e-mail to Toh on your availability.

Toh reaches land-mark in ARFC's easy win

The D2D League Div 1 started this weekend but with ARFC only starting their league quest next week, the team had a chance to play another warm up game against Elvis’ cousin’s team, ironically they are wearing orange again! The match was witness by the WAGs of both Elvis and Jinzhong.

ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Dependable Jinzhong
RB - Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper - Towering Toh
LB - Unbeatable Darren
RM - Norman (guest player)
CM - Dynamic Soon
CM - Hard-man Tjioe
LM - Talisman Derrick
SC - Unpredictable Blackburn
SC - Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs: Ming Chen (guest player)
Yao Yang (guest player)

Right from the start, ARFC was determined to show the opponent what we are capable of and 15 seconds later, Tjioe had a chance to put ARFC ahead, but his shot was so hard that it went over the keeper, over the crossbar and over the high fence as well. The referee signalled for a new ball instead of a goal.

Within 15 minutes, Tjioe turned creator when he lob the over the defence to put Alvin racing through beating the offside trap. Spotting the keeper off his line, Alvin met the ball first time and sent it up and over the keeper, this time below the crossbar and bulging the net for his first goal of the game and his 124th ARFC goal. 1-0.

Derrick showed that he can be equally effective playing on the left when he raced down the left flank and send in a delicious cross for Soon to dive in. It is a pity that the ball was 15 inches ahead of Soon’s lunging foot and the chance was not converted. Unlucky!

However, Soon was not to be denied his 31st ARFC goal 15 minutes later when he was put through again, this time by Blackburn after he made a good run from midfield. As composed as ever, Soon slot the ball past the advancing keeper for his first goal of the game. 2-0!

Blackburn was number 3 to get on the score sheet, courtesy of a long ball from Tjioe. Both Derrick and Blackburn chased for the same ball, but surprisingly Blackburn reached the ball first. He chested the ball down and without wasting much time, he lobbed the ball over the keeper for ARFC’s third goal and his 89th ARFC goal. 3-0.

With 15 minutes of the half left, Derrick and Tjioe took a well deserved rest and in came the 2 guest players Ming Chen and Yaoyang. The substitution almost paid instant dividend when in the following attack, Norman, another guest player, swung in a cross from the right which Ming Chen dived in with a header. Unfortunately, the ball went over the crossbar for a goal kick.

Off a corner, Toh had a chance to put ARFC four up, after good work from Blackburn, but his shot rebounded off the goalpost. Unlucky.

It was to be an unlucky half for Toh as, with the half time whistle impending, the opponent had a rare shot at goal. The shot hit the Toh on his arm and the referee deemed that it is worthy of a penalty. From the spot, the opponent pulled a goal back. 3-1. From the start till the penalty, Jinzhong need not have a save to make. That shows how solid the defence has played as a unit, under the marshal of Elvis.

Off the restart, the opposition was hyped up for a revival and nearly scored a second goal. Luckily, Guoxiong was alert and fast to cover and cleared the ball off the line. With that, it marks the end of the first half and referee blew the half time whistle with the half time score: 3-1.

For the second half, Soon and Blackburn was rested while ARFC went in search of the 4th goal. Though ARFC continued to dominate, chances were not taken and it took a rare foray into the box by Guoxiong to create the goal. With the opponent defence trying to clear the ball, it fell to the feet of Guoxiong, who took a left foot shot. The ball deflected off the defender and into the path of Alvin. Without giving the opponent defence time to react, Alvin instantly volleyed the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net for his 2nd goal of the game and his 125th ARFC goal. 4-1. Blackburn and Soon came in for Yaoyang and Tjioe.

Soon showed how valuable he is to ARFC when he made his next telling contribution, i.e. scoring his next goal. Off a right wing cross into the box from Norman, Alvin cushioned the ball wanting to shoot, but his touch was too heavy and the ball went loose, thinking the chance was lost. However, Soon has other ideas when he emerged from nowhere and tap the ball past the keeper for his 32nd ARFC goal. Really world-class determination. 5-1.

With less than 15 minutes left, ARFC found time to score one more goal. From a freekick at the edge of the box, Blackburn flighted in a delicious cross for Toh, who had an unlucky first half, to rise above the opposition defence and head it past the keeper and into the back of the net for his land-mark 40th ARFC goal. The goal was also his second in as many matches. 6-1. Reward for scoring: Substitution with Tjioe. Yaoyang also came back in for Norman, who had done well on the right.

With the game sealed and full time whistle looming, ARFC started to relax again and they were nearly punished, if not for Jinzhong who was alert and managed to snuff out the danger in time. Credits to Jinzhong for being able to keep himself on his toes for the whole game and react to lapse in defence when needed. With his alertness, ARFC managed to keep a clean sheet for the second half and notch up yet another comfortable win. Full time score:6-1.

This is another match where ARFC needed to enlist the help of guest players to make up the starting eleven and a game which ARFC could have easily notch up a double digit score line with the presence of more ARFC warriors.
With a display of solid defending by ARFC, it is no surprise that the Man of the Match goes to Guoxiong, nominated over the equally impressive Darren, with his off the line clearance at the end of the first half, killing any chance of a revival from the opposition.

With that, ARFC played out the last friendly before the real deal starts in a week’s time against FC Simpang. Until then...

ARFC chalked up 7th win in 2010

(Match report courtesy of Toh)

For the last warm-up game before the season starts in a week’s time, ARFC was rocked by news that Hee, Guoxiong, Andrew, Elvis and Jinzhong were all unable to turn up for the match. As such, ARFC was facing the prospect of playing the game with less than 10 men. Luckily, the 2 guest players (Leon and Wayne) turned up and last minute scramble for players were successful as 2 more guest players (Zi En and En Dian) answered the call. Special mention for both Tjioe and Darren for standing in as keeper for a half each.


ARFC started with this line-up:

GK - Hard-man Tjioe
RB - Unbeatable Darren
Sweeper - Unpredictable Blackburn
Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)
LB - Wayne (guest player)
RM - Talisman Derrick
CM - Dynamic Soon
CM - Zi En (guest player)
LM - Tricky Yoong
SC - Leon (guest player)
SC - Powerful Alvin

Sub: En Dian (guest player)

The match went underway, more than half an hour passed the stipulated 3pm kickoff time, when ARFC finally managed to mix and patch to field a starting eleven for the game. However, for those who think that the team will be doomed with this patched up side, they were to be proven wrong as the opponent, Orange Team (not "The OC" – "The Orange County”), were to be slain and ARFC had the game won well before half time.

Right from the start of the first whistle, under the scorching heat of the 3pm sun, ARFC was determined to put the game beyond doubt as soon as possible. It looked like it was going to be the case as within 15 seconds when Yoong was put through by Zi En and he showed great speed to get to the ball but was unlucky to see his shot hit the side netting.

Within 15 minutes, Yoong made amends and opened the scoring for ARFC. Alvin, spotting Yoong rushing through laid a well hit pass into his path. With the opposition defenders scrambling back to cover, Yoong did well to cut back his run and from the edge of the box, he fired a fierce right foot shot into the bottom of the goal with the keeper diving in vain for his 3rd ARFC goal. 1-0.

Within minutes, ARFC scored again, this time via Alvin. Derrick showed great skills bringing the ball down the by-line before crossing in to Leon who cushioned the ball down for Alvin to thump in his first goal of the game and his 122th ARFC goal. 2-0.

Before ARFC fans could cool down from their celebrations, Alvin gave them even more reasons to celebrate when he scored his second goal of the game. Derrick sent in a cross from the right wing and Alvin did well to bring it down. With a spurt of energy and power, Alvin turned the defender to face the keeper one-on-one. With only the keeper to beat, Alvin showed that he has not lost any of his goal scoring touch after missing the last game due to his ROM by side-footing the ball pass the diving keeper into the bottom left corner of the net for hsi 123th ARFC goal. 3-0.

After scoring the goal, Alvin’s reward was to be rested and substituted by En Dian. The opposition thought that they could have a break from the power and guile of Alvin with his exit but to their disappointment, En Dian was to pile on to their misery instead with an impressive performance, with just a pair of street soccer shoes.

Within minutes of coming on, En Dian showed speed, beyond his age and looks, when he raced onto a through ball down the left flank. He looked up, spotting the run of the on-rushing Leon, and squared the ball for Leon to gleefully tap it past the helpless keeper for his debut ARFC goal. 4-0.

Leon returned the favour minutes later when he chipped the ball over the over the opposition defence for En Dian to chase. The ball seemed to be over hit and looked likely to fall into the hands of the keeper. However, En Dian had other ideas and he again showed speed to get to the ball first before the keeper and toe-poked the ball into the net for his first goal of the game and his debut ARFC goal. 5-0.

By now, the game has been settled and ARFC started to get complacent. Off a rare attack, the opposition was awarded a freekick. The opposition sent in the ball from the kick and with the ARFC defence playing for offside, the ball should be safely collected by Tjioe, the 15th choice keeper. To the defence’s horror, his “ball-grappling” method failed him and the ball bounced over him for the opposition striker to head into the empty net with just 15 secounds left for the half. HT: 5-1.

For the 2nd half, Darren who had not much of a challenge in the first half took over the gloves from Tjioe who assumed his usual role in the centre of midfield. Soon was given a well deserved rest for playing in right back. Alvin also came in for Leon to continue his torment of the opposition.

ARFC resumed the 2nd half with the same dominance as displayed in the 1st half and continued the scoring within 15 minutes. Spotting Derrick lurking dangerously on the right flank, Yoong sent a superb cross field pass from the left into the box which Derrick chested down coolly. Without breaking his stride, he unleashed a thunderous drive, timed at 150km/h, which the keeper could only palm into the roof of the net. Beauty! 6-1! Derrick was so pleased with his execution that he commented, “A bit like Blackburn, hor?” This was his 26th ARFC goal.

ARFC continued its pressure and duly got its 7th goal, this time from the right foot of Toh. For those who thought that Toh can only score with his head, they were proven wrong again. Toh who had earlier moved forward for the corner kick stayed up when the ball was half-cleared. The ball then found its way down the right flank with En Dian chasing it down to prevent the goal kick. En Dian then cut the ball back into the path of Toh who took his chance well with a sweetly-struck volley past the diving keeper who can only grasped thin air. 7-1. This goal was Toh's 39th ARFC goal, an impressive feat considering that he is a defender.

Before the game end, ARFC found time to add in another goal. En Dian, who has been impressive since he came on, hammered the final nail in the opponent’s coffin by scoring the last goal to cap off an impressive debut. 8-1 is the full time score.

The match finally ended, and it was obvious that the opposition had hoped that it had come earlier so that they can end their suffering early. Though playing with just 1 substitute, ARFC showed that we are capable of putting in some good showing, even under the scorching afternoon sun. It will not be too much to say that ARFC could have chalked up a double digit scoreline if we had more warriors turning up.

Man of the match goes Derrick for tormenting the opposition defence down the right flank and scoring a superb goal. Yoong came very close as well with his runs down the left flank and a goal as well. The rest of the warriors and guest players, especially guest player En Dian, did very well too with good passing, movement and covering. Many thanks to both Tjioe and Darren for agreeing to take up the goalkeeping role for the game as well.

This win certainly boosted the morale of the team as we prepare for the D2D League Division 1 which starts again next week, but the presence of more warriors is definitely more required with the higher pace in the games expected in league.