Sunday, March 28, 2010

Friendly match this SATURDAY

Dear ARFC warriors,

We will be playing a friendly match against Questra Vipers on 03 April 2010 (SATURDAY) @ 3 pm @ Tampines SAFRA.

Please bring along both sets. As the opponent is the OPOD organiser's team and is a very good team, please try your best to make it.

Thanks a lot. Remember, it's a SATURDAY match and NOT SUNDAY match.

Friday, March 26, 2010

ARFC conceded walk-over to Mammoet

Due to extremely and absolutely poor response, ARFC could not even field a 7-a-side team and has no choice but to concede a walk-over to Mammoet. D2D organiser has been informed.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

11th League Match Details

28 March 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Bedok South Sec Sch
Bring both colours
Opponent is the totally-different Mammoet team.

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability. Thanks.

Monday, March 22, 2010

ARFC in battling 1-4 defeat to Team BI

Facing Team BI for the 2nd time in the league which was ARFC’s 10th league match at Temasek Sec Sch, ARFC fought a gallant battle before crumbling to a 1-4 defeat after succumbing to exhaustion. With the victory, Team BI has wrapped up the league title after yet another unbeaten season.

ARFC was supported Anna and Cerine, beau of Elvis and Jinzhong respectively, as well as Ron’s family. Sebastian was also around (though slightly late) but still could not play due to his crocked left knee.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh (captain)
Left-back: Unpredictable Blackburn
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Nippy Kenny
Striker: Battling Andrew

Subs:

Powerful Alvin
Speedy Hee
Chuan

ARFC did every well in the opening 20 mins and was able to match the vastly-superior Team BI though there were a couple of moments when they nearly scored but was thwarted by Jinzhong who went on to have an inspired match with several top-notch world-class saves.

ARFC opened the scoring in the 7th min after Soon won possession at the right wing. The ball was passed to Derrick just outside the penalty box and he looked to shoot before laying the ball for Kenny who was coming in from deep. With a clever touch, Kenny eluded their defender and was clumsily brought down in the box, thereby giving the referee a very easy decision to point to the spot. Elvis stepped up and coolly placed the ball to the top left-hand corner of their keeper for his 8th ARFC goal. The goal was also the first time that ARFC had taken the lead against Team BI. 1-0

The turning point of the match came in the 27th min when ARFC nearly doubled its lead. Alvin picked up a loose ball just at the tip of the centre circle area. With their keeper way way out of position, Alvin chipped the ball towards the unguarded goal but the ball just rolled agonisingly wide. Unlucky!!

Not surprisingly, ARFC warriors began tiring out one by one and Team BI scored 2 goals to lead 2-1 at half-time.

In the 2nd half, Team BI scored 2 more to emerge 4-1 victors.

ARFC was indebted to Jinzhong who made at least 4 world-class saves and this feat earned him the Man-of-the Match. Andrew also did very well in this match, as did Kenny who created the goal and his craft troubled Team BI greatly. Chuan is also improving with every match and he would be a good fit for ARFC in matches to come.

Special credit to all ARFC warriors for battling on despite being put under constant pressure by Team BI. Considering our general fitness level which is not high, ARFC also performed admirably.

Also, ARFC would be able to put up a better fight if regulars like Haron, Darren, Khim and Sebastian were around. No excuse, however, as Team BI is really a good footballing team with good sportsmanship.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

10th League Match details

21 March 2010 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Temasek Secondary School (artificial pitch)
Against Team BI
Bring both colours

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability. Thanks a lot.

Monday, March 08, 2010

ARFC salvaged draw thanks to Elvis

Playing its 9th league match at Tanglin Sec Sch, ARFC came from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw against Oogleeee Boys courtesy of a well-taken Elvis penalty. This is also the 1st draw in 2010 for ARFC and the match was witnessed by Anna and Cerine, beau of Elvis and Jinzhong respectively. Sebastian was also around but still could not play due to his crocked left knee.

ARFC welcomed back Tjioe from his overseas trip and the team was further boosted by the late arrival of Kenny.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh (captain)
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Hard-man Tjioe
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Chuan
Nippy Kenny

ARFC was looking to repeat its victory over the same opponent when they first met during their opening league match when Kenny scored a brace for a 2-1 win. However, it could not capitalize on several half-chances and Tjioe was particularly close with his effort.

Disaster struck in the 27th min. Off a harmless free-kick, Jinzhong fumbled as he clashed with Toh in collecting the high ball and the ball bounced into the empty net for an own goal. Unfortunate but to his credit, Jinzhong recovered from this mistake to put in a solid performance for the rest of the match, with his throws out to our players for quick counter-attacks particularly impressive. Jinzhong also commanded his defence well in the 2nd half with clear and commanding shouts in coming for the balls floated in.

Sebastian then replaced the ineffective Blackburn with Kenny and Chuan came in for Hee. Ron also tired out and was replaced by Soon.

Trailing 0-1 at half-time, ARFC wanted badly to redeem itself and every warrior then put in extra effort in the 2nd half which resulted in many golden chances created.

First, Chuan just narrowly screwed his shot wide after very persistent pressuring of their defender resulting in him facing their keeper one-on-one in the box. Kenny retrieved the ball at the left flank and fired in a venomous shot that was pushed out for a corner. Unlucky.

Next, Kenny crossed from left saw the ball travelling all the way to the right edge of the 6-yard box. Hee showed great anticipation by connecting with a looping header back into the danger area. Toh was denied his 39th ARFC goal when his follow-up header was cleared off the line by their defender. Real unlucky!!

ARFC finally got its equalizer in the 67th min. Tjioe pressured their keeper into dropping the ball and Toh’s follow up effort was handled by their defender on the line, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to award a penalty. Elvis stepped up and coolly slotted the ball past their rooted keeper for his 7th ARFC goal. 1-1

Tjioe could have scored the winning goal after Alvin, who again put in a solid shift upfront, pressed hard which resulted in Kenny picking up the loose ball. Kenny’s clever lay-off to Tjioe had goal written all over it but to the horror of the live audience in Football Channel, Tjioe scuffed his shot badly and wide for a goal-kick.

In all fairness, ARFC could have lost the match in the dying mins when their impressive Indian left-back nearly scored when presented with an open goal but sent his shot into row Z.

The 1-1 draw was probably a fair result though ARFC had the better chances to snatch a winner.

The Man-of-the-Match goes to Elvis for his commanding presence in defence as well as his equalizing goal. Hee did well with this constant pressurizing using his speed and Darren and Guoxiong kept their wingers quiet all day. Ron and Tjioe also showed their much-vaunted strength and power in the middle of the park.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

9th League match details

07 March 2010 (Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
Tanglin Secondary School
Bring RED colour
Opponent is OogleeeeBoys

Pls e-mail Sebastian of your availability. Thanks.

Monday, March 01, 2010

ARFC clinched its long-overdue 1st win in 2010

Powered by a virtuoso performance from Derrick, ARFC finally snapped its unwanted 6-match losing streak (an ARFC record in itself!) by romping to a thumping 8-0 victory over our hapless opponents at Fuchun SS. The long-overdue win was witnessed by Anna (Elvis’ wife), Tracie (Guoxiong’s soon-to-be wife) and Sebastian who was out with his crocked left knee.

Prior to the match, Sebastian emphasized the importance of defending as a team as ARFC’s collective defending was not up to the mark as some goals conceded in the 6-match losing streak could have been prevented. The midfielders were urged to help out more instead of always looking to score. The advice worked a trick as all midfielders and strikers put in more effort to help out ARFC’s brilliant defenders. The return of Jinzhong also provided a boost to the team.

As both guest players, Yeong and Chuan, were late, ARFC started with only 10 warriors in this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Hard-running Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Speedy Hee
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)

Once the match got underway, it is soon no doubt that ARFC would win this match as the opponents were clearly not in the class of ARFC. However, ARFC warriors were still cautious as there were at least 2 or 3 matches (during the 6-match losing streak) where the opponents were way too inferior to ARFC but yet ended up as victors. Hence, it was important that ARFC quickly got its 1st goal to settle its nerves.

The opening goal duly arrived in the 17th min. Blackburn, who had his best match in months, held the ball from left to central and laid the ball to Derrick who was lurking on the right flank. Derrick delivered a first-time through ball to Alvin who needed no second invitation to score his 116th ARFC goal with a cool finish. 1-0
Just mins later, Guoxiong nearly scored his 11th ARFC goal when he was put through by Derrick. However, his well-hit shot struck the cross-bar and bounced to safety. Unlucky!!

ARFC doubled its tally 7 mins later. Soon, who put in yet another Mascherano-type performance, sent Derrick galloping through down the right flank. Without breaking his stride, Derrick’s cross was expertly volleyed home by Alvin for his 117th goal. Brilliant build-up goal!! 2-0.

After some missed chances, ARFC got its 3rd goal in the match. Alvin, who had an excellent match, floated in a hanging cross from the left flank. Despite not being the tallest of players, Yeong timed his jump to perfection, ala Olivier Bierhoff, and planted his header beyond the keeper’s reach for his ARFC debut goal. 3-0 and this is the half-time score.

In the 2nd half, ARFC did not let up and continued its quest for more goals. Just mins into the half, Soon’s high through ball down the left flank had Derrick facing their keeper one-to-one. Despite being closed down by their defender, Derrick displayed great composure by waiting for the keeper to commit before lifting the ball into the empty net for his 23rd ARFC goal. 4-0.

Alvin and Hee then pressured their defender into a mistake which led to Hee firing in a powerful right-foot shot that was turned over the bar by their keeper for a corner.

Alvin was then denied his hat-trick when he was put through by Derrick’s no-look pass but he blasted over the bar.

Derrick scored his 2nd goal in the match when Chuan’s forceful cross from the right eluded everyone. Derrick picked up the loose ball on the left bye-line and tricked his way through and squeezed the ball under the diving body of their keeper for his 24th ARFC goal. 5-0.

Hee then showed his world-renowned speed when he pressured their keeper to a mistake but was cruelly upended by him. Unfortunately, the referee did not blow for an obvious penalty.

Blackburn then exchanged a neat one-two with Hee which had Blackburn powering into the box but his shot was fired wide.

Toh then got into the scoring act. Receiving a throw-in from the right, Toh looked to have lost his footing but quickly regained possession within 0.7 seconds. Without hesitation, Toh unleashed a stiff left-foot grounder that screamed goal on its journey towards goal. True enough, the ball nestled nicely into the bottom corner for his 38th ARFC goal. 6-0. If I’m not wrong, this could be the 1st-ever left-foot goal by Toh who always scored with his head!!

Chuan was then rewarded with his industriousness when he scored his debut ARFC goal. Derrick’s high ball from left was superbly brought down by Chuan’s killer first-touch ala David Platt. With a nice flow, Chuan thundered the ball past their despairing keeper. 7-0.

Derrick was then denied his hat-trick. Off Alvin’s corner, Derrick’s acrobatic scissors kick was blocked.

Yeong then produced a wonder goal. Holding the ball up nicely in the central area, Yeong spread the ball out wide to Hee at the right flank. Hee’s aimed square cross was then cheekily flicked home by Yeong’s back-foot ala Clarence Seedorf’s recent Champions League goal for AC Milan against Man Utd. Brilliant goal!! 8-0.

This was a match where ARFC could have bettered its record victory of 14-0 with a little more luck. Blackburn was real unlucky with at least 4 golden chances. Hee could have also scored a couple. Alvin and Derrick could have also at least netted a hat-trick.

Nevertheless, the best thing that emerged from this match is the clean sheet. The last time that ARFC kept a clean sheet was on 26 Dec 2009 when we won 1-0 in a rain-soaked match. For this, special mention mist be given to the midfielders for helping out the defence though I must say our defence had also done very well.

Man-of-the-Match goes to Derrick though Soon, Darren and Blackburn did very well too. Our new players Yeong and Chuan also showed that they are players who could add much value to ARFC.

This is also ARFC’s 188th victory and Yeong’s 2nd goal was ARFC’s 1070th goal in its illustrious history.

Later in the evening, Sebastian called up D2D organizer and was informed that Huat FC had defeated Unido FC 2-1 which meant that ARFC qualified for the knock-out stage of the cup as group winner via goal-difference. For this, special thanks to Huat FC and HUAT AH!!!