Monday, September 27, 2010

"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.”

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

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.

Monday, September 20, 2010

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.

Monday, September 13, 2010

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.

Monday, September 06, 2010

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.