Playing under searing heat at the artificial pitch at Queenstown SS, ARFC dismissed the strong challenge of FC Genesis by 2-1 to progress to the D2D Cup quarter-final.
As it was the 1st match since 23 Jan 2011, more than 100,000 fans packed the venue to support ARFC. Of course, the crowd included fervent supporter Anna, wife of Elvis.
The victory also maintained ARFC’s 100% record in 2011 with 5 wins from as many matches.
As we have no keeper, Tjioe gamely volunteered to be keeper first. Kudos to him.
ARFC started with this 4-5-1 line-up:
Keeper: Hard-man Tjioe
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Long-throw specialist Norman
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Wonder Wayne
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Subs (all late):
Talisman Derrick
Nippy Kenny
Speedy Hee
Absent:
Combative Ron
Dependable Jinzhong
Steely Tze Ern
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Precocious En Dian
Sublime Khim
Talented Chun Haw
It did not take long before ARFC opened the scoring. Norman, who went on to have a fantastic outing and probably produced his best-ever performance for ARFC, chipped in a long diagonal ball from the right side over their defence. The ball was totally perfect and precise ala Glenn Hoddle and Alvin broke clear and seeing their keeper coming out, Alvin nonchalantly lifted the ball over him and into the empty net for his 135th ARFC goal. 1-0
Strangely enough, ARFC was on the back-foot after the early goal and had to rely on Tjioe’s heroic performance in goal when he produced 2 top-draw saves to preserve ARFC’s lead. One was a superb tip-over ala Pepe Reina while the other was a Peter Schmeichel-like one-on-one save. World-class!
7 mins before the end of the 1st half, ARFC doubled its lead with a dream move started from the right. Guoxiong passed the ball to Sebastian from his right-back position and continued his run. Sebastian threaded the ball to Norman who was at his right mid position. Spotting Guoxiong marauding down the right flank, Norman played him in which saw Guoxiong running with the ball down the right touch-line. Looking up, Guoxiong sent in a high deliciously-looking ball ala David Beckham which their keeper missed. Alvin showed world-class timing when he leaped and met the precise ball and nod it into the empty net for his 136th ARFC goal. 2-0 and what a dream build-up goal!
In the 2nd half, Kenny came in despite still nursing his knee injury. Kudos to him as well!
Within mins of coming on, Kenny almost put the match to bed. Alvin played him in with a reverse ball and Kenny just fired narrowly wide when the whole crowd and players were almost already celebrating a goal. Unlucky!
It was another unlucky miss moments later when Kenny’s violent shot struck the post.
After 15 mins and as agreed, Darren took over Tjioe’s keeper position and kudos to Darren for sacrificing for the team.
The opponents refused to yield and nearly pulled a goal back but their shot hit the cross-bar.
With 7 mins to go, an error by ARFC allowed the opponents to pull a goal back, setting the stage for a frantic finish.
Blackburn, however, could have put the result beyond doubt. Derrick, who also rushed down from his appointment (kudos to him too), crossed him from left wing and the ball found Blackburn who was free in the box. Instead of taking the ball first-time, Blackburn tried to stop the ball but failed and their defence then cleared the ball.
I must say that every warrior put in their heart and soul in this match and is yet another team performance that carried ARFC through.
Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Tjioe and Norman.
No comments:
Post a Comment