Monday, February 21, 2011

ARFC run riot in new jerseys

Wearing its brand-new jerseys for the 1st time, ARFC put in a scintillating display to demolish its opponent, aptly named ‘Gelenti Kalah’, 9-0 at the Bedok Green SS pitch.

As it was the 1st time that ARFC’s new jerseys were being worn, more than 177,777 fans turned up to watch. Prior to the match, the fans also queue up to take photos with the 4 WAGs, namely, Tracie, Su, Anna and Cerine, who modeled the new jerseys. However, most of the fans actually took the opportunity to take photo with the babelicious of the babelicious, Afiqah (Haron’s daughter), who is slowly and surely growing up to be a BABE!

The victory also maintained ARFC’s 100% record in 2011 with 6 wins from as many matches.

With the exception of Kenny, all other warriors turned up for the team photo shoot including the still-injured En Dian.

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

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
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: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Talisman Derrick
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (captain)


Subs:

Hard-man Tjioe
Speedy Hee
Wonder Wayne
Unpredictable Blackburn
Combative Ron
Steely Tze Ern
Sublime Khim
Precocious En Dian (cannot play due to injury)

Absent:

Nippy Kenny
Talented Chun Haw

Fired up by the jerseys, ARFC served its intention just 77 seconds into the match. A great over-the-top ball from Norman saw Alvin breaking clear but his lofted ball unfortunately hit the cross-bar. Unlucky!

ARFC then opened the flood-gates in the 7th min. Guoxiong played a quick ball from his right-back position to Sebastian who then sent a swerving ball to Haron who pulled to the right wing. Haron “lobang” their sweeper, drew their keeper out before unselfishly squared to Alvin who gleefully taped into the empty net for his 137th ARFC goal. Fantastic play! 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead within mins. Darren hit a great ball down the left channel which saw Alvin galloping away. Alvin then returned the favour by crossing to Haron who made no mistake with his header from 7 yards for his 169th ARFC goal. 2-0

In the 17th min, ARFC put the result to bed. Derrick was fouled and Sebastian’s precise delivery from the free-kick was sweetly met by who else but Toh who powered the ball into the net with yet another header for his 46th ARFC goal.

Sebastian then scored a freakish goal. From Soon’s lay-off from a half-cleared corner, Sebastian took a swing with his left foot which saw the ball stayed in the air for eternity. When the ball finally dropped, it somehow dipped in between their keeper and the cross-bar for his very=apt 77th ARFC goal. 4-0

At the 20th min mark, ARFC made an unprecedented 7 substitutions with Wayne, Blackburn, Hee, Khim, Tze Ern, Tjioe and Ron taking over Darren, Guoxiong, Alvin, Derrick, Sebastian, Soon and Elvis respectively.

In the 27th min, Khim was presented with a gift when their keeper threw the ball straight at him. Needing no second invitation, Khim prodded the ball home for his 46th ARFC goal. 5-0

Norman then capped yet another impressive display when he played a quick one-two with Tjioe when gliding in to the penalty box. Facing their keeper, Norman side-footed the ball past him for his debut ARFC goal. What a great goal! 6-0
In the 57th min, Darren repeated his 1st half assist when he sent a similar ball down the left flank to Alvin. With a quick and sharp turn, Alvin powered down the left flank and squared the ball across for Derrick to side-foot the ball home for his 31st ARFC goal. 7-0

Hee could have scored but his shot hit the cross-bar. Unlucky!

Darren then became the 8th goal scorer in this match when he made an over-lapping run all the way to the left touch-line. His cross then somehow eluded everybody and nestled nicely into the far bottom corner for his 2nd ARFC goal. 8-0.

Sebastian then hit a Jamie Redknapp-like ball down the left flank which saw Soon running in from deep. From the left touch-line, Soon’s cross saw Derrick as the beneficiary as he simply touched the ball home for his 32nd ARFC goal. 9-0

Derrick could have had a hat-trick but Hee’s “fish-monger act” let Derrick down. Norman executed a clever through ball with his right outside-foot and Hee sped down the right flank. With Derrick clearly free and shouted till his throat was sore, Hee ignored him and shot wide!

Notwithstanding the opponents’ level, I must say that this is one of the best performances from ARFC in terms of team-work and willingness to work for each other. Particularly, the defence gave the opponents no chance at all by closing down on every player and shots.

To me, every warrior is Man-of-the-Match though I must say that Guoxiong, Darren and Norman really stood out.

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