ARFC fell to Team BI again

Taking on Team BI for the 7th time, ARFC still could not end its winless record against them after going down 1-3 at Siglap Sec in front of 77,777 fans including Anna and Cerine.
ARFC received 3 huge doses of boost when Darren, Khim and Ron turned up for the match.

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

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Combative Ron
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Wonder Wayne
Seh Meng (guest player)

Absent:

Talisman Derrick – suspended
Dynamic Soon
Hard-man Tjioe
Towering Toh
Long-throw specialist Norman
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

Knowing that Team BI is a more superior team, ARFC played with great discipline and restricted Team BI to some half-chances with Jinzhong coming out tops on several occasions.

In the 7th min, Jinzhong flung himself to his left ala Edwin Van De Sar to parry the ball out for a corner. Jinzhong also then produced 2 top-draw saves to deny Team BI from taking the lead.

Sebastian also cleared off the line ala Ashley Cole from a corner.

ARFC conceded a goal after their player rose unchallenged to nod in from a free-kick. 0-1

ARFC did not give up and tried to conjure up an equalizer. In the 27th min, Sebastian read their defender’s move well and intercepted the ball. Spotting their keeper slightly off his line, Sebastian tried to chip over their keeper but their keeper somehow managed to claw the ball to safety. Unlucky!

Alvin then turned hero with about 177 seconds to go before half-time. Anticipated their sweeper’s move, Alvin managed to nick the ball away from his feet. In his desperation, their sweeper tried his best to halt Alvin in his track but was unable to prevent the powerfully-built Alvin from speeding away. Bringing the ball all the way into the penalty box, Alvin heard a shout from Wayne who was inside the 6-yard box. However, Alvin kept his cool by slotting the ball past their despairing keeper for his 141st ARFC goal! 1-1 now and what a world-class goal ala Roger Milla in 1990 World Cup.

In the 2nd half, Team BI grew desperate and resorted to some wild shots from distance as they were unable to penetrate ARFC’s formidable defence of Elvis, Ron, Darren and Guoxiong. In fact, their playmaker tried to take Guoxiong out of the match by going in studs up but the referee failed to even blow for a foul!!!!

Guoxiong nearly produced the goal of the season when he picked up a loose ball from a half-clear ARFC corner outside the box. He faked a shot with his right foot, eluded their lunging defender and fired in with his left foot from just outside the box ala Lilian Thuram in World Cup ’98 semi-final match against Croatia. Unfortunately, the only difference is that Thuram found the net but Guoxiong’s shot was deny by their flying keeper!

Sebastian then came up with another goal-line clearance ala Ashley Cole.

ARFC continued to defend stoutly and Team BI was getting desperate and impatient. The big turning point came in the 77th min when Team BI received a BIG BIG BIG helping hands from the referee who apparently is friends with some players from Team BI.

Their ang-moh striker received the ball from his team-mate but he was clearly coming in from an off-side position. Incredulously, the referee did not blow for an off-side infringement and waved play on. The rest is history as they then scored which broke the hearts and resilience of ARFC. 1-2

Within mins and still recovering from the bad decision, ARFC conceded another goal to lose 1-3.

Despite this loss, ARFC’s entire performance can be said to be the most disciplined and controlled in recent times. Of course, the back-four was really resolute and majestic and the midfielders worked tirelessly to cover up for the defenders. ARFC’s strikers also did well to harass and created pressure on Team BI.

As I always said, as long as ARFC’s defence is Elvis, Guoxiong, Darren, Toh/Ron, ARFC would usually do well in matches.

Men-of-the-match is jointly given to Jinzhong, Alvin and ARFC’s entire back-four,