Monday, October 31, 2011

No Match this coming Sunday (06 Nov 2011)

Due to the long weekend, there will be no match for ARFC on 06 Nov 2011.

On behalf of ARFC, I would like to wish Haron, Su and Afiqah as well as all our Muslim brothers and sisters a very Selamat Hari Raya Haji!

Cheers....

Sebastian scored ARFC's 100th goal in year 2011 in 4-1 win

Playing under extreme humid and hot weather at Bedok North SS, ARFC comprehensively dismissed the challenge of Unido FC with a score-line of 4-1.

The victory was witnessed by Anna (wife of Elvis), Lingzhi and 2 children (family of Ron) as well as about 70,000 Thais who fled from Bangkok due to the flood.

Special mention must be given to Soon who gamely took the field despite the injury. Bravery is the only word that can be used to describe him when he even chipped in with 3 headers despite all of us asking him not to challenge for high balls.

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: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Centre-mid: Combative Ron
Left-mid: Wonder Wayne
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)

Subs:

Dynamic Soon
Unpredictable Blackburn
Talented Chun Haw
ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)

Absent:

Hard-man Tjioe
Speedy Hee
Sublime Khim
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

ARFC did not warm up its engine enough and was under a bit of pressure at the start. No decent chances were created which was partly due to the deployment of just one striker.

But when the first real chance came, ARFC duly opened the scoring. Darren’s long ball from left back found Alvin in the box. Despite under close heavy attention, Alvin managed to get a shot in but the ball was blocked and reached Derrick in the box. Derrick immediately dispatched a low shot which took a huge wicked deflection that wrong-footed their keeper for his 46th ARFC goal1 1-0

Derrick then asked to be replaced and Soon came in.

Blackburn then saw action when he replaced the hard-working Wayne who was putting in a decent shift at left mid. Blackburn moved up front with Tze Ern moving to left mid.

Ron then took a knock from a heavy challenge and had to leave the field with Chun Haw coming in. This is also the last piece of action from Ron.

Haron then came late on in the half by replacing Tze Ern.

Just before the half ended, Chun Haw made space down the right flank but his cross was half-cleared by their defender. Sebastian picked up the ball and narrowly missed the target by 0.77 cm with his dropping shot. Unlucky!

In the 2nd half, ARFC shrugged off its cobweb by dominating play. A great ball saw Alvin powering past their defender with a sharp turn. Alvin was pulled and tugged along the way and if he had fall, it would surely be an iron-clad penalty. However, Alvin continued his surge forward and faced their keeper one-on-one but his shot was smothered by their keeper. Unlucky but what great sportsmanship!

Mins later, Derrick showed how to win a penalty when he tricked his way past their left-back and dribbled all the way into the box. Their defender then clumsily brought him down from behind giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty.

Sebastian stepped up to drill the ball down the middle for his 82nd ARFC goal. The goal was his 3rd penalty in as many matches and was also the 100th goal scored by ARFC in the year 2011.

Haron then flashed a shot just wide after a clever lay-off from Alvin.
ARFC put the result beyond doubt when Darren unleashed yet another ball down the left flank to Alvin. Alvin held on to the ball, heard a shout from Tze Ern and then square to him. Tze Ern then showed fancy footwork when he first eluded a covering defender with a inward drag-in, faced their keeper, repeated the same trick and virtually walked the ball into the empty net!! 3-0 and this was Tze Ern’s 4th ARFC goal! His goal also reminded all warriors and fans alike that he too can score from INSIDE the box as his previous 3 goals were all long-range missile shots!

ARFC had a huge scare when their corner routine struck our cross-bar!

ARFC then responded with our own corner routine when Sebastian aimed for Derrick who was lurking inside the 6-yard box. Unfortunately, Derrick’s header struck the cross-bar!

Derrick then flicked another header over the top from Sebastian’s free-kick.

ARFC then conceded a goal. 3-1

Darren and Guoxiong then left the field shortly after each other with niggling injuries.

ARFC then put the result to bed with its 4th goal. A clever ball from Soon down the right flank saw Haron chasing after the ball. Haron turned back the “lean” years when he reached the ball ahead of their keeper, rounded him and reached the right touch-line. Looking up in a calming manner, Haron chipped the ball over their keeper and there was Chun Haw who gleefully side-footed the ball and although their keeper got a hand to it, the shot was too powerfully and the ball trickled into the goal for his 3rd ARFC goal 4-1!

Except for the first 10 mins, ARFC was in total control. Attendance was good yet again and all warriors played well.

The only negative aspect is we did not keep a clean sheet.

Credit also to the opponents for being determined and stubborn in their performances.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Derrick and Alvin though Tze Ern and Darren came very close.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

League match - 30 Oct 2011

30 Oct 2011 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Bedok North Sec Sch

Opponent is Unido FC

Monday, October 24, 2011

Toh scored late winner in dramatic 5-4 win

In a dramatic match againsy Liverland FC, ARFC almost did a "Arsenal against Newcastle" but managed ti snatch a winner right at the dead with a 5-4 victory.

There was a worry on the attendance and hence Minghui was called up as a guest player. However, the worry proved unfounded as Derrick, Khim and Seh Meng made last-min appearances.

Credit also to Soon for turning up to support despite his 9-stitch injury suffered last week.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Wonder Wayne
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Talented Chun Haw
Left-mid: Sublime Khim
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)
Striker: Speedy Hee

Subs:

Steely Tze Ern
Hard-man Tjioe
Seh Meng
Minghui (guest player)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Powerful Alvin
Dynamic Soon
Unbeatable Darren
Combative Ron
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
The pitch was really small and more suited for 7–a-side match which affected ARFC more.

ARFC took the lead after a clever pass saw Chun Haw making a late burst into the penalty box. Chun Haw’s touch was excellent as he took it away from the defender who then clumsily brought him down.

Sebastian stepped up and though their keeper nearly got a hand to his low kick, the ball rebounded off the left-hand post into the net. 1-0 and this was Sebastian’s 81st ARFC goal, moving him up to 4th position in ARFC’s leading scorer list.

ARFC doubled its lead with arguably the best movement of the year. From the middle right, Hee received a ball from Khim on the left. Hee then played the ball out to wide left to Blackburn while Khim made a move into the middle area. Blackburn looked up and swung a ball all the way to Derrick who was at the right wing area. Concurrently, Khim was already just at the top of the penalty area with Hee close by. Without breaking the momentum, Derrick side-footed first-time to Khim who expertly chested the ball down, eluded their defender, faced their keeper and calmly dispatched the ball past him for his 48th ARFC goal. 2-0 and really a world-class goal.

With a comfortable two-goal lead, Sebastian replaced Derrick, Guoxiong, Khim and Sebastian with Minghui, Seh Meng, Tjioe and Tze Ern respectively.

Chun Haw then fired wide with a half chance after making space for himself.

Jinzhong then produced a fantastic save when he got dowj quickly to smoother a violent shot.

In the 2nd half, ARFC continued to dominate and did not take long to score its 3rd goal. Khim was fouled and Blackburn and Elvis then stood over the ball. Blackburn faked to shoot and Elvis stepped up to curl a delicious ball over the wall and the ball arched beautifully over their despairing keeper for his 13th ARFC goal! What a set-piece and Elvis ran 70 metres to celebrate the goal and Anna was spotted doing 7 rounds of Mexican waves by herself!

ARFC looked to bury the match when it scored the 4th goal soon after. The ball was played to Blackburn who galloped down the right flank. Derrick then pulled the defender inwards and Sebastian made a late dash into the left penalty box. Hearing a shout, Blackburn cross the ball and Sebastian attempted his “scissor kick” but the kick bounced into outside the 6-yard box and Derrick the popped up to nod the ball home for his 45th ARFC goal! 4-0

Strangely enough, ARFC began to lose focus by getting into unnecessary play and fouls which earned them so many free-kicks. With the small pitch, it was no surprise that they were relying on them to get goals and true enough, they slowly clawed back into the match.

They scored 4 goals in quick succession, with their 4th goal coming at the 79th min, a min before end of regulation time.

With ARFC looking to repeat Arsenal’s infamous feat against Newcastle in last season’s league match, ARFC then launched a last-ditch attack.

Hee won a foul at the left hand side of the box. Sebastian sent his ferocious curling kick that was headed away by their wall for a corner.

Not for the first time, ARFC then looked to the routine yet enormously potent corner move. Sebastian lofted the ball into the penalty area and there was who else but Toh who met the ball with his trusted forehead and thumped home the ball for his 53rd ARFC goal! 5-4

The goal sparked wild celebrations and every warrior outside the pitch took off their jerseys and waved 77 times!
Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Sebastian and Blackburn though Khim came very close.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

League Match - 23 Oct 2011

23 October 2011 (Sun)
5 pm = 1700 hrs
Kent Ridge Sec Sch

Opponent is Liverland

Monday, October 17, 2011

Soon hurt in ARFC's victory

Playing Team Buffalo for the 2nd time in the league, ARFC produced a stunning 17-min blitz to blow Team Buffalo off the park in front of Anna.

Prior to the match, ARFC received a late assistance from Weili, Rendezvous FC’s 1st choice keeper, to keep goal for us.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Weili
Right-back: Combative Ron
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh
Left-back: Unbeatable Darren
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Influential Sebastian
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Left-mid: Steely Tze Ern
Striker: Powerful Alvin (captain)
Striker: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Subs:

Talented Chun Haw
Unpredictable Blackburn
Wonder Wayne
Speedy Hee (late)
Absent:

Sublime Khim 
Hard-man Tjioe
Dependable Jinzhong
Marauding Guoxiong
Long-throw specialist Norman
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

Right the start, ARFC did not give its opponents any breathing space at all which is epitomized by the relentless closing down of opponents by Soon and Tze Ern. Darren and Ron also kept their wingers silent throughout.

ARFC opened the scoring after just 2.7 mins. Soon and Derrick combined to harass their midfielder who lost possession. Alvin picked up the loose ball about 37 metres away from their goal and duly unleashed a stunning volley that flew over their keeper for his 156th ARFC goal. 1-0

ARFC doubled its lead after another 177 seconds. Darren’s throw-in from the left, by now a familiar sight that was extremely threatening, saw the ball landed on the feet of Alvin. With a quick turn, Alvin squared the ball across to Haron. Hearing a shout from Derrick on the right, Haron duly dummied the ball and Derrick then took his time to pick his spot to fire past their keeper for his 44th ARFC goal. 2-0

ARFC put the result beyond doubt when their sweeper clumsily clattered onto Haron in the box from a high ball. Sebastian gleefully placed the ball on the penalty spot and calmly sent their keeper the wrong way for his 80th ARFC goal. 3-0 and this goal moved him level with Hee at joint-4th highest scorer for ARFC.

With a comfortable lead, Sebastian then took a decision to rest key players by taking out Darren, Haron and Sebastian and replaced them with Wayne, Blackburn and Chun Haw respectively. Hee then came on for Alvin moments later. With the changes, ARFC lost a bit of flow but still managed to stay on top.

Weili then showed his worth when he conjured a stunning save by tipping a dipping venomous shot over the bar. Fantastic!
In the 2nd half, ARFC continued to pressure but was unable to get a 4th goal. In fact, ARFC nearly conceded a goal but was saved by Weili yet again. From a high ball, both Weili and Wayne came charging out but Wayne headed the ball backwards and the ball looked to loop over Weili. Producing a save that was similar to Gordon Banks’ save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup, Weili arched backwards, stretched out and turned the ball over the bar. Totally world-class save!!!!

From the corner, however, ARFC conceded a goal after their winger was left unmarked in the box. 3-1

Tragedy then struck ARFC when Soon suffered a huge cut above his right eye after an unfortunate heads-on collision. With his exit, ARFC warriors seemed distracted and conceded the play to its opponents.

Nevertheless, ARFC still conjured several chances but Blackburn, Chun Haw and Sebastian could not score.

The first 20 mins was one of the best displays ARFC had ever produced. The flow, movement, passing and harassment was really top-draw.
The only negative aspects were obviously the conceded goal as well as Soon’s injury.

After the match, Derrick, Alvin, Haron and Sebastian accompanied Soon to CGH when he received out-patient treatment.

Man-of-the-Match is obviously Soon though I must say Tze Ern, Darren and Ron came very close.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tournament Match 6 details

16 October 2011 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Bedok View SS

Opponent is Team Buffalo.

Monday, October 10, 2011

ARFC earned narrow win with disciplined performance

Producing a very disciplined and measured display at Henderson SS in front of Anna, Tracie and Irene, ARFC eked out a hard-fought but thoroughly deserving 1-0 victory over Jaws SC. The triumph was led by Alvin’s performance as he single-handedly led from the front and epitomized by Tjioe’s muscular outing in the middle of the park.

Prior to the match, ARFC received a crushing blow when Soon failed to turn up due to last-min work. Fortunately, the loss was more or less cushioned by the last-min appearance of possibly the best ARFC warrior of all time, Khim, who just touched down from China and came straight from the airport.

ARFC started with this line-up:

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

Subs:

Hard-man Tjioe
Wonder Wayne
Sublime Khim (late)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Dynamic Soon
Talented Chun Haw
Long-throw specialist Norman
Speedy Hee
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny

True to Sebastian’s prediction, their African striker relied heavily on his push-and-run style to try to get past our defence. However, he was thwarted by Guoxiong’s several ferocious sliding tackles ala Rob Jones, Toh’s towering presence at the heart of the defence ala Sami Hyypia and Elvis’ fantastic reading ala Alan Hansen.

Over at the left side, Darren comfortably dealt with the threat and did not even give their right winger and striker a sniff of the ball at all.

Jinzhong showed his true form when he clawed away a dangerous in-swinging corner. Darren also headed away a threatening free-kick as their striker was waiting to pounce if Darren missed the ball.

Over at the other end, Alvin caused all sorts of problems for their defence but he was not supported by Blackburn thereby giving Sebastian no option but to replace him with Wayne. Wayne’s introduction created much more pace and urgency as he chased down their defenders. Khim also came in for Tze Ern while Tjioe replaced Elvis who took a knock at the shin.

Wayne nearly opened the scoring when a corner from Sebastian was headed back by Toh (or is it Alvin?). When their keeper could not get hold of the ball and spilled it, Wayne reacted quickest but his sharp turning shot struck the up-right. Unlucky!

Derrick also created much nuisance with his wing-play which no other ARFC warrior can match. As a result, he won many fouls but ARFC was unable to capitalize.

Sebastian then found Khim with a crisp low free-kick but Khim was unable to find a footing to shoot.

Expectedly, the half ended goal-less.

In the 2nd half, Jinzhong showed all that he is now back to his very best when their striker eluded Ron and looked set to score. However, Jinzhong had other ideas when he got down sharply to turn the shot round the post for a corner. Real world class and the save was really Pepe Reina-like.

Tjioe then produced several strong probing runs into their danger area but was triple-teamed by them.

The move of the match came moments later. Khim picked up the ball at left, drifted onwards and released Wayne with a no-look reverse pass. Wayne broke the off-side trap but somehow manage to send the ball wide despite having only their keeper to beat. Unlucky but at least Wayne made the run to create another opening for himself.

Blackburn then replaced Wayne and Ron then took over Guoxiong who had a slight knock.

ARFC finally got the goal after Alvin won a free-kick out on the left. Instead of swinging the ball in for the waiting warriors especially Toh, Blackburn laid the ball to Tze Ern who crashed in a laser-like shot that landed at the top right-hand corner. What a world-class goal ala Matthew Le Tissier and I can say that no keeper in the world could keep this one. 1-0 and this was Tze Ern’s 3rd ARFC goal.

One thing to note is that all 3 of his goals were all long-range shots.

ARFC then held on to the lead to keep its first clean sheet in this tournament as well as the first for the past 8 matches. This clean is largely credited to Jinzhong, Ron, Elvis, Darren, Toh and Guoxiong.

Upfront, Alvin showed Fernando Torres on how to lead the forward line.

The victory was also ARFC’s 17th out of 30 matches, and the goal scored by Tze Ern was ARFC’s 90th goal in 2011.

Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Jinzhong and Tjioe, with the entire ARFC defence coming a close second.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

5th league match details

09 Oct 2011 (Sun)
3 pm = 1500 hrs
Henderson SS

Jaws SC is the opponent

Top 3 goal-scorers netted in ARFC's win

Playing on an extremely lousy and patched-up pitch at Northview SS in front of Anna, Tracie, Rayes, Darren and son, ARFC secured its 2nd win in the league with a 3-1 win over Flamengo FC courtesy of a goal each from its top 3 goal-scorers in the history of the team.
ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper: Dependable Jinzhong
Right-back: Marauding Guoxiong
Sweeper: Astute-reading sweeper Elvis
Stopper: Towering Toh (captain)
Left-back: Combative Ron
Right-mid: Talisman Derrick
Centre-mid: Dynamic Soon
Centre-mid: Talented Chun Haw
Left-mid: ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
Striker: Powerful Alvin
Striker: Unpredictable Blackburn

Subs:

Influential Sebastian (late)
Steely Tze Ern (late)
Seh Meng (guest player)

Absent:

Long-throw specialist Norman
Speedy Hee
Hard-man Tjioe
Unbeatable Darren
Sublime Khim
Wonder Wayne
Precocious En Dian
Nippy Kenny
ARFC started too gingerly and allowed the opponents to pass the ball. However, ARFC soon get into the groove but was let down by several off-sides.

Alvin fired the 1st warning shot when his curling shot from the left hit the upright. Unlucky!

ARFC soon took the lead after Haron’s reverse pass put Alvin clean through down the left. Without missing a beat, Alvin fired home for his 155th ARFC goal. 1-1

ARFC then conceded a goal. 1-1 With this goal, ARFC failed in its mission to keep a clean sheet.

This was the 60th goal conceded by ARFC in the year 2011 thus far.

Tze Ern, Seh Meng and Sebastian then took over from Blackburn, Ron and Chun Haw respectively.

ARFC regained the lead after a great cross from the left by Tze Ern saw Haron swiftly moving in to meet the ball with his head. His experience and predatory instincts were clearly on display as he spotted the keeper off his line while on the move. Haron then glanced a looping header from OUTSIDE the penalty box over their hapless keeper for his 174th ARFC goal. Fantastic! 2-1

The last time a warrior scored with a header OUTSIDE the penalty box was actually, and many would think unbelievable, Sebastian who went on to net a hat-trick on 31 Aug 2008.

The move of the match came moments later when Sebastian sent Guoxiong scurrying down the right flank. Guoxiong cross was picked up by Alvin who then quickly laid the ball low for the on-rushing Haron. Unfortunately, Haron’s well-hit left foot shot just missed the target by mere millimeters.

In the 2nd half, ARFC was still the dominant team but nearly conceded another goal. For the first time in the longest time, Sebastian used his head and cleared their vicious in-swinging corner off the line.

Jinzhong then came up with at least 2 top-draw saves from their free-kicks.

The contender for the “Miss of the Season” continued in this match after Haron’s and Blackburn’s misses.

From a high ball, Haron flicked the ball over their on-rushing keeper and both Haron and Tze Ern went for the ball. Incredulously, Tze Ern put the ball wide with the gaping goal in full sight.

Blackburn then put the result beyond doubt when he picked up a clearance from their keeper at around the half-way line. In a flash, Blackburn hit a volley that flew over their keeper and nestled nicely into the bottom right corner for his 107th ARFC goal. 3-1 and this goal was really almost similar to Stankovic’s goal for Inter Milan against (I think) Schalk) in last season’s Champions League match.

The only disappointment is ARFC still cannot keep a clean sheet.
Man-of-the-Match is jointly given to Guoxiong and Tze Ern.