Greetings from ARFC

On behalf of ARFC, I would like to wish all ARFC warriors and their love ones a:

Merry X'mas + Happy New Year

Let's round off 2013 with a convincing and comprehensive victory on 29 Dec 2013 at 9 pm (2100 hrs) at Tampines SAFRA.

ARFC's top 15 scorers (as at 22 Dec 2013)

These are ARFC's top 15 marksmen:

1. Alvin - 218
2. Haron - 200
3. Blackburn - 133
4. Hee - 93
5. Sebastian - 89
6. Derrick - 71
7. Robin - 69
8. Toh - 66
9. Tjioe - 59
10. Soon - 52
11. Khim - 50
12. Jeffrey - 49
13. Kenny - 28
14. Chun Haw - 27
15. Kiat - 25


The immediate priority now is to get Hee to be the next Centurion member. As of today, Hee will be the designated penalty-taker till he reaches 100 goals.

Chun Haw's brace could not stem ARFC's consecutive losses

In a friendly match played under very good weather, ARFC slumped to its consecutive defeats with a surprise 2-3 loss to Team 78.

ARFC’s flow and rhythm was severely disrupted by the very late arrivals of Chun Haw, Jackson, Weilit and Jasper.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Impeccable How Meng

Right-back - Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid - Combative Ron  

Centre-mid - Dynamic Soon  

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick (captain)

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Striker - Speedy Hee

  

Subs:

Influential Sebastian

Wonder Wayne   

Nippy Kenny

Steely Tze Ern  

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Skillful Weilit

Talented Chun Haw

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Marauding Guoxiong  

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Booming Boon

Jiawei

ARFC struggled in the opening exchanges and could not fashion any decent chances.

ARFC then conceded a goal. 0-1

In the 2^nd half, ARFC played much better.

First, Tze Ern struck the cross-bar from 37.77 metres. Superb!

Toh then narrowly headed wide from Sebastian’s corner on the right.

ARFC then found its equalizer. From yet another Darren’s potent throw-ins, Chun Haw leaped and powered a header goal-wards. Their keeper got his hands to it but could not prevent the ball from slipping from his grasp and trickled over the line. Their keeper desperately tried to claw the ball back but luckily the other wise lousy referee managed to spot it. 1-1 and this was Chun Haw’s 26^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then allowed the opponents to score another 2 goals to trail 1-3.

Chun Haw then grabbed his brace after Wayne’s volley caused mayhem in the box. Chun Haw swopped and propelled the ball into the net for his 27^th ARFC goal. 2-3

Despite relentless and sustained pressure, ARFC could not find an equalizer or winning goal.

Toh's towering performance failed to lift ARFC

In a friendly match played under a surprisingly hot and humid weather, ARFC failed to overcome a sluggish start and lost 1-2 to a very fit and young team, Flora.

Special mention to these warriors:

Ron for turning up to play despite painful leg

Jasper turning up but not to play

Derrick and Jinzhong for volunteering to be keeper for each half

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Talisman Derrick

Right-back - Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Speedy Hee

Centre-mid - Combative Ron  

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian

Right-mid - Dynamic Soon

Striker - Powerful Alvin

Striker - Unpredictable Blackburn

  

Subs:

Skillful Weilit

Talented Chun Haw (late)

Absent:

Composed Jackson

Wonder Wayne   

Nippy Kenny

Impeccable How Meng

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Steely Tze Ern  

Resolute Jasper

Marauding Guoxiong  

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Booming Boon

Jiawei

ARFC was really sluggish in the opening 11-15 mins and could not really cope with the fast-pressing style of the opponents which was perhaps not surprisingly considering that the opponents had either just finished their JC studies or still serving NS.

ARFC warriors were often late in their challenges during the opening exchanges. Particularly, Ron was really fortunate to escape without any bookings as he persistently fouled their impressive central midfielder.

ARFC then conceded the opening goal. 0-1

7 mins later, ARFC conceded another goal from their fast counter-attack. 0-2

To its credit, ARFC did not drop its head and gradually regained its footing.

Alvin was put clean through by Sebastian inside the left-hand penalty box just outside the 6-yard box. From an almost acute angle, however, Alvin steered his shot into the side-netting.

Sebastian and Weilit then came close but their shots were charged down.

From Darren’s missile throw-in from the left, Chun Haw just narrowly failed to get a clean shot in as he slipped.

In the second half, ARFC was determined to improve its first-half performance.

Within 77 seconds of the re-start, Alvin capitalized on a defensive error after he picked up a back-header from the opponent just outside their penalty box. Waiting the ball to bounce once, Alvin instinctively pulled the trigger with a dipping volley that swerved about 7 degrees to the right. Fooled by the swerve and velocity of Alvin’s stinging volley, their keeper could not even see the ball coming at him and the next thing he knew it, the ball had bulged the net. 1-2 and this was Alvin’s 218^th ARFC goal.

Hee then demonstrated his usual high work-rate when he recovered from a failed ARFC corner to chase down and block their winger from embarking a dangerous break-away move. A shining light to all.

ARFC then piled on the pressure and despite numerous threatening scud missile throw-ins from Darren, an equalizer did not arrive.

In this match, Toh showed all and sundry of his importance to ARFC when he won ALL the headers pumped up-field by the opponent in this match. With better set-piece deliveries, Toh could even have gotten a couple of goals.

Weilit also put in a decent shift at right-back.

Voting results:

Toh – 32 pts

Darren – 11 pts

Soon – 9 pts

Alvin – 8 pts

Ron – 7 pts

Derrick – 3 pts

Weilit, Hee & Jinzhong – 2 pts each

Elvis & Chun Haw – 1 pt each

Congratulations to Toh & Darren for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

King Kenny rules the day in land-slide 9-2 win

In arguably his best performance in a ARFC shirt, Kenny put up a virtuoso display to inspire ARFC to a dominating 9-2 victory over Diablo at Pierce SS.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper          -           Combative Ron   

Left-back       -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Left-mid         -           Wonder Wayne   

Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid    -           Influential Sebastian

Right-mid      -           Speedy Hee

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Striker                        -           Nippy Kenny           

  

Subs:

Unbeatable Darren (requested to be left out first as he was waiting for his PRC MILF client to collect his sperm)

Talented Chun Haw (late)

Composed Jackson (late)

Alan (trialist – JZ’s friend)

Absent:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Talisman Derrick

Steely Tze Ern  

Resolute Jasper

Skillful Weilit

Towering Toh

Marauding Guoxiong  

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Booming Boon

Jiawei

On a cold and wet day when a nice cuddling session with a love one is more appropriate, ARFC opened the floodgates with virtually its first attack of the match within 77 seconds.  Wayne exchanged wall-passes with Alvin and galloped down the left-hand side. Alvin returned the ball to him and Wayne then expertly rolled the ball across their keeper for his 10^th ARFC goal. 1-0

With this goal, Wayne moved up to 25^th position in the ARFC leading scorers’ list.

ARFC doubled its lead 77 seconds later. From a quick-thinking throw-in from Hee on the right, Kenny trapped the ball nicely, swivelled past their defender and dinked in a delicious and precise cross to the far post ala David Beckham. Alvin came in from deep and all he had to do was simply put his head there to nod it home. 2-0 and this was his 215^th ARFC goal.

ARFC then surprisingly conceded a goal from their counter-attack. 2-1

ARFC regained its two-goal cushion with yet another assist from Kenny. Kenny again received the ball near the right touch-line/6-yard box. Surrounded by a sea of defenders, Kenny somehow heard Soon’s call for the ball and laid the ball out. Soon took a gentle touch and duly swept home a left-foot beauty for his 52^nd ARFC goal.

3-1

ARFC put the result beyond doubt minutes later. From Sebastian’s corner on the right, Chun Haw, who replaced Wayne just minutes earlier, dashed in from the blindside to plant a firm and hard header past their keeper for his 24^th ARFC goal. 4-1

ARFC then conceded another surprise goal. 4-2

Jinzhong then prevented the opponents from pulling closer after he dished out a last-ditch tackle to deny their striker a clean shot at goal in the box. Wonderful defending.

Just 77 seconds before the half, Darren finally appeared after settling his PRC business.

ARFC pulled further ahead within 77 seconds of the re-start. Sebastian’s low grounder pierced, as we are playing at Pierce Sec Sch, through their defence and Kenny came in from deep. Kenny reached the ball ahead of their keeper but before he could shoot into the empty net, he was cruelly brought down by their covering defender. Sebastian stepped down to firmly and calmly fizzed a diagonal low shot into the right-hand side of their keeper’s goal. 5-2 and this was Sebastian’s 89^th ARFC goal.

Chun Haw then notched his brace after Kenny and Alvin caused mayhem in the box.  Lapping up the loose ball, Chun Haw dispatched a low rocket for his 25^th ARFC goal. 6-2

With this goal, Chun Haw is now in joint-14^th position with ex-ARFC legend, Kiat Gulam, at 25 goals.

Kenny finally got his just rewards after his various assists and some unlucky shots. From clever inter-play between Hee and Sebastian, Kenny turned sharply to power home a low flying shot that almost burst the net for his 28^th ARFC goal.  7-2

Kenny was not done. He turned provider yet again after his very eye-catching low diagonal ball from the right totally bedazzled their defence. Alvin ran in from the left, break their off-side trap and the result was yet another goal from Alvin. 8-2 and this was Alvin 216^th ARFC goal.

With seconds to go, ARFC did an almost replica of Lineker’s World Cup goal against Argentina in 1986 when Maradona scored the Goal of the Century in Argentina’s 2-1 win.

Wayne was released by Chun Haw down the left flank and he swung in an almost inch-perfect cross from the left wing ala John Barnes in the 1986 match. The ball seemed to be hit just out of reach of Alvin but he had other ideas. Alvin moved a step backwards, leaped into the air and thumped home a header ala Gary Lineker in the 1986 match that had their keeper clutching thin air to complete his hat-trick. 9-2 and this was Alvin’s 217^th ARFC goal.

This was also Alvin’s 19^th ARFC hat-trick which netted a total of 64 goals.

Voting results:

Chun Haw – 22 pts

Kenny – 19 pts

Alvin – 13 pts

Wayne – 7 pts

Sebastian & Elvis – 5 pts each

Jinzhong – 4 pts

Darren, Jackson & Soon – 3 pts each

Congratulations to Chun Haw & Kenny for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

Top 13 leading scorers in ARFC's history

1.  Alvin (214 goals)
2.  Haron (200 goals)
3.  Blackburn (133 goals)
4.  Hee (93 goals)
5.  Sebastian (88 goals)
6.  Derrick (71 goals)
7.  Robin (69 goals) - ex-warrior
8.  Toh (66 goals)
9.  Tjioe (59 goals)
10. Soon (51 goals)
11. Khim (50 goals)
12. Jeffrey (49 goals) - ex-warrior
13. Kenny (27 goals)

ARFC's StanChart marathon runners, Soon & Alvin, pillars to victory

Despite just completed their full marathon in the morning, Soon and Alvin still turned up to inspire ARFC to a 2-1 victory over Dark Horse at the pristine pitch at St. Gabriels SS. The match was also witness by regular supporter Melissa, Hee’s beau, and Rio, Ron’s suave son.  

The narow scoreline does not reflect ARFC’s dominance in the match after squandering a clutch of chances.

Besides Soon and Alvin, special mention also to Haron for playing as keeper for ARFC despite only having his “centre-leg” in full functional mode as both his right and left legs are still nursing niggling injuries.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           ARFC Scoring Legend Haron       

Right-back     -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Sweeper         -          Combative Ron

Stopper          -           Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back       -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid         -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon

Centre-mid    -           Steely Tze Ern 

Right-mid      -           Talisman Derrick

Striker            -           Nippy Kenny

Striker            -           Talented Chun Haw

Subs

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Impeccable How Meng

Dependable Jinzhong

Wonder Wayne

Skillful Weilit

Powerful Alvin

Absent:

Influential Sebastian

Resolute Jasper

Marauding Guoxiong 

Composed Jackson

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Booming Boon

Jiawei

In the 15^th min, ARFC took the lead courtesy of Kenny’s powerful shot from the edge of the penalty box. The opposition keeper got a hand to the shot but could do nothing about it as the spin on the ball was enough for it to continue its path into the back of the net. 1-0 and this was Kenny’s 27^th ARFC goal.

How Meng, Elvis, Weilit and Jinzhong then came in for Blackburn, Toh, Soon and Hee respectively.

It is clear that the opponent’s standard will not be able to match ARFC’s and ARFC should have punished the opposition with more goals. However, it did not happen and the half ended 1-0.

Seeing that the team is having difficulty scoring, Alvin decided to put on his boots and come on for the 2^nd half, despite running his marathon in a very commendable 6 hrs and 15 mins earlier.  Blackburn, Toh and Soon also came back in for the 2^nd half in place of Tze Ern, Ron and Darren.

Within 15 minutes of the 2^nd half, Alvin demonstrated why he is perched nicely atop the ARFC’s goal-scoring chart.  Seizing a mis-judged clearance by their defender, Alvin punished him by thumping a stout right-footer past their keeper for his 214^th ARFC. 2-0.

Instead of building on the momentum, ARFC contrived to miss more chances to add on to the scoreline. ARFC paid the price with 15 mins to go after the opponents scored. 2-1

ARFC’ famed defence then came to the rescue to prevent the opponents from scoring the equaliser.

After the near-escape, ARFC finally woke up from its slumber to continue dominating the game. However, no goals were scored and the game ended with a 2-1 win for ARFC.

The work done by Soon, a seasoned marathon runner who clocked 4 hrs 30 mins this morning and yet played as fresh as a virgin, cannot be undermined as he totally dominated the entire field by closing down and preventing any clear chances for the opposition throughout the game.

Voting results:

Soon – 25 pts

Elvis – 22 pts

Darren – 12 pts

Tze Ern & Chun Haw – 9 pts each

Toh – 7 pts

Jinzhong – 5 pts

Hee – 3 pts

Blackburn & Kenny – 2 pts each

How Meng's iron-clad header wins it for ARFC

In a shortened-match caused by a heavy downpour just when the match was about to start, 10-warrior ARFC defeated Danny’s 3-2 on a rain-soaked pitch at Bedok View SS.

Prior to the match, Chun Haw pulled out with a fever, leaving ARFC with only 10 warriors. To make matters worse, Sebastian had just completed his referee fitness test and was virtually limping throughout the match.

Sebastian then sent 4 SOS messages for other ARFC warriors to turn up but to no avail.

Special mention once again to How Meng for playing for ARFC though he played for Triple XXX from 11 am to 1 pm earlier, unlike other Triple XXX players Weilit, Jasper and Jackson who could not be bothered to play despite the 4 SOS messages.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Influential Sebastian

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper          -           Dependable Jinzhong

Left-back       -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid         -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

Centre-mid    -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Centre-mid    -           Steely Tze Ern  

Right-mid      -           Talisman Derrick

Striker                        -           ARFC Scoring Legend Haron        

  

Absent:

Dynamic Soon

Speedy Hee

Wonder Wayne 

Combative Ron 

Resolute Jasper

Skillful Weilit

Towering Toh

Talented Chun Haw

Marauding Guoxiong  

Composed Jackson

Hard-man Tjioe

Sublime Khim

Nippy Kenny

Booming Boon

Jiawei

Despite the numerical disadvantage, ARFC opened the scoring within 77 seconds. Alvin harassed their defence and the loose ball was picked up by Blackburn. Blackburn then threaded in a diagonal through ball to the right and Derrick came in from blind side to steer the ball home for his 70^th ARFC goal. 1-0

ARFC then conceded a goal. 1-1

ARFC quickly regained the lead. Tze Ern closed down the opponent who lost the ball which was picked up by Haron. In a move similar to Blackburn’s assist earlier, Haron repeated the move and Derrick once again dispatched the ball low and hard into the net for his 71^st ARFC goal. 2-1

The opponents then scored another equalizer from the penalty spot.

Things got worse for ARFC when Haron limped off with a suspected pulled thigh, leaving ARFC with only 9 warriors.

Things got worst minutes later when Jinzhong hurt his ankle in a last-ditch tackle and had to leave the pitch. ARFC then soldiered on with 8 warriors.

Jinzhong then returned with about 3 mins to go in the first half. Jinzhong was to go on and produced several crunching tackles later in the match.

In the second half, Haron bravely volunteered to be keeper with How Meng switching to right-back, pushing Sebastian back to his favoured central mid position.

ARFC took the lead for the 3^rd time after a world-class header from How Meng. From Blackburn’s corner on the left, How Meng charged in, leaped highest, hung in the air and using all his back and stomach muscles, proceeded to meet the ball with a violent powerful thumping header to put ARFC 3-2 ahead. This was How Meng’s 2^nd ARFC goal.

The header was so powerful that no keeper in the world could ever save it and the net was almost ripped open by the sheer velocity of the ball. In fact, How Meng’s header could match or even better than many of Toh’s headed goals.

With almost the last kick of the match, Haron came to ARFC’s rescue with a brilliant and instinctive double saves. From their free-kick, the referee somehow was blind to the off-side positions of their 2 players. From just outside the 6-yard box, their striker unleashed a cannon-ball but Haron made himself big by stretching out both his hands and blocked the fierce shot. Their striker picked up the rebound and fired in but the ball was smothered by Haron. World-class saves!

No voting for today but my personal Man-of-the-Match jointly goes to:

·        Elvis – superb commanding on a difficult pitch and against more opponents;

·        Tze Ern – Played like an Ah Soon version 2;

·      Darren – I don’t think any of their different left-wingers got past him at all. Even when he was faced with 2 to 3 opponents, they still could not get past Darren.

Haron reached 200-goal milestone in 5-2 win

Inspired by Ron’s ironman-like performance, ARFC whipped a good social team MPR 5-2 at Greenridge SS yesterday.

ARFC was watched by Melissa (Hee’s super-beautiful beau), Lingzhi (Ron’s super-good wife), Brendan Roberto (GX’s super-ardent referee supporter) and Darren (superman at left-back).

Special mention to the following:

·        How Meng – for playing keeper for ARFC though he played for Triple XX from 1 pm to 3 pm earlier;

·        Soon – for playing after running 30 km in the morning;

·        Khim – for playing after rushing from work;

·        Kenny & Jiawei – for playing after only returning from Malaysia in morning.

NO special mention to Derrick as he pulled out at the last minute due to work as he was trying to ink a $700,000 renovation contract.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Unpredictable Blackburn

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper          -           Combative Ron  

Left-back       -           Wonder Wayne  

Left-mid         -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid    -           Influential Sebastian

Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon

Right-mid      -           Dick (guest player)

Striker                        -           ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin (captain)

  

Subs:

Sublime Khim

Nippy Kenny

Jiawei

Absent:

Talisman Derrick

Resolute Jasper

Steely Tze Ern  

Unbeatable Darren

Skillful Weilit

Dependable Jinzhong

Towering Toh

Talented Chun Haw

Marauding Guoxiong  

Composed Jackson

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

Seeing that ARFC’s best player, Khim, was not in the starting 11, the 77,777 ARFC fans voiced their displeasure and started raining down toilet rolls onto the pitch in a scene similar to World Cup Final 1978 in Bourne Aires between Argentina and Holland. As a result, the match was delayed for 7 mins.

Probably affected by the delay, ARFC was sloppy in its initial play but gradually gained dominance.

ARFC took the lead after the opponents failed to clear from a corner. From a high ball, Alvin won a header and the ball fell kindly to Haron. Despite the opponents’ vehement protest that Haron came in from an off-side position, the excellent referee felt otherwise. Despite being challenged by their keeper, Haron kept his composure and lifted the ball over him to notch his 200^th ARFC goal. 1-0

The celebrations were rather muted due to the controversial manner of the goal though the CISCO security officers were desperately trying to stop the 7,777 ex-SQ stewardesses from invading the pitch to hug Haron.

Dick then incurred the wrath of Blackburn when he took a quick free-kick awarded at a dangerous position (just outside the penalty box). However, Hee skewed his shot horribly wide.

Sebastian then kept ARFC in the match when an in-swinging corner eluded How Meng but Sebastian, the back-post man, whacked the ball away in mid-air despite the opponents claiming that the ball had crossed the line. Again, the excellent referee was eagle-eyed in his decision.

ARFC then doubled its lead. Khim chipped in a delicate ball right in the heart of their defence for both Alvin and Soon to chase. Their keeper charged out and challenged Alvin and the rebound fell nicely for Soon to tap into the empty net for his 51^st ARFC goal. 2-0

Strangely enough, ARFC conceded 2 quick goals just before half-time. 2-2

Shortly after the re-start, Kenny made up for his mis-firings in last week’s match by scoring a gem of a goal. Receiving the ball on the left from almost the half-way line, Kenny steadied himself and fired an unstoppable long-range missile ala Ronald Koeman that sailed over their keeper’s head into the net. 3-2 and this was Kenny’s 25^th ARFC goal.

Kenny notched his brace moments later. Again, Khim was the architect when he sliced in a perfectly-weighted ball down the left channel. Again, the referee was spot-on and waved on-side. Kenny brought the ball inwards and all the way into and near the 6-yard box and despite calls from Alvin and Sebastian who were unmarked on the right, Kenny drove the ball past their despairing keeper for his 26^th ARFC goal. 4-2

ARFC put the result to bed courtesy of a quick-thinking by Dick. From a free-kick, Dick noticed that the opponents were still forming the wall and played a quikc ball to Alvin in the box. With the opponents still protesting and rooted to the spot, Alvin prodded the ball home for his 213^th ARFC goal. 5-2.

Again, the opponents protested but the superb referee explained that Dick did not ask for the wall. Excellent referee! World Cup Final 2014 Referee!

With almost the last kick of the match, How Meng showed his immerse talent when he produced a superb one-handed diving save to keep out their fierce shot. World-clas keeper! World Cup Final 2014 keeper!

Last but not least, on behalf of ARFC, I would like to congratulate Haron for hitting the 200-goal mark! Excellent goal-scoring machine! 

These are the voting results:

Ron – 30 pts

Khim – 22 pts

Kenny – 17 pts

Sebastian & Haron – 3 pts each

Soon, Blackburn & Wayne – 2 pts each

Alvin – 1 pt

Congratulations to Ron and Khim for winning $10 and $5 respectively.