Sebastian's masterclass centre mid performance failed to inspire ARFC Veterans in 4-4 draw

Playing its 9^th veteran match, ARFC Veteran Team let slipped a 2-goal lead twice to draw 4-4 with Golden Eagles which fielded a few under 40 players.

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by Lingzhi (Ron’s wife), and Dylan and Tiara (Elvis cute children).

ARFC Veterans started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Huiming

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Toh

LB – Qingxing

RM – Raymond

CM – Ron

CM – Sebastian (captain)

LM – Tong

SC – Blackburn

SC – Haron

Subs:

Elvis

Tze Ern

Chua

ARFC Veterans got off to a great start just 77 seconds on the clock.  Blackburn’s vicious corner from the right flew over everybody in the crowded penalty box and to the far left.  Lurking on the left side, Ron let fly a thunderous volley that almost burst the net. Measuring at 777 km/hr, no GK in the world could ever ever save it. 1-0 and this was Ron’s 14^th ARFC goal.

Ron’s goal also saw him moving on level terms with Elvis and Weilit on 14 goals in the ARFC all-time scoring charts.

Ron’s goal also saw Lingzhi’s jaws dropped to the ground as she had never seen Ron scored with such a powerful volley before.

77 seconds later, ARFC doubled its lead.  From the right, Raymond passed the ball to Sebastian and continued his run. Sebastian passed to Blackburn who then flicked the ball into the path of Raymond in the box.  Raymond then duly finished the flowing move by dispatching a grounder past their bewildered GK for his 12^th ARFC goal. 2-0

ARFC Veterans then continued to dominate proceedings but could not add to the scoreline with Raymond firing just over the bar and Haron also came close.

From Sebastian’s freekick, Toh just headed over.

Suddenly, the opponents pulled a goal back. 1-2

ARFC then made a string of substitutions with Elvis, Chua and Tze Ern coming on for Huiming, Eng Lai and the tiring Ron respectively.

With 77 seconds to go before half-time, ARFC Veterans conceded another goal. 2-2

In the 2^nd half, ARFC Veterans started in similar fashion to the first half with total pressing epitomised by both Raymond and Tze Ern. Huiming also made several forays upfront with Chua making some vital interceptions.  Toh also started winning several aerial challenges while Elvis led the line well. Qingxing also provided rock-solid clearances at left-back.

In the 50^th min, ARFC Veterans took the lead again. After Haron was fouled about 30 metres from goal, Sebastian stepped up to take the free-kick.  Despite the presence of a 7-man wall, Sebastian curled a brilliant wicked ball into the near-post side of their GK who quickly scrambled across goal but simply could not keep out the ball.  3-2 and this was Sebastian’s 106^th ARFC goal, putting him the same goals as Derrick.

ARFC Veterans looked to have put the result to bed just 5 mins later.  From a quick counter-attack, Haron made a superb diagonal run to the left to receive a ball from Tze Ern.  With a few step-overs, Haron squared the ball across which saw their GK spilled the ball.  Raymond dashed in quickly and bundled the ball home for his 13^th ARFC goal. 4-2.

Raymond’s goal saw him moving alongside Darren at 14 ARFC goals.

Haron then had a great chance to score when he was free in the box.  However, his selflessness saw him passed to Tze Ern who ran in from deep. The referee, who otherwise had an impeccable match, wrongly ruled Tze Ern offside!

Strangely enough, ARFC conceded 2 goals in quick succession to draw 4-4 which was really an unfair scoreline to ARFC Veterans.

Eng Lai and Tong did well with their calming presence while Derrick impressed with his huge long goal-kicks.  Besides his superb goal, Ron also marked their ex-Thai league playmaker very well till he was exhausted, while Tze Ern and Raymond gave the opponents no breathing space at all with their constant harassing.  Sebastian gave a master class showing as centre midfielder with his control of the match and was rewarded with a world-class free-kick goal.

Up front, Haron led the line very well and lasted the whole match while Blackburn impressed in spurts.

Darren and Chun Haw shoned in 2-2 draw

Playing under humid and hot weather at the CJC pitch, ARFC fought back from 2 goals down to draw 2-2 with Football Friends.

ARFC was bolstered by the last-min appearance of Darren.

ARFC was supported by Rio (Ron’s son), Clara (Guoxiong’s daughter) and Tiara and Dylan (Elvis’ children).

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

Jersey no.	Name	Position
33	Talisman Derrick	Goalkeeper
20	Composed Eng Lai	Right-back
3	Astute-reading sweeper Elvis	Sweeper
15	Towering Toh	Stopper
6	Unbeatable Darren	Left-back
21	Rampaging Raymond	Right-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
14	Combative Ron	Centre-mid
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Centre-mid
19	Skillful Weilit	Left-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Striker
Subs: (all late)
8	Talented Chun Haw
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
12	Remarkable Rashid
78	Steely Tze Ern
xx	Nigel (guest player)
Absent:
4	Dynamic Soon
5	Impeccable How Meng
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
28	Hard-man Tjioe
31	Vintage Chua
45	Commanding Ismail
66	Wonder Wayne
77	Dependable Jinzhong
99	Powerful Alvin

Within 7 mins, Christmas came early for the opponents as ARFC gifted 2 soft goals to trail 0-2.   This was largely due to insufficient warming up for some of the ARFC warriors.

However, ARFC did not panic and quickly upped its game. 

With Blackburn as the sole striker upfront and kept on dropping back unnecessarily, ARFC was unable to really threaten their defence as there were simply on strikers upfront.

With the arrivals of all the subs, Sebastian quickly rectify the situation by removing Blackburn, Weilit, Ron and Eng Lai for Haron, Chun Haw, Rashid and Tze Ern to go back to 4-4-2. With the switch, ARFC’s team shape was more balanced and began to play its usual slick passing game.

Chun Haw, who has been in inspiring form lately, nearly pulled a goal back.  With a quick drag-back and push motion, Chun Haw burst clear of their sweeper and faced their GK one-on-one.  Unfortunately, his placed shot struck the outside of the left post and rolled out.

With almost his first touch since coming on, Haron pulled a goal back from a smooth team move.  From the right, Guoxiong passed the ball to Sebastian who was in the middle of the pitch.  Spotting Chun Haw making a run from deep, Sebastian lofted a ball down the right which saw Chun Haw quickly squaring he ball across goal.  Showcasing his predatory instinct, Haron simply stroked the ball home for his 254^th ARFC goal.1-2

Haron nearly grabbed another goal after he cleverly peeled away to the far post to meet Rashid’s precise cross from the right. Alas, Haron just managed to plant his header about 77 mm over the bar.

Just before half-time, Sebastian hit a free-kick that was headed away for a corner.  However, the referee bizarrely blew for half-time!

This strange decision marked the start of many more bizarre decisions in the 2^nd half.

ARFC came out firing in the 2^nd half and created so many chances.

ARFC equalized with yet another well-lofted ball from Sebastian.  Picking up a loose ball from just outside his own box, Sebastian brought the ball forward and heard Chun Haw’s call on the left.  With a well-measured and well-timed chip that totally took out their sweeper, Chun Haw powered clear and curled a world-class bender to the top right-hand corner that gave their GK no chance at all.  2-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 72nd ARFC goal.

7 mins later, Chun Haw was again through on goal after a through ball from Rashid.  Bearing down on goal, Chun Haw was unfairly challenged twice by their desperate defender and lost his balance.  However, Chun Haw is not like Dele Alli or Harry Kane, and he still tried to stay on his feet but his shot was devoid of any power at all.  Poor decision from the referee yet again.

The referee then topped his worst decision 7 mins later.  From Rashid’s corner which caused a mayhem, Raymond’s goal-bound shot was 7777% blocked by their defender’s hand but the referee, who was standing near the centre circle, failed to spot it!  Even their defender also sheepishly admitted it was a hand ball.

ARFC did not give up and continue to press but just could not get a break-through goal to draw 2-2.

Special credit to Darren who put up a solid defensive performance ala Paolo Maldini in his prime years.

Voting Results:

Chun Haw – 14

Raymond – 8

Rashid – 8

Sebastian – 6

Darren – 6

Happy Labour Day to all