ARFC Veterans secured 7th win out of 10 matches after 3-2 victory

Playing its 10^th veteran match and for the first time at the magnificent Our Tampines Hub pitch, ARFC Veteran Team won 3-2 against Football Friends courtesy of a late goal from the hardworking Raymond.

ARFC Veteran Team was supported by the following:

Toh’s family – Linda, Gerrard, Jerald and Nicole;

Darren’s family –  Pauline, Rachel, Rayes and Radelle;

Elvis’ family – Anna, Tiara, Dyland and Gina;

Tze Ern’s family – Sharon, Weiyou and Yuzhen

Sebastian’s family, Caren and Kaizaree Jade-Eden Tan, were also present, albeit from the cosy library.

ARFC Veterans started with this line-up:

GK – Derrick

RB – Chua

Sweeper – Elvis

Stopper – Toh

LB – Eng Lai

RM – Soon

CM – Ron

CM – Sebastian (captain)

LM – Darren

SC – Alvin

SC – Raymond

Subs:

Tze Ern

Huiming

Tjioe

Daniel

Tong

Blackburn

ARFC Veterans got off to bad start when it conceded a goal from the opponents’ first attack in the 3^rd min. 0-1

ARFC Veterans fought back with Alvin and Raymond closing down on their defence all the time. 

After a series of half chances, ARFC Veterans finally equalised in the 15^th min through a tried-and-tested-and-proven corner routine.  From the right, Sebastian hit a precise and ferocious corner into the danger zone (between 6-yard box and penalty spot) and Toh rose like a salmon to power home a header that almost burst the net. 1-1 and this was Toh’s 99^th goal.

Toh’s goal also saw his lovely wife and even lovelier children doing a “mini-Mexican wave” of their own at the side-line.

Tze Ern then replaced Eng Lai while Ron took a knock and was replaced by Tong.

ARFC Veterans continued to press and doubled its lead 77 seconds later.  From the left, Darren passed to Sebastian in the centre of the pitch.  Hearing Soon’s call on the right flank, Sebastian fizzed a low grounder to the right flank which saw Soon swinging in a cross to the far side.  Tze Ern came in from deep and passed the ball across goal. Raymond swooped in and shoot past their GK. 2-1 and this was Raymond’s 14^th ARFC goal.

ARFC Veterans then made a string of substitutions to give all players a run-out.

Derrick then made a stunning block from their indirect free-kick in our box.

Just before half-time, ARFC Veterans conceded another goal. 2-2

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued its pressing match and Tjioe exchanged a series of wall passes with Raymond but he just couldn’t get a clean connection from his shot.

Frustration then crept in as ARFC Veterans lost its shape for a while.  However, ARFC Veterans soon settled down and put together some nice passes and movements, especially from the left side.

From Sebastian’s corner from the right, Toh and Tjioe both challenged with the opponents for the ball and the ball dropped nicely in front of Toh.  Unfortunately, Toh’s shot was blocked by the fallen Tjioe in front of their goal!

It was from the left that ARFC Veterans grabbed the winner.  Pressured by our relentless pressing, their right-back made an under-hit backpass to their GK. The ever-alert Raymond stole in from the blind side and nicked the ball way from their GK and rolled the ball into the empty net.  3-2 and this was Raymond’s 15^th ARFC goal.

ARFC Veterans then held on for a deserving victory.

Elvis rolled back the years with Franco Baresi-like performance in 3-2 win

Despite missing a host of chances, ARFC still emerged 3-2 victors over Maccabees at Bowen SS last evening.

ARFC was supported by Tiara and Dylan, lovely children of Elvis who seemed to have lost 77% of his body weight recently.

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 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
31	Vintage Chua	Left-back
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
5	Impeccable How Meng	Centre-mid
2	Unpredictable Blackburn	Left-mid
66	Wonder Wayne	Striker
99	Powerful Alvin	Striker
Subs:
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
xx	Reuben
xx	KJ
xx	Sufi
xx	Bernard
xx	Lucas
Absent:
4	Dynamic Soon
6	Unbeatable Darren
8	Talented Chun Haw
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
12	Remarkable Rashid
14	Combative Ron
17	Nippy Kenny
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
45	Commanding Ismail
77	Dependable Jinzhong
78	Steely Tze Ern

ARFC dominated proceedings right from the start, with Wayne and Alvin closing down their defenders relentlessly.  In midfield, How Meng combined brilliantly with Sebastian to control the centre mid, while Guoxiong totally ruled the right mid. 

The letdown was, of course, Blackburn who, in the 17^th min, once again hit a bizarre long and high back-pass from the left mid area back to Derrick which nearly resulted a goal conceded. Thankfully, Derrick was at his best to save the ball.

Sufi then replaced the ineffective Blackburn, with KJ coming on for Eng Lai. Chua then switched to right back.  Haron also replaced Wayne.

Within 77 seconds of coming on, Sufi passed to How Meng who brought the ball goalwards.  Encouraged to shoot, How Meng duly obliged but his powerful grounder struck the left post.  Sufi followed through and prodded the ball home for his ARFC debut goal. 1-0

Bernard then replaced Sebastian.

ARFC then had Derrick to thank when he conjured a one-on-one save after their striker tried to round him. World-class save!

From Sufi’s left-wing cross, Haron somehow contorted his body by producing a nice left-foot hook shot over his shoulder that was just over. Unlucky!

Lucas then took over Alvin.

In the 35^th min, Guoxiong robbed their sweeper off the ball and powered down the right flank. Hearing Haron’s call, Guoxiong swept the ball in and Haron took a nice touch before slicing the ball home with his left foot for his 256^th ARFC goal. 2-0.

Rueben then replaced Guoxiong who took a well-deserved breather.

From the re-start, ARFC switched off and conceded a goal. 2-1.

From Sebastian’s precise corner, Blackburn leaped but headed wide. After taking the corner, Sebastian pulled his groin and was replaced by How Meng.

ARFC then conceded another goal. 2-2

ARFC then woke up and created chances after chances with the youngsters (Sufi, Reuben and Lucas) providing much pace and control, while the old-heads provided much guidance and discipline.

Guoxiong then chalked up his 2^nd assist of the day.  With a strong run down the left wing, Guoxiong cut back, looked up and chipped the ball to the far post.  Hanging almost eternally in the air, Reuben then planted a looping header back to the near post that completely stunned their GK.  3-2 and what a fantastic world-class goal that Miroslav Klose and Olivier Bierhoff would be proud of!

Sufi then struck the post with a violent shot after a series of exchanges with How Meng and Reuben.

From Reuben’s pass, Sufi somehow saw his pin-blank shot palmed away by their superb GK.

Guoxiong then delivered a through pass to Alvin who appeared to be in 2 minds on whether to round or to lift ball over their GK.  As a result, the ball was smothered by their GK.

Sufi then unleashed yet another belter from distance and their GK could only palmed the ball forward.  Wayne picked up the loose ball and with just the GK to beat, he inexplicably lifted the ball over the bar!

This was a match where ARFC played very beautiful football in the first half.  Elvis played like Franco Baresi with so many clever interceptions and reading of the match, while Toh, Eng Lai and Chua played sterling roles too.

How Meng also demonstrated much-improved tactical discipline and passes, while Guoxiong was totally a monster.

Voting Results:

Elvis – 10

Guoxiong – 9

Chua – 9

How Meng – 3

Derrick – 2

Toh – 1

Haron – 1

Wayne – 1

Guoxiong and Darren shone in 4-3 win

In a friendly match played at the much smaller pitch now at Anderson SS, ARFC nearly paid for its complacency but snatched a last-gasp winner from How Meng’s header in a 4-3 win.

For the first-time ever, Sebastian cocked-up in the kick-off time as he wrongly informed the kick-off time to be at 3 pm when it should be 5 pm.  This massive and unforgiveable mistake resulted in Wayne, Alvin, Kenny and Tze Ern not being able to play, though Tze Ern and Kenny did stay on to play the first 10 mins of the match.  7777777 apologies to all.

The best part of the cock-up also demonstrated Derrick’s commitment to both ARFC and Cosy Living Pte Ltd as he had turned up on time for the 3 pm kick-off.  Upon realising Sebastian’s error, he quickly rearranged an appointment with his (PRC) client and then returned to play the 5 pm match.  Total dedication.

However, Toh, Haron and How Meng topped his dedication when the 3 of them turned up to play after a last-min SOS request from the team.

Credit to Eng Lai and Weilit too for calling up Reuben and KJ to play as guest players.

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
16	Marauding Guoxiong	Right-mid
7	Influential Sebastian (captain)	Centre-mid
4	Dynamic Soon	Centre-mid
12	Remarkable Rashid	Centre-mid
78	Steely Tze Ern	Left-mid
17	Nippy Kenny	Striker
Subs:
2	Unpredictable Blackburn
5	Impeccable How Meng
9	ARFC Scoring Legend Haron
31	Vintage Chua
xx	Reuben
xx	KJ
Absent:
8	Talented Chun Haw
10	Sublime Khim
11	Speedy Hee
14	Combative Ron
18	Determined Huiming
19	Skillful Weilit
21	Rampaging Raymond
28	Hard-man Tjioe
45	Commanding Ismail
66	Wonder Wayne
77	Dependable Jinzhong
99	Powerful Alvin

ARFC could not get used to the much-smaller pitch and struggled initially though Kenny, Tze Ern, Soon and Guoxiong worked tirelessly to close down their defenders.

In the 7^th min, Sebastian’s precise corner found Darren who just headed wide.

77 seconds later, an even better corner from Sebastian saw Toh rose unchallenged in the penalty spot area.  With so much time, Toh somehow sent his header 77cm over the bar, continuing his wretched record of not scoring since 29 Oct 2017 when he netted in a 5-0 win over Court FC at Mayflower SS.  Maybe a match should be arranged at the same venue to break his curse.

Rueben and Blackburn then came on to replace Kenny and Tze Ern respectively as the latter 2 had to go for their wedding dinners.

Rashid then played a nice ball to Blackburn who laid an even nicer ball to the path of Sebastian. However, Sebastian could not keep his placed-shot down and sent the ball to row Z.

Guoxiong, who was dominating the right flank, then crossed to Reuben who was just outside the 6-yard area.  However, his poor first touch let him down and their GK picked up the ball easily.

In the 27^th min, came something which ARFC had never witnessed before.  From Rashid’s pin-point left-wing cross, Soon leaped but headed wide. While Soon’s header miss was not surprising, what was most astonishing was that Soon went down with cramps immediately after he landed. He was replaced by Haron.

ARFC then conceded a goal. 0-1

Chua then replaced Eng Lai.  KJ also came on for Sebastian.

ARFC equalized in the 37^th min. Rashid’s lofted free-kick caused mayhem in their penalty box and after Haron challenged for the aerial ball, their defender handled the ball. Penalty!

Haron took the spot-kick and simply drilled the ball down the middle for his 255^th ARFC goal.  1-1

In the 2^nd half, Haron nearly scored when he sneaked in at the far post but planted his header just wide.

Rashid was then fouled.  As usual, Blackurn brushed aside all and sundry to take the free-kick but at least this time, he did not disappoint when he curled a ball past their wall into the top corner for his 158^th ARFC goal.  2-1

7 mins later, ARFC scored its 3^rd goal.  Blackburn’s corner from the left sailed over everyone and hit the far post.  The ball dropped to Reuben whose miscued shot was then turned in by KJ.  3-1 and this was KJ’s debut goal in his ARFC debut appearance.

Rashid then produced a jumping left-foot volley ala Robin van Persie but it was just 0.77 cm over the bar.

Reuben then picked up their GK’s goal-kick and relayed the ball to Haron who had made a clever diagonal run to the left side of the box.  Alas, Haron’s left-foot lifted shot struck the cross-bar. Unlucky!!

Inexplicably, ARFC then conceded 2 goals. 3-3 now.

With mins to go, Darren, who was totally monstrous as left-back, whipped in a left-wing cross.  How Meng, who had rushed from work, stole in and headed the ball into the net ahead of their on-rushing GK ala John Terry for his 12^th ARFC goal.  Wonder goal!!

With 7 seconds remaining, KJ nearly grabbed his brace but he just failed to connect with his header from Guoxiong’s world-class right-wing cross to the far post which eluded their GK and defenders.

Once again, Sebastian would like to apologise to all for the massive cock-up.

Voting Results:

Guoxiong – 9

Darren – 7

Rashid – 7

Chua – 6

Blackburn – 4

Sebastian – 3

Soon – 3

Toh – 2

Derrick – 1

Tze Ern – 1

Kenny – 1