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