Sebastian's spot-on with his spot-kick in 1-0 victory

Playing its 11^th veteran match, ARFC Veterans chalked up its 8^th victory courtesy of an expertly-taken penalty from Captain Sebastian.

Prior to the match, ARFC Veterans only had 12 players and had no choice but to call up Rashid and Guoxiong to bolster its ranks.  Huiming also turned up at the 11^th hour after his massage session ended early unexpectedly.

ARFC Veterans started with this line-up:

GK – Guoxiong

RB – Huiming

Sweeper – Elvis

Stopper – Toh

LB – Eng Lai

RM – Raymond

CM – Tjioe

CM – Sebastian (captain)

LM – Soon

SC – Haron

SC – Blackburn

Subs:

Qingxing

Chua

Kiat

Rashid

ARFC Veterans quickly stamped its authority in the match with Tjioe and Sebastian controlling the midfield, while Elvis led his defence well.

Huiming then pinged a nice ball down the right for Haron who managed to scoop the ball back to the top of the penalty box.  Blackburn arrived but his fierce shot flew just slightly over the bar.

Sebastian’s corner was met by Toh but he could not get a clean connection.

ARFC then won a free-kick after Tjioe was fouled about 37 metres away from goal.  Sebastian stepped up but his wicked curling ball was turned away by their GK for a corner.

From the ensuing corner, Blackburn delivered a missile that was met by the on-rushing Toh who powered home a header that almost burst the net.  However, Toh was denied his 100^th ARFC goal when the referee ruled that Toh had pushed a defender which was a wrong call totally.

Sebastian then picked up a clearance from their GK and from the centre circle, he spotted their GK off his line.  However, Sebastian’s Xabi Alonso-like placing shot looked to have landed at the top right corner until their GK rushed back and turned the ball away for a corner.

Rashid then replaced Sebastian and within minutes, he picked up another clearance from their GK but he only managed to curl his shot just wide of the post from 37,77 metres.

Qinnxing and Kiat then replaced Eng Lai and Huiming respectively.

After some neat passes between Soon and Haron, Haron expertly hit an inside-foot shot but their GK somehow got a touch to the ball which then hit the crossbar for a corner. Unlucky!

Chua then came on for the tiring Tjioe and Soon moved to centre midfield.

Sebastian then came back on to replace Blackburn with Raymond moving upfront and Soon moving to the right midfield.

From about 37 metres, Rashid then hit another delicious-looking left-foot curler which struck the right post.  Haron latched on to the loose ball but he was clumsily brought down by their GK. 

Haron stepped up to take the spot-kick but he blazed his shot to row Z which was totally unexpected.

In the second half, Raymond, who has been impressive all day at right wing and forward, then cut the ball back but Haron’s shot was narrowly wide.

Haron and Raymond than had chances in the box but they just could not get a footing to pull the trigger.

Tjioe, who volunteered to be GK for the 2^nd half, then produced a stunning back-leaping save to turn their cross-shot away.

ARFC then won its 2^nd penalty of the match after their defender handled Rashid’s shot.  Sebastian stepped forward this time and nonchalantly sent their GK the wrong way for his 107^th ARFC goal. 1-0

With this goal, Sebastian is now on level terms with Hee in ARFC’s all-time leading scorers chart.

Eng Lai nearly doubled ARFC Veterans’ lead after he picked up a loose ball from Guoxiong’s cross.  However, Eng Lai could not get enough power behind his shot.  But it did not matter as ARFC closed out the match for thoroughly-deserving a 1-0 win.

This was a match where all ARFC Veterans played well and totally dominated the match.

Both GKs (Guoxiong and Tjioe) provided steady hands which was also aided by Elvis’ commanding marshalling of the defence.  Kiat and Qingxing showed no rust at all and came up with several interceptions, while Toh and Huiming were totally dominating as stoppers.

Eng Lai and Chua also demonstrated their versatility when both played well as defender and midfielder during the match.

In midfield, Tjioe, Sebastian, Soon and Rashid were total monsters today, while Raymond and Guoxiong provided much-needed energy and pace down the right side.

Upfront, Haron and Blackburn held up play well and linked up brilliantly with the midfielders.

  

Eng Lai and Chua starred in 3-2 win

With no guest player at all to bolster numbers, ARFC won 3-2 against GGFC under Qatar-like weather.

It was also great to see that for the first time in 7777 matches, ARFC did not call up any guest player.  Superb!

Special mention to Jinzhong for agreeing to play GK despite having no gloves to don.

Thankfully, Wayne sacrificed his playing time by agreeing to be the GK.

Special mention to Khim too for bringing down much-needed 100-plus drinks for the team!

ARFC was also supported by Lingzhi (Ron’s beau), Clara (Guoxiong’s princess), Dylan and Tiara (Elvis’ precious) 

ARFC started with this 4-4-2 line-up:

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

In the 7^th min, Guoxiong, who has been very impressive in recent matches, pressured the opponents, ala Klopp’s style, into losing possession.  Guoxiong then rolled the ball into the path of Blackburn who quickly turned over to Darren who was waiting in the box.  With a quick step-over ala Zidane which left their defdner with tangled legs, Darren casually tapped the ball to the bottom left corner for his 14^th ARFC goal. 1-0

In the 17^th min, Kenny’s searing pace, ala Kylian Mbeppe was too much for their defender to handle and was cruelly hacked down.  Alvin stepped up and thrashed the ball past their GK for his 305^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Strangely enough, ARFC then conceded 2 goals. 2-2 at half-time.

17 mins into the second half, Alvin released Kenny who was yeling for the ball on the left.  Before receiving the ball, the eagle-eyed Kenny already saw that their GK was off the line.  Upon receiving the ball, Kenny immediately sent a sublime chip to the top corner which totally stunned their GK and all watching players and spectators. 2-0 and this was Kenny’s 81^st ARFC goal.

Despite the grueling weather and just 2 substitutes, ARFC held on for a thoroughly-deserving 3-2 victory.

ARFC in valiant 1-3 loss

Coming up against a young and fit team whose players challenged for very first and second ball, ARFC dished out a commendable display before succumbing to a 3-1 defeat at Tampines SAFRA.

Prior to the match, ARFC was severely hit with a bad news as top-grade GK Derrick had to pull out, not from the PRC’s hole, but from the match.

Thankfully, Wayne sacrificed his playing time by agreeing to be the GK.

Kudos to Sebastian too as he turned up despite a gruelling running session just a few hours earlier.

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

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

Both teams were evenly-matched in the opening exchanges.

Wayne then showed that he is also a good GK when he produced a world-class full-length flying save to keep out their fierce shot.

Spotted their GK a bit off his line, Ron unleashed a long shot from his own half, ala Xabi Alonso, which almost bounced over their GK.

Darren then came in to replace the tiring Sebastian at left-back an immediately made a telling contribution.  Darren headed the ball away which was picked up by Alvin.  Powering away from their tough defenders, Alvin cut inside and bent a brilliant curling shot from almost 30 metres to the top left-hand corner that left their GK rooted to his spot.  1-0 and this was Alvin’s 304^th ARFC goal.

The opponents then equalized 17 mins later. 1-1

In the 2^nd half, Chun Haw let fly a thunder-bolt from 27 metres but the ball was just 0.77 mm wide of the post.  Unlucky.

Sebastian’s corner was then flicked on by Alvin to the far post but no one was there to stab the ball in.

A great combined play down the right saw Lucas crossing in but before Alvin could pull the trigger, their recovering sliding defender intercepted and cleared the ball away.

The opponents then grabbed a life-line when they scored from a clear and obvious off-side position. 1-2

They then scored another break-away goal. 1-3

ARFC tried to launch a fight-back but in the end, the opponents’ superior fitness, naturally so as they were so much younger, told in the end.