ARFC goal scorers for 2019

Alvin - 19
Chun Haw - 16
Haron - 14
Soon - 11
Hee - 10
Darren - 9
Sebastian - 9
Javier - 8
Derrick - 7
Wayne - 7
Raymond - 7
How Meng - 4
Guoxiong - 4
Toh - 3
Khim - 2
Eng Lai - 2
Tjioe - 2
Kenny - 2
Kerwin - 2
Rashid - 1
Ron - 1
Weilit - 1
Tze Ern - 1
Tong - 1
Own Goal - 1

Guest players:

Lucas - 3
Larry - 2
Lewis - 1

ARFC Stats for 2019

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
Open Team	26	23	0	3	111	43
Veterans Team	12	11	0	1	43	16
Total	38	34	0	4	154	59

ARFC ends 2019 with 4-1 victory

Playing its last match in 2019, ARFC struggled again at the very small Anderson SS pitch but came away with a comprehensive 4-1 win over a very young and enthusiastic Pumpsters FC.

ARFC was supported by:

Lingzhi and Rio – Ron’s family

Tiara and Dylan – Elvis’ kids

Clara – Guoxiong’s princess

Nicole – Kerwin’s beau

Germaine and Gerrard – Alvin’s children

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

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

With the small pitch, ARFC found it difficult to string together some passes.

ARFC nearly opened the scoring in the 7^th min when Kerwin’s powerful throw-in from the left caused mayhem in the box.  Ron connected with his head but could not generate enough power to put the ball into the net.

Soon then reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box but his shot was deflected over the bar.  Strangely enough, the otherwise-excellent referee made his first and only wrong call in the match when he awarded a goal-kick to the opponents.

Guoxiong’s cross from the right then saw the ball rolled its way to Sebastian on the left side.  Shaping up nicely for a shot and from just 7 metres out, Sebastian totally screwed his shot wide to miss a sitter! Unbelievable!

Sebastian’s curling free-kick looked to land into the top corner but their GK had other ideas when he tipped the ball over for a corner.

ARFC finally broke the deadlock with 2 mins to go in the half.  From a corner on the left, Sebastian floated a precise ball to the far post and Toh, who replaced Ron earlier, rose the highest to plant a header back to the near post!!  A typical ARFC corner routine and combi! 

1-0  and this was Toh’s 103^rd ARFC goals, with 100 goals coming from playing for

ARFC Open team.

With virtually the last kick of the half, the opponents equalised. 1-1

In the 2^nd half, Chun Haw fired straight from the kick-off and nearly scored but the ball was just 0.8 cm over the bar.

ARFC doubled its lead in the 50^th min.  From the left, Eng Lai hit a great corner to the far post that saw Toh once again leaping the highest to head the ball.  However, their defender blocked Toh’s header to concede a corner.

From the resultant corner, this time on the right, Wayne curled an absolute beauty that saw Tjioe charging in to challenge and pressure their defender and GK.  The ball appeared to hit their defender in the head to concede an own goal.

However, the VAR judged that the ball had already curled over the goal-line and the goal was rightly given to Wayne.  2-1 and this was Wayne’s 49^th ARFC goal.

ARFC extended its lead in the 60^th min with Sebastian again the architect after ARFC was awarded a free-kick on the right.  His free-kick was hit to the space between the 6-yard box and the penalty spot, and Alvin read the ball perfectly as he powered in to firmly plant a header past their despairing GK.  3-1 and this was Alvin’s 328^th ARFC goal.

ARFC put the result to bed 5 mins later with the move of the match. From a high ball, Chun Haw cushioned the ball down and passed to Sebastian in the middle.  Sebastian returned the ball to Chun Haw who then heard Chua calling for the ball from his right-back position.  Chun Haw duly obliged and made a run into the space on the right after passing the ball to Chua.  In the meantime, Wayne cleverly pulled their left-back with him to the right wing (almost near the line), thereby creating space for Chun Haw to run in.  Chua spotted his run and passed the ball down the right.  Picking it up, Chun Haw squared to Alvin who took a great first-touch before despatching the ball high into the net.  What a wonderful and smooth team goal!

4-1 and this was Alvin’s 329^th ARFC goal.

Weilit then almost capped his good performance when he “ole” their right-back near the touchline but rifled his shot just slightly over the bar.  Unlucky but what great skill.

Voting results:

Alvin – 13

Chun Haw – 13

Toh – 6

Ron – 4

Eng Lai – 3

Wayne – 2

Weilit – 2

Elvis – 2

Sebastian – 1

Guoxiong – 1

ARFC Veterans' first defeat in 12 matches in 2019

Playing its 27^th Veterans match at the magnificent Our Tampines Hub pitch, ARFC Veterans finally suffered its first defeat in 2019 (out of 12 matches) after going down 1-3 to a very experienced opponents comprising several ex-internationals and many ex-league players.

Of course, ARFC Veterans’ cause was not helped by the absence of key [layers such as Soon, Raymond, Alvin, him and Tjioe which totally and seriously impacted ARFC Veterans.

ARFC Veterans was watched Tiara/Dylan (Elvis’ children), Clara (Guoxiong’s princess), Lingzhi and Rio (Ron’s wife and son) and Kaizaree Jade-Eden Tan (Sebastian’s precious).

Special mention must be accorded to Toh who turned up despite just touching down at about 3 pm plus after his attachment with Gamba Osaka.

At the request of the opponents, this match was played in 3 30-min halves.

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

GK – Sunny

RB – Chua

Sweeper – Elvis

Stopper – Toh

LB – Eng Lai

RM – Guoxiong

CM – Sebastian (Captain)

CM – Ron

LM – Darren

SC – Haron

SC – Hee

Subs:

Huiming

Tze Ern (late)

Derrick (late)

ARFC Veterans fell behind in the 10^th min after a quick-counter attack by the opponents.  0-1

In the 2^nd 30-min half, Tze Ern nearly scored when he tested their GK from 27 metres out but the shot was just slightly over. 

Sebastian’s fierce free-kick on the right was nearly met by Toh but the opponents managed to head away.

The opponents then scored yet another quick break-away goal. 0-2

ARFC Veterans trailed further after they scored again. 0-3

Though down with numbers, ARFC Veterans did not let their heads down and instead did very well in the last 30-min half with some very good passing and attacks.  In fact, ARFC Veterans was really unlucky with a few shots at their goal.

Strangely enough, though the opponents already had a 3-goal lead, they started to resort to some very rough tackles from behind.  Tze Ern was the biggest victim when their defender charged in with high studs to floor Tze Ern, earning himself a red card.

Sportingly, ARFC Veterans allowed the opponents to bring in another player but the opponents refused to.

ARFC Veterans finally pulled a goal back after some slick passing down the left.  Darren’s cross was hit to the far post and looked destined to be met by Derrick’s head.  Their defender then shoved Derrick to the ground with his elbow, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty.

After a few minutes of argument, Sebastian blanked out all noises and as always, drilled a low diagonal ball down to the left bottom corner for his 117^th ARFC goal. 

1-3

With this goal, Sebastian is now tied with Hee at 117 ARFC goals.

Overall, it was a very good year for ARFC Veterans which played 12 matches and won 11, scoring 43 goals and conceding only 16 goals.