Hee & Alvin starred in land-slide 7-1 victory

In a friendly match at the Coral secondary school artificial pitch, ARFC was once again let down by the organizer as no referee turned up for the match!

Nevertheless, the match proceeded as usual with great sportsmanship from both teams. ARFC eventually proved too strong for the Myanmarese opponents and whipped them 7-1.

ARFC’s dominating victory was witnessed by Lingzhi (Ron’s lovely wife), Melissa (Hee’s beautiful muse) and Winnie (Chun Haw’s cute girlfriend).

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Resolute Jasper

Sweeper         -           Composed Jackson 

Stopper          -           Combative Ron

Left-back       -           Wonder Wayne

Left-mid         -           Skillful Weilit

Centre-mid    -           Talented Chun Haw

Centre-mid    -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Right-mid      -           Nippy Kenny  

Striker                        -           Speedy Hee

Striker                        -           Towering Toh

             

Subs:

Unbeatable Darren

Influential Sebastian 

Powerful Alvin

Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Talisman Derrick

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Absent:

Marauding Guoxiong  

Dynamic Soon

Dependable Jinzhong

Steely Tze Ern

Sublime Khim

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

Jiawei

The 77,777 fans witnessed for the very first time that ARFC’s young guns, How Meng, Jasper, Weilit, Jackson and Chun Haw, all started the match together. This provided a glimpse of the future main-stays of ARFC and hopefully they can deliver.

It did not take long for ARFC to open the floodgates. From Blackburn’s precise corner, Toh leaped highest to simply head the ball powerfully into the net for his 66^th ARFC goal. 1-0.

With this goal, Toh moved to level terms with Derrick.

ARFC then made 6 substitutions with Elvis for Ron, Sebastian for Blackburn, Derrick for Kenny, Haron for Toh, Alvin for Hee and Darren for Wayne.

The opponents then equalized after a really bona fide mistake from ARFC’s defence! Elvis pushed up his defence and shouted “Ref!” with his left hand up in an attempt to play off-side.  Since there was no referee, all other ARFC defenders actually stood still and when all realized, it was a bit too late and the opponent, though clearly off-side, scored. A bit comical but I guessed habits are hard to break! Haha

ARFC restored the lead just 77 seconds later. From Alvin’s corner from the left, Derrick was unchallenged as he moved into space and simply nodded the ball into the net for his 67^th ARFC goal. 2-1.

Derrick’s goal moved him ahead of Toh.

Alvin again turned provider when he released a world-class through ball to Haron. Haron took a clever first touch to kill the ball and before their keeper can react, he placed the ball nice and cosy into the bottom far corner for his 196^th ARFC goal. World-class touch and goal. 3-1

By now, Alvin was firing at all cylinders. Minutes later, he held up the ball really well ala Drogba at the left wing and hearing Blackburn’s call, he laid a nice rolling ground ball to him who needed no second invitation to fire home his 132^nd ARFC goal. 4-1

ARFC was not done. From a quick break-away, Sebastian sliced a nice curling waist-height ball to Alvin who took a brilliant touch, brought the ball goalwards and almost burst the net with a thumping outside right foot shot for his 209^th ARFC goal. 5-1.

After almost eternity, the match break for half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued its dominance but was unable to add to the tally till the 77^th min. The ball was switched from right to left in a flowing move and reached Hee’s feet.  Hee bidded his time, shouted for Melissa to see and after Melissa looked up, Hee whipped in a low curling shot to beat their keeper at his near post. Great shot and this was Hee’s 92^nd ARFC goal. 6-1

With 77 seconds to go, ARFC scored its 7^th goal of the match. Wgile at the left touch-line and faced with 3 opponents, Wayne played the ball backwards to Blackburn who was 47 metres away from goal at the left side. Blackburn continued his “red hot chilli peppers” form when he chipped an audacious ball which sailed over their keeper and nestled nicely at the top right hand corner for his 133^rd ARFC goal. 7-1

No voting was implemented since there was no referee but Alvin and Hee are my joint Men-of-the-Match. Alvin for his assists and Hee for his relentless pressing both at defence and attack.

Top 15 ARFC scorers (as at 30 Sep 2013)

1. Alvin - 208 goals;
2. Haron - 195 goals;
3. Blackburn - 131 goals;
4. Hee - 91 goals;
5. Sebastian - 88 goals;
6. Robin (ex-player) - 69 goals;
7. Derrick - 66 goals;
8. Toh - 65 goals;
9. Tjioe - 59 goals;
10. Khim - 50 goals;
11. Jeffrey (ex-player) & Soon - 49 goals;
12. Kiat (ex-player) - 25 goals;
13. Tong (ex-player) - 24 goals;
14. David (ex-player) & Kenny - 23 goals;
15. Jiong (ex-player), Hock (ex-player) & Chun Haw - 21 goals.

Blackburn turns back the clock with inspiring display

In a friendly match at the St.Gabriel’s secondary school artificial pitch, ARFC bounced back from last week’s thrashing by SAFSA to easily sweep aside the challenge of another young team, SMS FC, by a score-line of 4-2.

ARFC’s comprehensive victory was witnessed by Rayes (son of Darren) and Rachel (beau of TBN).

Soon, despite his gruelling 30-km training run in the morning, Playing for very first time, still appeared to lend support though he refused to play. By this simple yet noble act, Soon has set a example to all ARFC warriors on what dedication and commitment means.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Impeccable How Meng

Right-back     -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis       

Stopper          -           Towering Toh

Left-back       -           Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid         -           Talented Chun Haw

Centre-mid    -           Influential Sebastian 

Centre-mid    -           Combative Ron

Right-mid      -           Nippy Kenny  

Striker                        -           Speedy Hee

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin

             

Subs:

Marauding Guoxiong  

Talisman Derrick

Wonder Wayne

Dynamic Soon  (but did not play)

Absent:

Dependable Jinzhong

Steely Tze Ern

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Sublime Khim

Hard-man Tjioe

Skillful Weilit

Booming Boon

Jiawei

At almost a 50-min delay, the referee still did not appear and an agreement was reached for Guoxiong to stand-in as referee first.

ARFC took the lead within 177 seconds. Chun Haw chipped in a diagonal cross ball from the left and Kenny timed his run to perfection to break their off-side trap. Kenny killed the ball with a perfect first touch, rounded their keeper and stroked the ball into the empty net for his 23^rd ARFC goal, thereby continuing his recent scorching form for ARFC. 1-0

The opponents tried to protest but the referee’s decision was really spot-on.

Kenny’s goal also moved him level with an ex-ARFC scoring legend, David, on 23 goals.

3 mins later, the referee got another decision right when he blew an off-side against the opponents who protested more violently this time but was ticked off by the referee.

One thing worth to note is that despite being relatively new, Guoxiong’s refereeing standard is almost on-par with Pierluigi Collina, the bald-headed Italian referee. Besides getting both decisions correct, Guoxiong even has the same “killer-stare” as Collina when he ticked off their left-back for vehement protesting!!!!

The referee then turned up and took over from Guoxiong.

ARFC then spurned a host of chances, the most glaring being Derrick’s missing of 2 easy headers and Hee side-footing wide from 0.77 yards after Alvin’s great work down the right flank.

ARFC then doubled its lead after Blackburn picked up a cleared ball just 0.77 mm inside their half at right side. Without breaking his stride and spotting their keeper slightly off his line, Blackburn thumped a long high ball goal-wards. The ball sailed over their keeper, took a bounce and landed into the net. The goal was really similar to David Beckham’s land-mark goal in 1997! 2-0 and this was Blackburn’s 130^th ARFC goal!

ARFC still continued to be wasteful in front of goal.

How Meng then came up with several good catches and punches.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC continued to dominate play and extended its lead just 7 mins into the half.

Sebastian twice exchanged wall-passes with the very impressive Chun Haw.  Receiving Chun Haw’s return low ball about 37 metres away from goal, Sebastian’s first touch took him away from their covering midfielder, found a gap at the top left-hand corner, and lifted the ball right at the spot where the gap was. Their keeper tried to save but could only grasp thin air. 3-0 and this was Sebastian’s 88^th ARFC goal.

How Meng then produced the save of the match when he leaped like a leopard and pushed a long-range violent shot over the bar. Simply breath-taking!

How Meng continued his top form when he punched 2 threatening in-swinging corners under heavy pressure from the opponents.

Blackburn then put the result beyond any reasonable doubt in the 67^th min.  Sfter a string of passes, Alvin laid a ground ball out to Blackburn who was 40 metres out. He took a gentle touch and chipped the ball elegantly over their keeper for his 131^st ARFC goal. 4-0 and another world-class goal!

ARFC then lost some tactical discipline and conceded 2 goals.

Hee then impressed with a superb defending despite playing as a striker. From their quick counter-attack from a corner, Hee showed his world-renowned speed by matching their right winger, who is at least half Hee’s age, pace-for-pace for almost the length of the field before winning a throw-in at our left-back position. Brilliant!

Lots of people may not notice but Hee actually put in lots of harassing and covering work even though he is at times playing as a striker.  Great team player.

These are the voting results:

Blackburn – 23 pts;

Sebastian – 20 pts;

Chun Haw – 19 pts;

Kenny & How Meng – 7 pts each;

Hee & Alvin – 3 pts each;

Derrick – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Blackburn and Sebastian for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

ARFC warriors who scored 4 goals in a match

Dear ARFC warriors,

These are the warriors who scored 4 goals in a match:

08 Jun 1991 - David (we won 11-3);
17 Apr 1994 - Robin (we won 11-0);
15 May 1994 - Jesmond (we won 9-0);
07 Aug 1994 - Jeffrey (we won 7-0);
09 Oct 2000 - Haron (we won 6-1);
12 Aug 2001 - Haron (we won 6-1);
23 Jan 2005 - Haron (we won 4-1);
11 May 2008 - Alvin (we won 8-3);
18 May 2008 - Tjioe (we won 9-2);
11 Sep 2008 - Alvin (we won 7-0);
14 Jun 2009 - Haron (we won 4-2);
19 Feb 2012 - Alvin (we won 7-2);
13 May 2012 - Alvin (we won 9-1);
12 May 2013 - Kenny (we won 8-2).

Cheers.....

ARFC warriors who scored 5 goals in a match

Dear all ARFC warriors,

These are the warriors who had scored 5 goals in a match:

13 Mar 1994 - Jiong Jiong (we won 7-0);
22 May 1994 - Robin (we won 10-1);
11 Apr 2010 - Hee (we won 12-0);
08 Jun 2013 - Derrick (we won 7-0).

Cheers.....

Only 3 ARFC warriors ever scored 6 goals in a match

Dear ARFC warriors,

Sepp Bladder just got back to me.

In our 22-year history, only these 3 ARFC warriors had ever scored 6 goals in a match:

05 Jul 1992 - Robin (we won 14-2)
10 Nov 1996 - Robin (we won 8-1)
21 Aug 2011 - Alvin (we won 13-2)
04 Sep 2011 - Derrick (we won 12-3)

Hopefully, one ARFC warrior will break these records by scoring 7 goals in a match.

Can someone arrange a primary school or woman's team to play against us?   ;p

ARFC hit for 6 in one-sided match

Playing for very first time, and most probably the last time as well, at the lousy Bedok Camp rock-like pitch, ARFC was trounced 0-6 by the SAFSA team whose players are aged between 18-20 years old.

Special credit to Soon and Derrick for turning up despite their early morning exertions – long run and long sex respectively.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper           -           Talisman Derrick

Right-back     -           Dependable Jinzhong

Sweeper         -           Astute-reading sweeper Elvis       

Stopper          -           Towering Toh

Left-back       -           Influential Sebastian  

Left-mid         -           Speedy Hee

Centre-mid    -           Dynamic Soon  

Centre-mid    -           Combative Ron

Right-mid      -           Marauding Guoxiong  

Striker                        -           Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Striker                        -           Powerful Alvin

             

Subs:

Steely Tze Ern (late)

Absent:

Nippy Kenny

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Talented Chun Haw

Unbeatable Darren

 Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Skillful Weilit

Booming Boon

Jiawei

Despite the vast disparity in age and numbers (think they had close to 20 young army boys in attendance) ARFC actually did very well in the first 30 mins. In fact, Blackburn could have given ARFC a shock lead but his long lob from 47 metres out was superbly gathered by their Peter Schmeichel-like keeper.

ARFC then conceded 2 goals in quick succession to trail 0-2 at half-time.

In the 2^nd half, ARFC collapsed due to exhaustion and almost all were struggling to even walk, let alone run.

ARFC then conceded 4 more goals. 0-6

In between those goals, ARFC also added in some comical moments especially from Derrick’s goal-kick from the 6-yard box to 6-yard box – the same 6-yard box of ARFC!!!!  J

Alvin then had a great chance to pull a consolation goal back after he wriggled past 3-4 defenders and faced their keeper alone. Alas, his low shot was saved by their flying keeper who came charging out with a diving save at full-length.

For this match, no voting is required.

Haron nets ARFC's 1500th goal in 2-1 victory

Playing again on another 1pm match but for the very first time at St. Gabriel’s SS, ARFC shrugged off a rather-insipid first-half display to edge out Brazilian Boys FC (but all Indians and no Brazilians at all) 2-1.

ARFC was supported by Melissa, Hee’s partner. Jinzhong also turned up to watch after his futsal tournament at East Coast.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Talisman Derrick

Right-back - Marauding Guoxiong

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh

Left-back - Unbeatable Darren

Left-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn (captain)

Centre-mid - Influential Sebastian  

Centre-mid - Combative Ron

Right-mid - Nippy Kenny

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron (late)

Talented Chun Haw

Steely Tze Ern

Skillful Weilit

Jiawei (trialist)

Absent:

Resolute Jasper

Composed Jackson

Dynamic Soon

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Dependable Jinzhong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

Just 77 seconds into the match, ARFC almost went ahead after Ron picked up a poor clearance 37 metres away from their goal. However, Ron fired high and wide.

Thereafter, ARFC strangely was subdued in its play and could not get its engine started at all for the first 20 mins. Thankfully, ARFC’s famed stingy defence, ably led by Elvis held firm

Toh then connected with Blackburn’s corner but failed to garner enough power with his header.

Mins later, Toh again put his head to Sebastian’s corner but glanced wide.

In the 20^th min, Tze Ern and Chun Haw replaced Blackburn and Hee respectively.

Mins later, Jiawei, Haron and Weilit came on for Kenny, Alvin and Sebastian respectively.

The first half ended goalless.

In the second half, ARFC played slightly better and Jiawei was really unlucky with his two shots. Particularly, his second shot looked to be headed to the top right-hand corner but their very big keeper put his left hand to it and touched over for a corner.

Kenny and Alvin then came back on and Kenny as particularly menacing.

Meantime, the opponents threatened with some direct runs at ARFC’s defence but ARFC’s defence gave nothing away.

ARFC finally took the lead in the 67^th min.  Haron received a ball from Chun Haw and then quickly released the ball into the path of the on-rushing Kenny. Kenny’s brilliant first touch took him way past their sweeper, and crashed in a rising cannon ala Thierry Henry that beat their keeper at his near post. 1-0 and this was Kenny’s 22^nd ARFC goal.

ARFC put the result beyond doubt after another piece of great work from Alvin. Alvin received the ball at the middle and released Kenny down the right flank, in an eerily similar move as Haron’s earlier. Kenny ran the ball down the right flank, pulled their keeper out, and squared the ball across goal for the unmarked Haron to steer the ball into the empty net for his 195^th ARFC goal. 2-0

Most significantly, Haron’s goal was ARFC’s 1500^th goal in its illustrious 22-year history!!

With 77 seconds to go, ARFC conceded a goal. 2-1

For this match, I want to pay special tribute to ARFC’s defence who really keep ARFC in the match. Probably due to the heavy downpour and cold weather, ARFC could not really get its engine started and also struggled with the ball. Luckily, Elvis and company was there to ensure ARFC’s win.

These are the voting results:

Kenny – 21 pts;

Ron – 20 pts;

Chun Haw – 14 pts;

Guoxiong – 9 pts;

Blackburn – 6 pts;

Derrick & Haron – 5 pts;

Toh – 4 pts;

Elvis, Tze Ern & Darren – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Kenny & Ron for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

ARFC concedes last-grasp goal to draw 2-2

Playing again on another 1pm match at the exact field as last week, ARFC failed to build on its victory after conceding a last-grasp goal to draw 2-2 against Court FC, a very determined Chinese team.

ARFC was watched by Rachael, newly-minted partner of Derrick.

ARFC also welcomed back Elvis and Darren.

ARFC started with this line-up:

Keeper - Is (Haron’s BIL)

Right-back - Resolute Jasper

Sweeper - Astute-reading sweeper Elvis

Stopper - Towering Toh (captain)

Left-back - YY (guest player)

Left-mid - Nippy Kenny

Centre-mid - Unbeatable Darren

Centre-mid - Unpredictable Blackburn

Right-mid - Talisman Derrick  

Striker - Speedy Hee

Striker - Powerful Alvin

 

Subs:

ARFC Scoring Legend Haron

Jiawei (trialist)

Absent:

Talented Chun Haw

Combative Ron

Steely Tze Ern

Composed Jackson

Influential Sebastian

Dynamic Soon

Sublime Khim

Impeccable How Meng

Skillful Weilit

Dependable Jinzhong

Marauding Guoxiong

Wonder Wayne

Hard-man Tjioe

Booming Boon

ARFC was missing all the recognized centre midfielders for probably the first time in its illustrious history. Hence it was no surprise that ARFC started off slowly and was dominated by the opponent from the start but the ARFC managed to repel their attacks without much worry. For this, Darren deserved most credit as he worked tirelessly in the middle of the park.

Although ARFC managed to prevent the opponents from taking the lead in the early exchanges, ARFC was also unable to carve out any real openings.

Poor refereeing decisions almost led to a free for all brawl but the teams managed to calm their players down and the captains had a quick talk with the referee. Fortunately, the game was able to resume and for the rest of the game, there was no ugly tackles dished out. Kudos to both team’s sportsmanship.

Jiawei and Haron came on for both Derrick and Alvin respectively.

ARFC conceded from a penalty 0-1.

Kenny almost supplied an immediate response with a rocket-like shot ala Robin van Persie.  However, their keeper made himself big and managed to block off the goal-bound attempt. 

The score at halftime was 0-1.

In the second-half, Blackburn moved to left back and Kenny took his place in centre-mid with Alvin also joining Haron in spearheading the comeback.

The break did wonders as ARFC came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing. 

Within minutes from the restart, Jiawei floated in a corner and Haron came flying in trying to connect with the ball ala Sami Hyypia but was wrestled to the ground, giving the referee the easiest of decisions to point to the spot. Blackburn stepped up and possessing the coolness of Andreas Brehme and power of Ruud Gullit, blasted the ball home that almost burst the net for his 129^th ARFC goal. 1-1

ARFC took the lead in the 77^th minute after Kenny was fouled outside the box. Despite being a trialist, Jiawel showed tremendous courage to shrug off all regular ARFC set-piece takers to take the free-kick.  Jiawel did not disappoint as he expertly dispatched the ball that curled past their wall, dipped a little and nestled nicely into the bottom corner of the goal ala David Beckham that left their keeper clutching thin-air. 2-1 and this was Jiawei’s ARFC debut goal.

However, ARFC’s joy was short-lived as with virtually the last kick of the match, the opponent stabbed the ball home following a corner to force a 2-2 draw.

These are the voting results:

Kenny – 13 pts;

Haron – 12 pts;

Darren – 10 pts;

Toh – 9 pts;

Elvis – 6 pts;

Blackburn – 5 pts;

Jasper – 3 pts;

Derrick – 2 pts.

Congratulations to Kenny & Haron for winning $10 and $5 respectively.

New Jersey ruling (wef 08 Sep 2013)

Dear ARFC warriors,

By now, all of you (except Tjioe) would have collected our new jerseys.

As explained, Derrick has very generously partial-sponsored our new Adidas jerseys and in return, I think we should help to spread his company's name.

Hence, all of you would be required to wear the new jerseys (either red or black) to our matches (wef 08 Sep 2013).

Any warrior who did not do so would have to pay a token fine of $10.

Hope this is fine (no pun intended) with you.....

Cheers!