Haron and Tjioe excelled in 3-0 win or ARFC Veterans

 

Playing its 5^th Veterans match in 2022 and 32^nd Veterans match overall, ARFC Veterans put up a dominating performance to ease past DC FC 3-0 at Pasir Ris Crest SS on 4 Sep 2022 (Sunday) at 3 pm.  

 

ARFC Veterans was hit with the 11^th withdrawal of Elvis due to swollen toe.

 

ARFC Veterans was watched by Kai (Kenny’s son) and Rafael (Derrick’s son).

 

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

 

GK – Derrick

RB – Raymond

Sweeper – Eng Lai

Stopper – Tjioe

LB – Darren

RM – Guoxiong

CM – Soon

CM – Sebastian (captain)

LM – Khim

SC – Kenny

SC – Haron

 

Subs:

 

Toh

Chua

 

ARFC Veterans took the lead in the 3^rd min after Khim’s corner was only half-cleared in the box.  With the ball still bouncing in the box, Darren managed to bring the ball down just slightly ahead of their right back.  Darren made a sharp turn and was upended by their right back’s late challenge, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty.

 

The opponents then tried to provide disruption by switching their GK before the spot-kick.   No matter though, as Sebastian blanked out all distractions to convert the penalty kick with his usual penalty routine to the bottom left corner, albeit the ball went in off the left post, to leave their “new” GK rooted to the spot.  

 

1-0 and this was Sebastian’s 126^th ARFC goals, with 11 of those coming from ARFC Veterans matches.

 

Haron, who was excellent throughout, was then unlucky with a few good shots.

 

Kenny, playing in front of his son Kai, then fired into row Z from outside the box.

 

In the 17^th min, ARFC Veterans doubled its lead with a very swift team move from defence.

 

From their corner, Derrick quickly threw the ball out to Darren at left back, ala Alisson’s usual routine to Robertson.  Darren quickly pushed forward and hit a high diagonal ball to Raymond on the opposite wing.  Raymond killed the ball with an elegant first touch before finding Kenny in the box.  Not wanting to disappoint Kai, Kenny took a clean first touch and in a swift move, dispatched a stiff grounder to the far bottom corner that left their GK no chance at all.

 

2-0 and this was Kenny’s 3^rd goal for ARFC Veterans, giving him a total of 87 ARFC goals.

 

ARFC Veterans then lost Guoxiong when he pulled up with a strained calf, after stretching for a poor high ball from Sebastian.  Chua took over his place.

 

Raymond then made a strong foray into the box but was eventually crowded out by at least 4 opponents in the box and could not get his shot in.

 

Eng Lai then came to the rescue when the opponents caught ARFC Veterans out with a quick counter-attack and faced our goal with only Eng Lai defending against 2 opponents.  Showing great VVD-like of anticipation, Eng Lai stuck a foot out to deny them and cleared the ball away.

 

In the 2^nd half, Derrick played as striker with Raymond gamely taking over the GK position.  Toh also came on for Tjioe after only arriving during the half time break.

 

Oddly enough, ARFC Veterans did not display its fluency and movements in the 2^nd half which was epitomised by ARFC Veterans’ first attack in the 2^nd half.

 

Within 77 seconds from the re-start, Chua embarked on a lung-busting overlapping run down the right flank and found Derrick free in the box.  Derrick did well to trap the ball nicely but incredulously, and even though there was no pressure from any opponents, he somehow tripped over the ball and fell to the ground.  Thankfully, Rafael was seated at the opposite end and did not see the comical move.  

 

Our complacency continued and allowed the opponents back to the match.  However, Raymond was imperious at goal with his superb anticipation and came out to collect their through balls on several occasions.

 

Derrick then showed great trickery when he twisted and turned his way down the left byeline and found Sebastian who arrived from deep.  However, Sebastian’s placed shot was blocked by their defender.  

 

Tjioe then replaced Eng Lai as stopper, and immediately chalked up an assist.

 

Defending an attack, Tjioe lumped a high ball upfield which saw the ball bouncing right near the 6-yard box area.  Derrick then did Rafael proud when he read the ball perfectly and flicked a header past their despairing GK.  3-0 and what a brilliant goal!

 

With this goal, Derrick is now on 115 ARFC goals, with 7 goals coming from ARFC Veterans matches.

 

ARFC Veterans then held on for its 4^th win in 5 matches in 2022.

 

 

Including this match, these were all the details for ARFC Veterans’ 30 matches since it was formed in 2017:

 

2017	4	3	1	0	21	7
2018	11	8	1	2	29	21
2019	12	11	0	1	43	16
2020	0	0	0	0	0	0
2022	5	4	0	1	16	10
Total	32	26	2	4	109	54

 

These are the top 5 scorers for ARFC Veterans’ 32 matches:

 

1.    Raymond – 18 goals

2.    Haron – 15 goals

3.    Darren – 11 goals

4.    Soon – 11 goals

5.    Sebastian – 11 goals

 

 

What was very nice to see from this match was that ARFC Veterans was neat in the passing and movements.  Particularly, the team was able to play the ball out from defence even when under pressure.  The switching of balls on many occasions was simply delightful to watch.

 

·       Derrick – Assured display as GK in first half and came up with a superb headed goal.    

 

·       Raymond – Excellent display as right back, right mid and then GK (in 2^nd half).  Chalked up an assist.  Super energy.    

 

·       Eng Lai – Helped keep a clean sheet with that world-class interception from their counter attack.      

 

·       Tjioe – Joint Man-of-the-Match with Haron.  Commanding display as in defence and later in centre mid.   

 

·       Darren – Won a penalty with quick footwork.  Totally dominating at left back.

 

·       Guoxiong – Suffered an unfortunate calf injury in first half.  Speedy recovery to him!    

 

·       Soon – Typical display.  Non-stop pressing.       

 

·       Sebastian – Converted his usual penalty routine.  Simple passes and switches that kept the team going but could have done more.

 

·       Khim – Clean touches and passes.   Worked himself out and asked to be replaced with about 15 mins to go.  

 

·       Kenny – Superb first half as striker but seemed to fizzle out a bit in the second half.  Well-taken goal.

 

·       Haron – Joint Man-of-the-Match with Tjioe.  The technique and ability to find space and play wall-passes with team-mates were almost Firmino-like.     

 

·       Toh – Commanding aerial display ala Sami Hyypia. 

 

·       Chua – Steady performance and nearly chalked up an assist in the 2^nd half.  

 

ARFC edged out St. Patrick's School Old Boys in 4-3 thriller

  

 

Playing for the first time against the St. Patrick’s School Old Boys, ARFC led 3 times before eking out a hard-fought 4-3 win over them at their newly-laid fantastic artificial pitch at their home ground at St. Patrick’s School on 14 Aug 2022 at 5 pm.

 

ARFC took to the pitch with this 4-4-2 line-up:

 

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

 

 

ARFC started strongly and could have gone at least 2 goals ahead if not for some wayward finishing.

 

Within 77 seconds from the kick-off, Kenny, who made his return after his rather-serious injury and watched by his family, fizzed a cross field high from the right mid that saw Alvin bearing down on goal.  Alas, with just their GK to beat, Alvin inexplicably lifted his placed-shot over the bar.

 

2 mins later, Sebastian passed to Chun Haw who then drilled in a brilliant ground ball from centre mid that saw the very-clever Haron running in from his striker position and pretending to receive the ball.  Haron then let the ball ran past him and Kenny dashed in from his right mid position to beat their off-side trap.  Kenny brought the ball all the way into the box but their GK managed to push Kenny’s shot over the bar for a corner.

 

ARFC was not to be denied 7 mins later. Chun Haw, who has been impressive all day, spotted Tze Ern’s call from the left.  Chun Haw then pinged a precise cross-field ball, ala Steven Gerrard, and Tze Ern sprinted in from deep, brought the ball under control before calmly slotted past their GK for his 18^th ARFC goal.  1-0 and with this goal, Tze Ern moved past Ron who was stuck at 17 ARFC goals.

 

ARFC then conceded a goal. 1-1

 

At the water-break mark, to give all substitutes a run-out, ARFC then made a string of substitutions with Tjioe, Weilit, Daniel, Wayne, Elvis and Kerwin replacing Chun Haw, Tze Ern, Haron, Alvin, Eng Lai and Toh respectively.

 

ARFC continued to press and was rewarded with a second goal. From the left, Darren’s booming throw-in caused mayhem in their penalty box due to the aerial challenges from Wayne and Kenny.  Tjioe then reacted fastest to the loose ball by stabbing home from close range.  2-1 and this was Tjioe’s 68^th ARFC goals.

 

Elvis and Kerwin then came up with 2 separate vital interceptions to thwart the opponents’ comeback.

 

Wei Lit then showcased his dribbling skills when he dribbled all the way from left to the left touchline and nearly scored.

 

Daniel then hit a shot that was saved by their GK before Kenny somehow sliced his shot wide.

 

In the 2^nd half, the opponents equalised for the 2^nd time after their scored from a quickly-taken free-kick that caught ARFC off-guard. 2-2

 

ARFC nearly regained the lead after Tjioe produced a deft chip just right inside the box.  In a move that reminded everyone of Dennis Bergkamp, Alvin expertly trapped the ball with his left foot, and without breaking momentum, thundered in an outside right foot volley that had everyone screaming for goal.  Alas, their GK had other ideas when he produced a full-length flying save to his left to turn the ball out for a corner.

 

Tjioe then fired in 2 shots from distance but both went wide.

 

Eng Lai then produced a vital interception when he read their counter-attack move perfectly and cleared the ball away for a throw-in.

 

Derrick then kept ARFC in the game when he saved an one-on-one shot from 7 metres out.

 

ARFC then regained its lead again after a superb corner from Wayne.  From the right, Wayne curled a long hanging ball over their GK and the ball looked to be landed in at the far post.  In a flash, Chun Haw made certain of the goal when he drifted in to nod the ball home almost from the goal line.  3-2 and this was Chun Haw’s 102^nd ARFC goal.  

 

Derrick then came to ARFC’s rescue when he stood tall with another close-range shot from 6 metres.

 

ARFC then conceded for the 3^rd time. 3-3.

 

Darren and Alvin then combined down the left which saw Darren landed at the left inside the box.  From an acute angle, Darren drilled in a shot that was parried by their GK. Unlucky!

 

With mins to go, ARFC took the lead for the 4^th time which turned out to be the winning goal. From a superb long throw from the right, Wayne rose to challenge for the aerial ball.  The ball then fell to the ground and Chun Haw’s speed of thought and movement saw him placing the ball to the bottom left corner, eluding a seas of players in the box.  4-3!

 

With this 103^rd ARFC goal, Chun Haw moved to level terms with Toh who was stuck at 103 ARFC goals.

 

Man of the Match is jointly given to Chua and Alvin.