Match 106

Match 106 (supposed) – Lessons Learnt

Ill-discipline and disappointment.

These two words summed up the both camps after this week’s supposed match.

A bunch of ill-disciplined and immature kids were the opponents lined up for our match this week. Young, fast and skilful, this team will go a long way if they are able to get their act right. Unfortunately, they showed their worst side to us and they may require more than a whacking or two before they can learn their lesson. Almost 1 hour late and only a total of 9 players turned up for their team. Total disaster and a total waste of time for us.

On our side, disappointed is an understatement for Songbo. Reeling from a competitive and mauling, though marred by some violence, match last weekend, Songbo has hoped for another competitive match this week to erase the painful memories. However, God was not so kind to us this time around as the opponent did not give a glimmer of hope for Songbo to redeem themselves. In fact, this match brought about more disappointment and demoralized the team more than it should.

With only 9 players available for the opponents, Sparrow decided once again to field 9 players to start the match much to the dismay and disapproval of most of the team. The availability of almost the full squad enabled Songbo to engage in rolling substitutions and ensure all of the guys have a leisure Sunday kickaround.

The morning got worse when the match started and the Young Punks scored with a long range shot in their first meaningful attack. Tiger Yan, goalkeeper for the day, was to blame for the goal as he did not put in any effort to tip the ball over the bar. Songbo woke up from their slumber and came back strongly after the first goal. They finished the half 2-3 goals up, however, the first half was marked by the consistent efforts by the Young Punks to shoot from all angles and distances, seemingly identifying Tiger Yan as the weakest link. The second half was a forgettable and uneventful affair as Songbo continued its dominance and ended the match with at least a 5-goal win.

Although this match was almost a pointless one, it was important to point out a few important lessons learnt and positive events:

1. The mental strength and maturity of Tiger Yan – He was lambasted and criticized straight in the face during the half-time team talk for his no-effort in saving the first goal and being seemingly mocked by the Young Punks who identified him as the weakest link and bombarded shots from all angles and distances. However, being the Tiger we all know he is, Yan came back strongly from the criticism and finger-pointing during half-time and played his heart out in the second half. In the end, he made a couple of important one-on-one saves and kept a clean sheet for the remaining of the match. I think the important lesson to be garnered from here is that respect can be won or lost during the short span of a match and it is really up to the individual to decide if he wants to earn the respect or allow himself to be engulfed by external factors such as the unprofessional opponents in this case.

2. The self-respect displayed by the team – Although it took Songbo a while to adjust to the unprofessional match and immature opponents, the team ended the match in a professional and self-respecting manner. There was almost no instance where the team showed a lack of professionalism and respect for both themselves and the opponents given the situation. I guess we can lift our heads high and give ourselves a pat on the shoulder for the maturity shown. The giggles and lack of seriousness displayed by the Young Punks throughout the course of the match only points to a lack of self-respect and total immaturity. This truly disgusted and irked Songbo who was actually looking forward to a competitive match.

3. Commitment – Players such as Hweequan and Ah Lam actually played their hearts out and were rewarded with early showers. In matches such as this one, it was easy to lose focus and not give out our best. However, some of the players did show total commitment and went about their normal routine even though the conditions were unfavourable. Experience and sense of responsibility do play a part in this circumstances and I hope we can all learn from this.

From this match, we can at least see and feel first-hand about how and what kind of attitude and actions we DEFINITELY do not want to be associated with.

Respect has to be earned and it is imperative to have self-respect first. Respect, coupled with a sense of responsibility, differentiates the boys and the men, the failures and the successes.

Capt Sparrow

Compettitive Soccer for season 2010!

Recently, the senior members of the team have informally discuss how best we can motivate our team members for our weekly matches. It has been noticed that our performances of late are not up to standard..

One of the more possible reason discussed was that maybe our weekend soccer sessions no longer provided the kind of thrill that we got from it - when we first ventured from court soccer to the field. It has become something like a mundane chore that we wake up to on every Sunday morning. Without the passion and the competitive spirit that has kept us going in our early years, it has directly affected our performances recently - maybe also due to our falling testosterone????

After some casual analysis, the idea to stop this rot would be to give everyone a focus, an aim for the season - joining a competitive league!

We have in fact, a few seasons back, toyed with this idea but it was put off due to financial constraints and the transition from studies to work.

Now is the time!!!!

Pros

- We have something to aim for.
- It can still be played on Sunday mornings.
- There is not much additional costs to us. About the same as what we pay now.
- We can have more unity and cooperation in the team when we unite to fight for somthing.
- Players like jacky(pun intended) will find motivation to play to his best every week.
- We will get a taste of competitive football at last once in our lifetime before our bones and tissues cracks easily.(In fact, some of our bodies are already decaying!!!!)

Cons

- Because its competitive, we cannot afford to have just enough 11 players on matchday - like some of our matches - so there will be a slight influx of players to the squad to counter this problem.
- Players like papasoh cannot always kaobei kaobu anymore say want to come play outfield because we need the best of our players to be in every position.
- We might need team members to have an additional session of FICO or something for training purposes. Fico, because its trains your everything - stamina, agility, technique, passing etc. Its like a all in one training for us.

Proposed League to Join: http://www.espzen.com/home.asp


Team Members pls consider and comment thanks!!

Rumours (Soccerneh.com)

With the implementation of the "Fine" systems, the team has effectively put in place a system that deals with procrastination and late match reports.

From a reliable source that chose to remain unidentified, it has been confirmed that this week's match has been postponed because the alleged author for the latest match report has yet to put up his report....:)

By identifying a loophole in the system, cancelling a match enables him to have another week in hand before the match reports needs to be produced..

Well, as it is, the above snippet is just a rumour..... :)

THE FINE TAKE IMMEDIATE EFFECT!
dated: 23th April 2009 8.30pm

fine for all late bloggers

we gonna start a FINE system for people who are supposed to post their blog in a week's time but eventually did not. here are the RULES:

1. For bloggers who are unable to post the match report before the next match will be FINED 10 DOLLARS for the match even if you're a starter, a substitute or an unused sub. Eg. if you're a starter, your fine is only 2 dollars. A sub, means 6 dollars. An unused sub, will be 10 dollars.
2. If the following week you still cant come up with the report, everything will be doubled. Eg. second week will be 20dollars, third week 40dollars... And there WOULDNT be a maximum cap on the fine.

The current funds for our club is 75dollars. i need generous donors... so everyone... please take your time to post your blog! Thanks!

"chaoz please indicate who is supposed to write the report everyweek so that i can keep track."

Match 105 - Lost

Songbo FC 0:3 Opponents

Date: 12th April 2009
Venue: Fuhua Sec Sch
Jersey: Black

Starting Line-Up:
Junbing (GK), H.Weijie(LB), Kenny (CB), Hweequan (CB), Kaiseng (RB), T.Weijie (DM), Jackie (LM), Alvin Cai (CM), Rujia (AM), Mervin (RM), Jeremy (ST)

Subtitutes:
Yanshou, Kelvin, Jiaxiang


HT: 0-1
FT: 0-3

Match Report
The venue is a cursed place for Songbo. Set aside losing 2 soccer balls to the construction site, our records at Fuhua Sec is damn SHITTY! Losing twice to the same team twice is not acceptable. How the hell can we allow ourselves to lose so badly?
This match has confirmed to our fans that Songbo simply cannot perform during rainy days or wet pitch. Except Jacky, virtually none seems to be able to wack the ball above opponents heads. (I am not saying Jacky is good fyi....his story has yet to come)

The defence knew how the 3 goals are scored, through passes and mis-communication, lead to the downfall of Songbo. Wayang Quan has to really buck up his sharpness, lack of playing time at centre back is not an excuse. Midfield wise....aren't we supposed to have 5 midfielders to "PACK" the midfield and a lone striker to attack, machiam the LIVERFOOL style? It just look so Newcastle that day. I leave it to Captain Sparrow to fix this technical issue.

Losing is part and parcel of life, losing with grace is something that has to be cultivated and it is not easy, thats what separates Respect and Dispute from opponents. PapaSoh...u knn action more than badminton. Kenna scolded "Pig" by that Ah Neh u feel shiok ah? We worry for ur saftey more than that Ah Neh leh honestly. Worst is we quarrelled with people, but penalty MISS!

I dunno wat the shit Jackie is doing. It just makes the opponents laugh at us even more. I believe all of us are disgraced that the penalty missed. We had lost the very little face that we had left on the pitch to that miss. Thanks leh Jackie!

End of the day, i think we have more work to do on individual techical shortcomings first then followed by teamwork cooperation. Let this be a learning point for everyone.

By TigerYan

Match 104 - Win

Songbo FC 1:0 Opponents

Date: 05th April 2009
Venue: Kranji Sec Sch
Jersey: Black

Starting Line-Up:
Hweequan (GK), Jiaxiang (LB), Kenny (CB), Suichao (CB), Kaiseng (RB), Alvin Cai (DM), Jackie(LM), Rujia (CM), Junbing (AM), Mervin (RM), Jeremy (ST)

Subtitutes:
Yanshou


HT: 0-0
FT: 1-0

Scoring Summary:
Jeremy [Alvin Cai]

It’s been awhile since we last played at Kranji SS. Statistics have shown that for matches played here, the probability of Wins, Losses and Draws are around the same. Thus, we can’t really rely much on the mathematics figure to give us a physiological boost from our recent poor form. To add fuel to fire, the opponent is a team that we have played countless times, Winning most of the matches, drawing a few and losing one. In cases such as this, winning wouldn’t up the team moral, but losing to them will make the team feel even worse. Another significant “item” to mention from previous statistic is that, this is an injury prone venue with Alvin Toh going down with a ligament torn and some other players injured and out for weeks.

Before the match commenced, our captain laid down a target for us to achieve. Win the game by 3 goals and without conceding any. To us, it seems a reasonable proposal since we had hit them with 4 goals before. The only concern is with the defense. With the iconic “John Terri” in dreamland and “Vidic Ken” not in sync recently, it seems that the main concern is whether the goals we scored can be more than the ones we conceded.

Frankly speaking this match doesn’t have any events that are worth mentioning. 1st half started slowly and boring with not much chances being created for both sides. However, due to a lack of concentration by the “full-back superstar”, the “import player” from the opponent team almost got the chance to make a breakthrough. Sensing the danger, “John Terri” made a superb sliding tackle to deny his one and only chance of the whole game. Unfortunately, though the danger is cleared, our “superstar” paid a hefty price for it. The tackle was executed badly and he twisted his right ankle. Medical reports have shown that the team will be missing his “outstanding” defense abilities for at least 4 weeks. With this, it concludes the 1st part of the match.

After some hairdryer treatment by Captain Sparrow, 2nd half started more brightly, with our wonder kid, Jeremy, scoring the first goal within 10 mins from start. The score line would have read 3-0 if Alvin and Jeremy have both scored in their one-on-one situation. With no goals coming from the front, and the defense doing a fantastic job to hold off the attack, the game ended at 1-0. Ironically, this time round, we are able to keep a clean sheet, but failed to meet the goal scoring part. Nonetheless, a clean sheet is still something of significant. Kudos to the makeshift defense.

Cheers,
Bullocks13