SongBo FC

Match 40 by Capt Sparrow

Starting lineup: Tiger, Seng, Sybian, Chaos, Kenny, Quan, Sparrow, Jackie, Ah Lam, Tan WJ, Papasoh

The 2nd match of the new season…The team’s morale is high cos we started our season well..Once again, the opponents were courtesy of Mr Tay’s lobang and coincidentally happened to be Kenny’s frens whom we were supposed to play soon. Donning a Brazil lookalike jersey, the opponent looked dangerously good and technically gifted. However, Songbo was not to be daunted as they had managed to stifle a superior team just last week and were hungry to conjure a win in this match. The pitch was in a very bad condition, seemed like a mud bath and anything could happen in this conditions.

First half
The match started on a cautious note for both sides but it was evident that the Brazil opponents were technically better than South Korea Songbo. There was a secret weapon in the Brazil side in the form of a ‘Long thrower No. 18’. Time and time again, he managed to utilize his long throws to create a few problems for our defence but our resolute defence held firm.

As the opponent’s defence line was held high up, there were numerous times which our strikers namely Papasoh and Ah Lam got behind them. However, these chances often turned into some wayward crosses to nobody or harmless long shots.

The miss of the half came in the 30th min. From a cross, Papasoh did well to plant a header goalwards but the gk reacted with a stupendous save. With the ball stuck nicely in the mud in the 6 yard box, Captain Sparrow could only strike the ball over the bar. Later, he admitted that it was easy to score than to miss from that distance. It was a horrible miss and there are no excuses from missing from there. Instead of lifting the spirits of the guys as a Captain, he made them demoralized with that miss. He would have to bury his head in the mud to save himself from the embarrassment. Miss of the season??

Songbo missed another glit-edged chance later when ‘Fletchee-upgraded to Beckham’ made a good run down the right and with a vision like Zidane and execution like Beckham himself sent a beautiful cross to the unmarked Ah Lam at the far post. Facing the gk one to one and having even the time to shave his beard, Lam planted his shot wide of the right hand post. Omg! Songbo was beginning to have doubts if this is gonna be just another poor day.

Another highlight of the half was Tiger screaming at Brazil’s striker when the striker left a trailing leg after he has garnered the ball. ‘You better know what you are doing!’ was what Tiger screamed into his ears and it almost made him deaf and peed in his shorts. Well done Tiger by intimidating the opponents and showed that we are no pushovers.

Halftime Talk
Overall, Songbo performed well in the first half esp the defence. Altho the attack was guilty of missing some clear chances, they also did well in their off the ball running. The instructions were ‘stick in there with the performance and the goals will come’. The half saw some changes; Tiger moving outfield with the reliable Papa back in goal and Quan moving back to defence and Merv and Tongkat Huang introduced.

2nd half
Once again, the half started cautiously for both sides with Brazil dominating the bulk of possession due to their superior techniques. But Songbo was looking dangerous on the break with good running from the attackers.

A good move down the left saw Songbo winning a corner. From the clearance off the corner, the NBA star with his brand new Nike blue swinged in a perfect cross reminiscence of the real Ronaldo and Tiger, with superb anticipation connected with a diving header and sent the ball into the net! Well done! 1-0!

Songbo’s spirits were lifted and they were playing with some gusto now. Brazil seemed to be ignited by the goal and also lifted their tempo. After a string of passes by them, they managed to break clear of our defence and fortunately Papasoh was there to parry the ball but he received a knee onto his head similar to what Cech got to break his skull. However, the injury was not so serious and Papasoh was able to carry on with the game.

The game was swinging with both sides having possession and creating chances. Songbo knew that a second goal at this juncture would be able to kill off Brazil. With a good through ball, Ah Lam made a great run down the left and with a delicate touch, he rolled the ball perfectly to the on-rushing Jackie who put the ball into the net to double Songbo’s lead! 2-0!

The rest of the match saw Brazil trying the hearts out to break Songbo’s defence but it was well marshaled by Papasoh, Quan, Kenny, Seng, Tongkat Huang and Sybian. Tiger was also anchoring the midfield well with his tigerish tackles. In attack, Lam and Jack kept the opponents busy with their intelligent passing and off the ball running. Well done, it was truly a team effort. These kind of matches really make me, as the captain, very proud of the determination and teamwork shown by all the guys. Even tho we may be demoralized in the 1st half, we kept creating chances, have self belief and in the end, the result reflected our team spirit. Excellent job! Merry xmas and lose your virginity this festive season!

Man of the match: Tiger Yan

Ratings:
Papasoh 7.5
Seng 7
Sybian 8
Tongkat Huang 7.5
Chaos 7.5
Kenny 8
Quan 8
Tiger 8.5
Sparrow 7
Merv 7
Tan 8
Lam 7.5
Jack 7
Hong 7

As I said, my ratings for you guys are determined by the expectations and levels of individual players. I would like to specially mention Kelvin and Hong for showing the team spirit which truly bind us together. Hong, just had his Lasik, came down and aided the team even after being ‘shoot’ by me. Kel, tho he was late in the 1st place, showed exemplary attitude at the end of the match even tho he was not involved in the game. These are the kind of attitudes and characters that will bring the team far. Long live Songbo!