Match 97 - Win

Date : 1-Feb-09
Venue : Fuhua Sec. Sch.
Jersy : Black
Score FT : 2 - 0 (Jeremy[Jackie], Jeremy[Mervin])
Score HT : 1 - 0
Starting Lineup :
GK. : Junbing
Def. (L-R) : H.Weijie, Kenny, Suichao, Kelvin
Mid. (L-R) : Jackie, Alvin Cai, Hweequan, T.Weijie[Rujia],Mervin
Front (L-R) : Jeremy

In A Nutshell...

The team's match on the 7th day of Chinese New Year ended in a 2-0 win. While a win is always cause for celebration, the team must have felt that it could have been much more. It was a weary match to be frank, with Songbo's players overloaded with all the New Year's bak kwa, cookies and sweets! To add to the loads of junk food consumed, most of the team were still in sleeping mode when they turn up for the match (due to late night card sessions and.......helping team mate 's happiness and future!!!).

The opponents were a team that Songbo had played before some time ago. They are a young team with energy and enthusiasm but with no clear leadership and organisation. To be honest, they were what Songbo's uncles considered..."kids". While a few of them were skillful, they were certainly no match for the uncles' experience and game reading. They were seriously, no threat at all...

Match Summary

The kids started off the match with the wind in their back. Like a bunch of excited youngsters, they were all around the pitch within mins of kick-off. Much of the play were in the middle of the park with both sets of players trying to test each other's strengths and weaknesses. This led to a flurry of fouls by both sides and the Ref was just too happy that both sides were giving him the chance to blow his whistle and made him seem well worth his $80!! The first chance of the game came at around the ten mins mark. SongBo conceded a free kick just outside the box and up stepped the tiniest player on the pitch. He sized up the goal and placed the ball on the ground. Gk Jb got busy organising his wall and shouted instructions. From the look of his body language, it was clear that the free kick taker was a left-footer and Gk Jb took up his position. However, an opposition player was very "seng mok" and knew straight away that Gk Jb must be a damn good keeper from the air around...he decided that the only chance to beat the Gk was to try to distract the Gk and block his view. The ball was struck and the result was a low , fast and bouncing shot going towards the Gk's bottom left corner. It looked like a certain goal........But alas!! Gk Jb's reputation does not belong to the "anyhow stamp" class. He is not to be beaten by kids free kicks!! (even if there is another distraction trying to put him off). He dived to his left and palmed the ball away...it was such a powerful parry that the ball rolled out to the left for a throw in.

Chances were few and far between with SongBo really contented to stroke the ball, stroll around the park and take in the late morning sun. The opposition were playing with a high back line. More often than not, they were effectively playing with an 8 man midfield (4 defenders at half-way line and 4 midfielders). SongBo was not accustomed to this and were caught out a few times offside by the high back line. However, one or two of the calls for offside by the Ref were quite suspect as he gave the benefit of the doubt to the opponents. The most contentious one was when Gk Jb dispatched a long drop kick that pass over the head of their last defender. It looked like Jeremy was going to bring it down, round the keeper and finished off the move but the Ref blew for offside miraculously!! How can a player be offside when he is running towards goal from his own half?? To say the team felt cheated would be the greatest understatement of the year!!

With the Ref clearly feeling that he has a freaking good eyesight at the age of 60, Songbo could not do anything except to toil away and look for the next chance. The opponents were finally punished for keeping a high line when jeremy broke thru! A direct ball was played down the middle and jeremy calmly stroked the ball away from the on rushing keeper and tapped the ball into the empty net. He could have used his backside to butt the ball into the net if he wanted to!! 1-0 to Songbo! The players exchanged hi-fives and congratulated each other! It was a hard-earned lead for the team. After the goal, the expected torrent of counter-attack from the opposition never came and the half-time whistle was blown when the ball was booted clear into the construction site on one of SongBo's attacking play.

There was not much for Capt Sparrow to talk about at half-time except to encourage his charges and asked them to up their level of the game. Everybody knew damn well that they were not playing to their usual standards and tried to pysche themselves up during the break. Capt also warned of complacency and asked that the team to finished off the game!

The second half was played out in a somewhat similar fashion to the first. Songbo were still not able to up their level of the game and had to toil hard in the increasingly hot afternoon heat. Passes were going astray and balls were given away cheaply to the opponents. It was simply frustrating for SongBo and Capt knew he had to do something.

In one move of the season play, Kelvin passed the ball to Capt in the middle of the park and from the corner of his eyes, Capt saw a black figure making a run down the right flank...He stroked the ball first time down the right flank, not before he was sent crashing to the ground by the opponent's late tackle, advantage!! Play-on says Ref....Mervin came into play on the right chasing the through ball by Capt....he took a look across the field and whack the ball first time from the right...Jeremy ran in from the left and connected the curling cross with a superb diving header to the bottom corner of the opponents goal!!! 2-0 !! Jeremy capped off a wonderful SongBo's attacking move with a finish worthy of its weight in gold!
A superb piece of play that Liverpool will be proud of!! In fact, PapaSoh dun remember seeing anything like that for the past 2 years of his career!!

After the goal, there was nothing significant to note except for an opponent's shot that was not going to trouble Gk Jb. It was a drab match to be frank! It was the first time that Gk Jb felt like sleeping in goal. He nearly dozed off while watching the game like a spectator at the back and had to do a "zhou bo tong" left-right dribbling special move to entertain himself and prevent from falling asleep!! Both sets of players were simply amazed at that!! It was not something they can see everyday!! Not long after, the match ended and the weariness can be seen on the players face!! It looked as if they had played extra-time when they had only completed a 35-40 mins half!!

A hard earned-victory that could have been so much more easier for SongBo! The score-line could and should have been 5-0 at least! But Songbo did not play to their best and most of the players were also not able to perform to their usual level of play!!

If we could win 2-0 when we are all at around 40% of our usual standards, I wonder what the score-line would have been if we were to play to our full potential!!

Report by PaPaSoH