Match 43 Win
Line-up for the match: PapaSoh (GK), Kenny(CB), C-Cup(CB), Hairy(LB), Kelvin(RB), Crampy Chua(DM), Chongster Chen(CM), Looney(LM), Com Tan (RM), Alvin AM), TigerYan (FW).
Lady Luck shining on Songbo fooballers.
Usual lazy Sunday morning! Team morale at songbo camp is relatively high after a 2-0 win against the old uncles during the last match. We could see everyone from songbo fc coming down to the soccer match late. Relax and happy on the last day of chinese new year seems the whole team has a net gained weight of 20 kgs .The Man utd fans were all on a high after a good win over their arch rivals the Kops. Alas dunno why the joy of the win the strength of their team can easily beat the kops by a couple of goals. But eventually man u only won by a single goal in a match the opponent dominated. This only prove on big thing u dun have to play well to win soccer matches just take your chances N most importantly do visit Thailand for some prayers to ensure lady luck would be by your side. If pools were taken over by Taskin a couple of years back no doubt they would be the top soccer team in Europe. But too bad their chance are gone they would always be pretenders for the coming years.
As usual the Bukit Batok guys are the earliest followed by the Jurong kids and as usual the CCK kids. The Sunday morning traffic in that area must be damn heavy to justify the fact that they r always the latest. As the Jurong n BB kids are all dress up for the big thing they realize something was amiss. A team which used to have 6-7 balls for training are left with only ONE N ONLY ball. The worse thing is apparently the latest ball was a proud sponsor of hairy shipping. This only shows one thing if hairy is not around the guys would be without any balls. Its rumoured that second hand soccer ball fetch a high price in the market. Watch out for your ball next time hairy.
During the usual warm up session this old man from NTU walked towards the opponent and we fear for the worst. Seem like we have to play the game at the ruby field. Morale was going down visibly. The old man walk toward us and told us the field was booked at 930 hence it seems like we have to play it at the ruby field. But as fighters of songbo fc we decided to continue our warm-up routine and play a waiting game. At the middle of warming up papa- soh made a hopeful yet ambitious statement. The game would be postpone n we would get our match on the pitch. True enough the match was cancelled and we know that it would be our day. More ever the opponent lost to us recently hence it would be an easy match. During the warm-up caption Chongster had a bit of problem his first choice fullbacks were not playing the game. He was sitting quietly at the bench trying to tinkle around with the formation. But end day only god know what’s the problem with him. With just limited options his line-up was pretty obvious. Apparently his mind the night before the game was on which ger to hook up instead of the team line-up.
1st half
As soon as the referee whistle gets under way songbo tactics was clear attack down the right flank where “Arron Kwok” is defending. He is the obvious link to attack as apparently arron is more suited for singing and dancing much more then soccer. Com tan had a real good fill on the right side of the pitch as all the balls are just pump and pass to him.But to the disappointment to the team the most he could get out of the so called “comparative advantage” was just a couple of corners. In the fifteen mins Alvin was off the pitch in complain of a blisters. As the game progresses the songbo team was confused and disturbed by the mono tone defender no 8. That fellow shouted commands around the pitch. Even before a goal kick or throw in is taken he would be shouting white ball. Only god know what ups in his head other den that 2 words as the 2 words ‘white ball’ at least occur 50 times in the 1st half. Maybe that is the tactics to distract opponents as it worked well with Kelvin as he miskicked the ball at least 2 times which allows the opponent thru. But with a strong backline of Kenny and C-cup every mistakes make seems not as serious. Maybe the sales targets of AIA is making Kelvin distracted from the match or could be the power of love ***** that make him lose concentration.
But soon songbo ran out of ideas how to attack the opponent as star singer Arron Kowk was taken off for a malay player. But as the saying goes looks may be deceiving. Who says that Malays would be better footballer than the Chinese. No doubt they spend maybe 60-80% of their time on football and guitar they might not be as gifted as some Chinese are. But songbo is lucky the malay fellow seems like spending more time on his guitar than football hence they are still in a fight. But the loss of arron was really too hard a blow for songbo as they cannot find much loopholes in the opponent. As the clock tickle downs the ball just had its difficulty getting near to each other goal. Both defense hold up well as the midfielders neutralize each other. The respective attacks would relatively toothless as the striker just run around like a headless tiger. Virtually everyone around the pitch was just waiting for the whistle to be blown.
During the halftime teamtalk, captain chongster switch on his pre recorded tape which was played over and over again. “Our team can win this game as long as we keep our shape and stay compact. I wanted the wingers to move in to help out the central defence.” But this time round certain names were mentioned Kelvin was asked to get more focus on the match instead of how much he need to sell. The usual mistake of trying to go for 50-50% is totally uncalled for as any potential miss would lead to an opening for the opponents. Tiger yan was asked to put his head on and try to provide some good running instead of wasting all energy. He was also task to mark the keeper during goal kick such that short pass would be make possible. “striker makes up for the 1st line of defense for any team”
2nd half
Songbo warriors move out to the field with the same lineup with thief and merv on the bench. As usual the gather and shouted the huat thing. But this time round something is different thief was not in the rally he went back to his bag to get his “gudu” he got from Thailand to give the luck the team was shouting for. As the match got underway both teams try to stamp their authority in midfield area which was too cramped for football. The fight for headers and the tackles got stronger than ever. Both defenses stand as firm as the 1st half while papa soh was just continuing his pop corns left over from the second half. But as the match moves on the fitness difference of both teams became telling as the white got more possession of the ball while songbo could only try to catch them on the break. In the sixty min the white makes a poor clearance to the middle of the park. With no one near him crampy chua powered in an header down the right flank which com tan broke thru. But com lose out a yard or two over the past 2 yrs. In the past he would definitely be clear thru on goal but this time round the defender managed to pip him to the ball before a good cross could be send in. that was a wake up call for the team as its shows that the game is there for them to take. The next header crampy chua has to make raise everyone eye brown as the previous header won give the team a good chance for a counter attack. But to every teammates except his own expectations he was down with cramps once and again. And it is rumoured that it’s a punters day as the bookies offered good odds for him not to last the whole match. The overwhelming bets left the bookies with a hold on their pockets as crampy chua lives out to his name. it was the 3rd straight match he could no finish.
On came thief for crampy as the whole team has to reshuffle. Suddenly the match took a turn. Within mins of coming on as a sub songbo took the lead. The Gudu thing work all thanks to the hardwork of thief.the goal was good work by tiger yan. Soon songbo was two nil up. Jacky score with a long shot after a lousy kick by the keeper. The opponent start pressuring the songbo defence. But good work from Kenny n chaos kept them away. Songbo eventually scored a third from tiger yan after soon hard chasing.
(sorry for the late report really busy nowadays n forgotten a lot about report)
