Woo the match against the sec 3's was a blast!!! Just like what i had predicted. Heres how the day went-- starting from after school.





Well, firstly directly after school, me, matthew, ben and chun kit took a cab to safra cause it was already 2.15pm and that the match would be commencing at 3pm. We thought that most of the players would already be there therefore were willing to part with our money. But, upon reaching the field, NO ONE WAS THERE!! Wah wasted 5 dollars altogether man. Even the sec 3's were not there yet. while waiting Matt and i did some warm ups first such as jogging and stretching while Ben and Chun Kit went to get some food due to them not having eaten their recess. We thought that after 10 mins or so, the rest would start to come in but we were wrong. After 20 mins, not a single soul had arrived yet, with the exception of Ben and Chun Kit coming back from their meal. Matthew was like super pissed man, kept looking out and grumbling constantly.





After listening to his grumbling and complaining for 15 mins or so, everyone started to arrive. By then, my body was already warmed down but who cares, i just went for some drills before the game.





After the short drills, consisting of passing, shooting and crossing, our captain( Keane) grouped our team together and discussed the formation with us. He told us that we would be trying out with a 3-4-3 formation. At first, many of the players started protesting against the positions that they were given and told him what positions that they wanted to play. This left Keane in a dilemna and sent him deep into his own thoughts. After a few minutes of silence from him, he finally resuggested a formation and assign the players to it. Still it drew a few complaints but when it was known that we were only going to test it in the first half, everyone accepted it. Phew! The formation would be still be 3-1-3-3 and the players were--Gk: Chun Kit,Defenders:Mandel,Nick,Wei Bin, Defensive midfielder: Keane, Midfielders: Cher Yong, Zi Jie, Ben and Attackers: Me, Matt and Kevin. We had one sub, Jing Lu, who would play a crucial role later on. Well, now lets move on to the actual match itself. Actually im not too sure about the timeline and the actual happenings of the whole match, so forgive me for missing out on some stuff guys. I'll just explain the match in point form.

1st Half

1) The sec 3's dominated in the middle while we threatened from the wings.



2)After some good movement and shuffling in the sec 3's penalty area, Ben made a created a superb chance for me but my shot just came off the top post.Argh!! So close for my 1st goal!!!!



3)From a corner, the sec's floated a corner into the edge of the penalty area,to Chi Min who was unmarked. with a single touch of the ball and a shot,the ball sailed into the net. 0-1.



4)Again, i think it was another 2 more corners where where the sec 3's scored 2 more goals. 3-0.

5) Tension was starting to rise among our team and more and more mistakes were being made, both in attack and defence. The fluidity in our play was gone and allowing the sec 3's to put their swift counter-attacking style to good effect. Luckily for us, they failed to capitalise on their chances.

6) Then, just before half time against the flow of play,with jing Lu brought in, a sudden back pass to the sec 3 keeper, Zhou Yang, caused him to miskick the ball backwards, towards his own net, with Matthew, our main strikercto make sure of the goal, whacked the ball in.So Matthew *Ahem* scored a goal finally after a drought.

HALF TIME
The team talk was great, with all of us expressing our frustrations to our calm captain about the match, and discussing ways to improve our performance in the second half, especially with our team trailing by 2 goals. Although the atmospere was a bit tense, we did not let the tension to get the better of us but instead, motivated each other to improve our performances. In summary of the half time pep talk, we were told that our wing play was not working as the service provided by the wingers were ineffective with no one willing to throw their bodies to divert the ball in goal. The defence also had to be reshuffled and asked to concentrate and focus while the midfield had to close the opponents down so as to provide as little space as possible for the opponents, with their goals all coming from long ranged efforts.

Hence, our formation was changed to 4-3-1-2.The goalkeeper remained the same, defenders(from right)-Nick,wei Bin, Keane,Mandel.Centre Midfielders-Cheryong, Ben and Matthew( out of position), Attacking midfielder-ME!!! and strikers- Zi Jie and Kevin. We were abandoning our Wing play to try to dominate the centre of the field and stop their attacks from building up.

2nd Half

7)We started playing like a team as we started to dominate in attack, constantly hogging most of the possesion in the midfield area, thanks to our 3 defensive midfielders.

8)After quite a long build up from midfield, the ball somehow fell to my feet. I tried to look for options around and saw Cher Yong, Ben and Matthew unmarked at left , centre and right respectively.But because their defender was charging towards me, i had no time and choice to think but to pass to Ben who was the nearest and directly in front of me. Ben, with a feint and turn, shot the ball towards the goal, and thanks to a slight deflection from a defender, the ball floated comfortably into the net. 3-2.

9) The sec 3's constantly attacked through the left through chi Min. He was fast and his large amount of stamina never ceases to amaze me. Luckily Nick's stamina matched his 1 for 1 and nick won most of the battles from the left. However, as Nick's pace was no match for Chi Min's speed, Chi Min occasionally got the better of Nick and was able to send in brilliant crosses and clever passes into the box. This was the closest times that the sec 3's threatened us the most.

10) A nice through pass from the outstanding Ben found me at the half way line unmarked. I dribbled to find the angle and space before sending another through ball to Cher yong.He found kevin at the penalty area and directed a pass towards him. Kevin controlled the ball well, swivelled and shot the ball hard towards goal. However, the ball did not even manage to get 1 metre due to it hitting a defender on the hand. Penalty!At first we did not even bother about the penalty call as most of us were too busy laughing. This was because Kevin was lying on the floor clutching his leg. He had suffered from leg cramps-yet again.LOL. While he was being carried off the field, Zi Jie kept saying my name and asking me to take the penalty, so pressurising lor. As i placed the ball on the spot, nervousness crept into me.I thought-this could decide the game. If i scored, the the score would be level and a huge burden would be lifted off the teams shoulders but if i missed, well, lets not talk about it.I chose my spot-bottom right. I kicked the ball with a controlled amount of power afraid that too much would cause it to fly over the bar. As the ball flew towards goal, i shiver went down my spine. The ball did not move towards the location that i had intended it too but was much closer to the keeper. Closer and closer the ball flew towards the goalmouth before touching the keepers leg and
DEFLECTED INTO THE GOAL!!!! WOOO!!! FIRST GOAL IN SAFRA FOR ME!!! 3-3

11)From then on, we were the better team all the way. However, it was still thanks to our defence, with keane lunging at the feet of a striker to deny him from point blank range and Nick's airtight marking of Chi Min prevented him space to trouble us much. However i would like to compliment Wei Bin especially as he dealt with the pressure he recieved by teammates from the 1st half well. He denied the opponents many 1 on 1 chances against our keeper with his discipline at the back and strong defending. Ben's comment best described him:'' He was like Bramble turning into Vidic in the 2nd half." Nice one Wei Bin!!!

12)After that, there were 2 goals from Zi jie from the same situation and position. From corners taken by me, with the ball swerving outwards, controlled by Zi Jie before unleashing a shot.Goal!! 5-3

13) Zi Jie was denied a hat trick just before the final whistle, with his long range effort hitting the crossbar and back. Soon after, his day ended with him getting his 1st leg cramps in a soccer match. Nice one ZJ.

Yeah, and thats the end of the match.Cool Huh. Sorry that im unable to fully express the details well cause my english is not that good you see. Ta-Ta.

Ng Yu Xun 16 going on 17 ChelseaFC!!! Left-footed playmaker

Passing like Alexander Hleb
Free Kick like Gareth Bale
Crossing like Stewart Downing
Shots like Robin Van Persie
Speed like Gianfranco Zola
Dribbling like Arjen Robben
Corners like Morten Gamst Pedersen
Leadership like Raul Gonzalez
Skill like Niko Kranjcar

L1R5<11
New pair of soccer boots
Enter a good JC
Join a soccer club/team
Play in the EPL
Win Cage XD
Keep in contact with my primary and secondary school friends
Be like Alexander Hleb

Goalkeepers: Edmund,Chun Kit
Defenders:Nick,Ryan,Raymond,LiMeng,TengRui,HongKai
Midfielders:YuXun,ZiJie,YiCheng,CherYong,Ben
Strikers:Matthew,MingSwee,JingLu
PS: Pls inform me if i missed out on anyone!

No.30 Choon hwee-Sub GoalKeeper
No.16 Zi Jie-Left-Wing Wizard
No.1 Chun Kit-Goalkeeper
No.? Hui Han-er...supporter?
No.11 Fu Seng-midfield enforcer
No.29 Jing Lu-one-touch striker
No.5 Wei Bin-versatile defender
No.19 Ming Swee-Goal scoring Midfielder
No.23 Raymond-Attacking Centreback
No.7 Ryan-Dribbling Wizard
No.? Kerryn-Supporter too
Fang Yin-yet another spporter
No. 99 Brenda-Manu fan ZZZZZ
Joey
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