Final Score: Sabah Team 2 : 4 MFC (Norris 2, Rong An 2)
After 1 weekend of friendly among MFCians, the team was all geared up for this weekend's game against new opponents from Malaysia, Sabah to be exact. They had no team name and fittingly so, given that they did not seem to perform as a team or even play with any sense of professionalism often displayed by MFC's opponents. MFC had the luxury of choosing from about 18 players who turned up for the game. Vice Captain and regular centre back Alan was away and in his absence, Capt Guo Xian led the backline with Wee Hian. With Kartik, lil Eric available, regular left and right backs Howard and Walter were given the opportunities during the match to rotate with Augustine, Jonathan to roam forward in the left and right winger role. Top scorer Rong An was upfront with Norris in a supporting role. Chris, Gerald and Alex were available for centre midfield duty. Though the match was a friendly, the term "friendly" should be dis-associated from the match. Firstly, the pitch was not "friendly" at all. Resembling a cross between an untamed farm patch and the East Coast beach shoreline, it was by far one of the worst pitches MFC has ever played on. Guo Xian, Norris and Alex tried to negotiate with League owner Koh to either switch the pitches or provide a discount but he too was not "friendly". Lastly, the Sabah team was definitely not "friendly" with their comments and tackles throughout the match; it might have to do with their upbringing, or the lack of it. The match started off brightly for MFC and a few decent chances were created in spite of the pitch's condition. Gerald came closest to scoring when a cross was cleared into his pathway; his first time right footed shot just missed the top right corner of the goal. That sparked MFC into second gear and the first goal soon came. Gerald's long ball down the left flank found Norris who cut into the opponents' penalty box and ended the fine run with a good finish. With the opponents struggling to pick themselves up, MFC found it easy to score the second goal. Perhaps it was because Rong An made it look easy when he picked up a loose clearance from the midfield line, sprinted towards the goal, beat a few defenders along the way before thundering a shot into the top corner of the goal. A third goal soon came again courtesy of Rong An again. Alex's corner was met with a firm header by Rong An. The Sabah team keeper fumbled what should have been a routine save by dropping the ball behind him and over the line. Howard should have added a fourth but his well taken free kick hit the top right goalpost. The first half ended 3-0 to MFC and the team was cruising. The Sabah team looked exhausted and out of ideas with seemingly no way back for them. The second half also continued pretty much in similar fashion, with MFC pushing forward. However, the Sabah team found more stability in their gameplay and soon put MFC on the backfoot on a few occasions. MFC's goal remained unbreached thanks to good defending from the team and Gary excellent reading of the game with a few routine saves. Against the run of play, Norris managed to get MFC's fourth goal by running onto a punt from Howard and finishing acutely with a low drive from the left corner past the oncoming keeper. That should have wrapped up the game but the Sabah team continued to push for goals. They managed to score the first of their 2 goals, courtesy of a poor referee call. A hopeful long ball found its way to a Sabah striker who was clearly offside but was allowed to put the ball beyond Gary. The Sabah team scared MFC again when their No. 15 player sprinted down the left flank before finishing strongly against Gary. With the opponents' mini revival, MFC defended stoutly against the Sabah team, putting in physical challenges and receiving them as well. Jonathan in particular did well in the midfield aerial battles, winning several crucial headers. Kartik, Walter, Logan, Lil Eric and Augustine also did well to track back on the flanks to stop the opponents' attacks which were mainly coming from the wings. The match soon ended, much to every MFCian's relief given that the opponents were aiming for legs and ankles, not the ball in the later half of the game. It was a good win, with lots of good goals and good defending. This is certainly of of MFC's better games in recent times and would serve to boost the players' confidence. High Points 1) Brilliant goals from Norris and Rong An. Both were clinical and made a difference in the game 2) A good win against physical opponents, luckily no one got seriously injured 3) Augustine did well in this game to physically hold up the ball on a few occasions. 4) Rong An and Gerald's management of their on-the-pitch argument; its not unmanly to apologise and both players put their egos aside and did well to resolve their argument quickly. Low Points 1) The pitch was a sad disgrace and what made it worse was Owner Koh's treatment of MFC, who are among the most regular of his customers. 2) The Sabah team clearly did not know anything about professionalism, sportsmanship and even tackling 3) The butcher lookalike No. 32 opponent's tackles are as dirty as the words that come from his mouth 4) The referee forgot to bring his cards, luckily he found the yellow one towards the end of the game. Wonder what happened to his red one. 5) The opponent's No.7 should explore basketball as a first career and a stripper as the second. 6) The opponent's No. 15 ala P.O.T.C should learn to take comments as sportingly as how he dishes them out. |
No comments:
Post a Comment