Final Score: MFC 2 - 7 JC All Stars Team (Alan Teo 1, Jason Zhu 1)
Venue: St Wilfred Sports Complex
After the weekday champion league game against Chris Tan’s friend team which ended up 1-1, MFC geared up for the weekend game against a certainly strong JC team comprises of players from VJC, RJC, SAJC and Hwa Chong, which Abi commented before the game that they are very fast on the ball and hold possession very well. Furthermore, MFC lacked several key players in their starting lineup and Captain Guoxian had to call upon several of his friends to play on behalf of MFC. This is not helped by the extremely scorching weather which MFC is not accustomed to playing.
Captain Guoxian adopted a 4-5-1 formation, fielding Hakim and one of his friends as CBs, Walter and Jason as fullbacks, Alex patrolling the midfield and Alan Teo as a lone striker up front. The game started with the opponent having the majority share of the possession, dictating the game and playing at a very high tempo. MFC was struggling to cope with the pace of the game and their first chance saw a VJC striker having a one on one chance with keeper Gary, who somehow managed to deflect the ball to safety. However, their second attempt was a corner, which slips through the palm of Keeper Gary into the back of the net. That was certainly a horrendous goalkeeping and that was 1-0 to the opposition. MFC was chasing the ball for most of the game, and the second goal was not long after a cross field ball was mistimed by one of MFC’s CB , which ended up at the foot of the striker as he unleashed a low drive past keeper Gary. That was a hell of a strike, with much precision and venom behind the ball.
If the first goal was a bad mistake by Gary, the second goal was even more shocking. It all began with a fast counter by the JC’s winger, which get past Jason and slot the ball to their striker no.11 with giggs on his jersey, who unleashed a tame shot towards Gary. MFC certainly expected Gary to collect the ball but what was shocking was that the ball somehow ended up at the back of the net. Simply stunning, the team was speechless and Gary was shell-shocked. The first half ended 3-0 to JC-all star team.
The second half started with Guoxian fielding Hanrong and Paul in an attempt to buff up the defence. JC All stars again started as the more dangerous team, with a sequence of short passes found striker no 7 having a one on one chance with Gary, who did enough to parry the ball to safety. MFC did have a few of their chances, with a long ball from the MFC’s defence finding striker Alan Teo having a half chance with the keeper and he unleashes a beautiful lopping shot over the keeper. The score stands at 3-1 ,as MFC look to reduce the deficit. The fourth goal was another mistake by Gary as he miskicked a backpass by Walter, which ended at the foot of Giggs, who slots into a empty net.
If you expect the scoreline to stay the same, you are absolutely wrong. The scorching weather certainly cause MFC’s players to feel lethargic, and the all star players use this to their advantage as they continued their tireless passing, tormenting MFC’s defence. It was not long before the scoreline stood at 6-1, as the opponent hit ferociously with their short passes and was clinical in front of goal, against the helpless Gary. Jason did reduce the deficit with a ferocious strike which ended up at the back of the VJC’s goal, after a scramble at the penalty box, with a suspicion of offside.
The final goal saw a through pass by the VJC midfielder, finding striker no 7 having a one on one chance with Gary, but he rounded Gary as if he was not non-existent and dribbled the ball pass the goal line. There was an offside claim by many of MFC players, who was tired to chase the ball, but it was ignored by the referee. Although Gary made several one on one saves, it was still not sufficient to compensate for his extremely poor performance today.
The game ended 7-2 to the all star team. Captain Guoxian commented after the game that he was shocked with the performance of Gary. The poor performance of Gary certainly gave Captain Guoxian a selection headache as he might need to turn to another keeper to buff up the MFC’s defence. Gary also commented after the game that he was speechless with his performance. The pitch was fine and it was certainly a personal mistake.
High points
1. Credit to Guoxian’s and Alex’s friends for turning up on behalf of MFC’s several missing players
2. Despite the scorching weather and trailing behind, MFC still played on with sportsmanship, never gave up chasing and pushing for some good football.
3. 2 goals scored against a certainly strong opponents (Alan and Jason).
Bad points
1. Extremely poor performance by Keeper Gary (Need to wake up his idea). 3 shocking mistakes!
2. Scorching weather, MFC might need to train more in this type of weather if not it will always prove to be disadvantage to the team. Fitness was poor.
3. Important for defence to watch the line, instead of just calling for offside, chase the ball like what Vice Captain Alan always said.
4. Absent of several of MFC key players. Defence was certainly exposed for most of the game.
5. Frustrating game to play in. It was a makeshift team with half the team playing for the first time with each other.
6. Disappointing overall display despite opponent not as strong as Babylon. It would be interesting if MFC has a full team to choose from.
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