Final Score: MFC 0:3 Zilei Stoke City FC
Venue: Katong Field
The starting line up was abit of a surprise today as Gary took his place as a right winger since his debut for MFC 2 years ago. His understudy, Randahl, was the man between the sticks for the first half. Midfield regulars Alex and Gerald started, with Jonathan continuing his impressive form as a defensive midfielder. Regular full backs Walter and Howard played at right and left back respectively. With Rong An and Zi Rong late for the game, there were major reshuffle at both the backline and frontline. With no centre backs for selection, Chris and Norris played with a makeshift defense. Kartik was the unrecognized forward due to his eye for goals, which earned him the player of the month for May. Well done Kartik!
The match started promptly with MFC playing as the better team, spraying long and short passes across the surprisingly good surface despite the rain earlier in the day. However, there was some worrying signs for MFC when the opponent started to play long balls into MFC's 18 yards at any opportunity. MFC could not cope with this stoke city style of play as the makeshift defense did not deal with these balls on numerous occasions. This was the reason why MFC conceded the first goal. A long punt by the keeper bounced over MFC's midfield and into the path of their no. 9. Despite last ditch attempt by chris to stop the strong forward, he made no mistake from his side only chance of the half.
At that moment, MFC was gutted with conceding such a soft goal despite playing some beautiful football. Zi Rong and Rong An arrived shortly after and took their regular positions. MFC created chance after chance but was let down by some poor finishing. It was probably the slippery ball which was not easy to control. Kartik's shot missed the goal by a few centimeters. There were similar efforts on goal by Norris and Alex but the keeper was equal to the tasks. Walter and Howard makes that kind of long bursting runs to add on to MFC's firepower. Highlight of MFC's chances must be Rong An's free kick from almost 40 meters from goal which just missed the right hand post. The keeper was rooted. The first half drew to a close, with MFC knowing that if they play the same way as the first half and deal with those high balls, there will be a come back.
And yes, MFC did immediately equalised through Rong An within the first minute of the second half. The most bizarre of scenes happened here. There was a slight push on the right back as Rong An chased for a loose ball. The Chinese referee who can't even speak any english decided that there was no foul play involved and waved play on. Rong an charged towards goal and was on a 1 on 1 situation with the keeper. He managed to sneak the ball in via the near post and celebrated. However, the referee awarded a goal kick. He must have thought that the ball was in the side netting. Feeling cheated, MFC surrounded the referee and questioned him about his poor eyesight. The play carried on for a brief moment but MFC would not let the matter die down. Like a son calling his father for help, the referee stopped the game and called his father (and our godfather) Peter Koh. The match resumed after MFC managed to convince him that we will not beat him up. Play carried on with an unofficial score of 1-1.
MFC knew that they were not playing to their usual standards of good passing and pressing. With the disallowed goal, things just didn't go MFC's way for most of the match. Kartik tried an audacious chip which the keeper managed to just tip over. There were a few shots on target from the midfield but the keeper was in solid form.
As the match played on, a mini quarrel occurred between alex and gerald as to who should take a corner. Alex swung in the corner and despite a scramble for the loose ball, it was cleared with ease. As MFC pushed high up in search for the equalizer, a long punt (again) from the defense left a huge space for their forward to run onto. Despite there being a shout for offside, the referee waved play on and the forward duly converted. Being 2-0 down, the match was out of MFC's hand. MFC's misery was compounded when Gary, the keeper for second half, allowed a corner kick to slip through his usually safe hands into an opponent's feet, presenting him with an easy tap in. However, the score would have been more if not for Gary's heroics at the end.
The match finished 0-3 to MFC. However, it did not reflect the match proceedings, with MFC playing most of the football on the ground with many chances created but could not convert. MFC's weakness was exposed with the frequent long and high balls from their keeper. On another day, MFC could have won comfortably if we stick to our way of playing, i.e. always on the ground and more passing.
Good points
1) We never stop creating despite being goals down
2) Pitch was surprisingly good despite the rain earlier in the day
3) Match finally started on time and weather was perfect for football
4) Make shift defense gets stronger as the match went on
5) Overall play was good but was let down by poor finishing
Bad points
1) Nobody managed to deal with the high and long balls
2) Team was let down by poor first touch and poor finishing
3) The referee was atrocious. Don't think he will ref our game anymore. Imagine the ball went straight down the middle of goal and he gives a goal kick?
4) Alex Bowyer and Gerald Dyer not agreeing with the corner. There was some shouting at the end.
Personal note:
Obviously, if one wants to be a good player, fitness is important. That's one thing. Of cos technique is in a person. It's important. You can't really work on a player's technique. That has to start from young.
But what I learnt from the team over the past few months is theory of football is equally important. What I meant is if you don't have good theory of football (theory here means where to run, what to do with and without the ball, anticipation etc), then it's difficult to play good football. In another words, footballing brain. Watch more football and videos.
Another issue is playing time. Sometimes, you don't know whether to give the so called technically better players more minutes when we are chasing the game or you want to give everyone equal playing time. But one thing is for sure. I look at attendance. By the way, I still keep track of CAPs for all players. Let me know u want to know yours. The highest so far is 41 CAPs. So if u are regulars, no matter whether u contribute to the team, u will start and depending on situations, u will get more playing time.
Secondly, attitude. Attitude here is = towards football and towards MFC. I know everyone wants to win. Quoting this "if u can accept losing, u can't win". I agree. Yes, makes perfect sense. But this only happens in competitive or professional football. If we adopt this mindset every week, we would have been watching a movie this afternoon instead of playing football.
Technique + fitness + footballing brain + commitment + desire + attitude = MFC players.
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