Hard fought match with a valuable point earned.
Match Review by Eugene.
Maestro FC 1-1 Stallionz FC (Jinde)
Today’s match saw the return of Zeng Yi and also Jinde
who started in last week’s match. With some of the key players missing in
attendance the team was still strong and capable enough to deliver the goods.
The weather was cloudy and had threatened to turn the pitch into a swimming
pool. Fortunately the weather held out well until the match ended.
The
exhausting humid conditions and probably post-lunch sleepiness was visible on
physical appearance of both teams which might create many careless mistakes for
either team. At the beginning of the 1st half, Maestro
decided to go for a conservative formation of 4-5-1 with Jeramy being the key
striker. Play was quite shaky as a few players were noticeably lacking in
control. As the game picked-up and with much encouragement from the bench, the
touches became better and the passes became fluent.
The first goal came from a penalty, after Joel was
brought down within the penalty box. Jinde calmly took the penalty, sending the
keeper the wrong way before finding its place at the bottom-left corner of
goal.
Stallionz threatened, with Howard pushed up to cover
the left wing, leaving the left back position exposed. Maestro FC was
dispossessed of the ball and then a long deliver from the Stallionz’s centre
found their striker which left him going one-on-one with Yangde. Stallionz’s
striker looped the ball over Yangde, striking the crossbar before bouncing in front
of the goal-line. Fortunately Khatik was available to divert the ball out of
the open goal before Maestro was given a free kick for a foul on Yangde within
the box.
Distribution of balls across the pitch was evenly
spread out. Some key passes between the midfielders created space for Augustine
and Joel to rape the wings. Zeng Yi role in attacking midfield made the
Stallionz defense work for their money as he made a few key distributions to
Augustine who ran down the left wing and nearly had a few one-on-one
opportunities with the goalkeeper However, the larger sized Stallionz defense
was able to snuffed most of the scoring chances before any shots could be
taken.
2nd half saw the return of Calvin at goal,
replacing Yangde as goalkeeper. Fortunately Stallionz had fewer chances as compared
to the first half. Stallionz FC made the match a challenging one as they
had numerous players that had power packed behind their shots. One of the near
goal-scoring chances from Stallionz came from the left winger who seems to have
delivered a cross with the rolling ball forward towards Maestro’s goal. The
ball struck his outer foot and instead headed towards goal. The ball
fortunately struck the edge of the crossbar before going out of play.
Maestro’s lost their awareness as an easy collection
of a slow rolling ball from a corner was poorly cleared. This resulted in the
Stallionz taking a second corner which found the head of a running player,
sending the ball into the back of the net.
Maestro FC had a chance to score the winning goal when
a looping ball within the Stallionz’s penalty box created difficulties for
their defender to clear. Jeramy took advantage of the miss-control and took a
shot that was fumbled by the keeper into the path of Jinde. Jinde tried to take
advantage of the grounded keeper, who was still recovering from the initial
save, by looping a shot from the left side of the penalty box towards the
centre of the goal. Unfortunately, their defender had returned and was at the
goal line to head the ball out for a corner. It was a good game as all ended even but 3 points
could have been taken if we had taken our chances to make the opportunities
count.
High Points
-
Our wings threatened Stallionz FC’s defense, making
them work their socks off.
-
Yangde’s good distribution from our goalkeeper in the
1st half to the left wing, with Augustine on the receiving end. Calvin’s goalkicks created many opportunities
for our team.
-
Jinde, Zeng yi and Jeramy contributed well throughout
the game.
-
MOM: Jonathan. Normally playing in the midfield
position, he was shifted to centre back in the first half before starting at left
back in the 2nd half. His crucial coverage of Stallionz’s right
winger, No. 15, prevented Stallionz FC from creating many goal scoring
opportunities. He also made good headers to clear the long balls that
threatened our left wing.
Low Points
-
Ability to handle aerial balls. The good long delivery
from Stallionz created
-
There was some part of the 1st half when
the centre of the pitch had no coverage just like the 3G signal of the 3
telcos. No coverage = No chance for Maestro to take control of loose balls.
-
Miscommunication between the defense and goal keeper
at some moments nearly lost us the game.
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