Maestro FC 8 : 0 Silas' Church Team (Guo Xian, Gerald, Norris, Howard, Abhi x2, Hakim x2)
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Match Review by Gerald Tan
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Maestro FC's experience in playing together taught Silas' church team a footballing lesson as the Bees put 8 goals past them. Nevertheless, Silas' church team showed good resolve and potential to do much better if they can get the hang of playing together as a team.
Playing on a natural grass surface after being seasoned on astro pitches did not stop the Bees from putting up a good performance. Once the game started, it was clear that Maestro would dominate the game. Midfield maestro Hakim was back in action as he dictated the midfield game play with some wizard-like, silky skills as he orchestrated the Bee's attacks. It did not take long for Hakim to get onto the score sheet as he smashed a shot from just outside of the penalty area past the small opponent keeper Matthias.
From then on, the floodgates opened as Abhi and Augustine tortured the left and right backs with some intelligent runs down the flanks. After getting his "zeroing" accurate, Abhi got onto the score sheet with 2 well taken goals. The more memorable one was when he rampaged down the left flank and took a right footed shot after cutting the ball back. 3-0 to the Bees.
Besides lacking the finesse and technique to mark out our wingers, the opponents were inexperienced in marking out central players and this meant that Maestro's midfield had acres of space to find passes and play through balls. This also boosted the Bee's confidence in holding the ball and making short passes. Even Walter who was playing in centre back could be seen charging through the centre into the opponent's half on a few occasions. Norris who was playing upfront to stretch the opponents' defence benefited from this as a close exchange of passes put him through one on one with the keeper. Norris' good finish meant that it was also game over for Silas' church team but the match was just 30 mins old.
The last goal of the first half came from Gerald after Maestro was awarded a close range free kick for a back pass being handled by the keeper (another show of inexperience). Kartik and Guo Xian were tempted to blast from close range but because Gerald was placed 1 metre from the goal with no one marking him, they played an intelligent chip to him and with a simple turn and tap in, it was 5-0 to Maestro.
The second half was a better affair for Silas' church team as they put up a better fight and could have gotten one or two goals if not for poor finishing. Silas himself had a wonderful game as his aggressive closing down helped to stem some Maestro attacks.
With the game threatening to go into a lull as Maestro controlled and passed the ball around, Guo Xian's goal resumed the goal rout as he scored after some good passing outside of the opponent's box. It was nothing short of well deserved, after Guo Xian played in almost every position in the game (defender, midfielder and striker).
Shortly after, Howard got a goal courtesy of a direct free kick. His shot was just nice and lobbed over the short opponent keeper who was just outside of his line. But the goal of the match must belong to the resident wizard Hakim. He notched up his second and Maestro's eighth and final goal after he was put through one on one with only the keeper the beat. Instead of shooting hard, he chose to shimmy and waltz his way past 2 defenders before wrong footing the keeper and tapping the ball in. That brought back memories of the Paolo Di Canio years at West Ham as he was famous for the same type of shimmy technique.
8-0 to the Bees and it was a right scoreline, given the inexperience of the opponents. While the opponents were not at their best, much must be said about their enthusiasm and determination, especially their support for their keeper Matthias as he made 2 great saves to prevent the scoreline from hitting double digits. With more practice, this team has potential as they do have 2 or 3 good physical players to lead the way. For the Bees, this game was a good opportunity to practice some passing and motivate us into thinking "can we play like this in our league games".
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High Points
1) Paul came back from China for a month, his first request was play for Maestro. Such enthusiasm for the game is commendable. He also played relatively well.
2) Kartik is really a live wire in the recent games. He has improved in holding the ball and is displaying some good technique in moving the ball into the opponent's box
3) Jeramy's willingness to play keeper when we had no keeper. This game was one where he had nothing much to do but he was still all smiles.
4) Silas for organizing the game with his church team. Played excellently as well and should play like this against our opponents in future.
5) Small Eric has improved as well in recent games. Anyone notice that his heading and clearing of the balls is getting better?
6) Playing on real grass, nothing beats the smell of grass and color of mud eh?
Low Points
1) Timeliness for games has been on the decline. When Guo Xian arranges for a 3pm game, players should come 30 mins to 15 mins earlier, to do warm up and practice.
2) Weather concerns. While I feel that it is fair to be concerned about the weather, do spare a thought for your fellow team mates who make their way to the game and also the organizer. If players decide to not come because of the rain or the mud, then the team will be short of one player. In the past, we played at muddy Katong, with no changing room but we still had a good attendance every week. Have we become too pampered by astro fields?
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