Maestro FC Vs Primero FC marred by Referees, Mothers, Sisters

Maestro FC 0 : 3 Primero FC

Match Review by Gerald Tan

Although relegation and pride was at stake, Maestro failed to surprise favorites (and Division 3 champions to-be) Primero FC as 3 goals were conceded. The 3-0 scoreline flattered Maestro as Primero could have easily scored 3 or 4 more, if not for wasteful finishing and some astute "all hands on deck" type of defending. Right from kickoff, Maestro needed to defend deeply as Primero showed just why they were the league leaders, stroking the ball from flank to flank, finding space and gaps in Maestro's lineup. Their passing was arguably the best we have seen all season, even better than the first time Maestro played Primero. For all our industry in chasing and closing the ball, we were really sitting ducks, waiting for  Primero to fire the first salvo. In all fairness, our defending was brilliant at times. Chris, Lau (Dennis' father) held off several one on one challenges and made crucial clearances. On the attacking front, Abhi was a bright spark. He showed no ill effects from a sleepless night (his sister gave birth and he spent the whole night in the hospital) as he made several good runs down the flanks, against a former NFL defender. With insufficient players, several key players took up unfamiliar positions - Captain Guo Xian played at left back and Keeper Gary played upfront and later, right back. Although the odds were heavily against us, the score at half time was somehow kept to 0-0. The score could have been kept to 0-0, if only Maestro had more quality and players to replace tiring legs. Primero made several substitutions in the second half and turned up a gear against a tired Maestro. 3 goals were scored in the last 15 minutes as the Maestro fortress finally gave way. The last 15 minutes also saw the interesting bits of the game. Referees - Perhaps out of boredom with the way Maestro was defending, the main referee started to hog the attention when he chose to argue with Walter just after we conceded the second goal. Rewind to the incident. In the lead up to the second Primero goal, Chris claimed to have been pulled back by the Primero striker causing him to lose the ball. After the goal was conceded, Chris complained to the linesman who failed to spot the foul. There was some commotion between the referee and our defenders and it resulted in Walter asking Chris not to argue anymore. With both teams ready to kickoff again, the referee thought Walter was still arguing with him and stopped the game from resuming. After kickoff, instead of focusing on the game, the referee turned to Walter and said that "You all are sore losers thats why you are losing the match, childish". He also continued to insult Maestro in malay to the Primero players. Both linesmen were no better as they failed to correctly award corner kicks and offsides. One of them was the referee last week against USSR (remember the plus sized referee who failed to sent off the Russian for punching Alan) and he certainly evoked a sense of deja vu with his "excellent" calls.  Captain Guo Xian will be writing to X League to formally lodge a complaint; organiser Morales himself was present to witness the wonderful refereeing on display. Mothers and Sisters - In the lead up to the last goal conceded, our defender Lau claimed to have been kicked in the backside by a Primero player. As usual, the referee did not see the incident. In protest, Lau told the Primero player to focus on kicking a ball instead, or something to that extent. The player took to offence what he said and told Lau (who should be 40 or 50+ at least) to "f" his own mother. In similar courteous fashion, Lau told him to "f" his own sister then. This led to a small melee between Lau and Primero but it was cooled down fairly quickly. It was interesting that the referee remained quiet on this, no action, no talking to the players. In my opinion, for all of Primero's excellent gameplay, their players should learn to control their language. On multiple occasions during the game, they lashed out at our players with vulgarities even though the referee had given them the free kick. Vulgarities have no place in soccer, certainly not those which involve weird physical relationships with family members. X League organisers could look into asking referees to be tight about such undesirable behavior and perhaps barring such players or teams who indulge in colorful language, because many fights start due to such silly comments. With just one more game left to play, it will mean Maestro has completed 4 seasons of X League since its inception in 2011. However, rather than improving with each season, team attendances have been lagging and there are comittment issues within the team. We have also effectively been relegated 3 of the 4 seasons we played in. The AGM next week should seek to resolve the near and perhaps long term future of Maestro.