30/6/2013 Maestro FC secures quarter final berth of the X Cup

Maestro FC 2 : 2 La Forza (Guo Xian, Chris)

Match Review by Gerald Tan

The fairytale of winning the inaugural season  of the X Cup continued for Maestro as the Bees ousted fellow challengers La Forza out on another penalty shootout. It was the second successive penalty shootout win for the Maestro, building on their first win against ACE Galaxy. The win was however marred by poor refereeing as the Bees ended with 1 less player on the pitch. Not much was known of this second round opponents La Forza, but the Bees were up for the match, fully aware that overcoming La Forza would see them play a potentially mouthwatering quarter final against Newton Heath FC (which is arguably the best team in the X League). With regular / key players like Rong An, Yang Shan, Joel, Augustine, Walter all out, Maestro only had 12 players for the Captain and Vice to tinker. The formation of the day was 4-5-1, with Jonathan returning to the Bees during his winter break from Australia . Gerald also made his return at centre midfield after being out of the game for 1 month due to injury. The referee assigned for the match was a no-nonsense referee, as he stamped his authority clearly before the game by declaring his refereeing calls were all final. He would be the man at the centre of a sending off controversy. Right from kickoff, it was clear that La Forza's dangerman was their Captain number 3 who played upfront. His quick movements caused the Bees a nervy start to the game as he played cleverly between Alan and Norris. The defensive pair however soon tightened up the defence and with the Maestro midfield pulling the strings through Hakim and Jonathan, number 3 slowly failed to get sufficient delivery to him. The match was calling for a goal, but with both teams solid at the back, the battles were confined to the midfield. Freekicks were given aplenty by the referee and Maestro benefitted from one such opportunity. Direct from a free kick outside of the box, Gerald floated a straight cross into the penalty area and it found Chris who brilliantly timed his jump to head in the ball from mid range. Not even a last minute headed clearance from a La Forza defender on the goal line could stop the ball from going in. That lifted the spirits of the Bees and it ended that way in the first half. The second half saw La Forza push further up with an additional man playing in the hole behind their strikers. Play became scrappy, possibly due to the increasing heat and tired legs from having insufficient substitutes. Maestro conceded a free long range freekicks and each time, La Forza came close, just grazing the crossbar. It was third time lucky for La Forza as they hit back with an equaliser from their third freekick awarded in the second half. La Forza's long range free kick (which seemed like a routine catch) found Calvin wanting and he was lobbed and failed to tip the ball over. Sensing a win, La Forza pushed even harder but once again Maestro went ahead, this time via Guo Xian. Having come close just minutes earlier from the left flank with a good turn shot that just went wide of the goal, Guo Xian was put through on the right flank and he did not disappoint as he shrugged past his markers and shot past the keeper. 2-1 to the Bees! With just 15 minutes of play time left, tempers started to flare up as La Forza accused the Bees of wasting time with some injuries. Vulgarities were meted to the Bees with no action from the referee. The referee himself accused Maestro of being too soft. During one instance, he told Maestro not to play football since our players cannot take physical contact. The referee spoke in malay as well, and it seems that he was berating the Bees together with the malay La Forza players. Despite both Maestro Captain and Vice Captains speaking with the referee, he failed to listen to any reasoning and said that his calls were all right. This was when controversy struck, as the referee sent Norris off with a straight red card after Norris simply commented that the referee seemed biased. With 1 man down, Maestro tried to close up the game but failed to when La Forza scored with another long range shot. This time, Calvin was wrongly placed as the ball swerved and dipped just below the top left corner. Maestro then went on desperate defending mode and held on until the penalty shootout. Calvin then made amends as he made several brilliant saves from La Forza penalty takers. La Forza's keeper himself was excellent, making many saves too but missed when most needed as Jonathan tucked in the last penalty of the game to put Maestro through to the next round. It was a tense penalty shootout, just take a look at the sequence: 1st Penalty - La Forza misses (Calvin saved), Guo Xian misses (hits top right post) 2nd Penalty - La Forza scores, Kartik misses (keeper saved) 3rd Penalty - La Forza misses (blast over), Hakim scores Sudden Death 4th Penalty - La Forza misses (Calvin saved), Alan misses (ala John Terry) Sudden Death 5th Penalty - La Forza misses (Calvin saved), Jonathan scores! The Bees went ballistic after the win as a quarter final berth beckons. If Newton Heath were the next opponents, Maestro would require key players like Rong An, Yang Shan, Hakim, Alan, Norris, Guo Xian to be around. The X Cup dream is certainly not impossible and at least our dream now continues.

High Points

1) Guo Xian's goal was very well taken. Was not easy as he had to hold off a very good left back

2) Kartik was energetic throughout, at one point, he latched onto a brilliant one-two from midfield and outsprinted La Forza for half the pitch before being denied a goal by the keeper

3) Abhi tormented the right back for most of the game. It must be commended; they placed 2 markers on him but he still managed to give them the slip many times.

4) Norris and Alan's defensive partnership is tight!
5) Jonathan's sweet home coming penalty
6) Calvin's villain turned hero performance

Low Points

1) The referee was quite unprofessional
2) Does the X Cup come with linesman? Why not, when we are paying $150?

2) Insufficient players once again