As the players gathered for devotion before kick-off, I shared about how at the mid-point of the year (or thereabouts), it is always good to take stock to see what kind of 'renovation' needs to take place in our lives. It could apply to our soccer team, in our work or studies, but most importantly, God wants us to look at our hearts to see what we may need to REMOVE, REPLACE or REPAIR so as to maintain a right relationship with Him.
The match kicked off with the following players from the Soccer Community in a 4-2-3-1 formation:
GK- Jeremy Tan
RB- Daniel
SW- Kevin
CB- Mark
LB- Damien Chua
DMR- Timothy Loke
DML- Kee Min
RM- Jingzhong
AM- Timothy Cheong
LM- Marcus
ST- Yi Jun
The bench was made up of Samuel Eyo, Rusydi, Andy and Damian Chee.
The match started with both sides very enthusiastic, quick to the ball and pressing for an early goal in a very direct manner of play with most balls launched forwards. Play was pretty much even with both sides losing possession in the final third either through aimless passing or poor ball control by the forwards. Tim Loke tried to pick up the slack in midfield by holding play well, taking a couple of shots on goal which went high and wide. The CMC players were moving the ball quickly to the wings in the hope that a deadly cross would find their forwards free, but none did. The same story could be said for us, with crosses by Marcus not finding anyone in the box. It was in the 15th min of play that some calamitous defending resulted in a CMC long ball finding its way into our penalty box. Although the ball was deflected, punched and knocked around, it was not cleared well and a goal-bound effort was palmed away by Damien Chua with Jeremy off his line. The generous referee only gave Damien a yellow card (instead of red) and pointed to the spot for the penalty. CMC's #10 calmly stepped up and blasted the ball into net to give CMC the 1-0 lead.
Going behind galvanised the Soccer Community XI to work together for a goal. This was slightly disrupted when Marcus took a knock on the left wing and had to replaced. Rusydi came in at right midfield with Jingzhong moving to the left. This unplanned substitution had a positive effect on the game as Damien Chua and Jingzhong worked numerous times to string moves that sent good crosses into the box for the forwards to attack. On one such inter-play, Jingzhong laid off the ball to Damien, whose 1st time curler fooled the keeper and ended up into the top left-hand corner of his net. It was 1-1. At the 25th minute mark, the planned substitutions were made:
1. Andy replacing Daniel at RB
2. Samuel taking over Yi Jun as ST
3. Damian Chee coming on in place of Tim Cheong at AM.
Play continued to move in our favour, although CMC did threaten a few times with hopeful long balls and a few forays down the wing. Damien was starting to have a man-of-the-match performance at left-back, marking the forwards well and supporting the attack. Another man-of-the-match candidate Tim Loke then started the move that led to our 2nd goal. Taking the ball in midfield, he beat 2 players before laying the ball off to the racing Rusydi on the right wing. Rus cut into the box and centered the ball for Damian Chee to thump into the goal. At 2-1, we pressed on for the 3rd goal before half-time but this didn't materialise.
The half-time break was very casual, with chit chatting and friendly banter. This is perhaps where the 'friendly mentality' set in which 'ruined' our 2nd half. The team started with the starting 11 again, with Marcus trying his hand at GK and Jeremy playing RM. With CMC chasing for an equaliser and us mentally dropping our guard, we let too many long balls catch us off guard, leading to 2 very soft goals. The 1st came when the ball in our third was not well cleared. It found its way into the box and when both Marcus and the defenders rushing towards it, the CMC winger played it square to the forward who tapped it into an empty net. Not long after, a dinked ball wrong-footed the defence, leaving another forward with an easy chance against Marcus. It was defending at its worst and at the 20th min mark, both Mark and myself were replaced by Andy (SW) and Samuel (CB) respectively. Play settled down for the next phase, with both teams having opportunities but not converting. The remainder of the substitutes came on- Nigel replacing Damien at LB. Damian Chee coming on for Tim Cheong at AM. Rus replacing Tim Loke at DMR. The highlights for the remainder of the match had to be 2 wonderful saves from Marcus, both coming off well-hit shots that he had to tip over the bar.
After the match ended, handshakes were exchanged and a prayer was said to close the session. The match was certainly played in good spirits and everyone enjoyed themselves.
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