Soccer Fellowship Report [19th June]

It was certainly a very hot afternoon when players started streaming into the Pasir Ris Secondary School field. We welcomed Steve's Dad who was visiting from the UK, and welcomed back Roy, who had been overseas for the last couple of months.

To add to the current World Cup atmosphere, this session was themed as a 'World Cup' special and it was a mix of players who came in National Team jerseys, and those who came 'loyally' in PMC jerseys, or those of their favourite clubs/teams.

Andrew & Samuel clearly expect Spain to triumph this year

A mixture of World Cup winners & World Cup wannabes represented

The session started with devotion led by Kevin, after a World Cup devotional booklet 'The Final Goal' was distributed to everyone. Kevin's devotion was based on the devotion from June 18th, entitled Love and Vengeance.

After devotion, the players were split into the usual Reds & Whites (RWs) and the Other Colours (OC). Turn-out was good and we started off playing 14-a-side, which made the field really cramped, with little space to move. The RWs seemed to possess the younger and faster players, who attacked with pace and directness. The OC on the other hand, tried to rely on their ball control and the tireless running of Steve up front. The game was fairly even, with neither side able to take the initiative. Jingzhong, Andrew and Yi Jun from the RWs fashioned a few openings, but they did not result in a goal. Similarly for the OC, Steve, Justin and Ronnie had a number of half-chances, but they remained chances. It took an interesting twist in the game for the 1st goal to be scored - Maurice sending the ball into Pasir Ris Secondary School. A very bouncy replacement ball was used and its bounce was not only exaggerated, but unpredictable. From an innocuous knock-on, Yi Jun lobbed the ball into the OC box. Unchallenged, GK Kelvin was unable to judge the bounce of the ball and it looped over him and into the empty net. It was 1-0 to the RWs in the most unlikely manner but it opened the floodgates for them. The RWs 2nd goal came through a bit of individual brilliance from Daniel Chen. A corner was only halfway cleared to him and he weaved abit of his usual magic in the box before unleashing an stoppable shot into the roof of the net. RWs goal number 3 came from a simple passing move, ending with Yi Jun sidefooting the ball into the corner of the net.

The 2nd half began with a reversion to 11-a-side soccer as the 1st half was far too crowded. Play immediately opened up and the OC definitely had a lot more control and chances, notably through Steve and Rusydi. Dominic and Andy Mason were also doing a commendable job on defence, cutting out whatever attacks that did get through. This ensured that OC did not concede any goals in the 2nd half. Play was competitive throughout this half, with the ball moving nicely across the pitch. For the OC, most of the chances were long range efforts. For the RWs, they had a couple of half chances and a stinging shot which Kelvin did well to tip over the bar. The half ended scoreless to the credit of both teams.

Maurice closed in prayer and thanked God for the wonderful weather and Soccer Fellowship.