CRC2012 Match #10 3rd/4th Playoff: PMC vs PPCC (16th September)

It had been a long season and the final match of this year's CRC2012 campaign would be PMC's 21st, a record number of matches played by the PMC team in a calendar year. The weariness and injuries certainly had taken its told, with only 16 players available and even amongst those, there were some not fully fit. Still, the team arrived at Turf City in good spirits, and looking to end CRC2012 on a positive note. As usual, we had a good number of supporters, which we later found out, would contribute to us clinching the 'Best Supported Team' awarded for the season.

Kenneth (one of our ever-present supporters this year) with Maurice

Isaiah & Jingzhong catch-up before the match

 Warm-up time!

 Rusydi having a good stretch before the match

A good warm-up leads to a good game for Michael

Singspiration & Sharing on the day was an affair with all 4 teams involved in the final - FGA, AMC, PPCC and PMC. Worship was led by Kevin (PMC) and Benedict (AMC), with Kevin sharing on the supremacy of Christ in washing away all our sins. After S&S, the teams proceeded for their team talks and took to the field for the final games of the CRC2012 season.

The PMC team lined up in a slightly altered manner, due in most part to missing first teamers. Both full backs for the day were midfielders but were ready to do their best for the team. The starting 11 were:

David

Jingzhong - Timothy - Rusydi

Kevin - Isaiah

Kee Min - Jeremy Sin - Jacob

Mark 

Michael

PMC started the match the brighter of the 2 sides, surprisingly. Remembering the 4-0 defeat earlier in the season, PMC was determined to win the first half and really were quick off the blocks, with some good attacking play by Rusydi, Jingzhong and Timothy. The PPCC GK was tested early with some crosses and the general level of play was good. PPCC did their part by counter-attacking flawlessly, due much to the prowess of their #11, whose footwork, ball skills and speed proved a handful for the PMC defence, and it took last minute challenges from Mark, Jeremy and Jacob to deny him a clear route to goal on many occasions. On the right, Jacob also did an excellent job defending PPCC's #3, whose pace would trouble the team for the entire match. With possession quite even, and both sides threatening with some neat passing, the match was general quite open and pleasing to the eye for the spectators. For the players however, it was rather tiring under the hot sun and also frustrating as most of the attacking play did not produce clear cut chances on goal, with most shots high/wide or crosses easily kept out by the GKs. In the 30th min, PMC brought on Jeremy Tan to replace David, for fresh legs up front. The first half ended with the best chance of the match for PMC. A corner by Timothy was floated to the far post but both Jeremys decided to challenge for the ball, ending with neither getting good contact to challenge the GK. It was a scoreless first half with all to play for in the second.

 Michael does his part to keep it scoreless at half-time.

 Mark distributes from the back

 Michael punches the ball clear to safety

The half-time team talk was a robust affair, with many players quick to air their views on how to improve play in the 2nd half. Most importantly, everyone stressed the need to communicate more, and let the ball do the work, with players clearly fatigued. It didn't help that the half-time break was 25min long due to the SoccerTron and the rhythm of both teams was certainly lost by the time the match resumed.

With Jeremy Sin being able to soldier on, the same team that ended the 1st half started the 2nd, but with Timothy taking the DM position and Kevin pushing up to AM. The start of the half again proved to be PMC's, with some nice interchange between Jingzhong, Kevin and Rusydi, but again, only half chances were created. Again, PPCC would threaten on the break, with #11 involved again. It took some robust challenges from Timothy and Isaiah to stop him on more that one occasion. In the 65th min, one of these challenges finally took its toll on Timothy, as he cramped up after winning the ball and was unable to continue. Daniel Chen came on as his replacement at LB, with Kee Min moving to the DM position. With the score at 0-0, it was still all to play for, but within minutes, PMC's weakness of defending corners poorly would again rear its ugly head. A corner swung to the near post was met by Mark, with no attackers close by, but his touch was only enough to send the ball straight into the net, with all the players stunned, and PPCC celebrating. It was a bitter blow for PMC, but clearly not the first time that it had happened this season. Needing to press for the equalizer, Kevin was replaced by Lincoln for the final 20 min of the match. PMC continued to try to attack through the wing play of Rusydi and Jingzhong, but even when they did have the ball, the PPCC defence stood firm and did not allow for many chances. Yi Jun was also brought on for Jeremy Tan for the final 10 min of the game. It took more last minute defending to stop PPCC's attack and one very aggressive sliding tackle by Isaiah was not taken lightly by PPCC's #11 and his parents on the sideline. However, the referee had full view of the incident and deemed it as an 'all ball' challenge. Still, due to the incessant talking by players on both sides, the referee had to call both captains to him for a talking to. The match resumed with possession very much even for both teams. It was only in the dying minutes of the game that PPCC scored their 2nd goal, with PPCC's #11 having the last laugh, curling home a beauty with his left foot from the right edge of the box. With only minutes left to play, PPCC did well to keep the ball, preventing PMC from having any chance to get back into the match. Tough as the game was played, it ended in good spirits, with handshakes all around.

 Timothy gave his all, and needed the help of medic Jacob to deal with cramp

 Jeremy soars high to clear the ball from the box

The post-match team talk saw Kevin encouraging everyone on a job well done for the entire season. He pointed out the strengths and areas for improvement moving forward, and areas that the players could improve on individually, as well as a team. Jacob closed the session in prayer and thanked God for his provision and protection during CRC2012.

The players who stayed behind witnessed the closing minutes of the final between AMC and FGA, which was in extra time with FGA leading 4-3. However, with the last kick of the game, AMC equalized, sending the match into extra time which FGA won on sudden death penalties. It was high drama as FGA had come back from 3-0 down after the 1st half.

Following the final, CRC2012 ended with the prize-giving ceremony, with PMC bagging the 'Best Supported Team' award and receiving its 4th placed trophy.

 Maurice receiving the 4th place trophy

Feeling like champions!

CRC2012 Match #9 SF: PMC vs FGA (9th September)

CRC2012 Semi-final day was gloomy and the thunderstorm threatened to have the match postponed. It was still raining as the players gathered at Turf City and the 'fog' made it all feel slightly surreal.  On the positive side, the players missing in action from the previous match had mostly returned and everyone was confident as kickoff approached. Singspiration and sharing was led by Herbert from FGA and it was always good to acknowledge God's presence before any soccer gets played.

Team PMC - CRC2012 Semi-finalists

Unable to take the field as a result of injury sustained during the Quarter-finals, Kevin focused on managing the team and encouraged all players to remember the good work done the previous week and to stay focused throughout the match. The starting line-up was also tweaked to factor in the return of Jacob and giving Martin and Rusydi some bench-time to observe proceedings before taking to the field for a more impactful introduction. The team lined up as follows:

David

Jingzhong - Timothy - Jacob

Isaiah - Jeremy Sin

Damien - Dominic - Daniel Low

Mark

Maurice

The early proceedings of the match was quite even with both teams sharing possession and probing each other's defence to find gaps. Tim, Jingzhong and Jacob were all seeing some of the ball and made some attempts to play David through as well, but to no avail. On the part of FGA, they had a number of long shots off target. It was about at the 15min mark that PMC conceded the first goal, strangely when it was taking a throw-in. The ball was short, allowing the FGA midfielders to play a long pass to their unmarked winger who made no mistake in a one-on-one situation with Maurice. Being an early goal down was something that PMC had faced before, and so with composure remaining, PMC pressed forward for the equalizer. One of the best chances fell to Jacob with Tim's through ball almost put him through but the FGA GK was quick off his line to clear the danger. However, within minutes PMC did equalizer from a corner. Tim swung in a low cross which was deftly flicked on by David into the far corner of the net, bringing PMC level at the 25min mark. With 20min to play before half time, PMC was confident of going into the break on a positive note. David was also subbed off for Rusydi, with Jacob taking the 'false 9' position. PMC did manage a couple more attacks, but the FGA defence stood firm. However, on the defensive end, PMC lost concentration at key moments to concede 2 goals before half time. Firstly, an FGA free kick was only parried my Maurice into the path of the FGA forward for him to complete the easiest of tap-ins. Within minutes of that, FGA got their 3rd when a corner was swung in for a completely un-marked FGA player to head easily into the net. Defensive frailties clearly caused PMC to go down 3-1 at half time, and things were made worse when Dominic pulled his hamstring and was unable to continue after half time.

 It takes 4 players & 1 supporter to stop Tim

 David shields the ball from his defenders

 Tim shoots for goal

 Jingzhong takes on the whole FGA defence

 Rusydi our first line of defence

 Tim is very well defended

The half time team talked focused on keeping composure and not letting the mistakes bother the team into playing worse. With some re-shuffling, Martin came on for Jacob and Kee Min slotted into midfield with Jeremy Sin heading into defence. The 2nd half started with PMC determined to get back into the match, but somehow, the determination from the Quarter-final win was not matched. Also, the few chances that did come PMC's way, was not taken and thus, it was down to more defensive errors that put the match beyond PMC's reach. FGA's 4th goal was a PMC own goal. Again, a corner was not cleared and through some ding-dong in the penalty box, the ball ricocheted off 2 PMC players before trickling into the net to make it 4-1 to FGA. FGA's 5th goal came from another easy header by an FGA player who was completely un-marked during a corner again. Their 6th goal was courtesy of another own goal, by Daniel Low, who in attempting to clear a long ball, planted it beyond Maurice's reach and into the corner of the net. FGA's final and 7th goal arrived when Maurice had already punched the ball clear, but when a looping shot was sent back in, he could not recover in time to stop it from sailing into the net. It was certainly an exhibition of 'how not to defend long balls and corners' by PMC and it was certainly not its day.

 Daniel takes a goal kick in the 2nd half

 Tim sends the free kick in hope of bringing us back into the match

 Jeremy defends from midfield

Jingzhong challenges for the ball

Chilling out after the hard work

PMC learned a harsh lesson in knock-out soccer at the Semi-final stage. Certainly the lack of experience and composure had taken its toll on the team, and harsh as the scoreline was, it was a good lesson for all players to learn and improve the team in future seasons. Regardless of this result, PMC's entrance into the top 4 places has been a commendable achievement and with another match to play, everyone left the pitch giving thanks to God and looking forward to better days ahead.

Support for PMC Soccer Team (CRC2012 Semi-finals)

The PMC Soccer Team will be competing in the Semi-finals of CrossRoad Cup 2012 on Sunday 9th September 2012, 3pm at The Cage Sports Park, Turf City. This will be the first time that PMC has progressed so far in the annual Christian tournament. All supporters are welcomed.

The address of the venue is 220 Turf Club Road, Singapore 288001. The GPS coordinates are Latitude 1.341347, Longtitude 103.794993. Please refer to this map to have an idea of the match venue.

The PMC Soccer Team would like to thank the PMC Soccer Community for their prayers and support throughout the season and looking forward to seeing you at The Cage Sports Park this Sunday! 

CRC2012 Match #8 QF: PMC vs BESS (2nd September)

It was a terribly hot early afternoon as the PMC players trudged to The Cage Sports Park Turf City to take on the Senior Squad of Bethesda Bedok-Tampines Church in the Quarter-finals of CRC2012. Having already made history by qualifying for the knock-out stages of the Christian league for the first time since starting to participate in 2008, the PMC Team knew that the former Agape Cup finalists and top team in Omega Group would be tough to beat. Things were not helped by the fact that the PMC team was missing 6 regulars, but it appeared that BESS was also short of key players, so things looked even before kick-off. No one could anticipate that the match would turn out to be THE match in the history of the PMC Soccer Team.

Before play got underway, the BESS team led us in a time of Singspiration and Sharing, with the old favourite of Amazing Grace sung, and also a testimony by one of their players. Following S&S, the teams had a couple of minutes for team talk and then the pre-match checks by the referee. The PMC team lined up like this:

Martin

Jingzhong - Timothy - Rusydi

Isaiah - Dominic

Damien - Kevin - Daniel Low

Weijie

Maurice

 The PMC team during Singspiration

 The history-making PMC team

The match started with BESS pretty much in the driver's seat, boasting fast, young players intent on moving the ball quickly to their lone forward, a nimble chap who pulled the PMC defence apart everytime he had the ball. There was little time for PMC to settle into the match as wave after wave of attacks ensued, needing some last ditch clearances from all of PMC's back four. When PMC had the ball, they resorted to some fruitless long punts up the field for Martin and Timothy to chase, but possession turned over quite quickly. With PMC on the back foot, it didn't take long for BESS to score the first goal of the game. BESS' forward outpaced the PMC defence and made no mistake, placing the ball neatly past the onrushing Maurice when he was put through with a nice pass. With BESS being up 1-0 so early in the match, things didn't look good for PMC. Contrary to expectations however, BESS chose to sit on its slim lead and took their foot off the pedal. Furthermore, BESS' forward picked up a yellow card for not backing off the full 10 yards when Daniel took a quick free-kick. This triggered reduced movement and incisiveness from him, giving PMC time to use the ball better and string a number of neat passes to bring the ball up the field. Seeing more of the ball, a number of free kicks, throw-ins and corners were won and the BESS GK was called upon to make a couple of clearances and saves. However, from a direct free kick just outside the 18-yard box, the BESS GK could do nothing as Daniel curled a beauty above the wall and into the top of the net, pulling PMC back into the match. With spirits raised, the momentum swung in favour of PMC, with more craft and intent but no goals to show for as the 45-minute half ended.

The PMC half-time team talk focused the players on wanting the win more and understanding better the need to play a higher line in order to reduce the space between defence and midfield. The only change made was Jeremy Sin coming on in place of Kevin, who injured his ankle mid-way through the 1st half. Jeremy slotted into midfield next to Isaiah with Dominic taking the stopper's role.

The 2nd half begun where the 1st ended, with PMC pressing for the goal. BESS somehow, seemed bereft of ideas to penetrate PMC's defence and seemed very mindful that they only had 2 substitutes for the entire match. It was thus PMC that took the early lead in the 55th minute, again from a set piece. Daniel's throw into the box was flicked on by Martin to the far post where Isaiah was lurking to head home his 2nd goal of CRC2012. With the lead in the match, PMC attempted to control the pace of the game and keep possession of the ball to the best of their ability. Perhaps the mantra of a certain Luis Felipe Scolari had finally sunk in: "when we have the ball, our opponents cannot score". PMC tried to hold true to this by making its 2nd substitution in the 65th minute, with Kee Min coming on for Timothy, with instructions to win the ball from high up the pitch. Within 5 minutes, Lincoln came on for Rusydi and Daniel Chen on for Damien. With the 3 substitutions, the PMC took a while to solidify its shape again. BESS attempted to take advantage of any gaps by now launching long balls to pressure the defence, and these were mostly cleared by the defenders, or Maurice. However, as the match approached its 80th minute, PMC was sucker punched. A BESS corner started a chain of events which saw the ball cleared to almost the halfway line. From there, a BESS midfielder lofted a high looping cross which deceived everyone, including Maurice (with the sun in his face) and ended up in the back of the net. The momentum of the match had again changed hands and was now in favour of BESS, who pressed for the winner with 10 minutes of regulation time remaining. PMC defended bravely, even though players were visibly tiring. With 5 minutes of the match to go, an innocuous incident led to Weijie being shown a red card by the referee as he was about to take a goal kick. Even the BESS players were surprised with the referee's decision as PMC was reduced to 10 men, and Jeremy dropping deeper to take on defensive duties. [The referee explained later that it was because Weijie had directed a verbal vulgarity and gesture at a BESS player as he was about to take the goal kick.] PMC defended for its life as almost all of possession was at BESS' feet for the remainder of the match. The PMC players were slightly relieved when the referee blew for full-time at 2-2, but knew that 30 minutes of extra time would bring a new set of challenges, including a possible penalty shoot-out.

 2nd half match action

 Daniel taking one of his many throw-ins

The pre-extra time team talk focused on 3 things - playing tactically, letting the ball do the work and believing that the team could still pull this off despite being 1 man short on the field. Some tactical changes were also made, with the tiring Isaiah retreating as stopper, thereby releasing Dominic into midfield. There was hardly any time to breathe as the referee signaled for players to return to the pitch. Within minutes of re-start, Martin and Jingzhong both appeared to need substitutions but were encouraged to press on. The soak-and-strike philosophy was clearly in force and this worked to good effect. Mid-way through the 1st period of extra time, Jingzhong cramped up and was replaced by Yi Jun, with instructions to run at the tiring BESS defence as much as he could at every opportunity.  However, his most telling contribution was to stop the ball on the goal line during a BESS attack and this was surely worth more than all his previous 3 goals. With the score still at 2-2 after 15 minutes, the referee blew for half-time and players changed sides with only a minute break.

The 2nd half of extra time was more even, with BESS players clearly fatigued and not able to push too much. PMC players were content to hold back as well, with only the fresh legs of Yi Jun, Lincoln and amazingly Dominic, carrying the ball forward when opportunities arose. In the final 5 minutes, PMC gave a push to prevent a penalty shoot-out, but a couple of corners and free kicks in good positions were to no avail, with either the BESS defence clearing or the GK punching the ball out to safety. As the referee blew for the end of extra time, the PMC team knew that they had fought hard to stay alive in the match after playing 35 minutes with 10 men. 

Isaiah taking a free-kick deep into extra time

All players gathered in the centre circle as the Team Managers trudged onto the pitch to relay the order of penalty takers to the team. For PMC, it was going to be Isaiah, Martin, Dominic, Daniel Chen and Daniel Low who would have the heavy responsibility of carrying PMC's Semi-final hopes. As the kickers and Maurice psyched themselves up, the referee brought the action to the penalty box.

PMC won the toss and Isaiah stepped up to the penalty spot first. Having not missed a penalty all season, Isaiah somehow skied his shot above the bar (ala Roberto Baggio in 1994), allowing BESS to hold the early advantage in the shoot-out. This was confirmed when BESS' first kicker gave Maurice no chance to put BESS 1-0 up. Next up for PMC was Martin, who at 48-years-old had already bellied his years by soldiering on for the full 120 minutes. With years of experience behind him, Martin coolly placed the ball beyond the reach of the BESS GK to make it 1-1. Maurice stepped between the posts knowing that he needed to make a save in order for PMC to win it and indeed, his left-hand post came to PMC's rescue when the BESS' kicker planted his kick firmly against it. It was all square at 1-1 with 3 kicks remaining for each team. PMC's 3rd kicker Dominic stepped up to the spot and made no mistake with a firm shot in the corner. The BESS GK had guessed correctly but could do nothing to keep the shot out. Maurice stepped up between the posts again and this time, pulled off a save with his feet when the BESS' kicker's shot was firm but not wide enough. The PMC players seemed energised knowing that they were now 2-1 up with only 2 more kicks to go for each team. PMC's 4th kicker was the elder statesman of the team, 50-year-old Daniel Chen. He clearly showed his experience when he tricked the BESS GK into diving one way, as he calmly placed the ball in the other direction. PMC was 3-1 up and could wrap the match up with either a save by Maurice or a conversion by Daniel Low. It was all tension as BESS' 4th kicker stepped up to take his shot. His intent was to beat Maurice with pace but as his bullet of a kick came back off the bar, all PMC players rejoiced as they won the shoot-out 3-1 and progressed to the Semi-finals of CRC2012.

It was hugs and handshakes all around the PMC bench as players of both teams congregated at the centre circle for the show of sportsmanship. It would have been tough for either team to lose such a close match, and credit has to be given to BESS for their graciousness in defeat.

It was almost 6pm as the PMC team gathered for their team talk to close the match. Everyone was full of praise for the tremendous effort, spirit and team work that was witnessed. The experience gave everyone belief that PMC could even take the next important step towards an appearance in the Finals. Kevin closed in prayer, thanking God for the victory and seeking his healing for those who had picked up injuries.