Soccer Fellowship Report (22nd March)

After days mixed with scorching heat and downpour, the Saturday afternoon arrived with almost perfect weather for Soccer Fellowship. 7 players gathered at Hai Sing Catholic School to enjoy the wonderful weather and one another's company through soccer, even though it was quite gruelling with 4 versus 3.

Kevin started off the session by referencing some of the reports of good sportsmanship that had been posted on the PMC Soccer Community Facebook Page -

Italy Serie D Goal for a Goal

Aaron Hunt Refuses Penalty After Change of Heart

Sharing from a recent devotional he read from Our Daily Bread, Kevin encouraged all to make the world a better place through our honourable behaviour, even it meant costing us a 'win at all costs'.

The Soccer Fellowship selfie taken just before Kee Min arrived

The 7 players started off with Cheng Qian, Luke and Kevin (in white) taking on Daniel Chen, Ronnie, Andy and Kee Min (in coloured jerseys). Play was swift across the small pitch and clearly Andy was the player in form, scoring a number of goals. Ronnie also showed touches of class, that defy his vintage. To even things up, Andy transferred to the side of the Whites, and proceeded to continue scoring for fun. After about an hour of play, everyone had enough of a run-out and did some shooting before heading home. 

Kids Soccer Programme with Tampines Family Service Centre (21st March)

It was a bright and sunny morning as Ronnie, David Lim and Kevin gathered at Tampines SAFRA to conduct a Kids Soccer Programme for a group of children under the care of Tampines Family Service Centre. 15 children, aged 9 - 12, had signed up for the programme as part of their March vacation activities and they arrived excitedly wanting the programme to start. After a round of introductions, everyone warmed up with a couple of rounds of the Futsal pitch, as well as simple stretching. The children formed 4 teams, along with the adults to do some simple passing and shooting drills. After a short snack/water break, a series of round-robin matches pitted each team against all the others. Scores did not matter, as the objective was to have fun and the children certainly did. After all the matches, Kevin did a de-brief with the children, asking each to share something positive they had learnt from the matches. Many cited values such as perseverance, teamwork and communication that helped them stay focused during the matches. The adults encouraged the children to remember these as they head back to  school the following week. The programme ended with each child receiving a water bottle as their 'prize' for playing well and fellowship over a Nasi Lemak lunch. 

 Children gathering for introductions

 A light jog to warm up

 Getting a feel of the ball through passing and shooting

 Some of the children who participated in the programme

Group photo to end the day

Friendly Match Report: PMC vs CMC (16th March)

Follwing a long period of drought in Singapore, it had finally rained on the day of the match, but the rain also cleared up in a timely manner for the match to proceed. CMC were short of players, so Lincoln and David were loaned to them in the first half to start the match. A few of PMC's usual starting players were not available so the starting line-up saw a few changes.

The PMC team lined up in the following manner for kick-off:

Eddie

Isaac - Rusydi - Samuel

Kee Min - Tim

Daniel Chen - Weijie - Daniel Low - Joel

David Lim

The match kicked of with both sides hungry for the ball. PMC started with high intensity football, pressuring our opponents higher up the pitch and causing CMC to have to pass the ball back to the keeper on more than one occasion. The first injury woe of PMC occurred when Isaac hobbled off the pitch at around 20mins into the game due to an old injury on his left ankle, and Justin came in for him on the left. CMC scored the opening goal when Lincoln (who was playing for CMC) came into a 1-on-1 with David, who lost the 50-50 challenge for the ball, clipped Lincoln and conceded and penalty. The penalty was then scored by a CMC player who struck the ball into the bottom left of the goal.

The second goal for CMC came when a cross from Lincoln (still playing for CMC) got past Wei Jie and caught David off position, managed to reach the CMC striker. The ball glanced the striker's shoulder, and despite a poor second touch, lobbed the ball into an empty net.

Despite being 2 goals down, PMC continued to play with tenacity, sending many balls to Eddie who held off the defenders well, but was unable to play the final ball due to lack of natural strikers on the PMC side.

PMC made several changes in the second half, which looked like this:

David Sng

Rusydi - Tim - Justin

Kee Min - CQ

Wei En - Weijie - Daniel Low - Samuel

David Lim

The second half saw some of the fiercest battles in the midfield between Tim and CMC's no. 24. While PMC continued to play it's attacks down the middle, CMC attempted to overrun the PMC defence by playing down the flanks. But a more vigilant defence led by Wei Jie and Daniel held off the CMC attack which did not give much trouble to the keeper. About 15 mins in, David Sng came off the for David Lim as centre-forward, and Joel cam in for David Lim in goal. The second injury woe for PMC came when Daniel sprinted to cover Samuel who was outnumbered on the right flank. He managed to put the ball out but pulled his right hamstring again. Samuel came in to the centre-back position for Daniel, Justing moved down to right back and Lincoln (playing for PMC this time) came in on the right flank. PMC's break through finally came when a cross by Lincoln found David who broke forward beating the defender and placing the ball at the back of the net. The game carried on for the rest of the match with no clear cut chances on either side. 

"Man of the match" undeniably goes to Lincoln who had a part to play all 3 goals scored in this match.

Final score PMC 1-2 CMC. Samuel closed in prayer.

CRC2014 Match Report #1: PMC vs BESS (9th March)

PMC kicked off its CRC2014 season on a very hot and dry day at Macpherson Secondary School. The ground was certainly parched, with very little grass and lots of sand. Nonetheless, the PMC team was determined to start their season positively, after having gone through the entire pre-season winless. Commitment of the players has been a strength of the team this season and a full squad of 18 players showed up, with 2 others needing to step down for the opener. 

Kevin led both teams in Singspiration and Sharing, touching on the need to trust God when all human understanding fails. Using the example of the mysterious disappearance of MH370, Kevin encouraged all the players to give God to opportunity to speak to them when they may not understand what is going on in the world, or struggle with why bad things happen to good people, even though Ecclesiastes 3 details that there is a time for everything, both good and bad. Kevin committed both teams in prayer and for the season ahead. 

The PMC team lined up in the following manner for kick-off:

Yi Jun

Jingzhong - Kee Min - Rusydi

Kevin - Jeremy Sin

Damien - Weijie - Jacob - Samuel

David Lim

Although winless during the pre-season, the matches had built both character and understanding amongst the PMC players and this clearly showed in the early exchanges when PMC dominated proceedings, winning a number of free kicks and corners early in the match. From open play, both Kee Min and Jingzhong had chances, with Kee Min's shot curled just over the bar and Jingzhong drawing a save from the BESS GK. All these were encouraging to the PMC team, and even when BESS did threaten down the wings, the defensive quartet held firm to clear the danger. Mid-way through the first half, some frustration had set in for PMC as the numerous chances were not taken well, leaving the match scoreless. And this was when BESS punished PMC for the slight drop in concentration. From a throw-in in PMC's defensive third, the ball was allowed to bounce 3 times until Jacob's attempted clearance was only to the edge of the box, where a BESS player was able to out manoeuvre 2 defenders and shot through the outstretched arm of David Lim in goal. From their first shot on target in the match, BESS led 1-0. Not discouraged, PMC continued to play well and crafted out more chances and set-pieces, but none of these were taken. The 2nd sucker punch came when the ball was lost by PMC in midfield, leading to a swift BESS counter-attack. The ball was swung over the defenders, to the far post where a BESS player was waiting and his first time shot was hard and accurate enough to put BESS 2-0 up from only their 2nd shot on target. BESS' clinical finishing was in stark contrast to PMC's, who having had the lion's share of possession, was actually 2-0 down going into the halftime break. 

The PMC team huddled tightly for the halftime team talk to get matters sorted out. Kevin encouraged everyone that PMC was not playing badly, but had not taken its chances and allowed 2 defensive lapses to cost the team dearly. 2 changes were made at the half, with Sheldon coming on to replace Kevin and Isaac coming on for Yi Jun, with Jingzhong moving into the main CF role. The team was encouraged to continue plugging away and to support one another on the pitch. 

The 2nd half started mostly in the same way as the 1st, with PMC gaining a foothold in the match. BESS, being 2-0 up, was happy to sit back and soak, while attempting to score again on the break. Without any breakthrough, more substitutions were made for PMC after 10min, with Daniel Low replacing Samuel and Lincoln replacing Jeremy Sin, with Kee Min moving to DM. The fresh legs did bring a couple more chances for PMC, but again, poor final balls and finishing let PMC down. With 20min to go, the final PMC substitutions took place with David Sng replacing Damien and Felix replacing Kee Min, with Felix and Jacob swapping positions, allowing Jacob to push up. This immediately reaped a reward, when Weijie's free kick evaded the defence for both Jacob and Jingzhong to break the BESS offside trap, allowing Jingzhong to place the ball beyond the GK to make it 2-1. Bringing back the ball for kick-off immediately, PMC spent the final 10min pressing for the equaliser. The Jacob-Jingzhong combination almost worked wonders again when a one-two allowed Jingzhong to face the GK one-on-one. Unfortunately Jingzhong's scuffed shot was easily gathered by the GK. The full-time whistle blew without another goal. Even though PMC had continued its winless streak, the loss was not one that left a bad taste in the mouth of the players as everyone gave 100% when they were on the pitch and played positively. With 7 matches to go, PMC hopes the end of the season will be far sweeter than the 1st match. 

Soccer Fellowship Report (1st March)

Singapore has been hit by a dry season for the past 1 month or so, yet despite the hot weather (clearly depicted by the brown grass on the hard dry pitch), about 12 soccer enthusiast turn up at Hai Sing Catholic for the weekly dosage of football kick-a-bouts.

This week's devotion was shared from Colossians 3: 8 - 11. Key point to take away is a reminder to each of us to live a honest life, and not having to exaggerate and lie especially in times of question, just to gain more personal glory.

As the numbers are small, we played a small area using the small goalpost, with the width bound by halfway line and the edge of the penalty box, the length the same margin as the penalty box length. Teams were split between White top and Coloured top.Whites boasted the core PMC team with Daniel Chen, Sheldon, Jem, KM, David and the ever-learning Nic. Coloured has veteran uncle Ronnie, talented young Issac, youth Brian and Jon, leggy Joel and another veteran.

Whites play with a more tight short triangle passing interplay with Shel, David and KM highly mobile in the middle for large parts of the game, while coloured used the pin-point long passing of uncle ronnie to switch between issac and joel on each side of the flank. Goals were plentiful as both sides managed well taken shots developed from good team interplay. As the blazing sun blazed relentlessly on the pitch, we called for half time about 25 minutes later and went into the shade to drench ourselves in liquid. Second half was more or less the same for next half an hour. The weather was a good test to our concentration as many times we tend to be moving around aimlessly in the later part of the game and not knowing where each other was.

The session ended five minutes before 5 as our bodies can no longer take any more running in the heat. I closed the session in prayer as we head off to enjoy the weekend.

Till the next session, God bless!