S R NATHAN CUP 2009 SIM 1 - 0 Republic Polytechnic

It was a great way to kick off the 2009 S R Nathan Cup for SIM as they beat RP by a solitary goal to clinch pole position at the top of Group B. The goal came courtesy of Ex-RP striker Ram Shankar who netted in the 79th min. SIM Coach Marko Kraljevic decided to go with the untested striking partnership of Ram and Jeremy.
SIM, defending champions of Sunig 2008, were desperate to continue the form, that saw them clinch gold, into the S R Nathan Cup. RP, on the other hand, had other ideas, a deflected shot from the RP striker sent SIM goalkeeper, Neo Zhi Han, scrambling to palm the ball to safety. Moments later, another shot just flew wide of SIM's goalposts as SIM Captain, Jerome, did just enough to put the RP striker off. RP were desperate to win the game as another draw would probably signal the end of their hopes for qualifying for the semi finals.
Jeremy's runs were creating plenty of problems for the RP defence. He had a few shots but the end result was lacking. At the other end, Jia Han proved colossal in defence as he made a last ditch tackle to prevent RP from drawing first blood. SIM went in goalless at half time.
The second half started the same way the first ended. Ram had a good opportunity mid way through the second half but his lob went agonizingly wide. Marko then took off Tong for Terrance who was more attacking minded. Melvin Yang, one of the heroes of the Sunig campaign was also tossed into the fray.
SIM pushed and pushed, not giving an inch to any of the RP players. SIM striker, Muhammad Fahmi chested the ball down brilliantly in the 70th min but could not evade the defender's challenge. The challenge looked to be illegal but the referee amazingly waved play on. And in the 79th min, the breakthrough came. A through ball to Fahmi, who was in an offside position, did brilliantly to signal for Ram, who was onside to latch onto the ball and fire it into the open net after beating the goalkeeper. First blood to SIM. This sent the SIM players both on and off the field into estacy. RP pushed for the equalizer but the SIM defence stood firm. Vann and Salid came on in the dying embers of the game to ensure SIM won the first game of the campaign. It was yet another display of "no nonsense, in your face" football but the most important thing was that 3 points were in the bag for SIM. There were many Man of the Match awards to be given out that night. Everybody played a part, in defence, midfield and attack. Ram got his first goal for SIM. Jerome, Joe and Jia Han proving unbeatable. Fahmi showing quick thinking to run the clock down in injury time, and not forgetting the rest who gave their 100 %.
SIM next face ITE away on 12th January. 3 points would all but guarantee their place in the semi finals. The SIM boys will definitely look forward to the game after this morale boosting win over RP.

SUNIG CHAMPS 2008

Today was by far the proudest day of my life.. Underdogs, everybody wrote us off even before the tournament began, and yet, we defied all odds to emerge as SUNIG champions. I guess we did it the hard way, coming back from 1 goal down to beat SMU 2-1. Goals came from Melvin and Vann. Man of the match had to go to Melvin. He missed a sitter in the first half. But minutes later, he did extremely well to volley home the equaliser for us which he did with ease. I guess we really wanted it more than SMU as they had nothing to fight for. 1-1 was not enough to secure us as champions and we had to go for the killer goal which Vann got us. Cool and composed as u like. Then the moment came. Final whistle was blown and the celebrations begun. For a moment i felt stunned. I couldnt believe that we won. Man for man NTU, NUS, SMU may have better players than us. But as a team, we were unbeatable in SUNIG. Tested and proven. Although my aim of not conceding a goal in SUNIG did not come true, it didnt matter after all. We had the meanest defence in the tournament. Just conceding 1 goal in 3 games. A record to be proud of. Thanks to everyone who came down to watch the game and supported us throughout this tournament...Gary, caroline and all.
Last but not least. Thanks to all who made me feel at home with you guys so quickly. I'm glad i was able to play a part in this historic win. Lets strive for IVP together :)

22 August 2008

Just came back from soccer "trials"... Was supposed to have a match against SMU but it rained cats and dogs so we did training at Ulu Pandan.. Didnt do much of goalkeeping so i just played along with them. Might have the chance to train with balestier youth if i make the team...looking forward to it to improve my game..But i dont know if i can commit to the team cos i have work and other stuffs on too..sigh.. sort of stuck in a mini dilema..And it suddenly hit me that my passing sucks.. haha..too bad.. i can and yeah you guessed it.. only keeper.. H A H A
Been really tired lately. Over personal stuffs, school and work. Went for some prep workshop on accounting. Felt like it was conducted in tamil or something. Didnt understand most parts of it and i just drifted to lala land afterwards. I have to wake up my idea soon... Sigh cant imagine the scenario if i fail the DE programme.....okay i shall not go there..
On a brighter note, schools not as bad as it seems. Made some buddies in school. And of cos a few weirdos..people who look weird, people who have weird english names... you mention it u got it... haha..Simon is in same tutorial group as me.. Wooooo... At least i have someone to talk to..
Work has been rather okay. Maybe in the perspective of others i have been rather slack? I dont know. Haha but i sure hate office politics. You will not comprehend the manner in which people try to backstab you. But never mind, my consience is clear. I means its like somethings which is not in my job scope (which is rather vague) why should i do. Unless its like in a rush or doing a favor for someone who's nice to me i dont mind. If you dont like what i'm doing just tell me and i'll make it a point not to do it again... And trust me, some people are lazy to the point that they ask you to do the most simple of things which they can do yourself. I'm a librarian, not a maid for fucks sake. But the other librarians are mostly nice though... Suresh being my partner in crime.. making 'joshuaaaaa' jokes...great guy to work with man!
Lastly i wanna apologize for the outbust in my previous post man.. Its like i was really stressed out with my life and i just felt awful for that period of time...i still do a little now... But thanks weijie for talking it out with me even though u had your exams and stuff. And jo and liang for coming down to have a really nice trash-it-out session. It has really helped and i really felt i played better that day... Thanks to everyone who stood by me when i had my off the pitch problems. You all are really more than just friends to me..especially liang, jo, jaemes, jie, bryan and everyone else.. you all really helped me a great deal... Cheers Benedetto.... Champions of Div 8.. Thats the aim :)

i just feel depressed..

I just have this sudden urge to write this.. after talking to a friend about soccer stuff... And after a while i sort of found out we had quite similar thinkings.. probably because we both play A division football before. What i write is just how i feel and my opinions. Its just purely on the pitch stuff...No aiming at any individuals... Well everybody are entitled to their opinions.
We are doing quite well in ESPZEN now.. i know that but sometimes its more than results that matter. Its the way we play our football. In my opinion, i dont feel that referees are an issue. True, referees are not always correct, and sometimes a decision may favour a team. But thats excatly what he is there for. What i'm saying that its a 2 way street.. it goes both ways.
Another thing which i think shouldn't be done is to substitute players in to "take out" our opponents or try to get them sent off. Its a stupid thing to do, and i dont think we're smart enough to do it either. We'll probably get OURSELVES sent off from the way i see it.
Thirdly, i dont see why in our team, the goalkeepers get the stick for everything. In fact, goalkeepers should be the last on the line if we're included in the "blame-game". For example, when i rush out of my box to clear the ball and get it, i dont expect any praises. When i get lobbed and it results in a goal, people straight away point at me and say its my fault. What about the guy who is supposed to track the striker? Or the guy who gave away the free kick? Or maybe someone who gave a needless tackle?
Bottom line is, unless the goal is taken straight from the kick off spot, everybody shares the blame. My view about this, and i believe most goalkeepers do, is that what ever that comes into the box the keeper has the right to come out for it. Even though its at the side or whatever. And, do not tell me things like "what the fuck you doing?" or "dive leh". I think some people take the goalies for granted. Its like every goal that we concede its our fault. To put it crudely i don believe that anybody can play keeper better than me and Aaron in the whole team, except maybe Benson, who was once SAJC NO.2. Sometimes we're just wrong footed and sometimes u try to move but u know its too late or you are just rooted to the spot.
Call me complacent, call me proud. But since when have you heard me brag about myself. My jokes are always about the TEAM being good, not me, believe it or not. But anyway i dont think any of the outfield players know how to play keeper any better than me if not as good as me. I know my own standards and i'm not shy to say that i think that i am above average. I know my strengths, my weaknesses better than any of you. But if you want to teach me a thing or two about goalkeeping, make sure u can do it better than me before you do. I'm more than willing to learn to improve my own game. But honestly now i dont think theres much to learn about goalkeeping from all of you. Just like how you all mock me when i take penalties. Its the same feeling when you all try to lecture me on goalkeeping. Get the point?
And the threats about dropping me. If its just a joke its okay with me. If its not then bring it on. Excluding Aaron and Benson i don't think any of you are going to provide me with a challenge. Dont tell me you have a prime league keeper or you have played with a better keeper or whatever fuck like that. Similarly I've played with better defenders, midfielders strikers etc...Just that Benedetto is YOUR team, so i cant bring in people to play just like that..Like i mentioned earlier, i know my own standards. I fought my way up to become TEAM JJ's NO.1 too so i will do the same too...My ex coach respected me for the fact that i worked my way up when i was a nobody who had never played field soccer before. And i respect him for having faith in me and i still do. I've won A DIV 3rd before so dont presume that i've not won anything before in my life and i think that will be the greatest achievement in my entire "footballing career". Some of you may think coming in 3rd is not a great achievement anyway. I feel even winning ESPZEN or some other tournament is nothing compared to that. I was a nobody in J1 and was not even selected for trials. Mr Ng gave me a 2nd chance in J1 and Mr Shankar gave me a chance when i was in J2 when i retained another year. I'm grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to become the player i am today. I've always agreed with them on how football should be played. No diving, no trying to get people sent off, the best way to retaliate is to keep scoring and scoring and scoring.
Dont talk to me about attitude on the pitch. I believe that there are people with worse attitudue then me. Some people say my attitude on the pitch sucks. I absolutely disagree. Every game i play i play to win, I DONT PLAY DIRTY, i respect my opponents unless i feel they dont deserve my respect. I NEVER RETALIATE. By the way theres a difference between playing hard and playing dirty. My temper is always in check so dont worry about me.
I might have offended a few people along the way. But its my own opinion. I feel its better than talking behind their backs about this and that.
Just to let everyone know that goalkeepers are the last line of defence. If opponents get so near to us, something is wrong in the front. So dont almost point the finger at the people between the posts. And if anyone of you think i dont deserve to wear the jersey for Benedetto anymore, feel free to just tell me.. I'm willing to give it up because i think sometimes that i'm not fit to wear the jersey too due to my off the pitch problems. I'm being honest here, since some of you want me dropped, i'll return the team my jersey... if thats why you want... Anyway sometimes i feel that i'm just here because you need a goalkeeper...doesnt matter too...

Bendetto United 4-1 ESPZEN PRIMERO FC

Benedetto United went home with 6 points in 2 games as they overan their opponents with 4-1 being the final score with goals coming from Zhong Xiang (27) Wang Di (30) Bryan Chen (43) and Liam Wei Jun (67).
Benedetto United went into this game high on confidence despite Chua Wei Jie (DC) serving a 1 match ban after being sent off absurdly in Benedetto's first game of the season against Killer Whales FC. Png Yue Kai (DMC) was therefore slotted into the backline alongside Benedetto's Captain Jaemes Wong (DC).
The first half was a rather cagey affair as both teams struggled to hold on the ball. Perhaps Benedetto were a tad complacent, still savouring the 6-0 win over the Killer Whales, while ESPZEN PRIMERO on the other hand, were on the recieveing end as Team Prodigy hit them for 7 without reply. The PRIMERO players tried a few early long shots but none were on target.
The first sign of danger came when James Khoo (DL) uncharacteristically pushed the ball too far and slid in late on the oncoming winger. He was lucky to escape with just a verbal warning.
ESPZEN PRIMERO'S gameplay was rather predictable, sending diagonal balls to the wingers to chase. Other than the initial mistake, James and Chua Wei Liang (DR) did well to deny any crosses into the Benedetto penalty box.
PRIMERO'S gameplan for defensive freekicks were simple. They pushed all their men up to try to catch the strikers offside. But what they did not expect was smart thinking by Wei Liang to run from deep just as Jaemes sent in the free kick from the left. Unfortunately he was just fractionally offside. However it was encouraging as it showed the quick thinking that Wei Liang possessed to try and counter PRIMERO'S defensive plan. He was just an example of how much Benedetto United has grown, mentally and also skill wise.
Then on 27 minutes the inevitable happened. Wei Liang put Wang Di (ST) through with a delicately chipped through pass, who in turn twisted and turned his way into the penalty box on the right and tried a shot which the keeper parried away. He was unlucky it fell to the feet of the onrushing Zhong Xiang (ST). He tapped it into an open net and the rest they say was history. 1-0 to Benedetto.
Indeed, Benedetto thrived on confidence. This was proven once again as Wang Di had a one on one opportunity with the goalkeeper on the 30th minute. He was as cool as ice as he pushed it away from the on-rushing keeper before tapping it into an open net to make it 2 in 3 minutes. ESPZEN PRIMERO seemed to lose the plot for a minute as Clement (AMLR) and Zhihan (GK) suffer nasty tackles.
Benedetto went into the half time lead with a comfortable 2-0 cushion. On came Bryan (MC) the midfield maestro. In football there is a commonly held belief that all creativity begins in the midfield. And by bringing in Bryan (DMC), Benedetto's Xabi Alonso, (some say Andrea Pirlo minus the hair). Team Manager Josiah was trying to use his creativity and laser guided through passes to kill the game early in the 2nd half. However what he did not expect was Bryan to get himself on the scoresheet just 3 minutes into the 2nd half. He was put through down the right flank and he fluffed his kick but the ball still crept into the bottom right hand corner. He was almost embarrassed to celebrate as he gave a nonchalent face, as if he did not care, the one where we were accustomed to seeing on Cantona's face. But no, i repeat that he did not plant his boots in any of the fans' face.
On 61 minutes, Able(DR) came in for James who had got himself booked for deliberately standing in front of a PRIMERO attacking free kick. Wei Liang shifted to DL to accomodate Able's substitution in. Able is another great addition to Benedetto. His sheer athleticity and marauding runs down the right adds another dimension to Benedetto's game.
By now, it was already Benedetto's game to lose. On 67 minutes, Liam Wei Jun (ST) sealed the win. He miscontrolled the ball in the box but got a second bite of the cherry and calmly slotted in to the bottom left hand corner of the goal. 4-0
Josiah decided to bring on Yeo Kah Yeu for Jeremy and Goh Jun Jie for Wei Jun. They were long serving Benedetto servants and finally made their debuts in ESPZEN after a long time away from the footballing scene.
A well taken goal from outside the box by PRIMERO'S Zihan Tahir on the 70th minute gave them a consolation.That was the only thing PRIMERO had to cheer about as Benedetto held on to the 4-1 lead until the final whistle.
It was another good day for Benedetto. Few would have expected Benedetto to challenge for honours this season. After all, this is their first season in ESPZEN. However, the shrewed signing of Zhong Xiang by the Manager has been greeted with warm reception and adulation from both fans and players alike. A true gem in the making, he has almost scored in every game he has featured for Benedetto. A few more performances of that calibre and maybe, just maybe, who knows, Manchester United might just come knocking on the doors when the transfer window opens at the end of the ESPZEN season...Whatever the case, Benedetto's young squad are definitely doing well in their debut season and going against all odds to prove the critics wrong. Whoever said that you can't win anything with kids?

good display as benedetto loses 3rd in a row

benedetto lost their 3rd league match in a row as we succumbed to a 2-1 defeat. the first half was goaless as benedetto's defence was very compact and quick to close the strikers down. we had good chances from yue kai and desmond but both failed to convert.however it all went pear shaped in the second half as kampung 81 scored in quick sucession to make it 2-0. both goals came from set pieces.newcomer dong xiang score a great goal to make it 2-1 to mark his debut.the cross came from captain jaemes as he maruaded down the left.
this marked the 3rd sucessive league defeat in a row that benedetto has suffered. the team played well today but we failed to take most of our chances and let in sloppy goals at the back. something has to be done to tighten things at the back before relegation becomes a reality.
all we can do is look forward to the next game and make sure we get it right. come on benedetto!

boredom drives u mad...

Just came back from a training exercise.. saw what they did to goats. Its just so cruel. Is it justifiable? Personally i dont think so. But since its "approved", we shall not dwell on that subject lest i get charged. I want to ORD in peace.
I dont know why i'm so eager to play FM now. I think its due to boredom. I'm using newcastle, building a squad worthy of the european challenge. Out goes duff, viduka, emre, barton geremi and gang. I brought in van de vaart as my captain, yidirim, pizarro, paulo ferreira, venegoor, zarate. 3rd in the prem league with a 7-3-2 record. Not bad i think.. beat arsenal 3-0 along the way. Hope i can challenge for europe this season.
Back to why i started this blog, we played knights last sunday and lost 2-1. Really disappointed. i think that my performances have been dropping. I dont know why. I changed gloves recently and the new 1 feels good and gives me better grip. On the other side its less flexible for ur hand but it gives u good support. I really have to up my performances. It sucks to lose a game, not mentioning 2 in a row. It makes u sick in the stomach.
Anyways we'll be playing kampung 81 again this sunday. The previous match we played we got owned 6-4. And i really have to admit they were the better side that day. I feel that our team has been playing "kick and run" football. There is no passing and the defence is just in shambles. Once we get the ball we clear the ball far far away and not look for someone to pass to. Thats the problem. Of cos its easier said then done. Secondly, from the goalkeeper's (mine) point of view, the midfielders are not getting the first balls with their heads, thats why we keep getting attacked. I still remember how Shankar thought us to play football and that was how we got 3rd in the A div. No nonsense football. But it takes fitness to do that. I hope that i do get to start on sunday. It sucks going into a game when you're losing. It just drains ur confidence. And it gets worse especially if u concede early again like last week.
Although i dont call myself a winner i hate that losing feeling, knowing u could have done more, knowing those around u could have done more, much much more. An off day is not a excuse like what jo said.
Football gives people hope, it gives people 90 minutes of escapism from the harsh realities of life. It makes you feel like you're playing in front of a sellout crowd when only your girlfriends and friends are watching. It makes you feel like Kaka or Ronaldo or Van De Sar. For that 90 minutes you dream. For me, the past 2-3 games have been nightmares. Its time to put the ghosts to rest and do those who have put their faith in me proud. And i promise.. i will not disappoint