~Where Emotions Are Expressed...~

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Yesterday was the Nike Cup Finals between my school, Victoria School, and powerhouse Sports School. The score after the final whistle, 1-0, against us. Though we lost, we can say that we were a match to Sports School. We conceded the goal early in the 1st-half... from a corner. Both our last man and stopper went to head the ball, but both missed. The Sports School attacking-midfielder managed to get a touch on the ball. The ball headed between me and our keeper. I pulled back my leg to kick the ball away, but at the same time our keeper prepared to dive for the ball. Both of us hesitated when we saw the other getting ready to clear the ball, allowing the ball to get pass us and into the net. I felt at fault for i could have prevented the goal but didn't.

Though we conceded an early goal, it did not dampen our spirits, for our ever loyal supporters cheered their hearts out, spurring us on. We attacked and defended as a team. We went close a few times but was not able to hit the net. After the half-time whistle went, we gathered around for the coach briefing. I was surprised that i played well, for usually i was too nervous to play well. I was even more surprised when i did not feel any nervousness while playing the game. for i was usually nervous when i play any game, and even more nervous when playing a final. But i did not feel a hint of nervousness when i played. I was even a little disappointed. Not only because of the goal, but because their left-midfielder, Fareez, who was an ex-Victorian, whom i was looking forward to face, did not start the game. I only slide-tackled once during the 1st-half, but i slid three more times during the 2nd-half.

The 2nd-half started with us Victorians feeling pumped out by the constant cheering of our loyal fans and the positive feedback from our coach. We attacked, and managed to get a few chances that could have resulted in a goal or two, but Lady Luck just did not shine on us. Five minutes after the start of the 2nd-half, the person i was looking forward to face came on as a substitute. I was determined to give him a piece of my mind. He soon received the ball from their midfielder. He turned with the ball, only to see me closing him down. He tried to push the ball past me and sprint pass me. When he pushed the ball, i saw a chance to slide him. It was the kind chance that i usually would not take, for there was a high chance that i would not get the ball, i slid in anyway.

As expected, i missed the ball completely, but i managed to get his leg. He fell due to my slide. I awaited for the whistle to stop play because of the foul i commited, but surprisingly, the whistle did not go. There was a whistle signaling our throw-in instead, as the ball rolled out after i slid Fareez. Fareez got up angrily and looked at me, i ignored him and took the throw-in. Many of our supporters, my team-mates and our C'Div coach, Mr Leo Hock Leng complimented me for my slide against Fareez. After the game, I heard that Mr Leo said that he did not mind if we lost 10-0 as long as Fareez does not score. Later on in the game, i slid him two more times, but he was shifted to the center-midfield.

After the game, some team-mates of mine said that their coach changed his position for he was afraid i would injure Fareez. Haha! What a joke. A year ago, when I first joined soccer, and when Fareez joined Victoria, i would try to avoid playing against him for i knew he was too good for me. But when i faced him yesterday, I knew that i was a match for him. I was proud of my achievement of being able to improve myself to match Fareez. He managed to get a good shot on goal though, which was Brilliantly parried away on to the crossbar by our fantastic keeper, Danial Adam Lightfoot. We had played a very good game, and our coach was proud of us, but Lady Luck was simply not with us. We were so close...

I SHOOK hands with Lions Players Khairul Amri and Baihakki Khaizan when we went out to receive our runners-up medals during half-time of the Gombak United vs SAFFC S.League game. I was amazed by their presence. They really stood out from the rest.

Now is the time to concentrate on examinations, and after the holidays, concentrate on our Nationals. I'd would not be online for the whole of this week until exams ends.

Till then, good luck for all your respective exams and may we all pass with flying colours.

Izz...
listening to: Just The Girl - The Click Five

nil sine labore... nothing without labour...

Izz left at 3:11 AM

You're Once My Light...
Once Shining Bright...

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Just letting thoughts out before the start of tomorrow... Approximately 16 hours from now, the Finals of the prestigious Nike Cup will begin. The clash of expected finalist Singapore Sports School and Underdog Victoria School.

We sure had come a long way and had trained hard to reach this stage. It had been invaluable experience going through the stages of the Nike Cup and finally to the finals. I feel that the experience will better prepare us for the Nationals Quarter-Finals that will resume after the holidays.

Today was a day to be remembered... We were awarded a full-day holiday by our principal due to the hard-work of our victorious x-country boys. The B'Div team clinched the coveted gold and the C'Div clinched fourth position, triggering us Victorians requesting, or should i say... demanded, for a half-day. But much to our surprise, we were awarded a full-day instead on the Wednesday of the next week. We Victorians started cheering, but stopped after a few minutes, remembering that we were 'Gentlemen'. That was probably the most exciting event at school, other than that, lessons continued as per normal. But somehow, i managed to be engrossed with lessons (Except Physics. Slept through first ten minutes of lesson until my Teach woke me up just to make me sit for a test.).

After school was soccer training, to better prepare us for tomorrow's game. We focused on defending, set-pieces and penalties. I was the 3rd kicker in case the game went into penalty shoot-out. I tried to adapt myself to a style of taking a penalty. Out of four, I managed to score three, while hitting the post for the missed penalty. I would say that it was a fair result, but i do not think that it would be wise to apply the style for tomorrows crucial game. I played the keeper for a few times during the practice penalty shoot-out, doing enough to convince a few of my team-mate to pick me as the keeper during penalties.

I'm having mixed emotions now... Part scared, part nervous, part excited and part confident. I am looking forward to face the Sports School left-midfielder, who had a stint with Victoria for a year during Sec One until he decided to join Sports School. I want to give him a piece of my mind for leaving Victoria when we were bonding together as a team that could achieve Anything.

Wish us luck and May God Answer my Prayers...

Faithfully your's: Izz...
( currently listening to: Dance Hall Drug - Boys Like Girls)

nil sine labore... nothing without labour...

Labels: Mixed Emotions

Izz left at 8:27 AM

You're Once My Light...
Once Shining Bright...

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Today was the semi-finals for the Nike Cup tournament my school team had worked so hard for. Our match was against Regent sec, a team we beat in the second round by the score of 1-0. We expected to come to us better than before, for we knew that they would want to get back at us following their defeat to us during the second round.

The usual starting XI was played, with me at the right-back position. Instead of the usual 10 minutes per half game, it was 20 minutes per half. We were advised by our coach to pace ourselves. I was sick with flu a couple of days prior to the game, and was still slightly sick when i played the game. My nose was constantly blocked, and i had to breathe through my mouth unless i wanted to faint from the lack of oxygen. Because of that, i had chest pain throughout the match, and my stamina was affected. I had a bad game, with only a few good tackles here and there. Tension was running high. Shouting could be heard throughout the game. The first half was unpredictable, we kept attacking at each other, but it was clear that Regent was playing better. The first half ended in a stalemate... But the second half was slightly better...

We started the second half better, we had more attacking chances. We managed to draw first blood from an unlikely source, our left back, Saufi. He over-lapped and received the ball from a marvelous back-heel by our left midfielder. Everyone was shouting at him to cross. Kick the ball high towards goal he did. And the ball sailed over the keeper and into the net. We cheered in sheer jubilation. We were a step closer to the finals to the Nike Cup, or so we thought.

In the dying seconds of the game, our goal-scorer conceded a free kick from right outside the penalty box. And unfortunately for us, Regent scored from the free kick. Our keeper could have saved it, but it took a deflection from the wall and hit the back of the net. We were devastated. The final whistle sounded after a few kicks from the center start. We could not believe that we conceded a goal at the last seconds of the game. The game was to be decided by a penalty shoot-out.

When our coach asked our players who wanted to take the penalty, only two were confident enough. I wanted to take penalty, but was scared that i would miss. I managed to sum up enough courage to try though, so when our coached asked me whether i wanted to take the penalty i said OK. I was the 3rd kicker. I was very nervous. The penalty would be the first ever penalty i had taken in my whole life. I was really nervous. When our 1st taker went up to take the penalty, the whole field was quiet, you could here a pin drop (Actually no... It was just very silent...). When our 1st kicker took his run up, we held our breaths... When the ball swished into the net, we cheered and congratulated him. Our celebration was short-lived for the Regent player also scored his penalty. When our 2nd kicker went up, the same situation happened again, the place was quiet. We gasped when the Regent keeper managed to get a touch on the ball, but the ball was too powerful for him to parry away. We rejoiced again.

It was soon going to be my turn to take the penalty. And when the Regent player scored, i was shaking like a leaf in strong wind. Before i stepped into the center circle to wait for my turn, i picked up a pebble and clenched my fist around it, focusing on the pebble. It was a method taught to me by a friend. I asked her how to calm my nerves during a practical situation, and she told how she does it, which was what i did. I must say it worked, but a little too well. I managed to calm my nerves down to think properly. I did not want to hit the ball too hard for the fear of missing. I lined up for my run-up, which was about 3 steps... And when the referee blew his whistle, i ran up and hit the ball... When my foot connected with the ball, i knew that i under-hit it... The Regent keeper dived the correct way and i held my breath...

And the ball hit the net via the bottom corner. I blew out a sigh of relief and with it all the tension that had gathered up. Truth to be told, i was lucky with my penalty. My penalty was slow, but managed to elude the keeper. When i kicked the ball, the Regent keeper dived. But the ball was slow, passing the goal-line just after he hit the ground, just missing the keeper's finger tips. He could have taken a step nearer and saved my shot, but he dived too early. I was exhilarated. I had scored my first goal while representing my school for an 11-a-side game! Though it was a penalty,nonetheless it was still a goal.

Our next kicker went up... struck the ball... and the ball hit the crossbar and went out. We were devastated, but lucky for us, the penalty was to be retaken as the keeper was off his line too early. His retaken penalty was parried by the Regent keeper and hit the post, and bounced over the goal-line and barely went in. We again gasped in relief. The next Regent player took his run... kicked the ball... and it went past the post and out. We cheered loudly, but quietened down when our last kicker went to take his penalty.

He ran up... kicked the ball to the corner... the Regent keeper dived... to the wrong way. We celebrated like there was no tomorrow. We at first thought that our penalty curse would happen, but we managed to elude it's grasp this time. We were really very elated. We had qualified for the finals! The finals is this Friday at the Jalan Besar Stadium! It'll be my first time stepping in there and first time playing there too! I can't explain how excited i am! Wish us luck! Thanks!

Izz...

Izz left at 3:00 AM

You're Once My Light...
Once Shining Bright...

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Yesterday was the quarter-finals of the Nike Cup. We had quite a tough group. We had Hongkah, Siglap and... our toughest opponents in the group... Sports School.

Hongkah was considered an A team, for they only sent one team for the Nike Cup. Siglap was a B team and fortunately for us, Sports School was also a B team. Though Sport School consist of Sec 2s and a few Sec 1s, they were still a strong team. Hongkah was also not to be taken lightly. Siglap was the easiest among our three opponents.

Our first match was against Sports School. As expected they were good.. but we were slightly better. matched them in nearly every department. Our defense were split apart a few times, but we managed to scrape through. We drew first blood from our prolific striker. He received a ball at the flank then challenged the last man. He ole-ed the poor defender twice before slotting the ball home at the bottom-corner with a cheeky toe-poke. We were ecstatic. We SCORED against Sports School. Doesn't matter whether they were a sec 2 team or not, they were still expected to win. They had plenty of parent supporters who shouted at every chance Sports School they had. But they were silent after our goal.

Our keeper, Daniel Lightfoot, nearly conceded a goal. The ground was slick and wet, causing the ball to skid unpredictably. The Sports School midfielder took a shot from just outside the box, our keeper was already on his knees to collect the ball but the ball skidded on the ground and increased in speed. Daniel was taken aback, but managed to parry the ball and gather it to his chest. It was kind off scary. Final score... 1-0.

From the start of the tournament, other than the Clementi Town match which we humbled them 10-0, our wins were usually 1-0 wins. But our next match changed it all. We were up against Siglap. As usual, I was deployed at right-back. I was warming up when our dynamic attacking midfielder/forward said that the number 17, their left- winger, was from Sports School, but was kicked out because of smoking. I was a little worried cause i did not know what to expect from him. Furthermore, he was small in size, but skill-wise, very big. I knocked him down once, and he started complaining to the ref for not issuing a foul against him. I had knocked him down fairly, a shoulder push, but maybe a little too hard. After that, i kept a close eye on him but tried not to tackle too hard again. Final score... 3-0.

Next game was against Hongkah. They were a good team, but i am not very worried. We matched them in every department. But there was a moment where we nearly conceded a goal, i injured a player while trying to prevent the goal. Our stopper missed the ball, which too our last man completely off guard. The ball bounced over our last man too. Their striker was clear through with the ball bouncing slightly in front of him. I jumped for the ball to head it away, and my shoulder connected with his cheek quite solidly. But the problem was not over, their other striker managed to get the loose ball over our keeper who was charging out, but i managed to challenge the striker, allowing our keeper to get the ball. Final score... 0-0.

We and Hongkah had qualified for the semi-finals. We are the first batch of Victorians to get this far, and we will try our best to go to the finals. And if we do get to the finals, might as well win it right...?

Thats all for today...
Izz... zZz...

Izz left at 7:35 AM

You're Once My Light...
Once Shining Bright...

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Today was the second round of the prestigious Nike Cup. And our team may already look like contenders. Today's group consists of us, Tanglin, Serangoon, Regent and Bartley. All of them are B-Div Teams.

Our first match was against Serangoon, the team that we hate the most. Some players from Serangoon have really bad attitudes. Especially their number 7 right winger. Last year during the C-Div nationals, we had a match against Serangoon, the number 7 was playing. I went in for our left winger during the first half. I was slotted into the left-back position and the current left-back,our vice-captain, was pushed up to the left wing. At that point of time i did not know the number 7 style of play. Soon enough, i did. I was elbowed, tripped and kicked intentionally by that idiot of a soccer player. Our vice-capt, was also harassed by him. Both of us really felt like giving him a piece of our mind. As though the foul play was not enough, he spat at our vice-capt and tried to look for a fight after the match.

During the Nike Cup match against Serangoon, i played at right-back, not facing their right winger. I had a bad game, much worse than usual for my timing to go in for the header was off. Though i made countless mistakes, the game ended in a draw where both us and Serangoon could have won. They drew first blood in the second half when our stopper misjudged the bounce of the ball resulting in the ball bouncing over him. Their striker capitalized on the mistake an released a left foot shot that was just out of reach of our keeper. The ball went into the goal just below the crossbar. After the goal, we pressured them with all out heart. Our hard work paid off with our striker equalizing in the second half.

After the disappointing draw, we resolved to win the rest of our games. Lady Luck was with us during the win against Bartley(And i had a good game against them). After we scored, our keeper made a mistake which almost resulted in a goal. The ball was bouncing at the penalty area with the goal at his mercy, but the Bartley striker completely missed the ball, allowing our last man to put in a tackle. Even before we had time to breathe out a sigh of relief, the loose ball fell to their other striker which proceeded to guide the ball towards goal with his left foot, but our stopper was at the right position at the right time. The shot went straight to him, which he cleared. BUT, the loose ball went to their midfielder who shot straight and true. Fortunately, our keeper managed to get a hand on it and put it out for a corner. I finally managed to breathe out after half a minute of holding my breath in. Another instance of close call was when it was their corner. Their huge striker got a touch on the ball with his head which headed towards the corner of the goal with our keeper beaten. Fortunately, i was at the right place at the right time. I managed to get my knee to the ball and cleared it away. We managed to hold on for a 1-0 win.

We could have scored more during the 1-0 win against Tanglin, but seems that Lady Luck loosened her hold on us. A wins a wins though. The game against Regent however, was a challenge for they had good wingers in the number 18 and 11. I was facing the number 11, but i felt strangely at ease when facing him. I had a particularly good game against them. I managed to contain the number 11, but i had to say that he was a handful. I faced the number 18 once, during the dying seconds of the game. Our cleared corner fell to him, who dribbled past our midfielder, but i was on hand to get the ball away from him. After the throw-in, the final whistle echoed in our ears. We had managed to snatch the top spot in our group with 10 points out of a possible 12. And we had qualified! From what i heard, we are the first batch of Victorian soccer players to get through the second stage of the Nike Cup. That is some feat. I would be overjoyed if we reach the semis.

This Monday, we have a Nationals B-Div match against Ang Mo Kio. This match is important if we want to fortify our spot for the quarter-finals. Wish us the best of luck!

Thanks...

Izz left at 4:04 AM

You're Once My Light...
Once Shining Bright...