Finals: MJC

The sojourn was almost at an end.

We were already winners. Having reached the finals, we had accomplished more than any other batch under our couach, going the distance without any DSAs or appeals through soccer. Even if we lost the finals and finished second, we had earned the respect of our opponents and placed RJC back on the soccer map. We had proven our critics wrong and had progressed onto the finals despite their scepticism. Even if we lost, we would still be applauded by our supporters, and our efforts would undoubtedly be remembered by some.

But we hadn't come so far, given up so much, only to stumble now. While some might have settled for a second placed finish at the start of the season, or even when elimination seemed all too real, now that we had made it all the way to the finals, losing was not an option.

The 2007 A Division Finals was special because it would be the last time it was held at the old National Stadium. Ours was one of the last matches ever to be played at the National Stadium before it was scheduled to be torn down and revamped. History has a quiet way of building events up to climaxes. MJC, whose soccer team was their pride and glory, would be sending the whole school down to support. RJC, where soccer was just another CCA who were having their finals in a week that would see us in 10 different finals. The stage had been set for this clash between titans. It was a rematch of our hot-blooded group stage clash, except this time we were both 'all-in'. Winner takes all.

In an attempt to avoid being overawed by the occasion, our coach scheduled a bus ride down to the National Stadium for us to get used to the dimensions. My initial reaction was pure astonishment at the sheer size of the National Stadium as viewed from the pitch. Just standing on the track and looking at the empty stands, I could almost imagine the stadium full of supporters and hear the echo of cheers. It was the National Stadium. Where Singapore beat Indonesia to clinch the Tiger Cup earlier in the year. The immensity of the occasion hit me and I was glad for the opportunity to get over my intial shock.

The National Stadium pitch was in impeccable condition, and by far the best non-synthetic pitch I've every played on. The grass was smooth and the field was completely even, which would certainly be an advantage to our passing game. However, the size of the National Stadium pitch exceeded that of JJC's synthetic pitch by almost 10 metres, and we would have to quickly adjust to the increased distance. While JJC's pitch was considered small by any standard, and our own field larger than average, the National Stadium pitch was gigantic. The game would certainly be a very open one with lots of room to run.

As the rest of the team took a slow jog around the stadium and did some ballwork on the off the field, I was reduced to the status of spectator. As I mentioned previously, I had twisted my knee during the semi-finals, and upon returning home, I discovered that I couldn't put any weight on my left knee. A trip to Dr. Low, who every J2 with the exception of Darrell has visited at some point or another, confirmed a sprain of my knee ligament. I had 5 days to recover, and on Saturday I was in crutches. It was a personal miracle that when I returned for another consultation on Wednesday, I was given the green light to play, subject to my own estimation of my match fitness.

As the finals drew closer, we started to feel the jitters. It became harder to go to sleep at night, or to pay attention during lessons. Making matters worse was the fact that the GP/KI Common Tests 2 were scheduled the day before our finals, and as important as our finals was to us, our coach had always emphasised the academic part of 'student-thlete' over the sports bit.

The day of the our finals coincided with the Badminton Boys' and Girls' Finals, the Bowling Girls' Finals as well as the Hockey Boys' Finals. Of the 4, only the Hockey finals was a direct clash with our own, meaning that support would be split between the National Stadium and Delta Complex. Despite this taxing schedule, the Badminton Boys team promised to come down and support our match after they clinched their own title, a generous gesture indeed.

When we got to the National Stadium, the 3rd-4th placing match between SAJC and VJC was underway. We walked the corridor underneat the stands, and into a dressing room. While it was not exactly posh like the ones Premiership clubs had, it was a nice touch and added to the air of authenticity. We chilled out in the dressing room until the start of the second half, where we changed into our white jersey and green shorts for our warmup. We would later change back to our green jersey before the match started. The warmup was a little awkward as there was precious little space for us to do our drills, and we had to improvise alot. However, I don't think anyone put too much thought into the warmup, and our minds were more focused on the match to come.

During our stretching, the usual voices added the usual comments. Cunzhi, with his calm demeanour and reminders. Eugene, with his customary tough love. Bowen with his traditional optimism. It would have seemed like just another game if not for the fact that this was likely to be our last stretching warmup as a team. Sitting in a circle, I took the opportunity to look at each and every one of my teammates, focusing on their faces to remind myself that when I stepped onto the pitch, I was playing for each and every one of them.

Soon after we changed to our green jerseys, it was time to get onto the pitch for our last warmup. Barely any time had elasped before we were called in for the huddle. This was it. Everything we had trained so hard for, and with the supporters cheering in the background, the tension was thick in the air. There would be no holding back this time, everyone would be going all out.
This was the finals.


The starting lineup for the finals: Timon, Junliang, Eugene, Cunzhi, Zenzel, Yijing, Martin, Hashir, Woohan, Sean and Chaolun.

Timon had been outstanding throughout the season, and his form had really peaked during our last two matches against JJC and VJC. His performances kept us in tight matches, and vindicated every ounce of faith we had placed in his two hands.

The back 4 remained the same, and had been ever since Zenzel had recovered from his ankle injury. The partnership of Cunzhi and Eugene, with Cunzhi as last man and Eugene as stopper had proven successful during the 2006 campaign, and had proven so during our season as well. With Cunzhi behind him as the last line of defense, Eugene was able to confidently step up and provide a one-man wall in the centre of defense. It was as strong a back four as one could possibly hope for, with each player not only strong defensivley, but able to distribute as well.

Yijing and Woohan had proven themselves two of the most dangerous wingers in the entire competition. As different as their styles were, with Yijing depending on his skill and Woohan exploiting his pace, they were both highly effective.

Hashir and myself were back together in the centre of midfield, with me playing a more defensive role and Hashir the more attacking one. It was the same midfield partnership that we had started out with in J1, and the fact that we had come full circle was not lost on either of us. Hashir had not exactly been playing well, or at least not up to his usual high standards in the last few matches, but he was everywhere in the finals.

Sean had earned his spot on the starting lineup by nature of his excellent form. At one point, we thought we had lost him because he had family commitments to juggle along with training, but his form returned just at the right moment. He was fighting for individual honours as well, as another goal would see him tied for top and the Golden Boot award.

Chaolun had the most important role in our team. He had the unenviable task of man-marking the MJC captain. While it might seem strange to ask a striker to man-mark a defender, the MJC captain, a National player, was the heart of the entire MJC team. He took all the set pieces, goal-kicks included, and was the driving force behind the entire team. We hoped that Chaolun's height and his suprising speed would allow him to match the MJC no. 8 physically. Our strategy was to shackle him completely, and to prevent him from even getting into the game. We were essentially going to play 4-4-1, against what we hoped was 3-5-1. Unorthodox certainly, but at the JC standard, an effective strategy.

As we got ready for the kickoff, we lined-up in the tunnel, side by side with MJC as the PA system announced the starting lineups for both teams. It felt surreal, as though we were in in a professional match, with the tunnel and the announcer. As wonderful as it felt soaking up the atmosphere, we were focused on the task at hand. I had perhaps the most motivation to give my all in the first half, as our coach had told me he only intended to play me for a maximum of one half before bringing on Bowen.

It was a nervy start for both teams, with both teams tentative in their play. However, with the large pitch, the wingers on both sides were soon finding plenty of space on the flanks. MJC had come with clear strategy: they were attacking heavily on our right side, and they kept forcing their play to the left where their speedy winger was enjoying some success. On our side, Woohan was having his way with the MJC left back on the right flank, and only excellent defending from the MJC centre backs kept our forwards from being on the receiving end of his crosses. However, the pick of the bunch had to be Yijing. Playing against his ex-clubmate, he was practically toying with the right back. Turning him inside and out with his trickery, he came the closest to unlocking the MJC defense. His cross-cum-shot to the far post was narrowly missed the far post, and Woohan was a split-second late in getting on the end of another of Yijing's crosses and opening the scoring. Yijing would later win Man of the Match honours for the finals, and deservedly so, and would prove himself to be someone to watch for next season.

The first half was a close affair, and ended honours even. During the half-time talk, our coach asked us to close our eyes and just listen. While this was totally reminiscent of the movie 'Miracle', it was nevertheless impactful. I don't know how to describe it, I could hear the voices of the RJC supporters from the stands, I could hear the heavy breathing of the players around you, and we just soaked that moment in. It was at that moment that for the first time I believed that we would win the championship. As naive as it sounds, the confidence in my coach and the people really just seeped into me. In that moment, I somehow just knew we were going to win.

We started the second half excellently, and I recall giving a blind pass to Hashir who had tons of real estate in front of him. We created chances and we defended with our lives. However, the game really swung in our favour when Bowen and Bong were substituted for myself and Woohan. We had done our jobs, and now it was time to pass the baton on to others to finish the work we had begun.

The goal was a thing of beauty, and in fact somewhat similar to the one Bowen scored against MJC in our first encounter. It involved the same three players, Bowen, Bong and Chaolun. A nice long ball down the line by Zenzel saw Bong play a neat 1-2 with Bowen, and Bong's low cross was flicked by Chaolun staight into Bowen's pass, who carrying the weight of the dreams of each and everyone of us, calmly slotted the ball pass the keeper and into the bottom left hand corner.

The crowd went mad. For the first time, we celebrated a goal thoroughly, with Bowen running to the sidelines pointing his finger at the crowd and at us in triumph. And for once, our coach didn't appear to mind. Bowen, whose form had deserted him at the start of the season, scored the most important goal of the entire season, taking his tally up to 5 to tie with Sean as our top scorers.

It was an amazing feeling, to be ahead in a finals. I remember the reaction on the bench, just pure jubliation. I remember pumping my fist and egging the crowd on, though rather needlessly as pandemonium had long erupted in the stands. Now, all we had to do was to hold on to our precious lead.

Holding on to a one goal lead is about the hardest thing to do in soccer. There is a tendency for the team ahead to sit back and defend which more often than not, proves fatal. Protecting a lead can sometimes cause you to lose it, as you are no longer able to keep possession of the ball in the opponent's half, and sooner or later, the odds work in favour of your opponents. We had only let in 5 goals the entire season. One from SRJC, one to ACJC, an own goal by Eugene for MJC, a token goal to JJC and a goal to VJC. Now, only the clock and our own resolve stood between us and the title.

Everytime one of our players got the ball, we would be begging them to drive the ball to a corner and to hold the ball there. Everytime we chanced an attack and loss possession instead we would curse the players involved. Nothing is worst than sitting on the bench and trying to mentally will time to accelerate. Every near miss by MJC set our hearts to our stomachs, while every clearance met with a sigh of relief. We were shouting at Hashir and Yijing for much of the last 20 minutes, encouraging them to persevere through the exhaustion. Hashir finally succumbed to cramps and had to be replaced by Si-En, who made a cameo appearance in the finals.

Finally, it was over. We had done it, we had won the match by a single goal. For Chaolun, he had erased any demons that might have haunted him after his semi-finals penalty miss. For Cunzhi, he had captained a championship winning side, and he could not have been prouder of us. For our coach, it was his very first A Division title. For me... It was simply a miracle.

We had done the implausible even though the odds were stacked against us. By lifting the National Schools Soccer A Division Championship trophy, we had conquered our very own third mountain and accomplished the goals we had set. The journey that we had begun almost 19 months ago was now complete.

This... is our miracle.



The end.

Semi-Finals: VJC

It's the playoffs, crunch time. Time to see what we were made of. Were we contenders, or just pretenders? Don't you just love knock-out? While it's true that a league format more accurately reflects championship form, and what makes a champion is not the performance of one day but over a period of time, the knockout format nonetheless has a certain appeal to it. The English FA Cup is known for giant-killing, where on any given day, a minnow can defeat an established giant, everything is up for grabs.

There were no undos, no do-overs, no makeups. It was all... or nothing. We were only going to get one shot at this, and had to make it count.

Along with the news that we had made it into the semi-finals, we found out that we would be playing VJC. This came as somewhat of a surprise, as we had expected SAJC to finish top of their group, having been tied with VJC throughout the tournament but having a substantially superior goal difference. However, SAJC lost to CJC on the final matchday, although they had already secured qualification. This meant that they would face MJC, while we had a date with history. Why? Because for the past 7 years, VJC had made it to the finals every single time, a considerable streak, but nevertheless, we had no intention of letting it be extended.

However, despite VJC's impressive record in the A Division semi-finals, there was some upside to our fixture. We had played SAJC twice during the preseason, drawing 2-2 at SAJC and losing 3-2 at home. VJC on the other hand, we beat 3-0 at home. While preseason matches are hardly anything to go by, and VJC's squad was certain to be strengthened since the last time we played them, SAJC were extremely potent up front. SAJC presented a very small and quick strikeforce, and while we had managed to standup to taller and bigger strikers, we had not been able to keep the SAJC strikers quiet during the friendlies. The SAJC strikers had been in top form in the tournament, scoring goals for fun and racking up the goal tally. Personally, I thought that there was little to separate the two semi-finalists from Group A, but perhaps it was a pure stroke of luck that we were drawn against VJC. Every cloud has a silver lining, after all, if we knocked the defending champions out to progress onto the finals, no one would think us underserving of the finals berth.

However, going into the semi-finals, we were undoubtedly second-favourite. Many thought of us as the underdogs of the tournament. I wouldn't even go so far as to call ourselves the dark horses because I think frankly everyone thought that we were in the semis to make up the numbers, and no one honestly believed that we would pose much of a challenge to the defending champions VJC. After all, we had barely scraped into the semis, and of the four semi-finalists, we had fared the poorest in the group stage. It was, for all intents and purposes, a three-horse race.

The atmosphere during the trainings leading up to the titanic clash with VJC was subdued at first. Perhaps the realisation that we were no longer in the Little League anymore sank in rather hard; We were batting with the big boys now, there weren't going to be any more gifts or freebies, we were going to have to fight tooth and nail for every inch of that field. But credit to the team, I think we rose to the occasion and the tension only hardened our spirits. Credit to our coach as well, who opted for more relaxed training sessions, where we more stretching than we did running. Even though he told us he was merely trying to guard against any last-minute injuries, I think he wanted to avoid adding any pressure on us with last-minute preparations and late-night drills. He believed that we had it in us to beat VJC, and as long as we 'showed' up for the semi-finals, it was ours to win.

The pre-match briefing was similar to that of our first encounter with MJC. Aside from our usual defensive assignments, we were not given instructions on how to attack VJC. Perhaps it was simply that at the highest level there were no weak-links to exploit, but I'd like to think that we played our best football when it was allowed to flow freely.

One anomaly about the VJC pre-match briefing was that we were given scouting information on the entire VJC squad, or at least those that had featured in the matches that we had scouted and were likely to play in the semi-finals. Of course the information we were given was nothing like scouting reports in FM, but basically the key threats in VJC's team were identified and had to be neutralised. Junliang was given the task of keeping VJC's RW Redzuan quiet, while Hashir was to track the surging runs of their star midfielder Pakin and I was to shadow Justin, one of the few members in the team who had tasted victory in the finals the year before.

We were to play VJC at 3pm at CCAB, the venue for the semi-finals every year. On one hand, our coach had told us that he would try to request to play the earlier match, because as absurd as it sounds, he believed that playing in the heat of the 3pm sun would be to our advantage. On the other hand, the CCAB pitch was notoriously poor, and this would definitely be a major disadvantage to our passing game. True enough, when we arrived at CCAB and stepped onto the field, we found patches of water and mud that stopped the ball dead in its tracks, and there was hardly any grass for the pitch to be called a field. Compared to the synthetic turf at JJC, or even the scrappy pitch at MJC, this was by far the worst pitch of the lot. It was going to be a scrappy affair.

The clash between VJC and us would see two somewhat similar teams, both defensively stout and both prided themselves on being among the fittest in the competition. Furthermore, our coaches knew each other quite well and as uncanny as it might sound, were rather similar themselves. Once, we saw the two of them wearing similar blue T-shirts and black shorts, standing side by side as they watched a match. If this had been a boxing match and the coaches had gone head-to-head, the headlines would undoubtedly have read, "Brother against Brother".

I guess that really sums up how tight the match was, the two teams trading blows for the majority of the first half, waiting to see who would flinch first. VJC had championship experience on their side, yet we had that thirst, that hunger, that only contenders can comprehend, which winners gradually lose as they enjoy continued success.

Lastly, if there was one thing that was sure to add some fuel to the fire, we would be playing against Wu Chean again, our old teammate who left RJC after the first three months. While there was certainly no bad blood at all, and he had left on the best terms and was sorely missed by us, the pre-match comraderie quickly spilled into rivalry once we stepped onto the pitch together like we did in the past, but only this time on opposing sides. It's always special playing with one of your ex-teammates, it adds a certain rivalry to the air.

The lineup: Timon, Junliang, Cunzhi, Eugene, Zenzel, Yijing, Martin, Hashir, Woohan, Sean, Bong.

For once, we actually started off the match quite well. There was sustained pressure on the VJC goal for the opening 10 minutes, in which we earned a couple of corners on the right flank. Woohan probably had his best game of the season, fully exploiting the space on the right flank despite the truly horrid condition the pitch was in. Football Weekly called him tireless in leading the line, and I have to admit he was amazing with his endless sprints up and down the right flank. He was explosive on the burst and really exposed the left back for his lack of pace. I suspect that to some extent, VJC played Wu Chean on the left wing in order to add a little more defensive presence in order to counteract Woohan, whom they might have likewise scouted during the season. While Yijing brought sublety and skill onto the left wing, and penetrated into the centre more often than his counterpart on the opposite wing, Woohan had the ability to move down the line at will.

After the initial onslaught by us, the tables quickly turned. Soon, it was us who who came under a period of sustained pressure from VJC, for about the middle 20 minutes of the opening half. While there were not any clear-cut chances from VJC, it was quite evident that they had increased the tempo and we had yet to match it. The game was being played in our own half, and their physical prowess was starting to gain an edge. Pakin and the captain, Gavin, had switched roles, with Pakin dropping to centre-back and Gavin pushing up to midfield, meaning that any high balls that we attempted to send upfield were mostly cut out by Pakin's tall frame.

While attempting to clear the ball, I swung my left foot straight into Justin and even though I gave away a foul in our defensive third, I came off worse of the two. My knee got caught between Justin's legs as I swivelled and fell, and although I didn't know it then, I sprained my lateral collateral ligament, an injury which would see me through the remainder of the first half. However, after the half-time talk, I discovered that I had lost all power in my left leg and had to be substituted. Thankfully, I did not prove a defensive liability before Bowen could be brought on to replace me.

During the half-time talk, our coach emphasised that we were doing well, and that we should draw inspiration from the scoreline. We, underdogs in the tournament, were holding the defending champions to a goaless draw, and just a single goal from us could potentially see us through to the finals. Some tactical information was passed, most notably in response to the switch between Pakin and Gavin that had caught us offguard, and back we went onto the pitch hoping to break VJC's rhythm.

Unfortunately, we soon went a goal behind in the second half. VJC substituted their top scorer for Joel, who had been identified as a key threat during the pre-match briefing. In fact, we were actually a bit surprised that he had not started, and we only later learnt that the striker who had started in place of him had actually been in excellent form. True to our reports, Joel punished us with a remarkable goal. A throw in on the right flank was met by a flick on by one of the VJC players, and Joel stole in between 2 defenders to flick the ball into the far corner over Timon. A well-taken goal, deserving of the lead.

Up till that point, we had to carve a genuine opportunity against VJC. But again testimony to the spirit of the team, we fought back to equalise. Shortly after VJC took the lead, we equalised via Sean, who managed to force a corner from Yijing into the back of the net for his 5th goal of the tournament, far from his best but perhaps the most important of all. Just as against MJC, we responded to going a goal down in the best possible manner: by equalising.

From there on out, it was anybody's game. Both side had chances, although I have to admit VJC came agonisingly close to regaining the lead, with their right winger volleying over the bar from close range. As the clock waned, it seemed more and more likely that the match would go into extra-time, which was somewhat redundant as only 5 minutes were played in each half, barely any time at all.

During the training sessions during the week, our coach had told us that for the past few years, no semi-final had been decided on penalties. But nevertheless, we practiced dilligently. I suppose he foresaw the possibility that the game against VJC might boil down to penalties, and wisely decided to test our penalty taking abilities. Eugene, Darrell and Junliang had been the most impressive during penalty kicks, scoring every single penalty.

However, before the match could be decided by penalties, where we felt that we held the edge because of Timon, who was an excellent penalty saver, we had to survive extra-time. Yes, survive is an apt word here, because extra-time was all VJC. It took every ounce of Cunzhi's man-of-the-match performance and Timon's heroics to keep us in the game, as VJC pounded our goal relentlessly. There was one breakaway where Cunzhi had to sprint half the breadth of the field to toe-poke the ball into the stands away from the onrushing winger. VJC came close to winning it in regulation time on a number of occasions, but failed to convert, and perhaps this was a sign that fate had already decided who would progress onto the finals.

At this juncture, I must really applaud the RJC student community. On the day of our semi-finals, there were quite a number of other matches RJC was involved in, and the Student's Council had been taxed greatly over the course of the week with Council Investiture and other match supports. Yet, when the announcement came that the soccer boys were playing their semi-finals against VJC, the student body answered the call and came down in full voice. While our numbers weren't close to those of VJC, or even SAJC and MJC, I was greatly touched by the fact that although the two buses chartered for our match support were quickly filled, many people still came down on their own to support us, such as Mr. Hodge and the VP. While the players had requested their friends come down to support them, a considerable number of supporters came down of their own volition, and everyone lined up on the track alongside the players on the bench as we watched the penalty shootout with bated breath.

Order of penalty takers for RJC: Bowen, Cunzhi, Eugene, Weiyu, Junliang, Darrell, Chaolun, Sean, Guankoon-Yijing-Timon. Weiyu had substituted on for Zenzel, while Guankoon had come on for Woohan, and Chaolun had come on for Bong.

RJC 0- VJC 0:Strangely enough, we found out later that Cunzhi had won the coin tossed and actually opted to kick 2nd, a move which we would later reproach him for. The logic is that you generally want to take the penalty first, so all the pressure is on the second penalty taker to score assuming sudden death. But I guess it all worked out for the best.

0-1: I don't remember the order of penalty takers for VJC, but safe to say that all 5 were excellently placed and had power to boot. Timon guessed correctly on occasion but couldn't quite get a palm to the ball. Maybe I'll ask Timon if he recalls how they went. The first penalty however, wrong-footed him and was cooly placed in a bottom corner.

1-1: Bowen stepped up to take the 1st penalty for RJC. If there's one thing about Bowen, he has nerves of steel, possibly accounting for his icy cool finishes. He later explained to us that he had atttempted to con the VJC keeper by pointing left and right before taking a run-up to the ball. As audacious or ridiculous as this might sound, the latter being especially so considering the gravity of the situation, it worked and Bowen sent the ball straight down the middle as the VJC keeper dived wrongly.

1-2: I don't think Timon came close to saving this one, another corner placement.

2-2: Cunzhi's turn to take the penalty. While I would like to say I firmly believed that he was going to score, the memory of his recent miss at JJC was still fresh in my mind, and I could only hope that it wasn't in his. Maybe it was the captain's armband, or the fact that he had played too well during the course of the tournament to be cruelly denied a captain's penalty, but somehow he managed to squeeze the ball into the back of the net. Not the best of penalties, but it was a goal nevertheless.

2-3: I think Timon actually guess this one correctly, and was within a whisker of touching the ball. But again, the pace of the spotkick ensured that it was pass Timon before he could get down in time to palm it aside.

3-3: Perhaps the most emphatic penalty came from Eugene, who I cannot recall having ever missed a penalty. Stories of his secondary school basketball flops and fiascos aside, Eugene was completely professional. His face devoid of any emotion, he all-too-cooly stepped up and placed the shot into the bottom right hand corner leaving the keeper rooted on the spot, swift and painless like a professional hit. He took the spotkick with such confidence that it hit the back of the goal frame and actually rebounded out, leaving quite a number of us on the sidelines wondering whether he had just missed. But as Clifton quickly pointed out, looking at his nonchalant expression, he had definitely scored.

3-4: Timon guessed right again I think, but this time that was all he managed as the ball was impeccably placed into one of the top corners.

4-4: Time for Weiyu to step up. Frankly, I was a little afraid that he might just go a little beserk and just smash the ball so hard that it would fly straight at the keeper and out. But credit to him, he kept his wits about him and instead of smashing the ball, rolled it into the the bottom corner, allowing the spectators to breathe once again.

4-5: No chance, Timon was beaten ends up by the 5th penalty, by Pakin I think. Can't be sure though, but any hopes of the pressure getting to the 5th VJC penalty taker were quickly dashed.

5-5: Junliang was perhaps the surest bet among the 5, possibly why he was selected to take the 5th penalty. Nothing appears to ever faze him, except his own mistakes or those of the boy who plays in front of him, though Yijing too seldom put a toe wrong. With trademark sass and a cocky run-up which only he can manage, Junliang placed it and beat the keeper easily.

Each team had scored all 5 penalties, VJC in emphatic fashion and RJC in rather less so. However, penalties were now sudden death, which is a completely new ballgame because you don't have the luxury of having your teammate bail you out. It was now mano a mano, man to man.

5-6: Timon guess correctly again, but couldn't save it.

6-6: The man in the cleanup position for us was Darrell. Yes, this might sound rather strange but Darrell had proven one of the best penalty takers in the team, performing far better than regular takers like Hashir or Bowen. Up till now what exactly it is in his disposition that allows him to excel continues to baffel me, but whatever it is, he has it in abundance. Darrell was in fact brought on with 30 seconds left in extra-time, with the sole intention of scoring a penalty kick. While some might dismiss this, the pressure knowing the you were sent on to score a penalty kick must be enormous, and even Jamie Carragher failed to convert. Darrell however, did not disappoint, as he cooly dribbled the ball into the bottom-left corner, kick the ball so slowly that it seemd as if time had slowed down and the keeper would simply pick himself up and walk over to the opposite corner to save the shot.

Later, we learnt that Darrell was unaware that he was embroiled in sudden death, and thought that there was still someone after him to fallback on in case he missed. Bless his forgetful mind because in the end it worked out for him.

6-6: A miss! The VJC player, as cruel fate would have it, hit the ball crashing against the woodwork. Centimetres never meant so much to us as it did then. We had it now, the finals berth was ours to lose. There was utter silence among the VJC fans, and the RJC supporters were almost rejoicing. Some of the players on the bench almost ran onto the pitch in delirium. But as we've learnt by now, it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

6-6: Chaolun stepped up, and even though he had done well in training, I could not ignore the foreboding sense in my stomach. Sadly, Chaolun did a Beckham, slipping right before he kicked the ball, and even though the keeper dived in the opposite direction, the ball slowly bobbled just wide of the right-hand upright. Ah... so close yet so far. It was now the VJC fans who started celebrating.

6-6: YES! Finally, Timon broke the deadlock by saving the first penalty in his duel with the VJC keeper. It was not the best penalty in the world, the type that haunts a player for the remainder of his career. This time, not only silence fell on the VJC supporters, but an air of defeat. In the other camp however, the RJC supporters were full of belief, knowing that it was highly unlikely that we would mess up twice in a row.

7-6: And of all people, the man to seal the contest for us was the goalscorer, Sean. At first, I thought that Timon might pull a Ricardo and go for the double-glory, but the reins were passed to Sean who duly stepped up. Sean hadn't been performing well during penalty practice, often blasting the ball wide of the goal and walking away sheepishly. However, this time there was to be no walking away with eyes downcast, only with raised arms as Sean rather nervously sent the ball into the back of the net, casting pandemonium and delirium among the RJC supporters. The players ran onto the pitch in ecstasy, completely ignoring the cries of the organiser to exit the field for the next match to proceed.

Some of us cried on the pitch, the sheer magnitude of our feat finally dawning upon us. I remember running onto the field, my injured knee be damned and hugging celebrating with Chaolun. Even our coach and teacher in charge lost all semblance of decorum, jumping and celebrating as though that single moment had shed decades off their lives. Timon was in tears and being comforted by Mr. Hodge of all people. I think none of us will ever forget that moment, and the friends and family we shared it with.

To the VJC team of 2007, our uttermost respect and admiration. In some ways, they were a superior side, and only lost out on penalties which has to be the worst way to exit a tournament. The penalty shootout has to be the most attractive feature of soccer, yet at the same time its most unfair and cruel one. In my opinion, if VJC had gone onto the finals they would almost have certainly gone on to win the championship. They put up what was arguably the toughest fight we had in our entire season, and until the very last minute of the game, never once stopped playing like champions.

We had done it... Heroes each and every one of us. We had gone further than any other team under our coach ever had, and we were one match and one victory away from immortality. While Timon will forever be remembered for his save and Sean for his 2 goals, each and every player played a part. We had worked for over a year to reach this position, the finals at Kallang National Stadium. We didn't need to aim to win the championship, all we needed to do was to aim to reach the finals, because we knew once we got there, there was no way we weren't coming home with the championship.

Onwards to Kallang. To the National Stadium. To immortality.

JJC

For all intents and purposes, we were dead and gone. When our coach broke the news to us that ACJC had beaten YJC, by a narrow scoreline of 1-0 in the waning moments of the match, it horrible realisation sunk in. JJC was to be our final game, our swansong, because even if we won our game by 20 goals, as long as ACJC won against TPJC, we were out.

Truth be told, there wasn't much faith amongst the players that we would go through. While all of us wanted to believe deep down inside that we were going through, there was that sinking feeling that we had to face the facts. The despair we felt at the fact that our fate did not rest in our own hands was one of the worst feelings in the world. There are times when you are able to look back at the entire process that has brought you to where you are now, and reflect on the countless hardships, the trials and tribulations you have overcome in order to summon the strength and the courage to aid in you in this one final obstacle between you and sweet victory... This was not one of those times. It was a horrible feeling, one that seemed to sap the strength out of us even before we got onto the pitch.

However, if there was any glimmer of hope, it was that our fixture had been moved to a Monday as JJC's pitch was unavailable of the usual Tuesday as this match had been postponed due to a rainout, whereas ACJC would be playing TPJC at MJC on the usual Tuesday. If we had any advantage, it would be that a win would put all the pressure on ACJC. On the other hand, if we were to slip up against JJC, ACJC would go through to the semi-finals regardless of their performance in their final match.

We knew the task at hand. We had to go to JJC and not just beat them, but beat them by a convincing margin in order to send a message to ACJC to remind them that we were still there. JJC were out of the tournament, but as always, they were playing for pride, having lost three times in front of their home crowd, we knew that they intended to hold that number at three, and if there was anything that would cap off a disappointing campaign, it would be a victory over Raffles Junior College. During the training on Saturday, our coach told us that the JJC coach had asked him to convey this message to us: "If your boys want it, they have to come and take it from us". Our coach proceeded to write this message in capital letters on the whiteboard of the briefing room, and left it there for us until the match-day to remind us. JJC were not going to lie down and take it, and had issued us a challenge: If you want it, come and take it.

The line-up: Timon, Junliang, Eugene, Cunzhi, Zenzel, Yijing, Martin, Hashir, Woohan, Sean and Chaolun.

During the pre-match briefing, I was written in at the traditional AM position. After some laughs and pats on the backs, I learnt that our coach wanted me to play higher up the field this time to apply pressure on the JJC defensive midfielder. Just like our previous game against them, our teacher in charge had identified their 2 midfielders as the main threats, but instead of me taking the Attacking Midfielder as I had in the first game, I was to take the DM. Based on sheer form, I would have to say this was as strong a side as we could field.

On the way to JJC, I could sense the tension. Everyone spoke a little less on the bus, there were less jokes, and everyone seemed a little grim. I think one of the hardest things about the A Division soccer season is the sheer length of it. Some other CCAs have competitions that last a day, or a few days, or maybe a week, or perhaps a little longer like the Rugby season. But to my knowledge, no other CCA in at the Junior College level has a season as long and as demanding as the soccer one. We play two matches a week, for an entire month, and after that the surviving teams still have to play the semi-finals and the finals. We trained on Monday, played a match on Tuesday, did a little bit of weights on Wednesday and had video debrief, trained on Thursday, played on Friday, and trained on Saturday as well. While I guess having a long season ensures that your year's worth of training will at least amount to 8 matches, it is really draining. I could see signs of that fatigue in my teammates, perhaps if we had already secured qualification there wouldn't be any fatigue but just excitement, but that was not the case. I don't mean to exaggerate it by saying that people were falling asleep or passing out from exhaustion, but you could see it in the little things, being flat-footed during warmups, that little droop of the shoulders when a pass went astray, or just the lack of a strong voice. When you really think about it, it's an enormous feat, the ability to muster up the adrenaline day in day out, to psyche yourself up for every match, to be full of energy.

Anyway, back to the match. I didn't really realise this during the match, but after watching the video, I realised that the first half against JJC was perhaps the worst defensive performance from us the entire season. JJC must have had at least 10 decent scoring opportunities, and if not for Timon in goal, we could have been down 2 or 3 by the break. I guess I really have to give credit to Timon here, he really kept us in the game with an amazing performance in the first half, and I think he played the match of his life here. He must have had at least 8 to 9 saves throughout the entire game. Things just weren't clicking for us. In the midfield, I have to say that Hashir and I found ourselves in an unfamiliar situation, with me playing higher up for the first time. Furthermore, I was having absolutely no effect on the DM as I was not able to stop him from distributing the ball, simply because he wasn't getting much of the ball. Everytime he won the ball from our forwards, he simply cleared the ball first time before I could put in a challenge, and offensively I was unable to contribute. Hashir on the other hand, was being forced further and further back to track the AM, and the forwards were able to help apply pressure on him so he got even less time on the ball. Defensively, I don't really know what happened, but safe to say, it wasn't their best game.

Halfway through the first half however, we had a breakthrough. Chaolun's break into the box drew a sliding tackle from the JJC defender, and we won a penalty. As Cunzhi stepped up to take the penalty that would give us a much-needed lead, I crossed my fingers and told the players on the edge of the penalty box to focus on the second-ball, while at the same time praying that they would not need to. Sadly, Cunzhi failed to convert the spotkick, and the keeper saved it. Perhaps he was not the best candidate to take the penalty, having narrowly avoided the keeper against TPJC, but nevertheless he was the captain and was handed the responsibility.

When the half-time whistle blew, I knew we were in for a shelling. I knew how badly we were playing, and I was frankly exhausted as I made my way towards our bench. I had been chasing the DM all around the pitch, and neither of us had made much of an impact on the game, and I had to admit he had gotten the better of me on a few occasions. As we gathered under the shelter, my mind was in a haze. All of a sudden, our coach took a bottle of H2O and threw it so hard on the floor that the bottle cap flew off and the bottle exploded, splashing H2O on a few of my teammates who had been unfortunate as to sit at the front. If anything, this really woke me up. He shouted at us for a while, but I didn't really register what he was saying as I was still in a bit of shock, and all I knew was that he was seething in anger and with good cause. At the end of the scolding, I was ready to get onto the pitch and turn things around. I guess sometimes a good-old fashioned tongue lashing is just what the doctor ordered. However, before I stepped back onto the pitch, I went up to our coach and told him that I thought that Hashir and I should revert back to our old position and I should take the AM while Hashir should push higher up the field. The coach agreed with me and relented, and in my opinion, this would prove a winning decision that would change the match.

Shortly after the restart, we took the lead. Someone drew a foul on the right channel, and Zenzel took his trademark stutter step run up before delivering an excellent cross into the box, which Sean bundled in for his 3rd goal of the tournament. We had finally taken the lead. In the minutes after, both teams would trade blows, with JJC stepping up the tempo in search of an equaliser. Soon, the deciding moment of the match would come.

An inswinging corner by JJC from the left side was met by a JJC head and nodded down to straight to the feat of their striker, not the African one, and from less than 6 yards out he unleashed a first time shot straight at our goal. Timon made the save of the season, reacting almost instantaneously to block the shot with his chest. The ball dribbled out to yet another JJC player, and with Timon on the ground after saving the intial shot, the goal was at his mercy. However, this time it was Junliang to the rescue, having been standing at the farpost during the corner, he reacted quickly as well and was quickly off his line, and made a sliding tackle using his body to smother the shot completely. The ball bounced away from our goal and straight to Yijing's feet. After controlling the ball and holding it, he released the ball to a rampaging Zenzel, who had reacted first to the counter-attack and had broken free on the left flank, after sprinting and bringing up the ball pass the halfway line, he delivered an excellent left foot cross to Sean, who was the furthest player during the corner, and had snuck in between the two centre backs. The cross just floated above the outstretched foot of the first centre-back, and straight to Sean's feet. After controlling the ball, he dropped his right shoulder making it seem that he was about to shift the ball to his right foot for a shot, instead cutting back to his left foot, and having created some space for himself, he delivered a left foot shot into the top left corner of the goal, capping a flowing move with a brilliant finish. From going close to conceding a goal, we doubled our tally with a textbook counter-attack. It had only been 10 seconds since the moment Yijing touched the ball to the moment the ball hit the back of the net, a splendid goal that was my pick for our goal of the season.

Soon after, Bowen came on for Hashir, and Bowen increased our margin and took his tally to 4. It began with some good work by Sean, who had chased down a ball that the defender had tried to let out for a goalkick before winning it and squaring it into the box. Bong tried to take a near-post shot first time but it was blocked by an excellent tackle by the JJC centre-back, but unfortunately for him his efforts were not rewarded as the ball rolled out only to the feet of Bowen, who calmly slotted it into the bottom left hand corner for a cool finish. Soon afterwards, Bowen would attempt a 20 yard volley that the keeper did well to hold on to. Guan Koon came on for Woohan and would take increase the margin to 4, scoring our first and only goal from a corner. Yijing took an inswinging corner from the right side, and for once, the RJC head that met the ball was able to keep it down, and although this time Guan Koon glanced the ball off his own shoulder before it went in, it was still his goal.

With the match in the bag, our coach decided it was time to let everyone get a chance at playing, and took both Timon and myself off. Weizhi got his first taste of A Division football, and even though JJC scored a goal past him, it was not his fault. In my opinion, the second goal had decided the match, and scoring so soon after they nearly equalised really broke the JJC players' spirits. I remember their captain trying to urge the players on, but his attempts to gather his teammates voices only fell on deaf ears, and even after a while he started getting frustrated, complaining that he could not hear his teammates' voices. The frustration even got to their coach, who was so furious that he was shouting at his players from the sidelines, a fact which I pointed out to my teammates while I was still on the pitch only to receive an icy glare from the JJC coach. After the final whistle, before we could shake the JJC coach's hand and offer our congratulations to the JJC players, they disappeared into the changing room to receive a hairdryer treatment from their coach. Their season had ended on a very sour note.

As for us, as estatic as we were about our second half performance, where we had blitzed JJC for 4 goals, we headed back to school with heavy hearts as everything now rested on the next day's match between TPJC and ACJC. It was not a time to celebrate, but a time to pray.

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The next day was pure torture. Every lesson seemed to last a lifetime, and our coach had forbidden us from going to watch the matches ourselves. So all we could do was wait in school, for news that had a foreboding weight. I was in the canteen with Yijing and the J1s when they first broke the news to me, TPJC were up 1-0! I couldn't believe it, and refused to believe it until I confirmed it with at least 3 different sources. While I paced nervously up and down the canteen, walking to and fro from the canteen to the stadium, the seconds seemed to take hours to tick by. I later learnt that the rest of the soccer team had been in the library and time seemed to drag on as slowly for them as well. They had gathered around Timon's handphone, as he had friends at the match who were keeping him updated as to the scoreline. Soon, news that ACJC had equalised shortly before half-time reached us, yet by that point in time we had seen our glimmer of hope and were not going to let it go without a fight.

All thoughts of work were cast out the window, and everyone just sat there waiting for news of the match, watching time whittle away while silently hoping that Timon's phone would remain silent for the remainder of the match. No news was good news. In all honesty, any news would most likely be news that ACJC had taken the lead. Lady Luck smiled kindly upon us that day, and soon TPJC would take the lead against ACJC through a penalty! If there was ever a time to pray, this was it.

I don't think even soap-opera writers could come up with material as tense as this, because with 15 minutes to go, ACJC equalised through a penalty again. The score was 2-2, which was enough for us to go through to the semi-finals. As we waited with bated breath, Timon called his friend at the match for live updates, and when he called it was deep into injury time. I don't know the exact sequence of events, but essentially shortly after Timon called, his friend informed him that the match had ended, somewhat anti-climactically.

We were through. I had to say it out loud a few times before it sunk in.

We were through. We were going to face VJC in the semi-finals. Maybe it was karma, it was this exact same situation last year with our seniors. Going into their last match against MJC, they were held to a draw needing a victory to secure qualification into the semi-finals. They had to sit on their hands as they awaited a favourable result the following day when SAJC played... TPJC! Yes, it was again a match against TPJC last year that would decide the fate of my senior batch, who were a single point ahead of SAJC. Having a superior goal difference, as long as SAJC faltered and failed to secure a victory, they would have gone through to face VJC. If this is not karma, I don't know what is.

Yes, it's true that the only reason why we got into the semi-finals was because ACJC slipped up on the final day, and that we didn't seal a place in the semi-finals by our own means. But such is the nature of football, sometimes winning just isn't enough and you just have to hope that fortune favours you. All credit to ACJC, they fought hard and had they won their last match, they would deservedly be in the semi-finals. But in the end, it was us, not them.

Fate had offered us a date with destiny, and we were not going to turn her down. A year's worth of training, blood and sweat were now behind us, and only 2 more matches stood between us and immortality. Everything that had happened in the group stages was now dross and trash, the slate had been wiped clean. Goal difference, points, goals scored... all these were now irrelevant. It was now knock-out, winner takes all. We'd conquered the first mountain, against all odds. Dare we dream of taking that second mountain by ourselves?

NYJC

After the MJC match, our coach reminded us about the story of Jacob, and that we just needed to believe. Honestly, I found it hard to believe that we were going to qualify. While I never had any doubt that we would secure the last 6 points against NYJC and JJC, I found it hard to believe that ACJC were going to slip up against YJC and TPJC. While I wanted nothing more than to believe in a miracle, rationally, I found it hard to believe in one. Junliang was perhaps the only one in the team who was willing to voice it out, and sadly he was persecuted for saying out loud what alot of us felt deep down inside.

Personally, this was my lowest point of the tournament, where even my faith in the team was tested. I could see the people on the bench, people like Quan and Darrell, who didn't have the chance to change the outcome of the MJC match by playing, trying to rally the people around them to believe as they did. Quan talked about it all being a test, evoking memories of Istanbul, and Darrell was zealous in his belief that we would qualify and that fate had ordained that it was our year. Darrell would go so far as to spend additonal time praying that ACJC would slip up, an act that both amused and touched me profoundly. And on the other hand, I could see some of my teammates who were somewhat jaded, another season of disappointment looming. I guess all of this translated onto the pitch.

We knew that all we could do at this stage was to secure our 6 points and apply some pressure on ACJC, and so we were all ready to face NYJC and improve on our goal difference, which would only come into play if we drew against JJC and ACJC lost to TPJC, which seemed unlikely but worth preparing for. Furthermore, we would play JJC on Monday, while ACJC would play at TPJC on Tuesday, and were we to slip up in either of our final two matches, the pressure would be all off ACJC. I guess we were also hoping an emphatic scoreline would remind ACJC that we were just behind them, and hopefully pressure them into slipping up against YJC and TPJC, because at this stage, we all admitted that it was ACJC's qualification to lose.

Boy were we wrong. Of all the teams in the tournament, I believe we underestimated NYJC the most. Having seen them lose 5-1 to ACJC at MJC, I think virtually all of us wrote them off. Tactically, we played a 4-3-3 formation, the first and only time I believe we made a serious formation mistake.

The lineup was: Timon, Junliang, Cunzhi, Eugene, Zenzel, Hashir, Martin, Woohan, Sean, Chaolun, Bong, with me in the centre of the park.

Perhaps it was the bad MJC pitch, or just jitters, but NYJC were a far superior side to the one we had witnessed on video. They played a 4-5-1 formation, and their 5 man midfield tore our 3 man midfield into tatters. With Hashir being asked to drift to the left, a role he was not used to playing, with the 3 forwards being told not to drop back too much, with Woohan being asked to tuck in more despite being a natural down the line winger, at time I felt like I was playing 1 v 3 in the middle of the park. To make matters worse, the NYJC midfielders were excellent. Their captain was very adept at winning the ball, and pounced at any poor first touches Hashir or myself had, and he would immediately pass off the ball to their malay midfielder, who I suppose was their playmaker. The two of them really outplayed us for most of the first half. Also, either their RW or their Forward was an ex-club player, and according to Cunzhi, he was the best player for Sengkang. He caused quite alot of problems for our defense, though by himself he was unable to get pass our solid back-line.

The goal we scored was pretty shabby, with the goalkeeper spilling the ball and Sean nodding home from close range. The rest of the half, and in my opinion the entire game on the whole, was scrappy at best. During halftime, our coach blasted the forwards for being ineffective, but in my opinion, it was the midfield that was letting the team down. He left us with these words in mind, that if ACJC were to draw with TPJC or slip up against YJC that day, we would rue our performance that day. He told us that unless he saw us buck up in the second half, he threatened to throw the match for us.

In the second half, things did not get much better, I would says the game just got quieter. Maybe it was the heat, or the fact that we had lost the hunger to play, but we were largely content with holding the scoreline at 1-0. While in our minds we all knew that we had to secure the match as soon after the restart as possible, perhaps ours hearts weren't really in the game. The match ended 1-0 in the end, not for a lack of trying on by both sides.

Testomony to our coach's faith in the depth of the squad, he substituted Darrell on for his first taste of A Division soccer, as well as giving Si En, Yangyi, Liben and Joseph each a chance to change the match. While none of them were able to forge an opening to double our lead, I believe the energy they brought into our team contributed to our victory in no small part. I guess I would like to single out Darrell the most, I guess because I remember his contribution the most. He was fired up during the half time talk, and possibly because we were playing quite poorly. When he came on, he cleared every ball that came his way, he threw his body at any thing that came our way. While he might not be the most technically gifted player on the field, I think Darrell's heart and capacity to believe in his teammates is one of the strongest in the team.

I guess I would like to really thank the support players in our team, not sure whether that's the most politically correct term, but I guess it'll have to make do. There are some players in the 25 man squad who knew that they weren't really going to be involved in too many matches during the season, for lack of ability or the fact that they were being kept out of the lineup by better players. For the first 6 games of the season, I was with those people on the bench. We knew that we couldn't change the game with our feet, so we would sit on the bench with our hearts in our hands and shout our lungs out, every little bit to help the team. While it takes true fighting spirit for the players on the pitch to come back from a goal deficit, it takes even more spirit for the people on the bench to keep believing in the team. It was these support players who would play out the opposition formation during training sessions, who would spend training sessions just defending and defending without any joy of attack.

Thank you, thank you for keeping the faith, for believing in us when it seemed the hardest. At the end of the day, we won it together. Each and every one of the 25.

The post-match de-brief was marred by an ugly incident, which was quickly resolved in good humour by the time we boarded the bus back to school. We headed for a team dinner at Swensen's in Thompson Plaza after the game, in the traditional dinner after the group stage that happened every year, and the miracle that was not to be.

Earlier, during the debrief, our coach had asked us which player had been yellow-carded during the MJC game, and after some discussion, we told him that it was no. 7. Apparently, that sparked off a controversy as player no. 7 had played for MJC in their 2-0 victory over NJC, and this caused the NJC teacher-in-charge to launch a formal inquiry into the matter. While some people in our team were sure that it had been the no. 7 who the referee had flashed a yellow-card at, the MJC pitch manager had recorded it down as no. 21, who either did not play or was not on a previous yellow card. At this news, some of my teammates thought that we had been granted a miracle, albeit a rather unorthodox one, as we struggled to remember whether which player it had been that received the yellow card.

We spent a large part of the entire dinner debating it, I went as far as to call my friends who had been in the stands to ask them if they remembered. In fact, I was the one who the foul had been committed on, a rather painful tackle from my side that left a huge abrasion on the back of my left thigh. Mr. Kadir joked that miracles had happened before, but never one like this. Hashir and Clifton was amamant that it had been no. 7 who received the yellow card, but of course we weren't exactly a neutral party in this matter. Although we were not sure what the consequences were, we speculated that it was possible MJC would be disqualified from the tournament, which would mean that we would qualify 3rd of the table, a rather sordid way of qualification but qualification nonetheless. Another possible theory would be that MJC would be docked 3 points and 3 points would be awarded to NJC instead, which would do us absolutely no good as MJC were 4 points ahead.

The facts of the case:
1. It was no. 21 who committed the tackle on me. Both Bowen and I confirmed this as we were the closest to the ball when I was fouled from the side.
2. MJC's no. 7 was the nearest MJC player to no. 21.
3. When the referee showed the yellow-card, no. 7 was in between the referee and no. 21, so it was ambiguous as to who it was shown to.
4. No. 21 was walking away with his back to the referee when the yellow-card was shown, which was unusual practice as the referee normally calls the player back.
5. No. 7 held his head after the yellow-card was shown, either for himself or for his teammate.

We had hoped that the video-replay would tell us more, but aside from the fact that video-evidence was inadmissable, it had been taken from too far away, from the 13th floor of the HDB block opposite MJC, and the video was too grainy and small for us to discern individual faces. Furthermore, the JC1s who had video-taped the match had paused the video after the foul, and did not record down the yellow-card.

It was Jeremy who finally convinced our coach and teacher that it had not been no.7 who had been yellow carded, and I respected him for his moral fortitude in the face of peer pressure. For people reading this not from the team, I guess you're pretty disgusted at how quickly we latched upon the idea that MJC had played foul and might be disqualified, and admittedly, it was a pretty sad way to qualify for the semi-finals, and even if we had gone on to win it from there, our victory would certainly have been tainted. But all I'll ask is that you try to understand, we had trained so hard (yes other JCs had as well), we had so much belief in our team, we had come so far, and this little miracle presented itself, it was hard to blame anyone who clung to this little spark of hope that came our way. But Jeremy provided the clincher: He told us that he heard no. 7 tell no. 21 to go apologise to the referee, something no one else heard, a detail which seemed inconsistent with any theories we had arrived at to explain why the referee might possibly have cautioned no. 7 instead: dissent for instance. In the end, even I was convinced of Jeremy's account, and our would-be miracle disappeared before our very eyes.

While we had a great time at Swensen's, laughing and taking pictures with Cunzhi phone which he would later distort into stupid faces, deep down, all the chocolate and food couldn't wash away the sinking feeling that our season was coming to an end, and that the next match was our final swansong.

MJC

Alright, from now on the posts might be a little longer and more detailed because I started this match (and played for more than 5 minutes), and all the subsequent matches. Now that the season is over, I don't mind admitting that out of all the starters from the MJC game onwards, I consider myself perhaps the least talented player on the pitch. I'm pretty short, can't jump phenomenally well, I'm not the strongest, I'm not very fast, can't head the ball very well, I can't kick very far etc. I'm not trying to put myself down or anything, but I was honestly very surprised that I was going to start the MJC match, which was perhaps the most crucial game of our season: make or break. Nevertheless, I am very grateful to our coach and my teammates in having faith in me.

Throughout the preseason, I believe that the performances of the midfield pairing of Eugene and Hashir had justified their selection as the starting centre-mids, I belief that I still subscribe to. I think the only reason I got a chance to play was because 1. our team is pretty short, and before the arrival of Zenzel and Junliang as fullback, our back 4 didn't exactly impress the opposition 2. the most common tactic among A division teams is to play high balls. While this tactic is extremely unglamourous, experience has proven to me that it is nevertheless effective. Therefore, being a short team, we try to avoid playing high balls, yet have to be prepared to deal with other teams employing such a tactic against us.

Maybe I should talk a little bit about Eugene here. I've known Ong Bak since secondary school, and I've always respected his abilities as a sportsman. Tactically, he draws alot from his experience with basketball, and he has that natural aggression from playing rugby. All in all, aside from his rather poor first touch, I think he's the consumate athlete on the soccer pitch. While many people think that the heart of our defense is our captain Cunzhi, who is tasked to make the last-ditch tackles and crucial interceptions, Eugene's job as stopper could not be more important to us. While Eugene might not be the tallest central defender, I have never seen him beaten to a high ball. His jumping power is second to none in our team, and on a good day he can probably shut down any striker. A hard tackler to boot, Eugene is a one-man wall that repels any ball that hangs in the air. Playing in front of him, I can boast that if Eugene calls for the ball, I can confidently push up to receive the second ball because I know he is going to win it.

As I mentioned earlier, the MJC game was a make or break one for us. We needed to get a victory against MJC in order to keep our qualifying fate in our own hands, i.e. if we were to draw with MJC, we would need ACJC to slip up somewhere in order for us to qualify second in the table, an unlikely occurence considering their relatively easy run-in, they had SRJC, YJC and TPJC left to face. This would be our second and last game at the MJC pitch, a rematch of the last match of the 2006 season, where we held MJC to a goalless draw.

Some background info: there was a fair amount of bad blood between us and MJC. In the 2006 season, we played MJC at Teacher's Network and were losing 4-1 with about 5 minutes to go. The pitch was absolutely awful that day, as it was raining very heavily, and at least one of MJC's goals was scored because the ball just suddenly stopped in a puddle of water. Even though the rules of the tournament call for a match to be cancelled if the pitch is unplayable, which if being water-logged isn't then I don't know what is considered 'unplayable', the match went on. However, 5 minutes from full time, there was lightning. The referee called in both coaches, and explained the situation. My coach offered to play finish the game because frankly, to argue that the match should be replayed with 5 minutes left was unsportsman-like, but it was the MJC coach who insisted on a replay at a later date. So, the match was cancelled with us having been thrashed by MJC. As things panned out, the 2006 team faced MJC on the last match, and events had unfolded such that a victory over MJC would guarantee our qualification while putting MJC's own chances in doubt. There was an implicit suggestion that my coach should field a second string side and play to lose as we had by right lost the first match, a suggestion that caused alot of anger in my seniors. At the end of a hard-fought match, my seniors could not score against MJC and were eliminated when SAJC beat TPJC despite gathering 17 points. When the groupings were announced just after the March holidays, everyone's attention had been drawn to this clash with MJC, and our seniors who came back to give us advice on the season, Donovan in particular, all really wanted us to play our very best against MJC and prove to them that we weren't pushovers. Incidentally, MJC were the only seeded team which we had not played a friendly against (we drew 2-2 with SAJC once, and lost to them 3-2 the 2nd time, we beat VJC 3-0, and drew with JJC 1-1).

On an irrelevant note: the MJC coach was an exteammate of Cunzhi's at Jurong FC.

The MJC game was to be played on the day before my birthday, a Tuesday, so that meant that we would be training out of school on a Monday. True enough, we were brought to a field somewhere in Novena to train, in the hope that training out of school would bring inspiration to our team. The field was full of clay, and I had to spend 15 minutes cleaning my boots when I got back to school.

The lineup against MJC was this: Timon, Junliang, Cunzhi, Eugene, Zenzel, Yijing, Martin, Hashir, Woohan, Bong, Chaolun

It was a huge boost to us that Zenzel had fully recovered from his ankle injury, and was back in the starting lineup. Tactically, one of our strikers was supposed to hassle the MJC no. 8, their captain, who had played for MJC the previous year. Their captain was a national player, and by all reports, was a fantastic player. Strong, as fast as Bong, as calm as Cunzhi in defense, an individually outstanding player, he was the heart of the MJC team. Furthermore, he possessed an incredibly powerful right foot, one that allowed him to kick goalkick further than anyone in the entire tournament, and one which MJC utilised with every freekick to take a direct shot. We were warned that MJC took all their direct freekicks the same way, with one variation. No. 8 always took a direct shot on goal, but the only variation was whether the two people in front of the ball would either shift the ball right, left, or would just scatter. Our coach also warned us about the danger of quick freekicks by MJC, who had been conceded a goal to us in the cancelled match because Damien had taken a quick freekick while the keeper was arranging the wall. Therefore, urgency in building the wall and delaying the freekick was of the essence.

Another of the danger players was their AM, no. 21. MJC played in a 4-5-1 formation, with their 2 DMs sitting back protecting the back 4. Eugene was tasked with the job of shutting their AM down. Their RW, no. 7, was also identified as a threat, and Junliang and Zenzel were both warned that he might play on either wing. I was supposed to handle both DMs, to press them and stop them from supplying the ball to their AM or their striker, with Hashir supposed to help me out when necessary but largely to keep himself free as an outlet to launch the ball. This was the first game where we received no instruction as to how to attack during the pre-match briefing, and I think for the better, we were no longer playing to our opponents but were trying to establish our style of play on them.

During the pre-match briefing, all my teammates kept telling me to play like Gattuso in an attempt to psyche me up. Gattuso had totally shut Ronaldo down during the 2nd leg of the Champion's league semi-finals. I realise that my playing style was somewhat like Gattuso's, I would attempt to do all the dirty work in defense, and after winning the ball I would just pass it off, and I was not very involved with the attack.

One of the biggest problems our team had faced this season was the fact that we were always a second-half team, slow out of the blocks, we only seemed to really play in the second half. However, our coach warned us that if we did not get straight into the match from the kickoff, we were going to be punished by MJC. True enough, MJC set a very high tempo from the start: their style of play involved playing a quick high crossfield ball whenever they won possession in the midfield, with their wingers having been conditioned to pull wide quickly.

Well enough said, onto the match. During the warm up, as usual, during the long ball section of the warm-up, I screwed up my long balls. I think at the back of my mind I didn't really see myself doing alot of long-balls so it didn't really matter to me. In the huddle, my first huddle, I realised that the most pumped up person was Eugene. Cunzhi would always say a few lines, but mostly instructional and in a cool and calm tone, which he justifies as "passion doesn't last". It's a nice mix in the huddle, with a few very pumped up people, and a few people who are totally calm. I think if everyone is shouting their lungs out in the huddle it's good for energy, but not the greatest for clarity. On a side note, it's my routine to be somewhat silent during the huddle, I like to quieten my mind and just mentally prepare for the kickoff. As we lined up along the side of the field, I was somewhat nervous, and I couldn't even look into the stands to look at my friends, I just kept doing tuck-jumps which would later become part of my routine. Quite amazing how the silliest of things can become part of our pre-match routine, like going to the toilet, or chocolate bars, or red underwear, or "Time is Running Out" by Muse. My pre-match routine involved eating Yong Tao Fu with my standard 6 items, using the toilet, eating a Banana and some Papadum, listening to Muse, and wearing my long socks during the pre-match briefing. I was also the first person down the bus every single match.

The two wingers had somewhat of a torrid time this game. Woohan told me that the LB was the best he had played against the entire tournament. Fast, strong and good in the air, Woohan was not able to 'burn' him with sheer pace as he had with other fullbacks. While Yijing achieved a greater amount of success against the RB, the field was not suited to dribbling with its bumby surface, and the RB had a tendency to go in hard from behind. Aside from moments of brilliance, our wingers were largely subdued by their fullbacks during the first half.

Up front we were really struggling. Chaolun played the whole match with a fever, and everytime a substitute came on we were all expecting Chaolun to go off. Bong was virtually non-existent in the game, I'm not sure whether he was trying to mark no. 8 or not, but in either case, he had little impact on the game. On the other hand, our defense was also doing remarkably well against MJC's offense. Their vaunted no.7 was tussling with Junliang every time he got the ball, but aside from winning a few free kicks because Junliang kept using his hands when he jumped for a ball, he was shut down by Junliang. Their left winger had no chance against Zenzel, and Eugene kept the AM quiet for the first part of the first half. Soon, they were forced to make a subsitution, with their CM no. 10 coming off (I think he pulled his hamstring after high-booting Hashir's head), and their AM dropping to the midfield. I think Hashir and I had an excellent game, and even though I gave away a number of fouls, none were in a highly threatening position. I remember one sequence where I controlled the ball and drew my man in, and released it to Hashir, who delivered a sensational diagonal ball for Woohan. The game basically see-sawed in the first half, with neither side gaining the ascendency, with two excellent defenses neutralising one another. I achieved my personal target of going into the half with a clean sheet, as I fully expected to be substituted for Bowen. However, to my surprise, I was sent back onto the field for the second half.

Some of the refereeing calls in our game was quite ridiculous. Most blatantly would be the foul on Junliang on our right flank, where either their centre-back or their left-back went in high and late, yet escaped a card. Furthermore, I remember the referee threatening to send in total 4 different players off for tussling/jostling, Eugene and Hashir from our side and no. 7 and one more MJC player on the other side. But I'm also pretty sure that MJC would have their fair share of gripes with some of the referee's calls, and who am I to complain, I must have committed 8 or more fouls and escaped without a booking. The closest I came to getting carded was when I slid in for a tackle after we had just cleared a ball from one of MJC's set-pieces, and even though I am absolutely sure I got the ball cleanly, the referee blew for a foul. I was so enraged that I smacked the ground in frustration and the referee called me back to ask me to calm down :(

The half-time team talk was quite positive, with our coach urging us to continue with our performance and to maintain our level of play in the second half. It was incredibly hot in the first half and as usual, this was to our advantage as we could clearly see fatigue seeping into the MJC players. The MJC captain uncharacteristically mis-kicked a couple of goal kicks, a sure sign of fatigue, whereas for our side, our coach's plan of rotating goals kicks between Cunzhi, Junliang and Zenzel kept each of them fresh. Yet another example at how depth helps relief the burden on one player.

At some point during the game, Zenzel succumbed to cramps and had to be substituted out of the game. He was replaced by Jeremy, with Junliang switching to right-back. I think this was the pivotal moment of the game, as it marked a period of sustained pressure from MJC, which had a flurry of freekicks, throw ins and corner kicks. Earlier in the game, Eugene almost scored an own goal when he flicked a cross backwards that hit our goal post but thankfully went to safety. However, we would have no such luck this time around. We were unable to deal with the high ball cleanly and one of the MJC players beat Jeremy to the header and nodded it towards our goals. Unaware that Cunzhi was behind him and in a better position, Eugene stretched for the header but could only send it backwards and sideways past Timon who could only claw the ball into our goal despite being at full stretch. It was a horrible goal to concede, and of all people it would be Eugene to score the own goal, the hero so often turned villian.

Personally, I guess I lack that fighting spirit and I was deflated after letting in a goal after defending stoutly for so long. But I guess here is where I would like to credit the players around me, for their indomitable spirit, especially Bowen. Before the match, I told Bowen that my goal was to play so well that I would keep him out of the game, and true enough, he came on for one of the strikers while Si En replaced Hashir to freshen up the legs in midfield. I asked Bowen after our season whether he had always believed that we would win the title, and without any hesitation, he told that he had always known we were going to win it. I swear, that boy is only good for 2 things, scoring goals and believing in the players around him, and that's more than enough.

Bowen started the move, and finished it. He held up the ball in midfield, and after eluding his man with his favoured stutter step dribble, he switch the ball wide to Junliang. Junliang, playing in his familiar RB role which he plays for Young Lions, brough the ball up and tried to feed it through to Sean who had pulled wide. However, through some luck, the defenders cut out the initial pass but the rebound fell straight back to Junliang, who made no mistake with the second pass. With his speed, Sean was able to cut the ball infield and shield it from any recovery tackle from the Meridian LB, and looking up, he cut the ball back to an unmarked Bowen, who sent the ball into the roof of the net and made us believe in miracles once more.

From then on, it was all RJC, and the only thing that stopped us from winning was the clock, and having equalised too late into the game, there was simply not enough time to score the winning goal. When the referee blew the final whistle, although we were slightly disappointed at not winning the match, we fought hard and proved our mettle to MJC, earning applause from the MJC crowd and the respect of the MJC players, who we hopefully manged to establish cordial relations with. One MJC player shook my hand, and told me that they would meet us in the finals, an act of sportsmanship which really got us rooting for MJC during their semi-finals with SAJC. While I would like to point out the MJC centre back, who in his zeal to protect his last man (his captain), had a tendency to step on our strikers' feet, I feel that MJC played us hard and fair, and while we would have liked to have won the match, a draw was a fair result.

At the end of the match, we sat down in in the middle of the MJC field, awaiting the result of the SRJC-ACJC game, as we felt that SRJC represented the last meaningful obstacle to ACJC and their qualification. We saw Mr. Low and Mr. Kadir chuckling to themselves, and even though we later found out that ACJC had won SRJC by a single goal, I think that even then they always had tremendous belief that we were going to qualify. We had finally managed a second-half perfomance in the first half, and although fate was no longer in our hands and prospects of qualification looked bleak and dwindled with each ACJC victory, we knew that we had to secure the last 6 points to even stand a chance at qualification.

During the warm down, I recall asking to speak after Cunzhi, Hashir and Bowen had their turn, as I felt that this might be the last meaningful time I had to express my appreciation for the people on the bench who had supported us throughout the match and the tournament, as well as for Weijie. I will never forget Darrell's words to me at halftime, where I was feeling completely exhausted having played like I was only playing for one half. He told me that I was playing for each and everyone of us, and to never forget that. Ironically, the game where I thought I would only play one half ended up being the only game where I played the entire match. I felt that I played the best soccer of my life in the first half against MJC, winning every tackle I went in for, winning my fair share of headers, even distributing the ball sometimes.

During the second half, I picked up a loose ball and due to a poor first touch, pushed the ball a bit too far away. I saw an MJC player start to sprint to that ball, so I lowered my head and sprinted faster than I have ever sprinted in my life for that 50-50 ball, getting there a split second before the MJC player and passing it off to Bowen. Although in hindsight, the referee might well have played advantage as Bowen was in an excellent position, the referee chose to book the offending player, an action which will become VERY important later on. From that tackle alone I picked up an abrasion at the back of my left thigh the size of my hand as I was tackled on the sandiest part of the pitch. By the end of the game, I had cuts on my left and right hand, my left and right elbows, my left and right knees and my left thigh. I had given up my body for the team, getting winded in the process after blocking a freekick by MJC's captain, which hit me squarely in the solar plexus, an impact loud enough for the supporters in the stands to hear. He hit that shot harder than I've felt anyone hit a shot in my life.

Credit to the MJC crowd by the way, their cheer of MJC Boleh could be heard clearly from the 13th floor of the HDB block opposite the school where our J1s were filming the match. Timon also said that it was the first time that a cheer affected him.

NJC

It was halfway through the tournament, and we had picked up 10 out of a possible 12 points from the first 4 matches. However, things were going to get alot harder as we still had NJC and MJC to face, as well as a replay with JJC. First off, I would like to say that of all the matches we played, the NJC match was the most disappointing of all. Had we not qualified for the semi-finals, I think it would be safe to say that every member of our team would point to our performance in this match as the main reason why. Just like our seniors before us, who had led the table all the way until they lost 1-0 to AJC, NJC could so easily have proven to be our downfall. I would not mind playing a rematch with NJC again sometime soon, just to see which team is better.

I didn't play at all this game, resigned to standing behind the goal with Quan cheering our teammates on, who carved out many gilt-edged chances but just couldn't find that killer touch. Admittedly, it was a very close game, with both sides having chances to steal the game, with NJC missing a chance to steal the game with virtually the last kick of the game. In my opinion, NJC played their best game of the tournement against us, and were a far cry from the team we saw play against YJC later on. They outcommunicated us, they outwitted us tactically, and to some extent, I think they simply wanted a result more than us. Although I think we were the better team, we could so easily have lost this match.

NJC had gone through along with us into the semi-finals 2 years ago, surviving the group of death (RJC,TPJC,SAJC,NJC). My coach was familiar with the NJC coaching staff, and warned us not to underestimate them, or to assume that a result against them was guaranteed. Our coach warned us that this was a crucial game for NJC, as a loss against us would effectively eliminate them from the competition barring a miracle. I learnt a very important lesson in this game: never underestimate your opponent. Perhaps an early warning of our slackish attitude leading up to the match was the state of the briefing room when our coach walked in, with people sleeping on the floor, the chairs not arranged, lots of rubbish on the white board about soccer guys and their various associated girls- admittedly Jeremy and I had just finished a few games of gin rummy. Mr. Low was very angry at our overly casual attitude, and from then on, the first thing we did when entering the room was to arrange the chairs.

Lineup was: Timon, Jeremy, Cunzhi, Eugene, Weiyu, Joseph, Hashir, Bowen, Guan Koon, Bong, Chaolun

I remember Cunzhi had suffered a hip injury going into this game, and actually sat out most of the training the day before. Mr. Low even emphasised that he wanted Eugene to work more so he could protect Cunzhi's hip, but ironically, Cunzhi had to work even harder during the game then he was used to playing a flat four system. Weiyu was back in right-back after letting his heels heal a bit, but they were still quite raw, and I really respect him for playing through the pain. Joseph was handed a rare start ahead of Yijing, and it was good to see that our coach was willing to let every single player have a chance to play.

The pre-match briefing had identified the NJC DM as their key player, who was a national player as well, and scouting reports said that NJC was weak in the air and their goalkeeper was prone to fumbles. Of these 3 pieces of information on which we built our game plan, only 1 proved to be right. Their DM played unbelievably well, getting to the ball just that split second before our players did. NJC was by no means weak in the air, and their keeper caught countless of our cross without spilling the ball. Tactically, we were completely outfoxed this match, and our entire game plan crumbled before our very eyes. Clearly, scouting isn't always a good thing.

I would like to compliment NJC for their impressive communication, in Timon's words, "they were the first team we faced to out-communicate us". We later learnt that their coach had screened the movie 300 before out match, and throughout the match the NJC players would shout and echo "300!" every available opportunity, exceeding if not matching our calls of "green ball!" and "Raffles!". The NJC players were by far the most fired up team we had ever faced.

From the opening kickoff, it was a nervy start for us. One of the NJC players took a shot at our goal from the kickoff, but he scuffed the attempt. However, the referee spotted an infringement and called for a retake of the kickoff. Again, NJC took a shot at our goal. Previously, only SAJC in our 1st friendly with them have taken a shot directly from a kick off, at that time it hit the corner of the goal post and crossbar, as Timon had partially misjudged the flight of the ball. This time, with strong tailwind, the NJC player's high and lofty shot caught the wind and flew at our goal. I was just walking to the back of Timon's goal to help pick any balls that flew past when I saw Timon catch the ball behind the line. Whether the whole of the ball crossed the goal line I will never know, as Timon reacted smartly by quickly flicking the ball out before any of us could take a second look. However, the linesman never even batted an eyelid. I noticed that the linesman had not reached the goal-line by the time the ball reached Timon because he had to run from the half-way line. So a little of luck kept us from going down early on in a close and tight match.

The game was very tight, with our defense standing firm against the NJC attack, but our offense was largely stiffled by their defense, in part due to the fact that we tried to stick to our game plan of testing them aerially. The move of the match was an absurd flick by Bowen with the outside of his boot somewhere outside the penalty box, right in the path of Chaolun's run. Sadly, Chaolun's far post drive beat the keeper but not the goal post, and it bounced out for the NJC defender to clear to safety. Chaolun would have a number of excellent chances to put us ahead, including: a near-post shot akin to the one he scored against Johor FC which the keeper did well to parry, a free header from a cross by Woohan that he headed straight into the keeper, a shot from a scrappy corner which Eugene's head cleared off the line. Even Yijing had an excellent chance, but his volley on the run was just wide.

In the dying moments of the match, a series of mistakes by our defense presented the NJC national player with an open goal, after one of their players managed to get a shot in from the right channel which Timon could only parry into the path of another player, whose shot was blocked by Weiyu last ditch challenge. The ball finally bobbled into the path of their DM, and considering Timon was out of position and Cunzhi had slipped at the crucial monent, with the goal was at his mercy, the DM blasted wide to the relief of all our players.

In the end, both sides had their chances but neither side could stick their noses ahead. While some of my teammates believe that had they scored from the opening kick-off, we would certainly have 'woken up' and won the match, I think that we should count ourselves lucky. At this point, we had dropped 4 points from a maximum of 15, and our qualifying chances had taken a turn for the worse as ACJC looked unlikely to drop any more points. Team morale was definitely down after this match, even though we were told not to dwell on it and to focus on our upcoming match against MJC. Incidentally, this was the only match where we failed to score a goal.

YJC

Having been held to a draw by ACJC, we knew that we had to win YJC by a convincing score-line, both to boost our confidence ahead of the NJC/MJC double-header, and to increase our goal difference in the event that it came down to that. At this point in the tournament, YJC were already out of the equation, having lost to many matches to have a realistic hope of qualification. We hoped that this would be in our favour as they might not be as fired up or the might even field 2nd team players to let everyone have a chance of playing.

Up till this point, Cunzhi had scored in every game we had played at JJC's synthetic field. He was injured during our first match against MOE teachers, he scored in the friendly against JJC, and had scored penalties during the SRJC and TPJC matches. Our coach always said that if we played to our full potential, he would not be surprised if our top scorer was one of our fullbacks. Cunzhi even joked that if he continued his hot streak on JJC's turf, he might win the golden boot award based solely on penalties earned by our team, going so far as to joke that he would engrave the names of all the goalkeepers he had beaten from the penalty spot on the golden boot.

The lineup for YJC was highly offensive: Timon, Jeremy, Eugene, Cunzhi, Clifton, Yijing, Hashir, Bowen, Woohan, Bong, Chaolun.

First, let me explain the chanages in the lineup. Most notably, Eugene had been moved to his old role as stopper, which he played during the 2006 season. At this point, we were unsure why this change had been implemented, either because our coach wanted Eugene's aerial prowess in defense to cope with the high ball tactics teams seemed to be implementing against us, or to accomodate Bowen, who's midfield vision and attacking movement seemed best suited for AM. With 3 outstanding midfielders in Eugene, Hashir and Bowen, this seemed like the only possible formation where each could play successfully. Bowen had scored quite a number of goal for the 2006 team, and although his form during the previous games had been somewhat below his high standards, we had great faith that he would return to his goalscoring ways. Also, tactically, we moved away from the flat four system we had trained for during the entire preseason back to the old stopper system, a moved that left quite a few of us puzzled. I speculated that it might possibly be due to the fact that Eugene had not played centre-back for quite some time, and our coach did not want to risk him playing in an unfamiliar position.

Clifton also started this game and would go on to play the full 80 minutes. Zenzel was still out with his ankle injury and Weiyu had huge blisters at the back of his feet because he had changed boots halfway through the season. Despite the fact that he was effectively our 3rd choice right back, I felt that Clifton played solidly during this game, and it was his first time cross that led to our opening goal. This just demonstrates our impressive squad depth, where even our 3rd choice right back could step up when called upon.

As I mentioned before, this lineup was very attack-minded. Woohan was handed his first start of the competition, and we all hoped that he would be able to last the entire match. Our coach likes to remind each player in the team during the pre-match briefing about the reason for their inclusion. Eugene to win the high balls, Hashir for his 'pin-point passes', Bowen for his vision, Sean and Bong for their pace and hard work, Chaolun for his height and target-man play, Yijing for his skill and penetration dribbling, and Woohan for his flatout pace.

From the kickoff, we could sense that YJC were no pushovers. They fought hard for every ball, and even though it was apparent that they came into this game with a defensive mindset, with 10 men sitting in their own half behind the ball and a lone striker up front, they were largely able to foil our initial attacks. However, the pressure mounted and YJC eventually collapsed, with Bowen sneaking in the far past to tap in a goal. Bowen would eventually reward our coaches' faith in him by bagging a second goal, putting us 2 goals up going into the break. Despite being two goals up, our coach was far from pleased during the halftime break, and told us that if we were satisfied with a two-goal margin, then we might as well give up on the A Division title.

Bong would put us up 3-0 with a decent strike to the far post, which the keeper ought to have saved but was too slow getting down to parry the ball to safety. This just goes to show that at our standard, taking shots will always reap dividends. Pei Qian, from the batch before Donovan, had taken us on our 1st Malaysia trip in J1, and had tried to drive into our strikers the importance of taking shots, which was one of the main weaknesses of our team. Bong had always been one of the culprits who either took too long to shoot, or opted to pass off when a shooting window arose, but he proved his detractors wrong for his second goal of the tournament. The fourth goal was scored by Bong again, but this time it was a true poacher's goal. Having just watched the video, this is exactly what happened: Timon rolled the ball out to Jeremy, who found Hashir supporting, who attempted to break out of a two man trap, delivered a diagonal ball to Woohan, who showed good strength in holding his man off and laid off the ball to Bowen. Bowen brought the ball up a bit, and delievered an amazing outside foot through ball to Woohan, who had continued his run. Having accelerated, Woohan was never going to get caught by the left back and push the ball inwards, sending a low drive to the far post the already beat the keeper. However, Bong was on hand to make sure of the goal, forcing the ball into the back of the net. RJC 4 - YJC 0.

Sadly, this would prove to be Woohan's last action of the game, succumbing to cramps after making our 4th goal. I was sent on to replace him, playing in the centre of midfield alongside Bowen with Hashir pulling out to the right wing. Later on, Liben would come on to play right wing and Hashir returned alongside me in the centre of midfield. My entrance into the team would prove uneventful, and as I am a more defensive player, the game eventually simmered down after my arrival, with the only excitement being Eugene's attempted long range shot which he scuffed, again. ;) I remember shouting, "Remember the game plan guys!", and hearing a YJC player echo the same sentiments, "Come on guys, remember the game plan, clear the ball first time upfield". YJC had clearly gone into the game with the intention of frustrating us, and for a large part of the game, they succeeded.

My only gripe with the game is that I don't understand why 1 ball has to be used all the while, compared to the referees approving a few balls so that there will not be as much of a delay everytime the ball goes very far out. This would enable the game to flow more smoothly, considering the referees hardly allowed for injury time, often blowing shortly after the prescribed 40 minutes were up. Timon mentioned to us on the bus ride back that he heard the YJC bench applaud the refereee when the final whistle was blown, shouting "Nice one ref!". :) Both Bowen and Bong grabbed braces, with Bong emerging as our top scorer with 3 goals in 4 games. Sadly, Cunzhi's streak of scoring at JJC was broken, but he wasn't disappointed at all, claiming that he would willingly give up his penalty goal if it meant we won 4-0 everytime.

We were all in good spirits by the end of the game, and on the bus ride back, we sang our traditional victory anthem, "Love, Me" by Collin Raye, with ahem modified lyrics.