'Miracle'

Wow... That word just sums up everything I'm feeling I don't think I'm alone in the team/school in expressing just amazement at the fact that we won the championship- however, this is not because I don't think we deserve the title, but rather that element of disbelief at the miraculous journey of our 2007 season. It has really been a season of miracles, and since I've always been one to look at things objectively, this season has really taught me that (sorry for cliche) there can be miracles when you believe. (thank you darrell).

What is this little blog about then? This is just my blog, (fyi: I'm Martin Wong no. 16 CM). I don't intend to flame anyone or any school, I just want to record down my memories of our own 'miracle' so that I will never forget it. If you are from another JC and you read this, please don't be offended, I take pride in the fact that after every game we've congratulated our opponents for a well-fought game and left the pitch with good relations (especially with MJC, whom we admittedly had some tension with after last season's controversial replay).

To those of you who feel that our victory was due to nothing more than luck: I do admit, luck played a considerable role in us reaching the semi-finals, and I would say luck was really with us during the SRJC match where they hit our crossbar twice, but please do not think that we have not trained as hard as other 'top' JCs have and that we're not as deserving of our efforts. Officially I can say that our 2007 team has NO DSA or appeal players, and every player in our team is in RJC based on his own merit. It is our coach's policy not to DSA soccer players even though the school has offered to allow him to. During the November/December holidays, we trained twice a day, 7.30am-11am, lunch break, then 2.30pm-5.30pm+++. We've trained until 9pm during the season once. Each and every one of us has given up so much for soccer, our time, our minds, our bodies. 22 out of the 25 players in our team have at one point or another, been injured during training, ranging from achilles tendonitis, pulled ankle ligaments, hipbone injuries, and even 2 concussions by one of our goalkeepers. To add to the strain, our coach even monitors our grades to see if they fall below a C average. It's been a long and tiring journey, and I guess that's what makes our victory so sweet and wonderful. This has been the experience of a lifetime, and I sincerely hope I will never forget it.

Perhaps now is a good time to admit: as a team, I don't think we are as fast as SAJC (who have a very fast striker), and we're rather short compared to VJC (I think I was the 4th shortest starter in the VJC match and I'm only 1.67?), nor as big as MJC (who were on average bigger than us). Truth be told, in terms of niche, I would say we only had 3 ingredients for success: 1. our style of play, where we TRIED ;) to play a passing game, moving the ball on the ground instead of long or quick (I suppose getting to play at JJC was a big bonus consequently), and 2. our fighting spirit, the latter being far more crucial. I suppose that we were really a 2nd half team, and more often than not, we played better football under desperate circumstances, when time was running out or when we were a goal behind or needed to win desperately. And last of all, as a credit to my teammates, we had squad depth. I don't think anyone knows this except RJC players and my coaches, but not once during the entire season did we sent out the same starting lineup. While on one hand this was in part due to various injuries to certain players over the course of the season, on the other hand, it points to the fact that we have 2 good players for every position. The only players who have started EVERY match are Timon Chiong the goalkeeper, Xu Cunzhi my captain, and Eugene Ong (who moved from CM to CB after a few matches). Of the 3, only Cunzhi and Eugene played every minute of every match, but credit to them, that this is more because of their outstanding leadership presence and excellent play than due to the fact that we do not have cover for them . Furthermore, I am also happy to say that every single player in the team got a chance to play in the A division championship, even though we never secured qualification before the last match, my coach had the belief in each and everyone of us to play us even when we needed a result.

Just a quick wrapup to the introductory post, I would like to express my respect for each team that played us. True to what my coach and seniors told us before our season, the so-called minnow JCs might be playing poorly in any match, but when they face Raffles, they always step up, and true enough, EVERY single JC that has played us, 'big' or 'small', has fought us tooth and nail. Of the teams in our group that did not make the semi-finals, I feel that SRJC and NYJC pushed us very hard this year, and both matches were extremely close.

The tally at the end of the season: 18 goals scored, 5 goals conceded. Sean 5, Bowen 5, Bong 3, Cunzhi 2 (2 penalties and 1 missed penalty), Eugene 1, Chaolun 1, Guan Koon 1. Our strikers contributed 14/18 goals.

Scorelines
RJC 2 - SRJC 1 (Cunzhi penalty, Bong)
RJC 3 - TPJC 0 (Cunzhi penalty, Sean, Eugene)
RJC - JJC (postponed due to rain)
RJC 1 - ACJC 1 (Chaolun)
RJC 4 - YJC 0 (Bong, Bong, Bowen, Bowen)
RJC 0 - NJC 0
RJC 1 - MJC 1 (Bowen)
RJC 1 - NYJC 0 (Sean)
RJC 4 - JJC 1 (Sean, Sean, Bowen, Guan Koon)
Semis
RJC 1 - VJC 1 (Sean)
penalties: RJC 7 - VJC 6 (Bowen, Cunzhi, Eugene, Weiyu, Junliang, Darrell, Chaolun, Sean)
Finals
RJC 1 - MJC 0 (Bowen)

Perhaps I should mention our discipline situation. I am not sure how we rank on the list for yellow cards, but I hope it's good. We picked up 8 yellow cards in total, with no suspensions.
vs SRJC (Hashir for taking a free kick too fast, Zenzel for a tackle)
vs TPJC (Weiyu for time wasting for cleaning the ball with a towel, Chaolun for diving *he tripped over the guy and didn't appeal for a foul)
vs JJC (Sean for kicking the ball away in the 10th minute?)
vs VJC (Jun Liang for a tackle from behind, Guan Koon for a late tackle)
vs MJC (Eugene for a tacke from behind, Hashir for a high tackle)

My entire team in order of jersey number:
1. Timon (GK)
2. Junliang (LB)
3. Jeremy (LB)
4. Joseph (LW)
5. Guan Koon (RW)
6. Zenzel (RB/CB)
7. Bowen (CM/FW)
8. Eugene (CM/CB)
9. Yangyi (FW)
10. Hashir (CM)
11. Chaolun (FW)
12. Sean (LW/FW)
13. Clifton (RB)
14. Bong (FW/RW)
15. Quan (CB)
16. Martin (CM)
17. Liben (RW)
18. Yijing (LW)
19. Woohan (RW)
20. Weiyu (RB)
21. Cunzhi (CB)
22. Darrell (CB)
25. Weijie (not in the team because school did not allow him to train/play due to medical reasons: 2 concussions)
26. Weizhi
34. Shanghui (RB)
36. Si En (CM)
Coach: Mr. Kevin Low
Teacher I/C: Mr. Kadir