9 Feb: A Landslide Victory - Soccer (M)
Soccer (M)
KE vs RH - 6 : 0
By the time this reporter went down to the field after his 4-hour ‘field trip’ in the fungus laboratory, it was already about 15 minutes into the first half. An anxious query into the current situation of the game yielded the reply: “The score’s currently three nil… in OUR FAVOUR!” Initial disbelief at the score line of the match against the defending champions quickly transformed into a little exasperation at having missed not one, nor two, but THREE goals by our team!
“Oh don’t worry, there’s more to come, I think,” announced one of the spectators. And almost right away, Remus converted Hansley’s deadly corner for another one on the sheet! This reporter then decided it would be a good idea to track the rest of the match closely before finding out about the first three goals of the game.
Throughout the remaining 25 minutes of the 40-minute first-half, Team KE was quite visibly dominating the game. We were constantly putting pressure on their defence. A lot of their attempted clearances were often intercepted and pushed back into their half of the field by our midfielders, and the ones that did make it into our half were then cleared forward by our defenders, who consistently got to the ball before their strikers did. As a result, most of the first half was quite one-sided.
Horace (”H”), our star striker of the day, was always a dangerous menace at the goal mouth. This towering hulk, at over 1.80m in height, would often (thanks to his height) gain possession of high balls, and before you knew it, he’d have 2-3 defenders scrambling after him desperately to try to dispossess him of the ball. It was almost funny to see his slow and measured style of play - he did not seem to be doing very much nor moving very quickly on field, yet his possession and control of the ball were the most consistent throughout the game. He clearly knew what he was doing when, towards the end of the first half, he brought the ball up from the left side by himself, attracting 3 defenders and the keeper to himself, before lobbing the ball in beautifully over their heads for the 5th goal.
During the half-time break, this reporter then inquired about the first three goals that were missed. Apparently, the first goal was from a free kick by our dead-ball specialist Hansley. The second was an unfortunate deflection by the opponent keeper into his own net off a corner by Hansley as well. And the third, a rebound of another Hansley free-kick by H.
Before the second half started, Remus had confided to me that he was getting a little tired. And as the second half started, it became a little obvious that the energy level of the players was slightly reduced. Many of the midfielders got a little complacent and occasionally got snapped at by keeper Nicolas to go back to defend. It was also in the second half that our star keeper (number one keeper for NUS IVP) got into action, having to catch a few precarious high balls, and successfully clearing one or two difficult balls forward instead of out.
Soon, a crucial round of substitutions took place, and a few fresh players were brought into the field. The second half then saw a large number of relentless runs down the right flank by some of our fast runners. Many good chances were created; however, the best efforts resulted only in a ball that hit the bar. H also reminded us of his presence up front with an extremely high-powered shot that went wide. At around 27 minutes into the second half, Hansley, our hat-trick hero, sealed the game by sending a wicked curler from outside the penalty box into the top left hand corner of the net.
…
KE won the game 6-0 against Raffles, topping our group (of KR and RH), and entering the semi-finals against TH. Soccer captain Kevin revealed after the match that he was pleased with the win, and that it was a team effort. Nicolas, our star-keeper, had ironically emphasized, “Yeah, it’s a team effort, as you can see, we’ve got no star players in our team, so it’s all teamwork,” before walking off with a cheeky grin on his face.
Many people have commented that we have a very strong soccer team this year, and it is clear that there are results to back up that claim! So, do come down this Sunday at 9am, SRC, to catch them in action in the semifinals. Lend your voices to support and cheer them on as we try to make history!
- Zichun
Add comment February 9, 2007
Currently awaiting detailed report (eh the current post is certainly not the final product laaahhh!!!)
. The report, by guest reporter Buddhi, is now up.