Franatic week

Woohoo. It has been an eventful week that ended on a high today. Before i blog about today, as usual, i will start from the beginning which is Monday. Cant remember what happened that day. But i think it should be quite boring. But i think I played street after school hoping to train for inter class soccer. The rain stopped and started. I think we played with either sec 1s or 424 people. Cant remember. Sian la, the whole week, the bloody maths teacher keep giving so many homework, assignment 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 all in ONE week. Wth. 1,2,3 she gave last week but she said we are not ready to do any vector questions yet so dun do first. Wa lao then on Monday she say hand in. Crazy sia. Ok, enough of this crazy maths teacher. Chinese, failed the bi-weekly test by 3 marks and got screwed by the teacher because oral was too suck. Chinese was bad for me, actually the whole class. Aiya, female teachers really suck. Always got all these mood swings, one day happy next day not. Cant predict lor. In the end we suffer. That s why its called MENstruation and MENopause. ok maybe a bit lame. Chinese and Humanities teacher both like that. At least Bio is the best, Mr. Lim has never been that crazy. Tue stayed back to train the cadets for the Sec 1 UG orientation for the last time. Sian. Reached home, hardly even did any homework then fell asleep. It has been the same all week. Especially when doing maths. Read the question, then fall asleep. Wake up, try to do then fall asleep. Wa lao cant even do a thing. Wed, stayed back to do the oral thingy and got scolded. After that went to help do the last minute preparation for the orientation thing again. Then i think played soccer for a while before going home. Thur was the real thing, the sec one ug orientation. Did the IFC (individual fieldcraft) had to explain what the hell it is about. The rain spoiled everything. The tent we set up was always collecting water on the roof. Ok nvm, left it there to rot for the rest of the night. Friday was a bit boring. Even training, i had nothing to do just slack in hq, even managed to sleep. haha. Cleaned up a bit but nothing else.

Aha, now to the BIG day! Secondary 4 Inter-Class Soccer Tournament 2007. Yea, this is what the slayers in 435 have been waiting for since the previous inter class. Slept early the night before, about 10.30pm after packing bag. Reached there about 7.40am. Met up with the gang and started kicking around and warm up. Mr. Arul gave a short briefing then we kicked off the tournament. We had 423 and 431 in our group. Difficult opponents. Both teams have excellent attack and that means i will be very busy at right-back.

Match 1 [423-pitch 2] [2-3] - Shawn 2, Zi Xiang 1

I was pretty worried for this one coz there s people like William, Brandon, Sebastian and Jian Xun. 2 good dribblers and 2 trackers. The game kicked off with playing quite well and soon scored the first goal through Shawn. But then Edgar scored from edge of box thanks to a mistake by Ting Soon as keeper.Cant blame him la, the ball was slippery and he wore the gloves for the first time.It was a soft shot and a soft goal. Soon, 423 scored again. Cant really remember the goal but i think it was a strong outer foot drive by some player, quite similar to shawn's goal.At that time i was thinking whether our run will end just here? All the planning and yearning all for nothing? Just as everything seemed over, we had a corner and Shawn drove it a curling ball. Chien Ming was up there but decided not to touch it but leave it for Zi Xiang but in the end both did not touch it and the keeper was fooled totally when the ball just curled into the net. woohoo. 2-2. My mind was preparing for the final whistle but then Zi Xiang broke free of the 423 defence on the left and rammed it towards goal which the goalkeeper blocked but the rebound was smashed back in by the initial shooter. It was the last kick of the game as the game ended 2-3 when the ref blew the whistle soon after the restart. Cant belive it.

Match 2 [431-pitch 2] [1-1] Zi Xiang 1

i thought this was just as bad as we had to face trackers like Leslie and Francis. but other than that, they were no big threat. I was damn tired after running up and down during the first match. So after challenging a few times with the 2 trackers, i was subbed out. We gave Alwyn, Kevin and Jun Kai some playing time. Zi Xiang scored as usual and i thought we going to score more as the 431 defenders were all unfit scholars. But Leslie put on an outstanding display by sprinting up and down the pitch countless times and saving their blushes. He continued to trouble our defence with his speed and dribbling and resulted in a corner. Zi Xiang challenged Leslie for the ball in the box by sliding from the front and hooking the ball clear but then the crazy referee gave a penalty! Wth! I cant believe it. At that time, i was really very helpless as i wanted to go on the pitch and help Chien Ming and Reuben out. They were constantly troubled by Leslie. Ming even resorted to rough tactics by taking Leslie down countless times. Luckily the ref didnt dare to go against Ming. haha. The game ended 1-1 as leslie scored the penalty.Ming was pissed and started shouting vulgarities and kicking the dustbin. (haha, he injured his ankle because of that.) The teacher heard and scolded him. Anyway, we were all pissed and hoped for the best to get through.

Interval

We were bored when our first 2 matches were over. but anxious as the decisive match was being played. The match determined who gets in the winners pool.
We had 1 Draw, 1 Win, Scored 4, Concede 3, GD +1, 4 points.
423 had 1 Lose, Scored 2, Concede 3, GD -1, 0 points.
431 had 1 Draw, Scored 1, Concede 1, GD 0, 1 point.
423 vs 431.

If 423 win or draw, we get through. but if they lose, and 431 win by 2 goals, we are out. Of course we smart people will will cheer for 423, the team we beat. So, we were shouting and celebrating when 423 was in a good position, scored goals, or even win tackles. It was unbelievable as Leslie missed 3 clear cut chances. He should have scored all 3 for his standard. But the keeper saved one, one went out and one whacked the crossbar real hard. So 423 hung on for a victory at 3-2.
And so, we were through! Against 424.

Match 3 [424-pitch 4] 0-0, penalties 4-3

This was it. If you remembered reading further up, i mentioned about 424. We played against them in street and thrashed them. So this would be an easy one. Thats what WE thought. It was far from it. They were good. And Colin together with Jun Kai from 424 were the threats. I was exhausted chasing them. But at least i managed to hold them and the match ended 0-0. As it was the semi finals, we had to find a winner. Penlaties would settle it. And it was sudden death.

Shawn-missed 0-0
Opp.-saved 0-0
Zi Xiang-GOAL 1-0
Opp.-GOAL 1-1
Ming-saved 1-1
Opp.-missed 1-1
Ying Lun-missed 1-1
Opp.-missed 1-1
Me-GOAL 2-1
Opp.-GOAL 2-2
Reuben-GOAL 3-2
Opp.-GOAL 3-3
Shawn-missed 3-3
Opp.-GOAL [disallowed coz whistle wasnt blown yet]
Opp.-missed 3-3
Zi Xiang-GOAL 4-3
Opp.-missed 4-3 [WE ARE IN THE FINALS]

It was really nail biting. 8 penalties. Goal after goal, miss after miss. Shawn missed twice and was totally upset. We were lucky the ref didnt blow the whistle but Jun Kai scored the nice penalty and disallowed it. But so many misses shows the quality of the players, in terms of composure. Anyway, we were damn damn happy that we even hugged and taupok one another, Ting Soon took the initiative by saving the first shot, or else we would be out right from the beginning.

Match 4 [426-pitch 4] (0-1) Zi Xiang 1

This was it! What we have been waiting for as i mentioned above. This was the best match of all. We started pretty well and it all paid off with a goal. I made a couple of long balls to Ying Lun and Shawn and it seem threatening to the opponents. I was facing LM cum LB Rahim. But soon, Ying Lun sprint down the flank and put in a difficult cross but a fantastic one that Zi Xiang with all his predatory and clinical instinct of a striker, made an awesome diving header right in front of the 426 goal and there it was , 0-1!!! We were delighted and didnt expect to score that fast. But soon, we were all scrambling to clear the ball when Ying Lun was subbed out. Our game changed to defensive and we had all 7 players in our own half most of the time. Alwyn came on as a striker while the rest defended and pumped hopeful long balls. 426 were angry at themselves for being behind and wanted to get back on level terms by attacking like crazy. It almost paid off with crosses as Nicholas had a chance to score but Ting Soon did extremely well to tip it away from goal onto the crossbar and recovered to hold the loose ball. We were frantically trying to clear every ball that rolled near our box. Ming even rammed the ball into the forest, causing protests from the opponents. However, Ming did the right thing when he headed cross after cross away from our box. Whether it was a driven cross or a looping one or a low one, he cleared it. And one clearance ended as corner. With few seconds remaining, almost all the 426 players came into our box hoping for a last gasp equalizer. The ball came floated in and there was Ruddy jumping like a menacing lion at the penalty spot and headed the ball with power and accuracy to the top right of our goal. I thought we lost it when i could do nothing about it as the ball was too fast. But then, a miracle happened. Ting Soon jumped out of nowhere and dived with a full stretched body to get his fingers to it. I immediately brought the ball away from the box towards the touchline but was brought down by Rahim who was chasing me. After rolling a few times on the ground, i heard the whistle once. I thought ya, it s a foul, ref, blow it. But then, there was a second whistle, and a third long one. The game ended. We WON the tournament! Sec 4 soccer champions!

After that we were so happy and celebrated by going JJ house to bathe and eat Macs. Did maths project while the rest played maple. Then left for home at 4. What a day for me. I dun think i can ever forget the joy and happiness i experienced during the semi finals when the opponent missed the last penalty. We were hugging each other, patting each other's backs and giving everyone a high five. I remember Ting Soon crossing himself when the penalties ended. this shows how much it mean to us, yes to us 435...