Mother s Day

Today is mother s day but ironically, i havent done anything for my mother yet. Thx to my father who is still pissed with me about yesterday, we are not going out just yet. Maybe later.

Still thinking of the loss. I m thinking that we didnt even deserve to win all the group matches as most of them we were evenly matched but managed to scrap a goal and win it to claim all 3 points.

435 is known for its defence since the start of 2007. Those who go to the street soccer court and see us play, will surely take note of the only team who emphasize on the need to have at least 1 or 2 defenders in the court. Sometimes even 3. And those who watched us in Inter Class Soccer at Dempsey will definitely notice the distinct back 3. Throughout the whole Inter Class tournament, we were playing with a back 3 that mainly comprises of Reuben, Ming and me. And with us 3, the defence is balanced. Reuben can be deployed as a full back who runs down the flank to support the attack. While ming is the main aerial defence and the ultimate tackler. And i was the post defence, meaning i clear by heading or whatever means to get the ball away from the posts if ming fail to do so. And i do not do too much overlapping runs as Reuben is already doing that so i will stayback to help ming out. With ming the stopper, i m the sweeper and the whole defence has this balance.

With defence stable, we need a balanced attack as well. Needless to say, Shawn, Zi Xiang and Ying Lun has one of the best chemistry in school. Not chemistry the subject but understanding of each other's movement. Especially shawn and zx as ying lun is sometimes used for defensive purposes and stays back. Ying Lun's aggressiveness, Shawn's distribution skills and pace plus Zi Xiang's clinical finishing and ownage in the air is the perfect combo.

We found a fantastic keeper in Ting Soon and the team is completed. I think that is the reason why we won the InterClass but lost sports fiesta because there was no balance. We were too complacent and did not think Bryden can do much harm. And we thought ming is king of defence and he can handle a three prong attack. we were so wrong. Avinash's running , bryden's camping and collin's trickery were another perfect combo since they had such good teamwork. underestimate. bryden was unmarked time after time as the other 2 lured ming out to stop them on the wings while bryden waited to receive the pass in the centre to have the easiest of tap ins. However, i must credit him for the headed 3rd goal. it was really well worked and even our aerial defence could do nothing.

All in all, our team yesterday had not found the balance and lost it. Plus Nabeh came in to extra and do all the solo runs that were halted every single time. Never once were those runs productive. the corners won were just as useless as the kick ins. in the end, his goal was a long shot from outside the box. If only sports fiesta was 7 a side, then we could repeat what we did in inter class. I realised shawn had just as little playing time, just a bit more than jj. i pity him, but i knew either he or yl will be sacrificed as there is really no space for MF. Ting Soon said he thought our defence was very good but was puzzled with the goals that we let in in the Q finals. If he reads this, he should know why he conceded so many goals - because there was no real defence.

The Art of Defending is not a simple task of mastering...