Vs SAFTI MI HQ team

Date: 04- March 2006
Venue: Former Westlake-Braddell Sec Sch field
Opponent: SAFTI MI HQ team
Attendance: Huzer (keeper), Wei De, Alvin, Chun Wei, Rayner, Ee Yang, Bing De, Darren, Sin Cheng, Siu Chun, Wang, Lionel, Jin Yuan ( Don Yeo)

Match Report:
It’s been 3 months since McLucky FC has played a match together. There was significantly something missing in the team. That is the presence of Wei Chern, who like most Singapore soccer players, had gone overseas to seek for more illustrious clubs to play in. We all wish him the best. However, we must go on without him. Like Man U losing Roy Keane, we are sure we can still function as a team.

We knew nothing of our opponent, except that they comprised of mainly SARTI MI clerks, who comprised of mainly OCS OOCs, who comprised of mainly very fit JC soccer team players. The team, missing a few key players, namely Wei Chern, Kenny and Wai Fu, we could only hope to enjoy this game and take this chance to experiment new players.

The match began with the team playing their usual 3-5-2 formation. It started horribly. Everything was in disarray. From defence to attack, we were totally dominated by them. Within the first 15 minutes, we were down by 3 goals already. Most of the faults lie in the defense. The defenders were prone to make simple mistakes, such as dallying with the ball, the usual poor first touch and letting the ball bounce before you. Our keeper, Huzer, was like training with one on ones. McLucky FC transformed quickly to a 4-4-2 formation to counter their tireless overlapping wingers. Thankfully, with the inclusion of Eeyang’s friend, Wang (pronounced as Wank), our defense seems much more stabilized until the half time whistle. Nevertheless, we managed to let in 2 more goals. As we plodded with our heads low, the second half can only get better.

And surely it was better. Plenty of changes were made for the 2nd half. Alvin was pushed to a striker position. Rayner paired up with Wei De in central midfield. Bing De shifted to left mid. Taking Wei De’s instruction as to take the whole 2nd half as a totally new game, we put the embarrassing flops of the 1st half at the back of our minds and played with for zest. Our game was smoother than before. In no time, we scored 2 goals, both from the towering Alvin Lee. We also have to give to credits for Rayner, Siu Chun and Chun Wei for the 2 goals. With 2 goals down in the 2nd half, SAFTI MI HQ fought back furiously. Their skilful Indian striker was put right back into the game. McLucky could not withstand the continuous assault and let in 2 goals. The 1st goal is let in due to a poor first touch from Ee Yang. The 2nd goal could have been stopped if the running in striker was marked. In the end, the final score line read. 7-2.

The team who played on Saturday looked like a completely new team. Ironically, we cheered “CHAPALAN” before kickoff. With a handful of key players missing, a restructuring of the team is inevitable if we want to win games. For those of you reading this, if you are an ardent McLucky player/fan and you know of people who can at least kick the ball, hardworking and committed to turning up for games, please bring him/her to the next game. And for those by-passers of this blog, you know you can at least kick the ball, hardworking and committed to turning up for games, just leave your contacts to ongweide@hotmail.com.

This team can only get better from here.