C.C.F.C. vs Georgetown
It was a narrow formation selected before the game with the trio of Bill, Koon and Foo asked to protect Khairal and Hong + Megan asked to protect them. Asked to provide the attacking spark was Leo whilst Lee, Derek and Hasrul were to be the conductors of the C.C.F.C. piece. As an optimist, I am hopeful before every match - 11 men vs 11 men on a lush, green pitch with an ideal overcast sky - and I banish the past to the past where it should be.
But the past doesn't like to be banished. It likes to remind us of where we are. And it gave us an obvious indication of where we were after 8 goals were volleyed, headed (three times), prodded, toe poked, pushed and powered past Khairal. We had an obvious failing in the spine of the team because it was an obvious plan to concede the wings for more men in the middle. Yet despite our numerical superiority of men in the middle, we were unable to stop goals from crosses and corners. None of the eight goals came from great playmaking skill in the centre of midfield - they all came from the flanks. It was a harsh lesson for the defence as every mistake was punished - non marking, slow reactions, failure to stay goal side of strikers, bad anticipation, incredibly poor decision making and shirt pulling.
Offensively we were no better. In the first half, Leo was closed down quickly in the penalty area whenever he had the ball, Lee and Derek were reduced to long speculative shots and Hasrul unable to find any space to use his speed. The second half saw little improvement although there were some excellent through balls and crosses that were played into dangerous areas but the lack of quality players in our team meant that the person crossing would also ideally be the person getting on the end of such chances!
However it seemed we would have a break in our 'bad fortune' when Hasrul rampaged past the full back who got himself sent off after making a desperate attempt to dispossess the striker. Derek allowed Megan to take it as he had worked hard all game and the coach wanted to give another person the chance to win a t-shirt! The young midfielder struck a Frank Lampardesque penalty but instead of flying past Ben Foster as it did at Wembley several hours later, it was blocked by the goalkeeper. However the ball came back out to him and I thought Megan really did score (again!) by connecting with the rebound with power and accuracy. It was a sign of our luck when it hit the keeper who had sprung to his feet! Obviously when Georgetown got their penalty at the end of the match, the captain powered the ball past our goalkeeper.
I learnt today it's difficult to break from the past. I hope all C.C.F.C. players learnt their own individual lessons too. If so, please share them with us in the comments section below.
But the past doesn't like to be banished. It likes to remind us of where we are. And it gave us an obvious indication of where we were after 8 goals were volleyed, headed (three times), prodded, toe poked, pushed and powered past Khairal. We had an obvious failing in the spine of the team because it was an obvious plan to concede the wings for more men in the middle. Yet despite our numerical superiority of men in the middle, we were unable to stop goals from crosses and corners. None of the eight goals came from great playmaking skill in the centre of midfield - they all came from the flanks. It was a harsh lesson for the defence as every mistake was punished - non marking, slow reactions, failure to stay goal side of strikers, bad anticipation, incredibly poor decision making and shirt pulling.
Offensively we were no better. In the first half, Leo was closed down quickly in the penalty area whenever he had the ball, Lee and Derek were reduced to long speculative shots and Hasrul unable to find any space to use his speed. The second half saw little improvement although there were some excellent through balls and crosses that were played into dangerous areas but the lack of quality players in our team meant that the person crossing would also ideally be the person getting on the end of such chances!
However it seemed we would have a break in our 'bad fortune' when Hasrul rampaged past the full back who got himself sent off after making a desperate attempt to dispossess the striker. Derek allowed Megan to take it as he had worked hard all game and the coach wanted to give another person the chance to win a t-shirt! The young midfielder struck a Frank Lampardesque penalty but instead of flying past Ben Foster as it did at Wembley several hours later, it was blocked by the goalkeeper. However the ball came back out to him and I thought Megan really did score (again!) by connecting with the rebound with power and accuracy. It was a sign of our luck when it hit the keeper who had sprung to his feet! Obviously when Georgetown got their penalty at the end of the match, the captain powered the ball past our goalkeeper.
I learnt today it's difficult to break from the past. I hope all C.C.F.C. players learnt their own individual lessons too. If so, please share them with us in the comments section below.
C.C.F.C. 0 vs 8 Georgetown
I felt so frustrated with the penalty which i failed to score. it was a heart breaking moment for me. i am glad that derek had given such a chance to prove myself but i fail him. nevertheless i shall pick up myself from that spot and prove that i am able to score goals not only from the penalty spot but also outside of the box.CCFC has been a great team and hope that we shall meet again in the coming tournament as a team.
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