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Tournament report for 'C4 A' by
LT
The annual BBQ tournament transcended into a Picnic competition. C4 had
dominated this tournament in recent years, but faced some new teams in the
Korean and Malaysians and a much improved Chinese CCS squad.
It was to be the last game
in which long time captain Luong would be co-ordinating and so it was vital
that we did well. We fielded two teams, brimmed with talent and were obvious
early favourites. There was little to separate the two, but for arguments
sake, Luong’s team were given the A team tag. After helping set up a set of
goals, both C4 teams opened the tournament with matches against the Korean
and Malaysian societies.
Koreans 2 – 4 C4 A
Our first match was against the Korean Soc, a team described as ‘handy’ by
scout Chao. However, we got off to a very confident and assertive start,
passing the ball about well and probing frequently. Our dominance didn’t
return any goals but instead a freak mis-kick by the unlucky Luong led to a
bizarre own goal, leaving Geoff stranded and totally bemused.
We were not put off our stride and knew that our ability would see us
through. Indeed some nice passing moves led to Mike slamming home at the
near post with a powerful left footed shot for a richly deserved equaliser.
With parity in order, we maintained healthy possession and looked to attack
at every opportunity. Our next goal was the product of some very slick one
touch passing, starting from Chung receiving the ball and laying a quick
pass to Beasty. He then laid it off to Luong who weighted a perfect first
time ball into the path of Yau, who competently slotted the ball home
through the keeper’s legs! That move even had the opposition purring ‘great
goal, lads’.
Luong tried to make amends for earlier by scoring a slightly messy goal to
make it 3-1, though others refused to let him live it down…haha. Mike added
to our tally not long after with a scorching near post drive and we’d
secured the win. Big man Geoff came out of goal to stretch his legs and we
rotated swiftly to keep us fresh for the next match. We conceded later
through a counter attack, but we’d done enough for the Koreans to realise it
was no more than a consolation goal. We’d played very well, with the players
slotting in comfortably into whatever positions were asked of them. Mike
showed some very powerful running and Skinny typically demonstrated all
round good work. Beast and Chao were both strong and uncompromising, while
Wai showed a lot of tenacity and ability to get into the box.
Cumsa
0 – 5 C4 A
A strange match, whereby we didn’t play with quite the same urgency as
before. We pressured the goal and took a number of shots, but didn’t score
as many as our dominance warranted. Beasty and Luong both scored to force
the issue. Skinny slotted in his first goal of the tournament and our fourth
came about when the effervescent Jason Yu bombed forwards and from a Yauser
cross, managed to lob the keeper (and force the covering defender to get
stuck in the goal net). Wai bagged the fifth, it being a cool finish after
neat one two with Yauser. It was a relatively easy game, again with Geoff
making a foray into the outfield jungle and showing plenty of energy.
Abacus 2 – 0 C4 A
With our other team losing 1-0 and top spot looking very unlikely for them,
we did our best to finish second also. Beasty didn’t even bother playing
this game, insisting on refereeing instead! We aimed for a one goal loss
against Abacus, although it seemed nobody had told Chung, who went on
rampaging runs before being hauled off! We gave pitch time to Geoff and
James Wong as we strolled around the pitch in true pedestrian style. We went
2-0 down quite soon and had news from the other pitch that the CCS team were
losing and thus Dang’s team could still finish top. We threw on some
heavyweights, but not long after heard that the other game was drawing and
so we still targeted the solitary goal. However, it was not to come, despite
some increased efforts and we accepted a 2-0 loss to a determined Abacus
side.
Interval
James Wong had already left for Dim Sum with his family and Yauser departed
during the interval for London. The Koreans later failed to beat the
Malaysians and so despite our less than valiant efforts we ultimately
finished in top position, with Abacus finishing in surprise second. And so,
it would be an all C4 Semi final after all.
Following a brief discussion, both teams eventually agreed to play to win
('let's go all out' were the main slogans as well as Wai cheekily urging us
to 'rip through them'!).
C4 A vs C4 B – 1-1 (2-1 after pens)
The semi final proved to be a close match, with both teams trading blows
with alarming regularity. Team Luong got off to the better start, with us
coming close on a few occasions. Luong span Greg and blazed a left footed
shot over the crossbar, Mickey Chan asked why Greg had let him do him like
that. Greg answered, 'he’s much stronger than he looks, you know!' I'd have
to agree to that, although I do look strong as well, right...?
Anyhoo, Dang's team took the lead when a mistake gifted Tyrell the ball and
he powered it in with only the keeper to beat. We replied quickly with
Skinny finishing off a powerful run to make the scores even. There was some
tough tackling and no punches pulled, both teams eager to claim bragging
rights. Wayan came close to adding a second, but some very determined
defending thwarted him as he was about to pull the trigger. At the other
end, Skinny was put through to go one on one, but Jason Wong pulled off a
good save, though the slim one knows he should have done better.
The defensive shield of Jason Yu, Chao and Beasty all kept close tabs on the
talented attacking line up of C4 B and the rest of us provided the legs to
test the Dang inspired backline. It was frenetic stuff, but the match
finished 1-1 and penalties loomed. All stepped up, with Jason Yu making a
few truly tremendous saves and eventually nobody but Beasty converting and
so we gladly progressed into the final.
Abacus
0 – 6 C4 A
‘We’ve beaten them before, we can do it again’ roared Colin, but instead it
served to spur us on as we thrashed Abacus 6-0 in a relatively easy final.
Due to Abacus request, the match was shortened to 10 minutes halves and
Beasty, Mike, Chao and Jason Yu started, with Geoff in goal. We looked at
our bench and the strength was easy to see – Luong, Skinny, Chung and Wai
were waiting in the wings.
Mike and Beast combined well up front with the pace of Mike complimenting
the strength of Beast. Twice they combined to score the initial two goals,
the first a stinging near post shot. It should be mentioned that the Abacus
keeper was really very good and had kept a clean sheet against CCS (incl.
the penalty shoot out) prior to this match. Chao and Jason Yu had very few
problems and were assured in possession, but we’d seen enough of the rampant
duo of Mike and Beast and at 2-0 up, Skinny and Luong came on to add to
Abacus woes. Immediately they linked up with Luong smashing a ferocious near
post drive past the despairing Abacus GK (see fig 1.1). Our energy
levels were good, as we’d rotated well throughout the tournament, but soon
Chung and Wai were to see some action for our able defenders. However, not
before Skinny ran at the defence and then fed Luong who in one movement took
a touch with the outside of his boot before rolling it past the onrushing
keeper for our fourth goal (see fig 1.2). Wai, who had shown much
improved work rate notched our fifth with a well taken goal before half
time, after Mike had backheeled it to the baby-faced Chinaman (see fig
1.3).
With their star keeper leaving at half time, it looked like a rout was on
the books – 5 goals in 10 previous minutes supported this view.
However, we seemed to ease off the pressure, despite maintaining tight
control of the game. Our passing and movement was still impressive, but we
just didn’t score as Abacus stepped up their efforts to contain us. Chung
somehow found himself in goal and Geoff got a taste of the game. The crowd
grew a bit restless, as the goals weren’t materialising. And so we opted for
three attacking players in Luong, Skinny and Wai to help get us moving
again. Wai had the ball in midfield before playing a diagonal ball through
to goal. Skinny just failed to latch onto it, and as the ball looked
destined for the goalkeepers outstretched arms, the Mercurial and hunky
Luong slid in at the last moment to guide it past the keeper for our sixth
and final goal (see fig1.4). Chung came out of goal for a bit of and
did some flexing, but with a minute to go, greedy Luong came back on!
Chaninho and Minhinho both wanted to come on to join in with the exhibition
football, but we had limited pitch time as it was and so Luong said no! The
match soon ended and we’d played consistently well to finish as merited
champions and bring the curtains down on the Tran dynasty as worthy winners
(and owners of a bottle of bubbly – incidentally, where did that go?!)
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