In a change of environment, FC Phenom, bolstered by new faces, played their first night friendly at Tampines SAFRA this year against their opponents, Urawa Reds. On the slick pitch, FC Phenom did not take long to get into the groove and dictate the pace of the game. However, against the run of play, the men in Reds, took the lead with their forward heading in on the 13th minute.
Undetered, FC Phenom picked up the tempo and after a string of fluid passes and movement involving Eric Yap, (Guest Player) Thomas Lee and Stand-in Captain (#10) Suhairi Suhaimi, a low cross was drilled across from the left to find energetic winger, (#09) Rahul Pratap Singh. He made no mistakes as he slammed the ball hard into the opponent's net in the 17th minute. Not content to rest on their laurels, FC Phenom pressed on and in the 22nd minute, a delightfully weighted long pass from (#13) James Soh reached (#10) Suhairi Suhaimi, who had managed to shatter the opponents offside trap. He calmly finished as the hapless Urawa Reds goalkeeper was left at his mercy.
The defence stood stunned as they were beaten once again by another deft diagonal through ball in the 24th minute, this time from (#77) Azhar Shah, found winger (#10) Suhairi Suhaimi who beat the on-rushing keeper to the ball, slotting in to the near post. 6 minutes later, FC Phenom secured their fourth goal, (Guest Player) Thomas Lee drove in a low cross from the left to find (#09) Rahul Pratap Singh unmarked at the far post, placing his shot beyond the reach of the keeper.
In the 34th minute, A good series of passes led to a foul being committed outside Urawa's penalty box. (#77) Azhar Shah stepped up but his shot went narrowly over the bar as the half ended 4-1 in our favour. Urawa Reds left the field looking exhausted after being runned ragged by the smooth passing and build up play of FC Phenom.
A spate of substitutes during half time signalled a change of game style by FC Phenom. We allowed the opponents to have more possession of the ball in order to test our back line. The calm and steady hand of Goalkeeper (#21) Mohamad Azrul Mansoor and the solid communication of (#82) Shaun Lim and (#26) Ang Thiam Foo formed an unpenetrable triangle onto which Urawa's attack crashed and burn. In the 58th minute, (#09) Rahul Pratap Singh, missed his chance for a hat-trick as his free kick crashed into the Red's crossbar. Despite the good possession and movement, an untimely substitution due to an injury in the 61st minute left the FC Phenom defence unbalanced for a split second and Urawa capitalised on this opportunity that was presented to them, bringing the scoreline to 4-2.
Spurred on, FC Phenom stated to turn the screws on the Urawa defence, and were almost immediately rewarded when Aliff Tabser bravely slid in to receive a cross from the right. His daring attempt was unfortunately closed down by the keeper, who sustained a light knock. Other opportunities were missed as the players seemed reluctant to pull the trigger and kill off the game, opting to roll the ball along to keep possession.
The match ended 4-2 as FC Phenom racked another friendly win through simple passing and positive movement built a strong defensive back four and a safe pair of hand in goal. The players left the field light hearted and looking forward to the next match to sharpen their skills and teamwork as they build up to the start of the next season.
Prepared by
Dharman Norms
Secretary
FC Phenom
