By Sandro Cagnin
SINGAPORE 18/06/2011
Bus leaves at 16:10, 25 minutes late because we had to wait for Jeetu, but since he organized this whole thing we won't pick on him. We're afraid we'll have to pay a penalty for leaving late, or maybe challenge the driver on penalties shoot-out. Here's the line-up of the bus:
From the back seats Garro & Maarteen Van der Belgium sipping on their tigers, Sandro & Alessio, Ketts taking pics of the city with his Nikon, D Cheung & the Cresser bros, Henry & Shuy in the mid seats with Vince and Chairman right in front of them, Okamura, Ikes & wife, Howie, Candy & Jeetu in front and the driver even more in front luckily. Average speed: 43 km/hour. We arrive at a football pitch at 16:45 and we wonder "is this the right one?" No one seems to know but I bet it is as we're getting off. Five mins later we're in the pitch but we have no ball, so Shuy tries to buy one off some young girls and boys who are playing at the side of the pitch. He ends up getting it for free!
17:30: Kick off. Here's the starting line-up:
Maarten Van Der Belgium
Shuy Alessio Ikes Sandro
Jeetu Justin D Cheung Garrow
Henry Julian C.
It's an incredible day for Singaporean standards: not super hot and not sunny, but of course the air is super humid and we feel it right from the start. The first minutes see a Fellas supremacy with the opponents hardly passing the midfield line. 15 mins into the game Henry runs down the right side of the pitch, passes one man and crosses the ball on the ground to the middle. Sandro is ready to tap it in unmarked. 1-0. In the next 20 mins the Fellas play a very organized match conceding little if anything to the other team. Subs: Vinne for Garrow, Ketts for Sandro, Okamura for Henry, Chairman for Justin, Howie for Julian. Close to the end of the 1st half Howie gives a through ball to Vinnie who shoots right away. The ball bounces on the defender but arrives back to his feet. His second shot is the winning one: 2-0 at half time.
18:20. Second half kick off. Starting line-up:
Maarten Van Der Belgium
Shuy Alessio Ikes Ketts
Vinnie Justin D Cheung Jeetu
Okamura Julian C.
The Fellas keep a good possession of the ball, but East Horizon start to attack more and they look much more concentrated than in the first half. 10 mins into the second half referee blows and gives a free kick to them, 20 meters to the goal. The free kick is greatly uted and gives them their first goal. Five mins after that a random cross from the right hand side sees none of them able to head it, but unfortunately the ball flies around Maarteen and into the net. 2-2. Two mins later, counterattack from the left side.The attacker manages to get the ball to his team mate in the middle who unmarked scores their third goal: 3-2 to them. In this circumstance Belgium collides against the scorer and is injured. Julian volonteers to play keeper. Howie and Henry upfront try to change the unjust result. East Horizons players close themselves in defence and who could blame them? Justin is fouled twice at the edge of the penalty area. The first free kick sees some misunderstanding between Justin and Garrow and the ball is kicked over the goal kick line. In the second one Justin shoots; the keeper sops it, doesn't hold it but none of the Fellas is able to tap the rebounce in.
In conclusion: they scored 3 goals in the 5 mins in which we seemed to be napping. They have been really good in taking advantage of the situation. Dominating the match is not everything, we also need to master the skills to be focus for the whole game. Apart from the match it was great fun to do such an "out-of-country" activity; I'm really happy Fellas signed up for it en masse!
Sandro
