Tampines SAFRA, Sunday, March 16, 2008 – The Geylang United Under-16 team ripped apart their opponents FC Puerto 6-0 in the final of the adidas +challenge to earn themselves a trip to Vienna, Austria. They will represent Singapore in a regional final involving other Asian countries in Austria and will also get the opportunity to catch a game at Euro 2008 while they are there.
The Geylang United team, coached by ex-national player Samawira Basri, were a cut above every other team in this 5-versus-5 tournament played on small artificial pitches at Tampines SAFRA. With space at a premium on a small pitch crowded with players, the Geylang boys showed superior technical skills to undo all their opponents with ease and it was always a matter of how many goals they would score in the final.
Within 2 minutes of the start of the final, Geylang United went 1-0 after Sahil had set up teammate Firdaus to score. Sahil then helped himself to a goal and Geylang’s second with a back header straight from his goalkeeper’s throw.
With the experience of playing two years together under their belt, their teamwork showed through again when the second half resumed with Sahil helping himself to his second and Geylang’s third for a 3-0 lead. Sahil then completed his hattrick after an exchange with Shazlie before Fadli and then Shazlie added two more for a comprehensive 6-0 win.
Sahil, who could not remember how many goals he scored throughout the tournament – “More than ten,” he said – scored with a beautiful overhead kick in the knockout phase which must rank as the best goal of the event.
“It feels great. It’s good for us to win the tournament because we wanted this badly,” said Mohd Azzli, the captain of the Geylang United U-16 team. “It was a dream come true for us. It was quite challenging and the weather was bad earlier in the week. We had to perform at the highest level.”
In a controversial semi-final game that provided sparks off the field of play, FC Puerto won a hotly-contested coin toss after their game against CHR United had ended deadlocked 5-5 on penalties. Regulation time had produced a 1-1 stalemate. With the rules demanding a coin toss to determine the winner, the innocuous coin toss became a huge bone of contention when the losing party contested the definition of “heads” and “tails”. After much argument, FC Puerto were declared the winners based on the coin toss but they might have preferred being somewhere else after their 0-6 whipping at the hands of the clearly superior Geylang United team who made them look very ordinary.
In the Women’s Final, EB Sports A beat Sporting Westlake 3-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw at full time. In the U-12 boys category, Young Stars beat Yang Zheng Nite 2-0 with goals by Amirul and Matthew of St Joseph’s Institution (Junior).
