Story by Shadiq Al-Hussain. Photos by Brendan Chin

NUS, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 — The Faculty of Engineering (FOE) successfully defended their title in the National University of Singapore Inter-Faculty Games (IFG) with a 5-3 penalty-shootout win over the School of Medicine (SOM). The match had ended goalless in regulation time.

Ironically, it was SOM who had the lion’s share of possession and who looked hungrier throughout the match, looking to avenge their defeat to FOE in last year’s final.

In goal, Joel Lau (#1), whose safe hands carried SOM to the final, looked every bit the steady shot-stopper he showed himself to be in earlier matches. In defence, the pairing of Jonathan Edward Jacob (#6) and Jon Han (#4) proved to be a solid wall in front of the FOE attackers.

In midfield, Hashir (#10) and Suren (#13) again put in a calm and assured performance, controlling the tempo of the match while on the left flank, Jerome Ong (#14) ran riot. It was, however, upfront where SOM had problems, with their strikers failing to seal the match, wasting numerous chances.

The first of these chances came in as early as the 2nd minute, when a counter-attack by SOM ended with Jerome Ong’s shot sailing way over the bar. 2 minutes later, Hashir’s free kick reached an unmarked Soon Hock (#11) but his flick trickled wide of the post.

FOE then signalled their intentions with their first shot of the match, but Imran’s (#9) shot from outside the box was off target. The players then got an unplanned break when a ball cleared by the FOE defence could not be found, seemingly having flown out of the campus. The comical break finally ended a whole 10 minutes later when a spare ball was pumped to the referee’s satisfaction.

Just after that, a rare defensive error by SOM’s Jacob gifted FOE’s Jay Ong with a golden chance but his poorly-attempted back-heel towards a team-mate gave the ball back to SOM. FOE’s Rakesh (#16) was then yellow-carded after two mis-timed tackles on the tricky Jerome Ong.

FOE started the second half much brighter, with substitute Mugilan (#26) catching the eye on the left flank with his neat touches and ball control. This caused problems for SOE, and Suren quickly found himself in the referee’s book after tripping Mugilan.

Then, intricate play between SOM’s Hashir, Suren and Norman Lin (#23) resulted in a well-timed cross which found Soon Hock who just missed the ball, letting FOE goalkeeper Tamilasan (#1) breathe a sigh of relief.

20 minutes into the second half, shouts for a penalty rose following a goal-mouth scramble, with FOE’s players claiming that an SOM player had handled the ball in the penalty box. A penalty, however, was not given.

Both teams then had a fair share of possession but the ball was pegged in midfield for the remainder of the match. With the full-time score at 0-0, the match went straight to a penalty shootout.

Imran (FOE) and Hashir (SOM) converted the first penalties with ease. Then, Rakesh (FOE) squeezed his penalty in while SOM’s Jon Han’s shot was met with an excellent diving save by FOE’s Tamilasan, giving FOE a 2-1 lead after two kicks each.

Following this, FOE’s Sam and Joel Long, as well as SOM’s Suren and Kartik, tucked their penalties away comfortably, leaving FOE’s Mugilan with a chance to win the match with his team’s 5th penalty. That was exactly what he did, sending the ball to the goalkeeper’s right, rendering SOM’s 5th kick academic.

FOE walked away with the title for the fourth year running while SOM were left to rue yet another runners-up finish.

Quipped SOM’s Suren after the match: “We were unlucky but we still enjoyed playing good football for our faculty members who came to support us and we will be back to win next year.”