Story by REDintern Christy Ong. Pictures by REDintern Maryam Nasihah.
Jalan Besar Stadium, Wednesday, July 9, 2008 - Favourites Singapore Sports School showed why they were the undisputed champions when they retained the B Division Football Championship title with a comfortable 4-0 win over rivals Victoria School. Sports School, having won the same title for the first time last year, were gunning for another win against the black horse of the competition, Victoria.
Despite it being a final, both teams started out as dreary as the gloomy weather, with the game feeling more like a ping-pong game rather than a football match as both teams struggled to keep possession of the ball, the ball ricocheting between them. Still, there were moments of brilliance from the Victoria playmaker Dilip Thapa (#10) whose remarkable dribbling threw the Sports School defence into disarray. However, his attempts at goals were either all near-misses or foiled by the Sports School goalkeeper. Moreover, despite the numerous numbers of free kicks and corner kicks awarded to both teams, neither team seemed to be able to convert the chances into real goals.
Ironically, although the initial comfortable weather did not bring out the best in both teams, the light drizzle that started 35 minutes into the game seemed to shake both teams out of the comfort zone. Two minutes before half time, Aliff (Sports School, #18) received a beautiful pass from a Muhamad Syafiq (Sports School, #9) and hit a low ball which bounced into goal, surprising the VS goalkeeper. Aliff commented on his very first goal, as “unexpected and the first step to securing a win for Sports School." True enough, it was the start of many goals to come. Although VS had a perfect chance to equalize in the very next minute, it was a near-miss again. At half time, the score stood at 1-0 to Sports School.
Immediately after half-time, Sports School started with a bang. Barely two minutes into the second half, Aliff again punished Victoria for the lapses in defence and slotted a low ball neatly into the corner of the net. The next goals by his teammates Naresh (#19) in the 32nd minute and a fourth goal from Aliff (#18) in the 34th minute were the same in style and nature - both exploited holes in the Victoria defence. Probably due to jitters, the Victoria defenders were inept at clearing the ball once the ball was in the penalty box. Furthermore, though the Victoria goalkeeper was exceptional in saving high balls, his height perhaps made it difficult for him to save the low shots. Indeed, Sports School used this to their advantage and scored all four goals with grounders while in the penalty box.
Nonetheless, credit should be given to both the Victoria team for never giving up and pushing on to get a goal until the very last minute, with thunderous cheers from the Victoria School supporters. Still, in a game with equal opportunities for both teams, it was the team with better finishing that won the match.
It was the best present for birthday boy and Sports School captain Aqhari (#17) who remarked proudly about winning, "The feeling was great as it would be my last competition for Sports School before I graduate. I am glad we were able to defend the title and win it for a second year."
Indeed, kudos to Singapore Sports School for retaining the title so convincingly.
Editor’s note: If you recognise yourself or your teammates in any of the photos, feel free to leave the names behind in the comments section and we will update the captions accordingly. Thanks!
In photo #2, the victoria player chasing the ball is Khairul #19.
thank you mike!
in photo #4, victoria guy heading the ball is khairil #16
aha. well said victorian. i have to agree that to a certain extent its unfair to other schoos because of the special training sss get. that might even be the thing that seperates the 2 sides. but of course on that day sss played better and deserved the win. and dilip would be able to do something because he has talent and even u cannot argue against that.
i think sports school should not be in this competition because they are supposedly the best of singapore’s soccer youths and are exposed internationally. obviously, they are expected to win the title hands down unless they’re just not good enough which will mean that sports school is just a waste of time. hence, we should all just support the beautiful game and not insult dilip thapa. cheeers!
well sports school are professionals exposed to the highest levels of games where victoria school’s players are at most playing south east asia teams. sports school players are essentially professional players while victorians focus on their work. it is 2 different set of attitutes the schools adopt and thus there would not be a fair comparison even if the sec 4s of sports school play.
put victoria up against the sports sch team consisting of the sec four players.
trust me,not even dhilip can do anything.
the final score tells everything people.
dilip thapa is the best. obviously better than any of the sports school player. but vs relied on him to much. joe u are obviously being bias and probably no nothing about the beautiful game of football.
everyone who knows dilip thapa will know that he is a huge talent..he’s willing to learn, he’s humble, he’s hardworking, he fights for every ball. at least that’s from my point of view. Further more he has the skills and touches.
victoria depend too nuch on dilip. no doubt he’s good and a talented player. sports school too have some good player all around like aqhari, #17 and aliff, #18. good game though! enjoy watching it
victoria should be lucky cos that was not the team that beat them 9-0 last time.
black horse? lol
I will have to say that Sport Schools defenders are pretty good themselves. So for Dilip Thapa to be able to get past them numerous times, he has to be talented. I was sitting in a midst of Sport Schools supporters and even they were nodding in agreement at how good he was. All he has to do now is to concentrate on his finishing and I am sure he will become a brilliant player in the future.
he is a nepalese! sure good one
wow joe. can u run rings around the sss defence even when u are lucky?
whoever you joe, you should not be jelous of a player who you will never be as half as good as and luck can only take you so far, dilip did not just dribbble past the sss defence once but he was able to run rings around them.Therefore if you are saying that everytime he beats a sss player he was lucky , i challange you to say you are better than him.
Of course dilip stands out from the rest due to his superior dribbling and humble personality.
dilip thapa was lucky to get past the sportsschool defence.nothing special about him
victoria #10 is dilip thapa