By Les Tan
Muhd Khairil glances in the winning goal for VJC in second half stoppage time to ensure a 3-2 victory. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Jalan Besar Stadium, Monday, May 25, 2009 – Victoria Junior College scored a stoppage time goal to eke out a 3-2 victory over Meridian Junior College.
The 3pm start time under the scorching sun plus the adrenaline of a national football final meant fitness would come into play in this game. Added to that the heart-pounding and ear-splitting cheering from supporters of both schools – the loudest cheering you’ll hear at a football game on this island – the stage was set for an exciting game.
A blistering start saw VJC take an early 1-0. Alex (#10) found some space on the left flank and his cross was met by Asyraf who placed his header over Edmund Wong in the (#32) in the MJC goal. 1-0 to VJC.
But MJC came right back. Their constant pressure yielded them a free-kick from 30m out. Up stepped their captain Fazli Hisham (#7) who hit it straight at the VJC keeper Ifwat Wafiy. It was not a hard shot and everyone expected the keeper to pluck it safely from the air. To his and the collective horror of the VJC crowd, it squirmed from his outstretched hands and bounced over the line. 1-1 and the MJC crowd roared their approval.
Man for man, MJC had the measure of the VJC team, nullifying any attack, while their constant probing left VJC fans with the gnawing dread of another MJC goal.
Alex (VJC #10) then missed a one-on-one situation to leave the score unchanged and the miss would haunt VJC.
VJC’s Jasper gave away another free-kick to MJC and this time Attah Joseph (#21) stepped up. Of all the people in the VJC wall, Joseph’s blast chose to take a wicked deflection off the head of Jasper and the ball hit the back of the net while VJC keeper Ifwat was left flat footed. VJC, and Jasper, were feeling particularly unlucky by now.
With MJC holding their first lead of the game at 2-1, VJC did not look likely to score. But an individual piece of finishing by Alex changed the scoreline. VJC keeper Ifwat’s kick upfield was met by the head of Anders Aplin (VJC #9). Another teammate met Anders’ header with another flick on and the ball landed nicely in the path of Alex who bore down on the right side of the MJC penalty box.
VJC fans wondered: Was he going to shoot? His answer was instantaneous – a blast with his right leg that arrowed across the diving body of MJC keeper Edmund Wong to nestle in the far corner of the net. A predator’s goal and the score was now 2-2. Game on.
After the excitement of the first half with four goals and lots of action, the second half was an anti-climax. The 3pm start was taking its toll as players from both teams started going down with cramps. The most pained sufferer was Attah Joseph (MJC #21) whose cramp was so severe that his bulging thigh muscles were rigid with cramp and he had to be carried off the pitch.
With the injuries, the game was going nowhere as a spectacle but with the passing minutes, the tension ratcheted up. A goal at this late juncture would surely spell the winner.
MJC had two golden chances to score through Joseph Tai (MJC #23), the second of which was a header that was headed for goal but Ifwat pulled off a stupendous save to make up for his first half error.
The miss of the game though, was by Alex (VJC #10), this year’s top scorer with 16 goals.
A blistering shot by Anders (VJC #9) from outside the box was not held by MJC keeper Edmund. The ball spilled loose and bounced up nicely into the path of the onrushing Alex. However, from less than 2m from the goal line and with the whole goal gaping before him, he somehow contrived to put the ball over the bar.
Even though the ball fell to his weaker left leg, he pounded the ground in extreme frustration while the VJC bench saw coach Tan Yew Hwee sprawl to the ground like he had been shot. The VJC bench must have thought this was going to be a repeat of the 2008 final where Alex also missed chances that cost them the championship title.
By this time, everyone was expecting extra-time but the final act was yet to be played out. In the second minute of extra time, a throw in by Cephas Ong was headed on by Anders Aplin. In the middle was the waiting Muhammad Khairil (VJC #5). Rising with him were two MJ defenders but Khairil got his head to the ball first.
It was not a hard header but the ball’s bounce fooled MJC keeper Edmund and went in to send the VJC crowd into delirium. 3-2 to VJC was how it finished, and VJC put to bed their 1-2 loss to MJC in last year’s final.
In an on-field incident witnessed by many and sure to be discussed for days on end, the MJC taunt to VJC to “go fly kite” got the better of VJC’s Khairil and he made a mocking gesture – putting his thumb on his nose and wiggling his fingers – to the MJC crowd in return after teammate Alex scored the second VJC goal.
After getting scolded by coach Tan Yew Hwee immediately after the incident, Khairil was marched to the MJC principal after the game by his coach and made to apologise.
“That kind of game, heart attack!” said VJC coach Tan Yew Hwee. “The chances they missed!”
The winning goal was unexpected.
“The goal was a soft goal,” he said.
For MJC, this was their fifth A Division final appearance in a row.
“That’s football,” said MJC coach Fabio Fanticelle Da Silva. “It was a loss of concentration in the last two minutes.”
“It was a very good save by the VJC keeper,” said coach Fabio, referring to the save from Joseph Tai (MJC #23) in the dying moments of the second half.
“Last year was our year, this year is their time. Our boys worked very hard and we have very good support from the principal and teachers.”
MJC are also well placed for A Division football honours next year.
“Seven of the players will be back next year,” coach Fabio confirmed.
“It’s really honourable to score in the final on such a big stage,” said Muhd Khairil, the scorer of the winning goal and who also bagged the man-of-the-match award. “Lucky the ball went in. We had many chances to score but we threw it away.”
Khairil finished the season with four goals, but that last one will live long in the memory for him and VJC.
likewise vjc and their supporters, enn.
(and all the other jc’s and schools, i shld say)…
thanks.
Cheers are meant to hype up the crowd and let spectators have something fun to do instead of watching a match livelessly. ‘why are we so pro’ is just one of those cheers to hype spectators up instead of just “aaaaaaaaa yay” and sit down.
By the way, ‘go fly kite’ is used in one of our house cheers too. And i haven’t heard of ANY fellow meridians complaining about it. In fact, all of us loved it. Maybe only meridians would understand this, so it’s pointless for you outsiders to harp on this further because it won’t change anything.
u’re very much welcome enn…
now, tat’s wat i’d call being gracious…
thanks for tat enn.
oh and i would just like to say, on a totally different note, that yes, i was truly affected by this post, being a die-hard supporter of mjc soccer. However, everyone is entitled to their own bias right:) and getting so worked up over this made me realise just how conflicts really arise. So yes people, let’s get this over and done with. MJC supporters, whatever they say about us, let not our faith in our soccer team falter..because yes, we’ll need it for years to come.
Love us or hate us, we’ll always be around for you to TRY and bring down. And might as you beat us on the field, never in the spirit. Proud of you mj soccer guys!
to piss off. ok, i agree with you. you’re very mature from what i can tell. thanks for the advice 🙂
tat’s not so humble lah true blue meridian…
ur fact is correct tho, vjc #5 is MOM…bcos he’s been selected by a panel of pple who knows soccer much much more than u do..
and u can sing ur cheer as long as u want it..nobody can stop u. but dun be surprised if u get worse reactions than wat the vj player did, by all the other schools (maybe the acjc version), since now all of us know wat ur ‘cheer’ actually means…
goodnite.
Look at this
Victoria JC boys lift A Division floorball championship trophy for first time after beating Meridian JC
May 23, 2009
Story by REDintern Farah Alsagoff. Photos contributed by readers Irene Ng, Gary Chew.
VJC win MJC but it didnt create so so much discontentment.
So Les, here is something you can learn from Farah Alsagoff.
ok, i only have 2 things to say, in my humble opinion…
Most of the meridians were upset with the fact that despite his “mocking gestures,” justified or not by the “taunting”(i’d personally call it cheering though), vjc#5 still got man of the match. but well, fellow meridians, it is a fact that he’s been named MOM so yea, move on.
To non-Meridians out there who felt that our “all the rest can go fly kite” and “why are we so pro” cheers were taunting and disrespectful, no matter what you guys have to say, you’ll still hear us using these cheers in the soccer finals next year and perhaps every other year.
so don’t get worked up people, it doesn’t change anything that has been done.
well, maybe the only thing that wil change next year, is that you guys will see a better, faster, stronger team of Meridians.
GO MJ!
all in my humble opinion please, i totally accept the fact that you guys are still gonna hate us!
you can create your own website if you dont like.
Uncle Les the besttt!
rather poor photos i feel.
OMG! I really dont like the way Les defended himself. Such a …..
He only know how to generate popular news and comments!!! By trying to do that he is sucessful!
I believe that the problem doesnt lie with any of the students in VJC and MJC. It is the way how the reporter have reported it that stirred such a big ‘rawr-rawr’ here.
So to Les and his team, perhaps it is time for all of you to reflect upon the way of your writing style whereby you add your own personal emotions into the report which proves to be very unprofessional. For example, in any of the mainstream newspapers in Singapore, do you see any of the reporter goes ‘ this man met a car accident but serves him right because people i ask say so’? It is important for a reporter to clarify with both sides of the party to prevent any conflicts that might arise and this is the area that need to be improved. Providing information fast but with many mistakes made doesnt proved to be good too as you can see how much arguments have resulted.
There is no doubt, you and your team have been putting great effort to provide the most updated news and maintain this website. Please give a real reflection of what i have brought up and change for the better. Remember that no one is perfect and we have to constantly change and upgrade ourselves for the better.
Just a suggestion: You could try to report this news or even the rest of the other news and exclude all the emotion words u have added in. In my opinion, it will benefit you guys and the respective schools more.And well, you can see how the reply goes.
Alright. Some more comments. Ok. Let’s continue discussing. In good faith.
For those who just say I”I really don’t like the way Les defended himself”, that’s not discussing in good faith and there’s nothing to say. It gets into the “I feel…”, “You feel…” type of discussion and goes nowhere.
Whether you like it or not is secondary to whether something is right or not. If we wanted to be liked, would we allow a free-flowing comments section which allows negative comments directed at us? We allowed a free-flowing comments section so that we can encourage a useful debate for the Singapore sports scene.
To suggester, you have nowhere provided any evidence from the post above to back your accusation that I have added my “own personal emotions into the report which proves to be very unprofessional.” Your example of ‘this man met a car accident but serves him right because people i ask say so’ – I’m not sure what your point is. I never said it serves the VJC player right, if that’s what you’re getting at.
Again you make the same accusation: “exclude all the emotion words u have added in”. Again, you have failed to suggest any word from the post above that backs your argument up.
Back it up, suggester. If you don’t, it just belongs to the “I-feel-you-feel” type of discussion. A lot of heat but no fire. And again shows the tendency to bend or ignore the facts to fit your reality.
And for the fella who doesn’t like the photos. Yeah, my photos aren’t that great. I missed a lot of shots. It’s a problem I have when I write and shoot at the same time. Hard to concentrate. I was watching so that I could at least follow the game.
But, like I always say, you are welcome to send in your photos or stories of the game. http://redsports.sg/tell-your-story/ or send it to redcrew@redsports.sg.
I have been repeating this until everyone knows it. Even the HCI blog webmaster has used it in his chat box. (HCI started a site similar to Red Sports to support all their CCAs).
If you are not aware, the policy of this site is:
You send it, we post it.
I’m sure you have better photos. We can’t wait to see it.
Whoa all this commotion only goes to show the degree of competitiveness between JCs & how political each can get to safeguard its reputation.
woah how come all ac players got so many votes haha
well noob, like your sch has sportsmanship? lol.
AND WHY DONT YOU SAY THAT MJC IS USING #5 ACTIONS TO JUSTIFY THAT “CHEER”?
since you and your sch love the cheer so much, go FLY KITE YOURSELVES then.
go ac!
i agree with les. if ppl has so much comments to make, make your own report then. we shall read it and scrutinize it again. this way it can help to air your views and let the rest know what you think. and both mj goals had huge elements of luck no question about that. so stop trying to say uncle les, who took time and effort to do this for US, is biased and subjective. he said it we send it he’ll post it. anyway good job vj and les as well:)
Guys give khai a break man, he apologised, even if you said it was forced, he still did, only he would know whether it was sincere, so whats the point of flaming people…get on with life…and by saying that “victorians should’t do what khai did, they are known for their sportsmanship” was just being stereotypes, everybody makes mistakes, we are afterall humans. Great match played by both sides = )
vjc is using the taunt as a cover up for their poor sportmanship. cheering occurs in matches, players must be able to shut the noise out. mjc should not defend their cheer, we should continue cheering, we have been using this cheer all the time, we will be champs nex yr.
and i thought acjc respected our school when we played them in the quarter finals. they did not overly celebrate their win, although it was lucky.
haha yeah rite!next year millenia institute will win lahh. haha.
eh change topic can or not? this thing like quite boring alr lahh.
lets talk abt champs league final! MAN U WILL WINNNNN!!!!!
Schools should just focus on cheering and motivating their own school teams, and not to taunt the others. What’s over is over, let’s look forward to the next season…
Tho I must say ACJC plays dirty football