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.
Hey, I just got to know about this site and I read abit on this thread. I think I should not be starting this flaming again but I feel that there’s a need to clarify some stuffs.
Firstly, regarding the “fly kite” cheer, I sense no taunt in it. Okay, maybe a little. But what I understand from the phrase is to ask the opponent to go do something else. As in, we’re gonna win and you can go do something else. Yupp. Sounds rather taunting to me. But hey, if you think about it, if I say I’m gonna win what will you do? Try to win instead to prove me wrong right? Instead of doing some vulgar actions. And it’s totally ridiculous that “go fly kite” means to masturbate. Call me noob or in the dark or whatever you want, but I only know masturbation can be said as pcc (pa chiu cheng, whack the gun?), pa puay ki(whack the aeroplane? Check coxford dictionary, in the library maybe?) and wank. It’s really absurd to hear that explanation. Furthermore if I ask you to go away, and you interprete it as f**k off, that’s where you’re in the wrong. I mean, go away =/= F**k Off right? F**k Off is like a more vulgar and taunting phrase. So do not put words in other people’s mouth please. TYVM.
If I’m not wrong, VJC #5 DID NOT apologise to the spectators, just the principal. If you ask me whether that’s sincere, I probably would give you a “no”. I mean if I whack you up, and I wanna apologise, I apologise to our mum meh? It’s like lol wtf. The Meridians ain’t happy with him is not because we have a pre-grudge with him. But instead because of what he did in the field during the 90minutes. I’m sorry if we’re prejudiced with him, but he’s lucky not to be thrown with water bottles when he did that taunt. Anyway, he should have been given a yellow or even red card for doing that if the referee saw. Even taking clothes off on the pitch can be sent off, why not taunting action of the player?
If he wants to complaint about the taunting fly kite cheer, too bad he’s on the pitch. Spectators don’t get sent off, I’m sorry. If we can be, then by all means, go ahead. Furthermore, the fly kite cheer is really a simple cheer which is not really that intolerable. If you think that’s intolerable, you can just go join some other non-sports CCA, don’t play sports. Seriously. Correct me if I’m wrong, sportsmanship = how well you can control and conduct yourself on the playing ground. So do you think #5 is wrong?
I think the whole issue arised because of misunderstandings. Because VJ thought MJ was being intolerably taunting, we got fed up with them. And the situation got worse because of #5 who did that action. I personally think that he should just come out and apologise. IF HE IS A MAN THAT IS. If he think he is still a small boy who still can shirk his responsibility for that action. Then I’m fine with it. Anyway, it’s just an apology. If he insist so much on his “pride” then good luck to him.
No matter how, on behalf on MJC, I’d like to apologise for using a taunting cheer (which we believe weren’t really that taunting) and cause such a stir-up.
PS. The meridians didn’t hear the victorians doing the three cheers thus we apologise for not replying the cheer. You guys are too soft I guess. D: && some of us jeer-ed because we were frustrated about the taunting action #5 did. What’s done is done, so sorry no matter how.
I hope there’ll be no more flaming.
Cheers. 😀
For those who took part in the contest for the adidas boots, I’m sorry to say that there was an error in the form.
To take part again, please go to: http://redsports.sg/2009/06/01/adidas-f-50i-boots-football/
The contest will be restarted again.
Sorry again for the error.
yeah precisely. haha imagine if it was an awesome game of football for both halves
then perhaps quality and skill instead of fitness would have shone through in the end
organisors could have done better with the planning in certain stages of the competition, i felt
Dear HAHA,
Thanks for your encouraging comment. I asked one of the crew to help me close the thread when I was out on Thursday but I decided to reopen it about one hour later.
Never mind. Let everyone say their piece and get it off their chest. I think it’s good people stand up for their school and their teammates. Good to see passion. Better than apathy.
We’re working on the Seng Kang Primary story now and so look out for it.
To Khairil ex-MJC. Thanks for dropping by and hope you’re well too. I would like to see the all-star team from last year play against this year’s team but I have no resources to put the game together, unfortunately.
To Step Back and Relax. I enjoyed reading your comment. It was well-written and you have a sense of humour!
To those who are talking about the 3pm start time. Given the weather in Singapore, 3pm in this heat can be a killer. The pace at which the game was played in the first half meant the second half was not much of a spectacle. Fitness played a huge role in the game. Whoever was the fittest would win in the end.
HAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!
MARCUS DAMN FUNNY!!!!!!!
yeah i agree with heated up
its a problem with this years organisors
somehow, a division soccer has taken a backseat with the ssc this year
semi finals were played at other jcs instead of jalan besar, different from last year
there was a long hiatus after the 2nd group stage, with the teams in the semis unaware of their semifinal dates
even for the final, the location for the match was not confirmed until the last min
3rd and 4th placing were placed on a SATURDAY?! in a jc! not a proper stadium
in the group stage, the number of referees were reduced to just one, instead of having linesmen too
even for the final, they put it at such a timing. 3pm?!
im sure they have their own reasons, just wish that the organisors could have made the tournament an even more memorable and competitive one
Good that all the arguments have eased up…hope all parties can learn their own lessons from this episode.
In the heat of all the arguments, we all forgot one important and relevant issue of that final…the heat, literally.
Why is the final being held at 3pm?
It’s fortunate that none of the players suffers anything more than cramps. It could be worse, like serious dehydration or heatstroke. The weather has been very dry and extremely hot the past few weeks. Couple that with playing on a new synthetic pitch. Your feet is literally burning inside. I think all those players who had played on a synthetic pitch can vouch for that. No wonder that many players from both sides came down with cramps, which is quite unusual for fit, young men of about 17-18 yrs old. It would be a much better game of football in the second half if the players were not already drained out during the first.
I would like to suggest that future finals to start at 5pm. Even better if it can be night game to start at 7pm, as an incentive to the two teams that enter the final. I think it will then be a magnificent game of football.
What say you SSSC?
Haha I’m quite amused this debate is still going on (:
Chill please! What’s done cannot be undone. People are entitled to their views. Bias or not. And you can’t impose those views on others bcos they are highly unlikely to accept it, or rather wouldn’t even accept it.
Just accept the past and embrace the future alrights 😀
aiyo guys.. knock it off aight? we should all move on.. soccer’s like that.. tough challenges coming in and all.. its all part of the game..obviously both sides would wanna win it badly but unfortunately, there can only be one winner.. ultimately, its not the destination that mattered but rather, the journey that the players had gone through.. 🙂 yea.. oh well.. kudos to all the players from the various schools who made the tournament a success.. hopefully there’ll be an all star match between this year’s all stars and last year’s all stars.. think it’ll be a spectacular event.. hope ur doing good uncle les 🙂
Regards,
khairil
MJ’08
aiyah guys.. knock it off.. soccer’s like that.. tough tackles coming in and what nots are part of the game.. the 2 schools played to win but unfortunately there can only be one winner.. whats done is done.. ultimately, its the journey that mattered.. priceless. 🙂 well done to players from all the schools who made the tournament a success.. hopefully there’ll be an all star game between this year’s all star and that of last year’s.. try to make it happen, uncle les?
Regards, khairil
MJ’08
yea totally agree. Its become very ridiculous…
i propose les should close this thread. everything is blown totally out of proportion despite many people trying to cool the issue. it’s almost a week since the finals, yet this debate is raging on. Even epl issues would have died down by now.
aiyoh so garang la you.
you’re right la, everyone has their own version. dunno which PLAYERS you talking about la, but from where I was, it was clearly a late tackle. If it’s red-card, my dear boy, why he never get red-card? Maybe you argue cos’ ref never see. Then that’s too bad la right or not. Maybe you can suggest to FIFA also, next time let other players/spectators to be able to give out yellow/red cards. 😀 And the second one, he got yellow. But so did many of the other players leh. So everyone also play the same style mah. Correct or not? If one person cannot take it that play is like that, then don’t play lor.
Soccer is a sport that should be enjoyed by all. Enough la, about this thing. Don’t blame anyone anymore ok. 🙂
to lol- were you playing in the match?
if you werent who are you to talk like that?
this is what the PLAYERS said: he jumped and left his leg trailing behind
and it wasnt a 50-50 challenge
keeper got the ball first
he jumped and swung his trailing leg
not once
TWICE, one in each half
coincidentally, they scored after each collision
whos the one that doesnt know how to watch soccer?
that was a red card offence
dont act like you know stuff when you were not even on the field
and dont talk nonsense when you are the one that doesnt know anything
instead of watching footy from the comfort of your home,
why not get up from your cosy home and come down and play yourself instead of acting like some smart alec talking about pathetic visors and helmets
talking big
im sure you are a fantastic player
just too bad the world hasnt seen your talents
im sure people will have a different story of the incident but whatever, to each his own
alamak here we go again.
VJ kia, okay that might be a little sneaky of the MJ players, but let’s face it la. Every team will have their own strategy, the little tricks and whatnot. That’s soccer, that’s sports. Everyone plays to win, no? And for those who disagree, don’t start a whole debate over that, don’t k? Winning while not the ONLY objective, is also one of the objectives. So strategy to win = essential. Pushing, shoving all, part of the game. Not only the keeper gets pushed, everyone on the field gets pushed. If not, then might as well as these boys play something else, right or not?
Ani, what Khairil did both times was a late tackle. I don’t know if you’ve ever played soccer, but it’s this little sport that involves running at a high speed with a ball at your feet, and your eyes on the goal. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that sometimes it is impossible to stop in time to avoid collision with anything in the way. Plus in this case, it was a fifty-fifty challenge, which means only Khai and the keeper were there. So picture this k : Khai running with the ball. Eyes on the ball, eyes look up to see the goal, then suddenly this keeper comes running at him. The natural reaction would be to stop, which would require a bit of time. Some more the keeper is trying to grab the ball at his feet. So what does he do? Pick the ball up and play catching? No, he will instinctively try to kick the ball away. But alamak, the keeper’s head is already there. So yes. Nose bled. Oops. The only thing “perfectly wrong”(since not perfectly right mah.) was to not be able to stop on time. Wrong timing mah. But that one, you cannot blame him right? Maybe you should suggest that FIFA start issuing keepers with helmets, (with visors ah important, must protect the nose) la from now on (: Will solve all of this, guarantee. But next year don’t come and accuse the keeper’s helmet of causing nosebleed in the striker k?
Oh and next time ah. All of you should try subscribing to Starhub Cable. I heard the Channel 27 has lots of soccer matches. Maybe you can see free demonstration from the professional soccer players k, then you understand the game abit more. I know la, the VJ/MJ soccer boys on the field all very cute, but there’s more to soccer than that k? Don’t fight anymore 🙂
Cheers.
Khairil Johari (#5, centre-back, VJC) (22.0%, 237 Votes)
Alex (#10, striker, VJC) (18.0%, 200 Votes)
Anders Aplin (#9, striker, VJC) (14.0%, 150 Votes)
Jasper (#3, centre-back, VJC) (13.0%, 142 Votes)
Chester Lum (#16, centre midfielder, VJC) (11.0%, 122 Votes)
Asyraf (#11, left midfielder, VJC) (10.0%, 111 Votes)
Wee Wei Liang (#20, left-back, VJC) (10.0%, 109 Votes)
Puar Si Wei (#4, right-back, VJC) (9.0%, 101 Votes)
Jason (#2, pos?, VJC) (8.0%, 88 Votes)
Alfred (#8, right-mid, VJC) (7.0%, 78 Votes)
vj kia, marking the keeper is perfectly fine you know
k
khairil kicking the mj keeper in the face once, making his nose bleed, and in the second half kicking his head, which got khairil yellow carded, isnt
gosh… 200+ response to A div soccer… All this charade for what? MJ’s ‘taunting’ and VJ’s mocking sign… gosh… Why are we all focusing so much on such trivial details instead of the actual events of the match. Its so funny how many people are focusing on totally small issues that happens a billion over times in any soccer match. Whatever it is, I hope this doesn’t worsen the relationship between the 2 JCs. Yea well I’m a loyal Victorian and while I hope there could be less attacks to VJ, I also hope that Victorians who see this will no longer hole grudges against MJ and bitch about them anymore alright, come on, we better things to bother about. This year is our 25th anniversary so lets not be troubled by such trivial issues. Apologies to Meridians for all that might have incurred your wrath, hopefully things will be better for both schools. Come on, we JCs of the east must stand together (ok random) 🙂
Whenever MJ was taking their corner, they would send 1 or 2 players to man-mark the goalkeeper, preventing him from coming out. Thus leading to rough contact between keeper, players and defenders. I’m not sure if that is right or not. All I know is that I dont see VJC players resorting to such tricks when they are taking their corner.
hey guys, maybe we should all just chill!
firstly, we have been using the fly kite cheer for years, and objectively, i’m sure many of the schools who play against us do use the cheer by replacing all “MJ”s in the cheer with their school name, VJ is not excluded. so why is everyone saying MJ is taunting? hmmm. so only MJ’s at fault? also, if it has sexual connotations attached to it, would schools even allow us to use that cheer?
secondly, the whole issue bout khairil doing that gesture. it’s perfectly normal in football. look at henry asking the crowd to keep quiet, etc. it’s perfectly normal in football so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. MJCians, just chill man. if it was me or anyone else, i’d do that too to the opposing fans if they’re that noisy.
thirdly, i strongly disagree with the alleged claim that MJC players are unsporting. all the small tussles in the penalty box or disturbing the keeper is again PART OF THE GAME. if you think that’s unsporting, well, it doesn’t fall under sportsmanship, it falls under gamemanship. and don’t you see this when you watch football? what’s wrong with it? since you say it’s unsporting, then might as well play netball, where there isn’t supposed to be contact, although there still is.
so yeah, let’s all take a chillpill and cool down. the only one laughing here is Les as he gets his website all the precious hits so he can get more investors. right?