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.
I think that the ‘fly kite’ cheer is a taunt more than a cheer – when you cheer you should be encouraging your own team rather than putting down others.
What VJ#5 was on the spot, he apologised later. Besides, the MJ team definitely weren’t all perfect sportsmen either. We should forget this issue; we all make mistakes.
congratulations to both mj and vj.
It’s funny how this incident on Khai taunting the MJ fans with the thumb on nose with wiggling fingers has sparked off so much of an uproar up here.
This might have gone uncovered by during the ACJC vs SAJC 3rd/4th placing match an AC player flashed the middle finger multiple times at the SA crowd which was obviously met with displeasure from the crowd. Although made to apologize at the end of the game, his sincerity is surely doubted.
yeah why is there no other contest for the goalkeepers, surely there are othere better ones, it cant be both for acjc cant it? isnt edmund as good as well?
good job mj anyways!
Erm, two goalkeepers for ACJC best XI?
its khairil and not khairul anyway. thanks.
and seriously, about the meridians not giving victorians respect when their college anthem was played, I can guarantee you we didn’t even realise it was playing. so your argument is kind of baseless and not that the meridians were trying to celebrate and silence victoria jc’s college anthem. what’s the point of doing so when meridians have already won the title on that particular year?
makes sense?
Okay guys why not just chill and listen to me for a second, although i know i’m no football big star.
I’ve been playing for *JC (not MJC or VJC) football for the past 2 years, and I’ve played against MJC for the past 2 years in their school.
Every year, I will hear them using the same cheers for every single soccer match, for example the ‘MJC boleh… go fly kite’ and the ‘why are we so pro’ cheer.
As a player on the pitch for 80mins, with the MJC supporters cheering relentlessly for their MJ players, I DO NOT FEEL that there is any taunting, at all. The argument that the line ‘go fly kite’ is just to taunt the opposition, is BASELESS.
it is already stated that it is a cheer. i have never heard of any schools that have created cheers just to jeer/taunt their oppositions. they did not direct the ‘taunt’ towards any specific school. personally, i feel that the cheer actually shows the arrogance that MJC has, and to boost their morale, and why not? which school can boast of being in the A div football finals for the past 5 years?
everytime when i’m on the field playing against MJC, and i hear the cheers, i do not take the words as a taunt/jeer. it’s only a school cheer, and it’s meant for MJC, not directed to any other schools.
been to support singapore in asean cup matches? i vividly remember the 2006/2007 edition, when we played against malaysia. you football maniacs will know the *beep*x9.. BUT*H! now that’s a taunt. because this sentence is directed straight to the opposition/referee, but of course not to our own SG players.
there is a huge difference between this cheer and the ‘go fly kite cheer’.
just imagine been mocked by your opposition with vulgarities throughout the match. we 17-19 year olds will certainly not TAHAN.
yes VJC #5 might have made a rude gesture towards the MJC crowd, but give credit to him. he apologised. most of all he won the MVP. ronaldo has his downfalls, so do not put anyone down. we’re all young, we have so many years ahead of us to learn from our mistake.
that act of mockery at us was really really such a disgrace from such top quality players. nevertheless, the game was well played by both sides and it was a good win by VJC and MJC was really close to winning as well. I personally don’t think ‘go fly kite’ is taunting? it is a cheer afterall so i don’t see anything too ‘taunting’ with that.
No.23 is Joseph Tai.
VJC WON. MJC LOST. 3-2. End of story. Arguing about this matter is like trying to answer a philosophical question. GO KI and discuss ok?
And i think VJC deserves the win 🙂 congrats VJC ^________________^
vj won. whats this discussion all about? if mj had won would the focus be on vj’s #5? what were the mj players doing last year when the victorian anthem was played? vj players were silencing the crowd when the meridian school song was being played.
The poll, as well as the fact that the fly a kite thing is so exaggerated is just begging for a conflict. Who’s ideas was it to put it up anyway? The article, as well as the website itself is already brilliantly enough and I’m thankful for that. However, we don’t need to turn this into a taunt war between schools. I’m sure no one would have dragged this sort of dicussion into this site if it wasn’t mentioned in the first place.
Quote:
OMG Says:
May 25th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
‘If you happen to see it as something that was done deliberately, then I can’t comment any further.
And lets face it, even though VJ was through and through deservedly the winner in this match, his whole action has disgraced the school itself, even though he has taken courage and apologized.’
I’m sure the MJ supporters weren’t disgracing themselves when they told the VJ players to ‘go fly kite’.
Utter sportsmanship
maybe we can stop arguing and start learning.
1) no one is perfect
2) having said that, taunting should not be encouraged. retaliation is also wrong. we should try our best not to let emotions get the better of us in anything we do as it can lead to a lot of arguments… as we can see.
3) soccer is a beautiful game
i think there’s a worse cheer that MJ uses. and that is the ”why are we so pro” cheer. i cant stand how everytime when MJ scores a goal, the whole school erupts in that cheer. it shows the arrogance of the meridians.
yes, the no.5 VJ player was in the wrong. he was disgraceful, yes, but when he won some award, what did the meridians do? they JEERED at him. this is what i call disgraceful too. should we repay disgracefulness with disgracefulness? Are we then not becoming what we hate?
anyway it was a good game played, with both MJ and VJ looking good on the field. the same cant be said about the people in the stands.
haiyo…come on guys. let’s not get so hyped up over such a trivial issue. VJ #5’s action of mocking the MJC fans may not be because of the cheer afterall. he may be jus hyped up over the goal jus scored.
the phrase of merely 3 words “go fly kite” is only a small part of a cheer that is meant to encourage MJC players. the phrase “all the rest can go fly kite” is meant to convey to the MJC players that all the other teams are not good enough to face them. Meridians do not mean to taunt the opponents.
even if it is a taunt, as alleged by many, it is still not a good enough reason for the VJ player to mock MJC fans. do you see referees retaliating when spectators shout “referee kayu”?
on a lighter side, wadever tt has happened has already happened. VJ #5 has already apologised. it was a good match played by both sides. congrats to VJC. to MJC, it wasn’t a loss, it was a mere postponing of the victory to next yr.
if the meaning of go fly kite = F*** off..YOU SHOULD GO FLY SOME KITES…
wadeva it is no. five should never have done such a stupid thing..about comment no.17..mj crowds are too rowdy?so by playing drums and cheering your school on is called rowdy?so wad if we are biased agaisnt our own school?wont you be biased to yours?so keep your one-sided comments to yourself..
whatever no.5 did on the pitch was really disgusting..we’ve used this cheer all the while when i was in MJ no one said anything about it…some other schools use it too..did we get pissed at them?no..and if no.5 calls himself a sportsman and he is easily provoked with ‘all the rest can go fly kite’ my twelve year old sister would be a better sportswoman than you are..
so wad if you were dragged to apologise to our principal?does that make a difference..let me remind you..YOU WERE DRAGGED..if your coach(whom i’m thankful for doing such a thing) never did that you would never have done such a thing showing your reluctance in apologising which is as good as not apologising at all..
and on comment no.12 which says MJ are known for their lack of sportsmanship and tts why they lost to acjc..well..even if we did play unsportsmanlike it could never have been smellier than that of acjc…how many times have acjc played so physical it brought our players down lying on the ground?are you saying by hacking our players down and walking away is very sportsmanlike?i dont think so..and please remember soccer is an 11 on 11 game and not a one man show like a few certain acjc players thought it to be..
VJ players never did help mj players once when our players were brought down..AWESOME SPORTSMANSHIP..
MJ players played with their heart yesterday…even though we didnt win we deserve to be proud of ourselves…the people playing the drums aside from the councillors were damn awesome…
Dudes
Cant you guys take a little taunting?
He had to go through the whole match with jeers and taunts towards him.
Sure you’ll feel pissed about it.
Do keep in mind that he scored the WINNING GOAL in injury time to break all your fragile hearts.
You guys now, can go fly kite.
to xyz:
dude. we all notice what we want to notice. in actual fact, i noticed that indeed as u mentioned the MJ players helped VJ players to stretch, but some of the VJ players helped too.
Sportsmanship’s important which i think was not what MJ displayed in their taunt (& as an above reader mentioned, when VJ sang their sch anthem last year). Likewise, such a lack of sportsmanship was displayed in MJ Soccer Girls’ game against HCJC. The HC defender attempted to prevent the MJ girl from scoring but to no avail, falling inside the goal. The MJ girl pointed at her mockingly and laughed, then ran off, rather than helping her up.
well.