SAJC’s Road to the Final
First Round
March 26th – SAJC 2 Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) 1
After dominating large parts of the game and taking a deserved slender lead through forward Pradeep’s first-half strike, SAJC were hit by a second half sucker punch when HCI’s Akilan Shanmugaratnam scored with 14 minutes left in the game.
However midfield playmaker Gregory Noah provided the perfect response just one minute later with a superb curling free kick from 30 yards that clinched them all three points.
March 30th – SAJC 4 National Junior College (NJC) 0
It was a straightforward victory for them as they scored thrice in the first 35 minutes of the game through Darren Hedger, Neville Chia and Pradeep.
Pradeep landed another strike late in the second half to sink the strugglers 4-0.
April 6th – SAJC 5 Anderson Junior College (AJC) 2
They were given their biggest scare of the group stage as AJC took the game to them in the first half and capitalised on their defensive mistakes to lead twice. However SAJC stuck to their attacking policy which paid off as they equalised late in the first half through forward Tan Wei Zhen.
That broke all AJC resistance as they managed to score another three goals in the second half to clinch their third successive win which put them well on course for qualification for the second round.
April 9th – SAJC 4 Innova Junior College (IJC) 0
Needing only a point to qualify, SAJC tinkered with their tactics as they rested a few key players in the first half. With the score locked at 0-0 at the break, they decided to bring their key players back on and it proved to be an inspired decision as they ran out convincing 4-0 winners in the end.
The victory ensured their qualification to the second round as Group D winners.
Second Round
April 27th – SAJC 3 Catholic Junior College (CJC) 0
They started their second round the way they ended the first as they clinched a three-goal victory via a superb 16-minute period. Pradeep’s brace was sandwiched Tan Wei Zhen’s 32nd-minute strike which ensured that they had the luxury to stroll through the second half without scoring.
April 30th – SAJC 5 Yishun Junior College (YJC) 0
SAJC continued their scoring streak as they raced to a three-goal lead in the first half via a nine-minute period where Foo Ming Yi and Tan Wei Zhen (twice) struck.
Substitutes Lim Wu Qi and Goh Jin Rui added the icing on the cake as they scored within a minute of each other to clinch a comprehensive 5-0 victory that ensured their progress to the semi-finals.
May 4th – SAJC 3 Raffles Institution (RI) 1
SAJC clinched top spot in Group X after a two-goal victory over fellow semi-final qualifiers RI. Foo Ming Yi’s early strike was cancelled out by RI’s Vuong Hia Gieu before Neville Chia scored for SAJC to lead 2-1 at the break.
Ming Yi added another in the second half to clinch their sixth successive win in this year’s tournament.
Semi-Finals
May 10th – SAJC 8 Victoria Junior College (VJC) 7 (1-1 after extra time, 7-6 on penalties)
Toppling defending champions VJC was an arduous task and it was made harder after a first half which VJC dominated and duly scored through playmaker Dilip Thapa. However SAJC came back stronger after the break and equalised just two minutes into the half through Tan Wei Zhen.
Both sides cancelled each other out till the tense penalty shootout where SAJC prevailed 7-6 to qualify for their first final since 2004.
MJC’s Road to the Final
First Round
March 23rd – MJC 7 Tampines Junior College (TPJC) 0
March 26th – MJC 6 Millennia Institute (MI) 0
April 6th – MJC 6 River Valley High (RVHS) 0
April 9th – MJC 2 Yishun Junior College (YJC) 0
MJC qualified for the second round as Group B winners after winning all four group matches, scoring 21 goals and conceding none at the other end.
Second Round
April 27th – MJC 4 Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) 0
April 30th – MJC 5 Serangoon Junior College (SRJC) 0
MJC qualified for the semi-finals after an easy 5-0 victory over surprise package SRJC. They raced into a four-goal lead in the first half with four different players putting themselves on the scoresheet.
Forward Sharif Hidayat added another in the second half to put the icing on the cake and seal their semi-final slot.
May 4th – MJC 2 Victoria Junior College (VJC) 1
This was a clash many dubbed as the prelude to the final. VJC had beaten MJC 3-2 in the 2009 final but with both teams already qualified for the semi-finals, both teams rested a few key players to avoid picking up cards and injuries.
MJC midfielder Amsyar Omar was the highlight of the match as he scored two fabulous goals to sink their arch-rivals. The first was a superb 30-yard effort that arrowed into the top corner while the second was a cheeky chip over VJC goalie Ifwat Wafiy inside the box.
The MJC goals were notable for the fact that those were the first VJC had conceded in the tournament at that stage.
Semi-Finals
May 11th – MJC 1 RI 0
In a scrappy affair, MJC edged past their opponents as Khairul Azmi scored late in the first half to hold a slender lead at the break.
RI came back strongly in the second half but their defence stood strong against the aerial bombardment to hold out for the one-goal victory.
For more photos of the semi-final game between MJC and RI, go to the GALLERY
it was a win for mjc 😀
All the best to both teams in the Finals. The only school sports finals that generates greater interest and crowd than the S-League. FAS should support more by helping the organisers play it at night at Jalan Besar Stadium with all the same Fanfare that many boring S-Leagues matches get. The night game will allow parents relatives, friends and interested public come and watch. Definately Full-house.
haha, i believe MJC will progress and win the finals without conceeding any goals. afterall, they technically did not coz the 1 againest vjc was a accidental own goal. not conceeding any goals this season proves that they have defence of an iron wall. further more, they have good attackers and midfeliders to assist. hence, there will be higher chance for mjc to win sajc. however, they should not be complacent wiht their undefeated streak. complacency may cause them their finals. go mjc! bring home the victory! =)
Iron wall that has yet to be tested. Both vj mj played their second stringers in their game, confident of beating both sa ri perhaps? Well sa had other stories, kudos to them, unfortunately we couldn’t join them. But watching rj matches against both sa and mj, it is obvious that sa’s attack is quite deadly. It will be a good match in all parts of the field. Most importantly in the midfield.
in football,the ball is round.anything can happen.SA totally shut us out during the semis and credits to them for doing so.Although MJ has the talent and ability to win,SA is definitely the hungrier team with more desire and passion to win tmr’s match.Good luck to both teams tmr 🙂
I feel it’s unfair to predict that sajc will loss to two goals. It’s more like an even fight, the battle of the underdogs
Two clear goals? ONLY?! I think 5 goals would be more appropriate. Seriously. MJC’s attack is crazy wow. SAJC defence so shaky they were super lucky VJC were off that day, VJ could have scored 5 or more but couldn’t finish. Our meridian players will punish SAJC’s defence and do what VJC couldn’t.
hey meridian, it cheap talk to predict the scoreline… let the meridian soccer boys prove it by action tmr okay… no point thrashing SAJC with words now.
Time will tell the results.
u seem to have great confidence in the soccer boys and that is good. but to put others down and criticize SA is arrogance. It wouldn’t be nice if the SA players work so hard to put up a good fight and all you can say is they suck. Seriously.
I just noticed tht page 3 of the article has details about previous matches and how the 2 teams made it to the finals. However, end of page 1 says go to next page for more photos which kind of makes people think that next pages have only photos and no text because in most other articles subsequent pages only have photos. So, if possible, could you please move the interesting details about the 2 teams’ journey to the final to page 2 and say that more details follow.
Thank you for the suggestions. We’ve made it a lot clearer about what to expect on page 2 and 3.
I think parvesh didnt even know where the ball was when Noah changed his direction just too quickly. And you see parvesh’s legs sticking out like he was about to put in the tackle. I guess the referee saw parvesh ended up kicking noah. Definite foul.
well i was there during the match and i clearly recall that it wasn’t a foul at all. the ref got it wrong on this occasion. noah tried to flick it to the other side and as you can see from the ball’s position and parvesh’s outstretched right leg, he did not go through. noah turned right into parvesh cause he was going nowhere with the ball. in the end, parvesh turned arnd and shielded the ball from nowhere who came in quite hard, parvesh successfully shielded the ball and noah fell… the ref gave a free kick after that. i can assure you that this is what happened as the resulting free kick caused uproar among the vj supporters and a lot of protests from the vj players, even from parvesh himself. you do not know how good parvesh is. play against him and you will find out.
redsports people, noah didn’t outwit his opponent in that picture. parvesh is not one to be outwitted so easily, noah’s legs aren’t even near the ball. it was a clash of bodies and the ball landed behind the both of them. it wasn’t a 1-0 semi final win anyway, it was a 1-1 draw that went into penalties. i’m a photographer and i was capturing shots and i rmb that moment clearly, noah did not outwit him. in the end, the clash of bodies resulted in an sajc free kick.
Thanks for highlighting the wrong score. It was an 8-7 win on penalties.
As you have pointed out, photographer, it was an SAJC free kick. That was because Noah got the ball past Parvesh, and Parvesh obstructed Noah’s progression. So the referee whistled for obstruction for an SAJC free kick.
i still think the word ‘outwit’ is the wrong word to use. it wasn’t like parvesh got fooled, he just mainly shielded the ball from noah after noah managed to change direction and flick it the opposite direction. the referee deemed it as a free kick which i disagree with. i am not condemning noah, he is a very skilful player, no doubt. just that maybe i thought parvesh wasn’t outwitted. i am not biased against sajc in any way or another, just think that it makes parvesh look bad cause he is a wonderful player but like all vjc players, that day just wasn’t his day. hope you keep an eye on him during the 3rd/4th placing. i don’t mean any harm here, just stating my views. after all, this is what the forum is for right? thanks uncle les.
Please feel free to state your view. I welcome it.
I think Noah has the ability to change directions so quickly that he will get calls like those. In fact, some people may even contend that Naoh ran into Parvesh and so the referee got fooled into giving the foul.
Based on the sequence of photographs I got from this incident, Noah was in control of the ball all the time but he knew he wasn’t going anywhere and then changed direction to get out of a jam. Parvesh didn’t deliberately obstruct Noah but Noah’s ability to turn on a dime saw him run straight into Parvesh.
SAJC will win a lot of free kicks through Noah.
The word ‘outwit’ – to deceive or defeat by greater ingenuity – I think describes what he did. By getting a free kick at the edge of the penalty box, he got something VJC were trying to prevent.