Four-play @ G-Hotel

KDU College vs G-Hotel

Duc
Vick - Kugan - Viet/Bill - Mikez
Lam - Vincent - Bill/Viet - Ren
Arjen - Hung

It was a strange game really. At the end of the match, it felt as if KDU had really given G-Hotel a good thrashing but whilst watching the first half, the coach felt that G-Hotel dominated with possession and attacks. The defence was unbalanced with the centre backs playing a good distance between each other which allowed G-Hotel to break through the middle twice - only to miss their one on one duel with Duc. The centre midfield were having the same problem as the central defence - they didn't seem to be working together & they weren't protecting the central defence despite the obvious penetration that they sought through that gap. Mikez was battling hard in the left back slot but G-Hotel overwhelmed his isolated position to put in dangerous crosses - one of which they missed from 5 yards - so it was a mystery that KDU managed to go into the half time break one goal up.

Ren gives us a good Japanese pose!





The foul that changed the game was when Lam was rushing down the right hand side and was kicked in the stomach (ouch!) which led to him substituted for Derek. With the player coach on the pitch, the team seemed to look a much better team - whether it was down to his physical presence, his psychological boost to the team or just the fact that G-Hotel had tired out after 25 minutes - and this soon led to a rather bizarre first goal.

Kugan floated in a free kick from the halfway line, four KDU players rushed in on it, the keeper caught it and under no pressure, dropped the ball when he landed! Hung was the grateful recipient and slotted his first goal of his KDU career. It should have been two nil minutes later when Derek intercepted a ball but he inaccurately toe-poked the ball from inside the penalty box. The game had swung by now and it was time for the G-Hotel players to look grateful after the referee blew for half time - although the players didn't hear it properly and continued playing!

Half Time: KDU leading by one goal.

Duc
Vick - Kugan - Bill - Feri
Hong - Derek - Viet - Vincent
Heng- Hung

The second half saw a continuation of the end of the first half as KDU continued to dominate G-Hotel in a most emphatic fashion. It must have been a hard day at hotel as KDU pushed, pressurised and harried the opponents to make mistake after mistake with the H-bombs up front eventually punishing them by netting more goals.

With the RAF helicopters passing overhead, the G-Hotel went a further goal behind after Hung slotted his second of the match after which the orange team missed their last/best chance of the match - a clear run on goal from 40 yards seemed to give the striker too much time to think and he pushed the ball wide of Duc's far post. After this the rock solid pairing of Kugan and Bill gave G-Hotel no more chances - Bill in particular looking mean and vicious with his impression of Vidic.

Another victim of a (perfect legal) Bill tackle lays prostrate on the floor.
Kugan shows some sympathy. Bill doesn't.

KDU continued their dominance with Derek thrusting through the stringy G-defensive line, collecting Vincent's clever back heel and hitting the post with the rebound going in off the goalkeeper's backside! Whatever Mikez tells you, it was an own goal. The other senior in the team, Heng, had already had a goal disallowed before he (and three other blue shirts!) were in the right place at the right time to celebrate his birthday week in style. The blue boys were cruising by the end of the match and were genuinely disappointed when the referee blew his whistle for full time with several minutes of daylight left.

A happy Hung with his two goals

It was a very comfortable scoreline after 70 minutes but if G-Hotel had put away half of their fairly easy chances in the first half, it would have been much more uncomfortable for the college team.

Final Result: KDU College 4 vs 0 G-Hotel

The Mikez Perspective of Butterflies

KDU vs Butterfly (version 2.0)

1st half was a disaster, but that's what you get when we're 2 players down vs an 11 man Butterfly team who has better experienced than us. After we were 2-0 down, Butterfly became more encouraged to attack us deeper in our own half, most of the time we were playing in our half of the field anyways, but with the occasional long punts of the ball forward with not much effect in getting to our strikers. Chris was caught ball watching on his line a couple of times, which frustrated the back line since we were battling a losing war in keeping the attackers at bay. Samson, who thankfully came to play was an anchor of experience for us as well as a voice of composure but still, it wasn't enough to prevent the frustrations felt by Mikez, Bill and even Lam. Bill, who was deployed to run the right wing, ended up going down to the defense line to help out because Butterfly was launching onslaught after onslaught towards our goal. Half time whistle blew at a heart breaking scoreline of 3-0 to Butterfly.

2nd half was much better with the arrivals of Fery, Viet, Vic and Duc. With the team back to full strength, KDU went to the pitch determined to do something about the miserable scoreline that wasn't in our favor. Bill played well on the right wing, his made some really good runs and it was quite amazing to see him t do especially when he's thrown so much energy into his countless tackles in the 1st half. Samson did some tricks to frustrate the oppostion just so to throw them off focus a little and Viet, playing in centre midfield, never stopped running, playing out the midfield engine role superbly. Duc and Fery did well in defense too, and Vic was more composed at his right back slot (i think he did well). A-Jin, our very own Park Ji-Sung albeit as a striker, did try to make a run on goal a couple of times but the opposition defenders edged him off the ball. KDU had a LOT of chances in the 2nd half, thanks to the fact that we were predominantly controlling the game, plus, Butterfly did not have any subs on their empty bench. Lam was a Patrice Evra this time because of the bombarding runs he made on the left flank, he's small but caused quite a bit of worrying for Butterfly when he had the ball and started surging forward. Hong scored a goal and then Viet, who never stopped running, latched onto the ball to score our second after a neat exchange of football between Viet, Lam and Samson. Full time score: 4-2.

I'm sorry if i left out important details because i was also watching the Ramblers/Tamilan/Kugz+Heng+

Adrian & Co. on the next pitch. However, if going by KDU standards, we won the 2nd half 2-1. I'm sure Derek would've wished he was there to see us fight back because we made the 2nd half totally our own for most of the minutes on the pitch. If we started with 11 players, i think it would've been rally interesting to see what the scoreline would've been, but then, its just a friendly and besides, the boys had an important presentation and can't be fully blamed for the 3-0 in the first half. We could've won though, if our strikers had more composure on the ball, especially in the final 3rd quarter of the field in the opposition half and there are players of ours who are lacking stamina. discipline is another i'd like to mention, because without discipline, one can't achieve much or as far as one could. Positioning of the back, especially the fullbacks is also important (Vic, there's no offside rule for throw ins) and as always, midfielders or at least one must come down to help defend or protect the back 4. the first half may have been disappointing, but at least from the 2nd half we can take some positives from the game. We played to our strengths (such as a couple of pairs of fresh legs) and we dominated the 2nd half. Didn't you guys felt good after that? The Air Force game was our first win for KDU of the season, lets NOT make it the last, shall we, boys? KDU in the HOUSE Mikez 16

Too Many Butterflies!

KDU College vs Butterfly

1st Half: I (Viet) did not come on time because i had presentation until 6pm. We played with:

Chris

Mikez--------------Bill--------- Vicky------------Hong

--------Samson --------------Lam-----------

----------------( Korean Guy)------------

-------------- Hoong-------------------

We lost them 3-0 for the 1st half. I heard from Mikez and Hong that they had to play against 2 or 3 of their attacker every single time.....haha. It is very good train for them for stamina.


2nd Half: Duc, Vick, Ferry and me just came to play, we had some changes for tactic of team. We really had a good 2nd half with this team:

-------------------------- Chris--------------------------

------- VICK ---------FERRY--------VICKY--------DUC---

---- BIlLL-------VIET------------SAMSON--------LAM----

-------------HOONG-----------

--------------------------HONG------------------------

Actually, we played with a very strong team that is BUTTERFLY, they have experiences better that us, we just played with what we have of personal players.

We scored 2 goal by Hong and me !!!.

1st GOAL: Ferry got the ball from their mistake and run up to the middle of the field, he passed the low ball to the right side for BILL (good runner), BILL with his speed run over their right back and got in the box to cross the ball into for Hong run face to goalkeeper, Hong scored by only 1 touch.

2nd Score: I don't know exactly where the ball has been come from......^_^ but DUC told me that he got the ball from left side, 1 pass for LAM, LAM pass to SAMSON and SAMSON heard the sound from me and he saw me free running at the moment, he made a low long ball to through 2 of their center defenders to me, I run with free space, no pressure, just 1 thing that i have to score, I kicked the ball to far away of the right side of their goalkeeper and make a speed to follow the ball, eventually I scored it that is first goal of me for KDU Team.

Final Result: KDU College 2 vs 4 Butterfly

(Thanks to Viet for writing the match report. Please make any additional comments and vote for your man of the match below)

Champions League 2nd Round, 2nd Leg - KDU Style!

KDU College vs Air Force (2nd leg)

It was the second leg of the Champions League and after a 1-1 draw the previous week in stormy conditions, both teams were happy to see the sunshine come out for this match. There was a shock with Viet, Duc, Hong and Derek dropped to the bench because they returned to the team hotel at 2am but the squad was strengthened with the availability of the Kuganesque Vidic to fill the void left by late night Viet.

Chris
Mikez - Kugan - Chong - Lam
Bill - Vincent - Fajar - Ren
Jonathon - Hung

The first half was a somewhat scrappy game as neither side really took control of midfield. Air Force were very wary of Jonathon after his showing his ability in the first leg and kept close tabs on him so it was left to Fajar and Vincent to drive the midfield on whilst Ren and Bill seem to struggle to find momentum on the wings.

However what worried coach Derek was the haphazard nature of the defence. The defenders seemed to lack communication and this left the positioning of all of them in rather dubious positions. This led to the first goal being scored as 1 KDU defender (Bill), 1 KDU goalkeeper and 1 Air Force striker going for 1 ball. Bill got it ahead of Chris but was only able to slide the ball to the side to another Air Force player. He in turn returned the ball to the centre where there was absolutely no cover by Chong or Lam which rather pleased the Air Force striker - but not the coach - and he steered the ball past the invisible defence.

KDU were lucky not to concede another after Kugan was caught with the ball and the striker was able to carry the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper but only able to hit the post. However an unexpected equaliser came for the blue team as Vincent and Bill made a nice succession of passes down the right for the number 6 to cut it back for their Indonesian import to finish clincially. Many neutrals would say it wasn't deserved but it kept this European Cup tie in the balance.

The three musketeers return to position after piercing the enemy's defence

Half time score: 1-1

The coach was hoping Lam's energy would work the left side of the pitch more with Duc tucking in behind him whilst Derek partnered Viet, who had replaced an injured Vincent, in the centre of midfield. The right saw the introduction of Subway Jien whilst both Hung and Jonathon were replaced by Hong and a young Korean Arjen making his debut.

Tony
Fajar - Kugan - Chong - Duc
Subway Jien - Derek/Jonathon - Viet - Lam/Derek
Hong - Korean Arjen

The experienced duo of Viet and Derek took the game by the scruff of the neck and KDU were able to build and control more of the ball in the 2nd 35 minutes as the Air Force tired with no reinforcements at half time. With Duc launching the ball as high as he could into the sky and better organisation between Kugan and Chong, there was little trouble at the back. But despite this solidity and several corners, KDU couldn't spark that clinical goal and the coach decided to throw on all his creative talent in the shape of Jonathon and Fajar (acting as a Rafael De Silva right back).

It turned out to be an inspired move by the coach as a maurading Fajar fed Jonathon the ball inside the box. Henson took the ball, shuffled forward & fired it low past the goalkeeper and a second before the last defender took his legs away. It could have been worse - Tony made a series of 4 consecutive saves and nearly killing Kugan in the process. It could have been better - Derek had a curling shot cleared off the line in the last minute but the blue team beat the big bullies to qualify for the next round in the Champions League.

Final Score: KDU College 2 vs 1 Air Force

A Blast From the ICG Past

Some photos of the ICG from the PMC perspective can be found here

and the PMC F.C. blog is here.

It's worth reading if only for the fact that the author tips Liverpool for the title and details his team's tactics for the ICG tournament!

They Didn't Need Messi

Barcelona vs KDU College

Chris
Tony Heah - Derek - Viet - Vincent
Chern - Fajar - Fery - Lam
Hung

On an ideal day for football, t'was grey and cool with a pitch that had drained through most of the water, there was just two problems. The first was that there was a sticky patch right in the middle of the penalty area. The second was that there were only 10 players for the start of a match against a team that had vanquished far more experienced teams than us - and they had a full complement!

Derek set the scene for a first half that was disjointed and disorganised for the team in blue with his first pass back to the goalkeeper. It went about 10 metres too wide and out for a corner! The rest of the 34 minutes didn't get any better - Viet's boots slowly literally crumbled, our midfield were hopelessly outnumbered whenever they were in possession, Lam was stranded on the left as was Hung up front and I've not even mentioned the goals yet! We were fortunate that Barcelona failed to take their opportunities after rounding Chris twice - the first time, he shot in the side netting and the second needed a brillant clearance from Vincent.

Both Barcelona goals turned out to be very simple (no Messi magic needed!) - a high cross dropped into the six yard area, nobody challenged an unmarked striker for it - and well strikers don't tend to miss empty goals from six yards out. The second goal was a fatal mistake too - Chong had come onto the pitch by now but one of his free kicks went straight to an orange shirt who promptly returned the ball into our goal. Our best chance fell to our overlapping stand-in right back Tony (usually a goalkeeper) but he kicked mud instead of the ball and injured himself in the process.

Half time: KDU College 2-0 down.

The coach lambasted the team at half time and made several changes in the hope of clawing themselves back into the game. Viet saw himself dropped to the bench, Chong in the centre of defence with Derek and a combination of Lam and Ren on the left wing. Tony was to be our Didier Drogba up front and give the defenders something big to think about with the fleet footed Hung alongside him.

Well there was a dramatic improvement in the 2nd half from KDU with the defence having a blend of speed, tough tacklers and experience along the line. It wasn't quite Manchester United clean sheet material but it was a lot more steady that in the previous 35 minutes with a more effective offside trap - although there was still the need for the odd goalline clearance! Sadly we unable to completely shut out Barcelona as the striker beat Chris to a long ball and round him to add to their earlier tally.

But this time it wasn't all bad news for our one and only spectator Rebecca. Her near namesake, Ren had a flying start to the half, culminating in a great goal after pressuring the defender and looping a shot over the Chinese Cech from the edge of the area. Strangely Ren's performance completely nosedived after this goal but then he wasn't the only one.

Barcelona had noticed that whilst Fery had neat dribbling skills, he couldn't release the ball to anyone in a blue shirt and swarmed him every time he had the ball. With one of the central midfielders marked out of the game, it was left to his partner Fajar to control the game. And the young Indonesian nearly scored the goal of the season with a now characteristic mazy crossfield dribble that culminated with a shot that went right across the Chinese Cech and into the bottom corner - only for the defender to clear it off the muddy line!

Even the positional switch of an experienced/old Derek and tired Fajar couldn't draw another goal for the blue shirts of KDU. Chern & Fery came close to connecting with a deep cross and the latter also had a long range shot but the second half ended in a satisfactory 1-1 result.

Final Score: Barcelona 3 vs 1 KDU College

However I would like to point out one thing that occured several times in the second half and was concerning for me. I think it happened primarily on the left but there were definitely times when players seemed to be totally daydreaming whenever the ball was in their part of the pitch. There were times when players got a simple pass from a teammate but they were really slowly to react to receive it and I'm sure it wasn't a physical thing - it was just lack of concentration and nothing more.

Please concentrate 100% on the match when you are playing.