Heads held high as MiB suffer narrow defeat

MiB FC suffered a minor setback today as they were beaten 2-1 by a team calling themselves PSA Club, but made up of former NUS and NTU players, plus some former semi-professional players who used to ply their trade in the NFL leagues in Singapore. Most would say a defeat is still a defeat and although that statement is true, if one were to watch a video of the game (will be up soon thanks Sat!) and look at both teams, it would be fair to say a 2-1 defeat was a moral and psychological victory on MiB's part.

A 5pm kickoff and a very good pitch at the PSA club greeted MiB as we welcomed back Chan into the line up. Harvey was in goal while PP replaced the sick Prak in the centre of defence with Riz. SK was at left back hoping to build on his 2 great games before this, while Shyam (Maran's colleague) was at right back. Suresh (NTU boy) was on the right wing, Chan on the left side, while Vana and Farhan played in the centre. Sat supported Maran in attack. Kumaran and Prak were on the sidelines.

The FAS took this game as an opportunity to assess some of their junior referees so the decisions were not the best at times, but that's not to take anything away from an entertaining and absorbing game. The opponents lined up in a 4-4-2 system and were organized and very fit. Let's put it this way, if you were to average out their fitness, you can say there were 11 Chandras on their team, that is no exaggeration. And they had one Indian guy in their team that if he started running, no one in MiB would have been able to catch him, maybe Philbert on his bike might have had a chance.

The game started in predictable fashion as the PSA team launched attack after attack into our box, thinking that they were going to steam-roll past us. A few decent saves by Harvey bred some confidence into MiB, who learnt a lot about ourselves in this game. Around the 10th minute mark the opponents broke through. A long ball was being shepherded out by SK who lost concentration and allowed the right-winger to steal the ball off him. He ran towards the box and squared the ball. MiB still had a chance to clear but a ricochet took the ball to their striker and with 2 teammates to pass to tap in for an empty goal, he slammed the ball past Harvey leaving him no chance. 1-0. Was an avalanche about to start?

This is where MiB's character and never say die attitude came to the fore with each and every player running his heart out and trying to salvage some pride against opponents who were much more skilful than us. A good move involving Chan and Vana put the latter through, but with just the keeper to beat, he dragged his shot wide. Another move saw Suresh cut in and try to play Kumaran through but the ball was intercepted. Another long ball saw Chan try to find Maran, but the ball was too close to the keeper. But he made a total hash out of it and if Maran had been a little bit more alert, it might have been 1-1. A cross by Chan then saw the keeper miss the ball completely but Suresh took his eye of the ball and if he hadn't, the empty goal was waiting for him.

But despite MiB's pressure, the opponents looked dangerous everytime they attacked. Their ability to switch wings with long diagonal balls was something MiB was having lots of difficulty dealing with. Also their ability to pin through balls behind our back line saw Harvey rush out and clear with his feet and head many times in the game. SK was finding things difficult with the opponents right winger a fast and physical player, but our star left back was being hindered by the Briyani he ate for lunch, a lesson which hopefully the rest of MiB heed for all future games. To be honest, a scoreline of 5-0 would not have flattered the opponents as they tore MiB apart at times. Harvey made 3 crucial saves, they hit the post once, missed some glorious chances and in one instance, a point blank save from Harvey rebounded nicely for the striker, whose shot was saved on the line by Riz, came back to the striker, PP dived at his feet and saved the shot again, and Riz finally managed to clear. It was heroic defending. PP then felt his knee go and Sat moved back to partner Riz, and Chan switched places with Vana, which resulted in Kumaran and Maran in attack.

Just as it seemed that a 1-0 scoreline would be acceptable at half time, MiB had a corner of our own. We unnecessarily threw too many men up front and when the corner was cleared, it was a case of 4 against 2. Harvey managed to save again, but from the resulting corner, PSA scored. Once again a series of ricochets saw the ball reach the edge of the box. A hopeful lob saw their striker in acres of space, with more than a hint of offside. He was not missing this chance and slammed the ball past Harvey. Half time 2-0.

Some wise words were said at half time, with Chan and Harvey trying to use their experience to gee up the boys. The effort was not lacking, with Farhan running himself to the ground, but it was a case of being too nice and not leaving their marks on the opponents. We also felt PSA had a defence and goalie that could be exploited and the game plan in the second half was to have a real go at them. A tactical reshuffle saw PP at left back, Suresh at right back, Sat and Riz in the centre. Vana and Shyam on the wings, Chan and Farhan in the centre. Maran and Kumaran continued upfront.

The second half saw the same kind of pressure but MiB was tackling much harder and making sure their opponents knew they were in a game. The speedy Gonzalez I mentioned earlier was now on the right wing and he was coming up against PP. In one attack, he took the ball past PP, who lunged in and gave the guy a solid whack. From the free kick, they looked for him again, and PP made sure that guy will never forget him. The ref showed PP a yellow card, but PP insists he never touched him. It was almost like Prak saying he never liked C**ryl.

MiB was combatting much better now and the opponents were starting to run out of ideas. We became more confident with our attacks and grew into the game much better. Riz felt fatigued and so for the first time in history, Chan partnered Sat in defence. Imagine that. A few more good saves from Harvey kept the scoreline at 2-0 and the opponents were getting frustrated for they wanted to rub our faces into the mud but we did not let them. In one MiB counter, neat interplay from Vana, Shyam and Maran saw Maran loop a hopeful shot into goal. It was almost as though time stood still. The goalie made a real hash of it, and Kumaran was there, with Prak's no.7 jersey, to tap in to make it 2-1! The opponents looked as though they had just seen a ghost. Now there was hope for MiB!

The opponents threw more men forward as MiB brought SK and Prak into the game to hang on in defence, and launch counters of our own. The gameplan was working to perfection as SK and Kumaran had decent attempts on goal. At the other end, there were a few more close shaves but last ditch defending and good goalkeeping kept MiB in the game. With less than 5 minutes to go, Riz pounced on a loose ball by their defence. With the goalie totally out of position, Riz decided to have a long shot. With that one kick, Riz would have set off such scenes of jubilation and perhaps even have cured the Swine flu, but he missed by inches, much to our disappointment, but he was not too bothered because he thought the score was 3-1 and it was meagrely a consolation. Sigh.

There were a few nasty incidents towards the end with Shyam going in hard, but that's the way we needed to play and no doubt the opponents felt worse with the final scoreline than we did. The game ended 2-1, with Farhan being stretchered off, that was the kind of passion and determination showed by the whole team. Maran ran his duxton off as a lone striker while Sat could not even finish his dinner, it was really that bad. But we left the pitch with our heads held high for we ensured that our superior opponents did not have things their own way. Perhaps with Dinesh, Puvan, Navin KK and Harry, we might have put up an even better show, and MiB can only feel pride in this result.

So with 3 games in 3 weeks, MiB has started to play regular football again, and I personally feel that paying $10 per game is worth it, and we could even put the MiB fund on hold if we continue to contribute this way. Our gameplay has also improved and no doubt about it so has our fitness. Let's keep it going guys. The aches in your body show that you are working your muscles. Go for an easy run or take a dip in the pool to relax and see the difference.

And one more thing, no Briyani before the game.