Match Report - UKRV vs Subang Jaya Community YFL Parents Team

The friendly match was held on Sunday 24th May 2009 at SMK USJ4 Football Field. 23 teams members confirmed their participation for the match. Those who finally made it were :

1. Fauzi (Captain)
2. Murti
3. Nik Aziz
4. Bab "Veron"
5. Azrin
6. Azrul "kenit"
7. Radziff "Black"
8. Karuna
9. Ravin
10. Abdah
11. Mi Kelate
12. Shah
13. Amin
14. Azhar
15. OM
16. Raja
17. Krishnan
18. Christian
19. Mohammed
20. Shariff (Bentara Guru)
21. Mizi
22. Rustam
23. and the "Grand Old Man" of the Team - Me.
    

We also had Mizi's 19 year old son joining us for the match. Those who could not make it due to sickness, injuries or work commitment overseas includes Halim, Amir "Torres", Garrett, Hashim "Pak Maun", Hisham, Ismail, Abang Jo, Mani, Nathan and Venu.

Our favourite orang seni and composer and strong supporter of the team Aidit Alfian had to be on Jury duty for a TV3 Mentor program that night. Otherwise I am sure he would have been around to support the team.

What an experience playing at SMK USJ4. We thought playing on the astroturf was tough but this was tougher. The team did not expect the "condition" of the field we played on. It was a hard game played on a hard ground. It makes you feel that playing at our "Wembley" pitch seems a lot easier. It was agonising for those playing in boots with "blade studs". Lesson learnt, kena lah have 2 types of boots, a pair with blade studs and the other with soft low studs macam Nik Aziz pakai, the Copa Mundial. Tanya Nik, dia beli RM300 over, tapi Black kata dia boleh dapat RM100 sepasang. Betul ke Black? Jual kat dia orang RM150 sepasang dah untung RM50 sepasang. Kalau semua players beli, sudah boleh sponsor team jersey 3 stripes atau 1 chalit. Boleh Bang? Kalau tanya Azrin, dia akan minta you sponsor gi Chiang Mai (untuk pengetahuan anda sekelian, Azrin dinobat sebagai Ketua rombongan untuk "friendly match" ke Chiang Mai bulan December nanti).

Anyway it was a worthwhile experience. So far we had the "opportunity" of playing on 4 different types of field ...... "sawah padi" field condition at UKRC when it really pours, the most ideal condition at UKRC when it does not rain for a couple of days, the astroturf pitch at ISKL and the "hard ground" at SMK USJ4 yesterday.

Thanks to the captain, everybody had a chance to play and some like me had only a total of 60 seconds touch of the ball (including the throw-ins) on the pitch. Some had to pull out after awhile ............. apa lagi ... recurring hamstringlah, calf muscle strainlah. Ravin had to limp out and Krishnan retired after the warm-up session. Even our "Bentara Guru" (Sharifuddin) yang muda tu pun kena juga!. Those nursing their injuries, you can get some expert advice here:

1. http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/calf_and_shin/calf_strain_sum.php
2. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/legpainandinjuries/a/calf-strain.htm

3. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/back/hamstrings/hamstringstrain.htm

I had to endure a painful swelling of the calf muscle the whole of last night. It swells and I had to have an ice therapy for a couple of hours. Pretended it wasn't painful lest the other half keeps up the nagging the whole night ( you know lah .... the usual .........I told you so ! You're not 25 any longer ! etc etc). I thought after 2 weeks my calf muscle strain would have cured itself as I felt no pain while playing at "Wembley" earlier in the morning ....... but I felt a sharp pain in the calf when I tried chasing after a loose ball ................. remember the time when I ran in "slow motion" ..... ni nak main sangat lah ni, the mind is willing but ............... you know the rest.

There goes my tennis session with the kids and the gang at Melawati. Hope to recover within a week a week or so (but Krishnan has been enduring the injury eversince the game with UKRC). From what I have read about calf muscle injuries; the cure from the injury is not determine by the number of days after you have had the injury but rather by a series of fitness test to determine whether you are finally cured of the injury. The final test is to do the following; try jumping on one feet ..... using the injured leg lah of course. If you can do it without any pain, you're finally cured brother ! Thank god you might say ..... but then again, it might recurr if you do not warm up the muscle enough before play. Tanya Murti, main apa apa pun kena warm up lah, betul ke Murti?.

Back to the game. Bathu, Ronald and his team from Subang Jaya CYFL gave us a really good game. For a team that was only formed a week ago, their players displayed much football flair and skills and their experience helps them to contain our players. We missed some good chances in front of their goal in the second half and might have scored a couple if not for the excellent saves made by their keeper.

Shah scored the opening goal in the 1st half from a through ball by Azrul and Amin scored the second goal in a typical Nor Amin long range shot from ouside the penalty box into the right hand corner of the goal post. Subang Jaya scored one against us in the 3rd half. It was a well struck ball that bounced akwardly in front of our keeper and into the back of the net.

They took the game to us in the opening minutes of the second half and were rentlessly pursuing the equaliser until the 3rd half of the game. They made some fine moves and if not for our "cool" back four lead by the our Captain, the match could have ended in a draw. Play was never dull and the ball was kept in play in both halves at all times. I would think the ball possession was an equal 50% for both sides. However we had more shots at goals in all the 3 halves. Play was fair and the referee never had to caution anyone throughout the game. The game ended with a 2-1 score in our favour.

All our players had a good game and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Tapi kita kena banyakkan practise and our fitness is very suspect at times. By now we are pretty sure and comfortable in the positions that we have been playing in the team. Let us not asyik tukar position of play unless of course some players are absent or not available on match day, so kena double up lah. With the each player having established or feel comfortable playing in the position of his choice, kita dah boleh kenal dan memahami each other style of play and capabilities and can read their "game" (minda permainan - betul ke pengunaan perkataan itu Bentara Guru?); mana yang tak boleh lari tu (macam aku ni), jangan lah you all bagi through ball, pass to the feet lah brother!

But then again, we average about 20 players for every match ........ so that should be enough to fill in every position with a back-up player for every match.

Tapi I nak minta tolong players semua, kalau ada match dengan U16 on Sundays please turun padang. The previous Sunday we had only 14 players playing for 90 minutes. Kesian dia orang ............... Garrett sampai sakit kedua-dua ankle and could not play against Subang Jaya. Otherwise kita request kat Chief Coach Kok to limit play for 2 halves at 25 minutes for each half. I think the practise match we have with the U16 should only be played when there is no U11 league games, so that there will be more palyers available, unless you guys want to scrap this practise match altogether. What say you, I need feedback on this matter. Tapi kita perlukan practise match ni to keep our fitness in check betul tak?

After the game some of us had our "get together" at Kinrara/Puchong rest area. After the maghrib prayers, we all enjoyed satay kajang with Azrin of course being the "tekung" of the group.

I would have love to provide a match report for the previous friendlies that we had, tapi dah lupa ..... but I do remember the scores. The following are the result of the matches we have played so far this year as follows:

1. against YFA Parents Team - Drew 1-1
2. return match against YFA Parents Team - Won 7-4
3. against UKRC - Won 2-1
4. against ISKL - Lost 2-3
5. against UKRC Football Academy U16 - Won 2-1
6. against UKRC Football Academy U16 - Won 5-1
   

Saya akan upload the photos we have taken during the match with Subang Jaya later. I will keep you all posted. Rashidi dah bersetuju untuk bertugas sebagai official photographer for every match.