Ah! ..... Venezuela Football Week Tournament to commemorate Venezuela's Independence Day ...... if you can call it a tournament at all ..... more like a Saturday morning friendlies if you asked me. We were told to be there at HKL field by 8.30am but batang hidung organisers pun tak nampak and there was nothing to indicate that there was going to be a football tournament to be held there that morning. We were supposed to have the match fixture drawn at 8.30 am but ........ kena tunggu, punya tunggu, punya tunggu .......
I take my hats off to the team dari Subang Jaya led by their team manager Bathu. They arrived early, 8.15am, saw them at the car park. They were very well organised. They recce for a good spot under the tree, pitched their tents, laid down their tikar plastic and fixed their table & chair DIY style ....... and by 9 am Subang Jaya team were all ready ......... the team were already warmed-up and ready to go and play ball ......... but their opponent pulak belum arrive lagi..... how to play ball lah dei!
Time was 9am, tapi batang hidung organiser pun tak nampak. Orang Malaysia selalu kena kutuk kerana tak keep time, but from the experience of last Saturday, orang Malaysia lebih arif tentang keeping time as demonstrated by the Subang Jaya team. Tak silap saya pukul 9.15am baru organiser tiba. Terhegeh2 pulak tu. Match fixture ke-mana, draw ke-mana .............. entah lah.
We were told that it would be a veteran's game. It was definitely not. Some of our opponents were in their late twenties and early thirties (ada yang rambut bermacam-macam color lagi dan bertindik pulak tu !!!!) ..... but its OK kita boleh terima main dengan sesiapa pun, tapi janganlah bagi tahu kita rules ada age limit, kesian players kita yang below 35 tak dapat main ............
To make matters worse, the match schedule was changed and we had to play our game earlier because one of the team that was supposed to play the first game of the "tournament" weren't complete, tak cukup kuorum...... ada yang belum sampai lagi (imagine that, sudah pukul 9.30am) nama aje orang yang sentiasa keep time ....... maybe depa ni yang dah "Malaysianise" kot !
Anyway we only have ourselves to blame because we weren't exactly ready ourselves pun when we were called to play the 1st game at 9.40am. We were told initially that our game will start at 10am. So we took our time to get ready. Ada diantara kita pun yang lambat sampai ke padang. Yang dah sampai awal pun tak ready. We really need to be serious with our time and to get ready as soon as we arrive on the field. Saya telah berpesan melalui SMS, at least twice before match day, minta pemain sampai pukul 8.30am dan game akan bermula pukul 9am. Tujuan saya minta datang awal is because we need ample time to get ready ......... kan dah OTAI (especially the parents), engine diesel pakai carburettor pulak tu, bukan fuel injection, nak start pagi2 pun susah. Maybe ada kemungkinan tergendala dengan hal2 masing2, maklumlah dah berkeluarga, ada2 saja yang came up at the last minute......... kita merancang tapi ada kuasa yang lebih besar yang menentukan segala2nya.
Anyway, in future, kita semua kena bersedia sebaik sahaja tiba di padang .... kerana in a tournament (bukannya friendly game), anything can happen .... like the last minute change in the match fixture last Saturday, mula2 diberitahu UKRV akan bermain pada pukul 10 pagi ......... tiba2 diberitahu pula kena main 20 minit lebih awal ...... and our unpreparedness to start play was clearly evident in the 1st half of our match against the South Americans. Nampak macam berat aje! Permainan kurang teratur, not like in our normal friendly game.
But we still did manage a 1-1 draw against the South American team, thanks to a well taken free kick by Azhar. But I personally feel that we could have won the game if we were more organised at the start of the game. Bukan bagus sangat pun depa main. 1st half memanglah we were on our back heels. Tapi masuk second half, kita dah boleh berentap dengan mereka. I forget to tell u all, match ini macam main 9 aside, tak ada offside rule.
We only had a 30 minutes rest before we had to play the 2nd game against a team that call themselves Black Eagle Football Club; a team of youngsters ... but UKRV under the guidance of OM, managed to get back to its normal game of play in that match but the opposition proved to be a tough nut to crack. We need to re-assess our front line as we weren't effective in that area of play in that game. But we finally managed to secure a goal through OM's well taken penalty kick that was given as a result of a foul on Amin in the penalty box. It was a grounder to the right side of the goal mouth. The keeper did not have a chance. We won the game 1-0.
We topped group A with the South American team with 4 points each but had to miss out the final due to goal difference. The South Americans had it easy against a depleted Black Eagle FC ........ you see, the Black Eagle players were playing a back-to-back matches as half of them were playing for 2 different teams in the "tournament" (their other team was in Group B). By the time they played against the South Americans after our game, they have already ran themselves to the ground ... and by the time we decided to leave the field of Hospital Kuala Lumpur while Black Eagle FC vs Venezuela match was in progress in the 1st half, the score was already 4-0 in Venezuela's favour.
Well, ini "tournament" pertama kita as a team ........ tapi yang pentingnya, we did not lose any of our matches but we could have won both matches. There are definitely lessons to be learnt, like being on time for a game, for a start. We need to be on time as this would give us ample time to get ready for a match irrespective whether it is a tournament or a friendly match .... otherwise kita akan merasai babak2 yang serupa semasa 1st half dalam game pertama dengan team dari South America tu.
Tapi yang cantiknya kita dapat adjust ourselves quickly to the situation. Maybe it is due to the experience that we have gained from playing the game in the past. Itu yang dapat memberi kita an edge over our opponents. Our team is strong and is very capable of playing good football and we have it in us to beat the best if we want to...........so what do we want to achieve out of playing together for UKRV? itu semua sendiri mau tanya lah!
Tahniah to all the players for showing a 100% commitments on the field, main bermatian untuk kemenangan UKRV. Thank you for coming and playing for UKRV. We need to keep this up.
Thanks Karu for your support. Datang juga ke padang walaupun injured. Terima kasih Shah kerana kena bergegas dari Rawang menyambut sahutan saya untuk bermain since tak ada had umur; thank you also to Black for volunteering as the linesman and tukang siapkan air untuk pemain2, Rashidi for the logistics and not forgetting Doc Nathan for belanja makan lunch untuk pemain2 di Kampong Baru (saya tak dapat join kerana ada tugas2 Dalam Negeri atas perintah "Menteri Dalam Negeri"...... way to go Doc, may god bless you with more wealth and happiness!
Till the next friendly match, do get fit and stay fit & enjoy playing the game. Click the link below to view the photos taken during the match .... enjoy!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sallahudinar/sets/72157620496568043/
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