After merely missing entering the final on goal difference in the Venezuela Football Week Invitational tournament a fortnight ago, UKRV today played a friendly match against Butcher FC, a club which recently won the FA cup in the football league organized by Club Aman.
There were many challenges for UKRV in the built up to the game. The first test was for the UKRV players to play a match against a team which not only plays competitive football on a weekly basis but have so many young players in their early thirties .... or maybe even in their late twenties.
Secondly, this was the first 3pm kick-off match for UKRV. It was pretty obvious that our players were not used to the early kick-off time and many were evidently tired and out of sort. Our Captain Fauzi had to rush from a 9 a-side tournament to join the team and many parents had to similarly rushed back for the game against Butcher FC after a long day at MBPJ grounds (since 7.30 am) where their sons were participating in the U11 NOJC Football League 2009. The U11 played their last match for the day at 12.30pm and the match ended at 1.30pm. After a quick lunch, the players had to rush to UKRC field for the match against Butcher FC.
The late lunch menu of rojak, ais kacang, nasi lemak, asam pedas and what have you did not help the cause either. It goes to prove that we were real veterans and are not bothered by the early kick-off time.
Thirdly, we were without our regular goalkeepers. Our regular keepers were unable to play today due to other personal commitments thus forcing UKRV to start the match with BLACK as the stand-in goalkeeper (at this point we have not "unearthed" the jewel in the team yet ......).
As expected, it was a fast pace game from the moment the referee blew the whistle for the start of the game. Butcher FC fast game pushed UKRV to play more defensively. Within the first 15 minutes, Butcher FC were on the way to "butcher" UKRV by taking a lead of 2 goals to nothing.
When the late lunch finally got digested, UKRV players began to play like REAL VETERANS. A quick pass from OM to Karuna, resulted in a through pass to Amin who coolly placed the ball in the back of Butcher FC's net for UKRV first goal. Hmm, nasi lemak and rojak actually may not be a bad idea to boost stamina. A game which was initially one-sided has now turned into a more balanced match.
A lapsed in concentration resulted in Butcher FC's 3rd goal. Even an acrobatic dive by our keeper Black failed to keep the ball from going into the far post of his goal. Fauzi and OM, decided that we were giving too much space and decided to push the defensive line further up to limit the opponents movement. Hooray, that strategy works immediately and UKRV were beginning to have more possession of the ball and put more pressure on Butcher FC's goalkeeper. An error by their keeper gave our striker Amin an opportunity to score our second goal. Now all of a sudden, it was UKRV who were attacking from the left and right flanks through Amin, Mi, Bab and Raja. Butcher FC were now being butchered by UKRV. From another good move by our forward line, Mi Kelate had a one-on-one situation with only their goalkeeper to beat ....... but alas he failed to find the back of the net yet again. It must have been such a frustration for him not to score yet again given the opportunity to do so. Mi, nampaknya mu kena mandi bungalah .......... . The first half of the match ended in 3-2 scoreline in favour of Butcher FC.
At the end of the first half, Black decided to hang up his gloves after dia sudah penat making so many saves from the many attempts at goal by the Butcher FC strike force. Yang peliknya kenapa Black tangkap bola pakai lutut dan bukannya dengan tangan? Unsolved mystery. Ni case CSI .......!!!
In the second half we started with fresh legs with the introduction of a new set of players with Nik Aziz volunteering to become the goalkeeper. Butcher FC started the game aggressively yet again with the intention of extending their slim lead by attacking from all sides and angels. Our defense back four controlled by Mizi, Murthy, Azrin and Mohd were able to contain the fast pace game at the beginning of the half but cracks soon begin to show in our defense after countless attacked by the opposing team.
The first strike at goal by Butcher FC was well saved by Nik and the fans thought he had just made a lucky save. The avalanche of attempts at goal by Butcher FC from all angles as they searched for their fourth goal was time and again stopped by Nik. Suddenly the fans are seeing the emergence of a "Shaolin Soccer" goalkeeper. They were cheering Nik on by shouts and chants of “Gomo Kelante Gomo”. The endless attack by Butcher FC resulted in their fourth goal being scored from another defensive error. The score remained at 4-2 till the second half ended. Note: For those interested, see "Shaolin Goalkeeper" movie trailer on U-Tube at the end of this page.
The UKRV players started the 3 half of the match aggressively and we soon saw tackles flying everywhere. Nampaknya semuanya dah lupa yang this was a friendly match. It was also clearly evident that our players were really drained then. My salute to the match referee who managed to handle the match well before it really got out of hand. My hats off to Mizei for his leadership in handling our players so professionally. The referee blew the final whistle with the final scoreline at 4-2 in favour of Butcher FC.
This could be the toughest game that UKRV has played so far and I must say that we have passed the test with flying colours. Akhirnya, kaweh nak cakap “ A Blessing in Defeat” as we were surprised by a revelation of our new found hero by chance, Nik "Van der Sar" Aziz (tukar nama dari "Messi"). Nik "Van der Sar" was clearly our "Man of The Match" without doubt this afternoon. But he has a problem now. He has to decide whether he wants to be a "Van der Sar" or a "Messi" in the future games. Gomo Kelate Gomo.
PS from the regular writer - Unfortunately, hari ini tiada siapa ambil gambar. So I am on a mission to get an alternate cameramen so that this does not happen again. Karuna, you need to do this on a regular basis, brilliant reporting and once again many thanks.
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