Scorers (assists)
Rafeeq (Farhan)
Man Of The Match
Muhammad (4) - the creative player we look to in the team
Firul (2) - defended well, a model of consistency and arguably our fittest player
Huang (2) - impressive defensive and offensive shift
Omar (2)
Farhan (1)
Rafeeq (1) - scored a good goal
Yellow card:
-
Akim (GK)
Mubarak - Amin (d) - Firul
Omar - Rahman - Muhammad - Huang - Farhan
Rafeeq - Yongsheng
Subs:
Firdaus Masdar
Shahril
Karim
Ken
Kambing FC crashed out of the D2D Sunday League Cup to a 1-2 defeat against KB United in this 2nd round tie. We conceded a soft goal either side of the half to gift the opponents with a 2-goal lead. Rafeeq pulled a goal back but the team's feeble attacking intent in the final 3rd throughout the game failed to match our tenacity and ever indomitable spirit.
We did manage to hold our own against an opponent playing in a division above us for periods of the match especially in a tight first half when we heaped some pressure in the opponent's half straight from the kick-off. Yet the team's effort was undone by my calamitous goalkeeping early on. A disastrous clearance from Firul led to a crucial 2nd goal for the opponents that I should have dealt with better at the 2nd time of asking but again I was not convincing. Credit to KB United, they took their chances. I am sure, however, they were surprised at our industrious, even if it was laboured, performance.
I was standing in confidently in goal as all three of our regular goalkeepers were unavailable. A 3-men defence lined up behind a familiar midfield quintet as we took the bold move of playing with two strikers. The unfamiliar formation took some getting used to but our defence coped rather well. Indeed in that first half, I had to make only two saves, one of which gave the initiative to the opponents that led to the opening goal.
There had seemed to be no danger when a left-footed cross came in from the right flank. Even as a player not trained to be a GK, I failed to get the basics right of getting my body behind the ball even though I thought I did. The swerve of the cross was deceiving and had some pace to it. The swerve played tricks on my eyes, I guess, but there was still no excuse for the way I handled the ball. It bounced off my waiting hands, as I stood my ground, towards an empty net, and another opponent tapped in the ball to make it safe. The setback dented my confidence but the team did not back down and continued to press on. We must admit however, we failed to make the opponent GK work harder in goal, and even a Firul free-kick in a dangerous area was off the mark. A counter-attack saw an opponent through inside our penalty box with Firul closely marking but the opponent still managed to let loose a shot, which I was able to palm away, my confidence given a little boost with the one-handed save.
The second half started more or less the way we began the first but KB United were looking more dangerous on the counter-attacks as we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation for the start as Shahril was introduced in central defence and Firdaus came on at right-back and Firul moving to the left. Almost immediately, the opponents rattled our crossbar with a wonderful shot from outside the box. We were still looking for opportunities to strike shots on goal but we failed to do so for the majority of that half. Still, we pegged back the opponents to some extent as they chose to sit back and hit on the counter.
There seem to be a surge of momentum from the team from where I was standing, knowing that we were a goal down in a cup tie. KB United was defending deeply but doing so very well even though we tried to stretch the opponents by using both flanks. On one such occasion from the surge of momentum, however, we thought we had equalized. Omar crossed in beautifully from the right flank and Farhan headed in a looping header over the GK. The referee disallowed the goal as he deemed that Farhan had impeded his marker although it looked harsh. That disallowed goal only got us to push ourselves harder.
KB United took liberty with the open space we afforded them before and after that disallowed goal, which led to a few other good chances but which were all off target. They did break our surge of momentum eventually when they scored the second goal in equally disastrous fashion for us. A backpass meant I could not lift the ball in the penalty box and on hindsight, I should have punted it away. Instead I chose to lay it off to Firul who scuffed his clearance on a dry, bumpy and sandy part of the pitch. The ball fell loose to an opponent just outside the box. His shot was soft, low, opportunistic even, as I got my body behind the ball this time. Yet, the ball somehow took a bounce over me and the opponents now had a 2-0 lead.
We responded immediately when Farhan's cross from the right managed to find Rafeeq. Rafeeq evaded his marker to pick up Farhan's cross and sent a lobbed goal over the incoming GK. That goal gave us some lift but the opponents held us back to narrowly secure the tie to move into the quarter-finals.
The defeat was a little hard to take for me personally. It is now a little over three years since I have been with the team from day one. Progress is therefore a natural development we should work on for the team. The cup tie, and indeed the competition itself, will have gone some way in showing us how we have grown against strong opponents. After all, either Team BI or Apex Rangers had lie await for us in the quarter-finals if we had advanced. While I am not being disrespectful to KB United, I really wanted KFC to play against either of them.
I had started the game knowing I was going to be in goal and had therefore tried to be confident about it. It is fair to say though, I have been playing GK for a while now for both my Saturday team and for KFC but no matter how confident I have been, the ball just keep finding the back of the net. Those other defeats or draws, which are mostly friendly games, I could take with a pinch of salt but surely not this defeat. I question my ability. To know that the team was working their socks off in a cup game, that looked to be our best chance of silverware this season, only to be undone by poor goalkeeping, made it a little hard to live with immediately after the game. While I write this, I am now looking forward to the next games. There are still 3 games to go against strong opponents in the league, two of which remained firmly in the title hunt. But I will also look back on the cup defeat and think 'what if' as images of the opening goal replayed in my mind from time to time. Humans move on though, we always do.
Our team in D2D league
Rest of results
D2D review on footballopod
Akim
We did manage to hold our own against an opponent playing in a division above us for periods of the match especially in a tight first half when we heaped some pressure in the opponent's half straight from the kick-off. Yet the team's effort was undone by my calamitous goalkeeping early on. A disastrous clearance from Firul led to a crucial 2nd goal for the opponents that I should have dealt with better at the 2nd time of asking but again I was not convincing. Credit to KB United, they took their chances. I am sure, however, they were surprised at our industrious, even if it was laboured, performance.
I was standing in confidently in goal as all three of our regular goalkeepers were unavailable. A 3-men defence lined up behind a familiar midfield quintet as we took the bold move of playing with two strikers. The unfamiliar formation took some getting used to but our defence coped rather well. Indeed in that first half, I had to make only two saves, one of which gave the initiative to the opponents that led to the opening goal.
There had seemed to be no danger when a left-footed cross came in from the right flank. Even as a player not trained to be a GK, I failed to get the basics right of getting my body behind the ball even though I thought I did. The swerve of the cross was deceiving and had some pace to it. The swerve played tricks on my eyes, I guess, but there was still no excuse for the way I handled the ball. It bounced off my waiting hands, as I stood my ground, towards an empty net, and another opponent tapped in the ball to make it safe. The setback dented my confidence but the team did not back down and continued to press on. We must admit however, we failed to make the opponent GK work harder in goal, and even a Firul free-kick in a dangerous area was off the mark. A counter-attack saw an opponent through inside our penalty box with Firul closely marking but the opponent still managed to let loose a shot, which I was able to palm away, my confidence given a little boost with the one-handed save.
The second half started more or less the way we began the first but KB United were looking more dangerous on the counter-attacks as we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation for the start as Shahril was introduced in central defence and Firdaus came on at right-back and Firul moving to the left. Almost immediately, the opponents rattled our crossbar with a wonderful shot from outside the box. We were still looking for opportunities to strike shots on goal but we failed to do so for the majority of that half. Still, we pegged back the opponents to some extent as they chose to sit back and hit on the counter.
There seem to be a surge of momentum from the team from where I was standing, knowing that we were a goal down in a cup tie. KB United was defending deeply but doing so very well even though we tried to stretch the opponents by using both flanks. On one such occasion from the surge of momentum, however, we thought we had equalized. Omar crossed in beautifully from the right flank and Farhan headed in a looping header over the GK. The referee disallowed the goal as he deemed that Farhan had impeded his marker although it looked harsh. That disallowed goal only got us to push ourselves harder.
KB United took liberty with the open space we afforded them before and after that disallowed goal, which led to a few other good chances but which were all off target. They did break our surge of momentum eventually when they scored the second goal in equally disastrous fashion for us. A backpass meant I could not lift the ball in the penalty box and on hindsight, I should have punted it away. Instead I chose to lay it off to Firul who scuffed his clearance on a dry, bumpy and sandy part of the pitch. The ball fell loose to an opponent just outside the box. His shot was soft, low, opportunistic even, as I got my body behind the ball this time. Yet, the ball somehow took a bounce over me and the opponents now had a 2-0 lead.
We responded immediately when Farhan's cross from the right managed to find Rafeeq. Rafeeq evaded his marker to pick up Farhan's cross and sent a lobbed goal over the incoming GK. That goal gave us some lift but the opponents held us back to narrowly secure the tie to move into the quarter-finals.
The defeat was a little hard to take for me personally. It is now a little over three years since I have been with the team from day one. Progress is therefore a natural development we should work on for the team. The cup tie, and indeed the competition itself, will have gone some way in showing us how we have grown against strong opponents. After all, either Team BI or Apex Rangers had lie await for us in the quarter-finals if we had advanced. While I am not being disrespectful to KB United, I really wanted KFC to play against either of them.
I had started the game knowing I was going to be in goal and had therefore tried to be confident about it. It is fair to say though, I have been playing GK for a while now for both my Saturday team and for KFC but no matter how confident I have been, the ball just keep finding the back of the net. Those other defeats or draws, which are mostly friendly games, I could take with a pinch of salt but surely not this defeat. I question my ability. To know that the team was working their socks off in a cup game, that looked to be our best chance of silverware this season, only to be undone by poor goalkeeping, made it a little hard to live with immediately after the game. While I write this, I am now looking forward to the next games. There are still 3 games to go against strong opponents in the league, two of which remained firmly in the title hunt. But I will also look back on the cup defeat and think 'what if' as images of the opening goal replayed in my mind from time to time. Humans move on though, we always do.
Our team in D2D league
Rest of results
D2D review on footballopod
Akim