My season 2008 by Yue Seng

My Whole Soccer Season

(The article was contributed by Yue Seng)

(Time to change and relax after a tense Champions League semi-final)

Well, this season has been drama from beginning to end.

Winning the West-Zone seem simple to many as we thrashed teams over teams and went throught the Group stages with a 100% winning record so we entered the semi's facing Regent Sec and guess what, we trashed them too!!!

3-0 was the final score.

(Yue is so nervous that he almost chewed all his fingers on the bus trip to the semi-final)

It is so cool scoring goals like the cash that Bill Gates gets every day.

So many goals, I lost count. Let’s see, we scored 5 against Hua Yi Sec, 5 against Swiss Cottage, 3 against JVS, 13 against Clementi Town Sec, 7 against Chestnut Drive Sec,6 against Kanji Sec( The school that allowed me to score my FIRST bicycle kick goal!!), 5 against Zhenghua Sec and now, other 3 goals against Regent Sec but they can feel good since only it was 3 goals they allowed instead of 14 goals.

So look at the bright side, you guys lost to the RIGHTFUL NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

(The friendly smile before kick off. No more friendly during the game)

So it was the West Zone final, where JVS showed that they were crazy about their soccer team this year!! They brought the amount of people that filled up 5 BUSES!!!!!!! Only to see that they were to be 2nd in the west in just 20 mins.

Play beautiful football against us and lose. It is such an easy equation.

(Must look good even during the warm. Take the photo quickly, otherwise Mr Ng will scold us)

So 2-0 up we were then lighting had to strike so the game was cancelled!!! Man, how frustrated I was then!!
We played so hard though, it was no performance showed during the National round. So we had to play it again. But we won it 2-1 only as JVS played like noobies, 10 man behind the ball. That tactic should be ban.
So hard to score, scared to play attacking football against us. So no adventure, 2nd is your place.

(Yue Seng having a well earned break before extra time)

I remember that we only scored in the second half, the match when i assisted our captain.
Then JVS scored after slugging the ball into the net. Kicking here, there till it went in.
Then all we needed was 2 mins to score the winner. It was too easy.

(Yue Seng hung in the air till he got the ball)

I played left wing!!!
A position, I have never played for a year!!!
And we still score in just 2 minutes time after you played so hard to equalized. So west zone champions we were and the 100% winning record is there.

(Sports School player had to resort to sliding in for the ball that was well shielded by Yue Seng)

Then we flew all the way to Medan to train for our nationals which I think paid off lor.
Well, this trip was 4 days 3 nights.

The trip was supposed to start on Tuesday morning (when the road belongs to my grandfather) but the coach was afraid that we couldn't wake up and therefore miss the flight, so we had to go back on Monday night and sleep over in school.

(Another Sports School player that got closed down by Yue Seng)

The mat was hard to sleep on but I managed to sleep (for an hour) but the rest could not sleep. They played. I slept from 11pm-12mn but they were disturbing me, then I woke up and saw them taking out a radio and connecting it to the speakers and listening.

For Your Information, it was in malay.

Luckily I brought my mp3 along, so I put it on full volume cause the person on the radio sounded scary. Satan was speaking cos my spiritual eyes were open.
He was telling ghost stories or horror stories I think because I could hear of the screaming sound effect.

(Yue Seng covered his face in disgust. He realised the open goal he missed in the first half could be important. It was ! And coach Mr Ng didn't seem to be too happy.)

There was also music and we saw some people dancing on the tables. That was funny. They went out to play and I switched off the radio. Thank goodness, because I couldn't stand it. My mp3 music was still too soft and could hear the radio.

They went out to play then all of us became hungry and decided to go buy McDonald's. We tried find our way out, but couldn't and it was too late because if we went, we wouldn't have enough time to return from Mac, so we didn't go.

(An excited Yue Seng at the Medan Airport)

Instead, we washed up and went to meet downstairs with our bags.When we entered the bus, the time read 3:58am. It was then we managed to fall asleep.

I don't know why we could not sleep in the classrooms despite telling ourselves that we had a full day in front of us.

I also had a language barrier as everyone was speaking in Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia, so I couldn't understand a word.

(Yue Seng in serious mood)

We matched them for the first 20 min.

They scored, then we fought back and I scored! Then they scored again. We tried but they took advantage of the lack of defenders at the back from our corner and they counter-attacked and scored.

(Yue Seng doing ballet)

I think some people gave up because they are the best team in Medan and we may be a little tired because we played in a stadium. They used the width to tear us apart, then added 2 more goals before the break to kill the game.

Of course we got scolded and told off by our coach.

(Going for the high ball)

He showed us the reporters writing about the match. The locals there were watching us and all we did was show them that Singapore players are like shit. The newspaper wrote "This junior soccer team is one of the best in the region" and we gave them crap.

We still had pride to play for, to uphold Singapore's name and to show that we are no losers. We started to slow with waves of attack but couldn't score back. Soon we grew tired and they attacked, but we defended well, like there was a wall in front of our goalpost. They kept on attacking, hitting the post, shooting wide, while we kept sliding to block the shots, our keeper saving the shots using all parts of his body.

(Sec 2s who went for the Medan Trip)

You might think that we aren't good, but we are challenging the under-15 boys and the best team there as well. I think we played well in the end, because one by one, we showed off our skills and reading of the game with clearing the ball, kicking the ball out before they kicked the ball into the net etc .

Finally the match ended.

(Lunch at Parapat)

We had been stretched to our limit, we had done our best and of course, died of exhaustion! We went back to the hotel to wash up and eat, then we went to sleep. We woke up next morning 1hr later as we needed the rest because we had another match against them. After breakfast, we had a team meeting, where we talked about our trip so far. After that was lunch. We finished our food, and got our soccer gears.

Despite being able to sleep longer, we were still very tired. We played the match badly in my eyes as we still lost by the same goal difference, 4 goals. Our first match was 5-1, a horrible defeat where the newspaper (equivalent to 'The Straits Times') broad-casted the match and that was how we became famous.

The next match we lost 4-0, some reason were we were tired. (but weren't we already tired before our 1st match?) Day 3 wasn't as fun. We woke up at 7am. Had breakfast and checked out (we packed our bag the night before).

We went to Parpat for sightseeing. The journey was long (4-5 hours) and man, did my butt hurt. When we reached there (I still can't adapt to the food) then we checked into another hotel. This hotel was built on the slop but the rooms were underground, very near the lake. By the way, the lake is called Lake Toba. It is 405m deep if I heard correctly from our tour guide.
We were meant to have a boat tour but unfortunately, the bus carrying 'B' division boys had met with a slight accident.

No one was injured though. So there went our boat ride.

(Warm up session before the first friendly game at Medan)

Instead we went shopping. The lifestyle there was very simple and had nothing to buy back to Singapore. Only snacks to eat as Singapore already sold those snacks, like Oreo.

The 'B' division boys went swimming in the hotel's swimming pool. We had karaoke. The last day had to be the most fun day throughout the trip. We woke up at 6am, checked out after breakfast then went for the boat ride.

We went to Samosir Island where I bought my sister the butterfly necklace using my fame throughout that country.

It was supposed to be $10, but I bargained from $5 to $7 because she say she know we were famous cause we were shown on the newpaper so she say can bargain but I gave chance . Back we went, admiring the nice wind and the sceneries.

Had lunch and went back to Medan to shop. It took us around 5-6 hours to go back (butt even more pain siah...) then we shopped near the airport because if we went further, we'd be late for our flight. The stuff there was very expensive.(First lunch at Medan after training)

I had very little money left after spending it on food. I did not buy anything back other than chewing gum. We met and left for the airport.

A sad goodbye to our tour guide. And there, I learned to appreciate the beauty of Changi Airport as the aesthetics of their airport paled in comparison to ours.

We flew back to Singapore. Though I was afraid that the plane was crash or explode. (The smile says it all. We are finally West Zone Champions!!)

Now the national zone was much more difficult.
Winning Bedok View Sec 2-0, our keeper scoring the first goal from a long kick!!!!

Can you believe that!!!!!!!!!

Then we somehow lost to Regent Sec 3-4 after a trilling encounter. The 3rd team keeper and players that do not get to play played so that could be the reason for the lost but maybe we were over-confident.

I usually will be nervous but against Regent, I was not even afraid!!!! (Lining up for the kick off for the West Zone final)

So Siglap Sec was next. They scored in the 2nd minute and we could not lose this match. If not, we were out. We equalized at the 19 min but they scored somehow later in the second half.

We had only 10 mins left to win the match.

I was sub then so all I could do was pray. And in 4 mins we were winning!!!!
What drama indeed!!!!!!! And we managed to hold on.

(Warming for the first match for the West Zone Tournament)

So then came Bartley Sec, the school that defeated Sports School!!!!!!

Man, how afraid I was but we still won 2-0 after trying so hard and I made new friends too then. And up next Sports School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was now more afraid as the coach kept on saying that defeat will most likely mean exit.

We lost 2-0!!!!! We played well but defence errors costed us. (That will be the second last time Yue Seng will play as a keeper in a competitive match)

So now, 2 games left and somehow, things turn into our favour. The group was open again as teams kept on drawing. We had yet to draw so down come the draw kings, Kent Ridge. I missed a open goal then but we were still leading 1-0 up so it was ok until the 90 min where they scored a extra time equaliser from a free kick!!!!!

How sad we were.

(Having a quick chat before the kick off for the West Zone Final)

Siglap could have gone through like that but we still had a chance so Final Matchday arrived. Fuchun was left and we were now favourite after Siglap drew 2-2 against Fuchun.

2-1 was the score!!! We won while Bartley drew which meant that we were through!!!!!!!!!!! I will always remember the Fuchun game.

The match where I scored my 2nd bicycle kick of the season!!! (Run Yue Seng, run)

So now, the schools left were Greenview Sec from the east (2007 National Champions), Queensway Sec from the south, Sports School from the north and Hong Kah Sec from the west.

The semi's fixtures were:

~ Greenview vs Hong Kah

~ Sports School vs Queensway

And the scores were Hong Kah Sec drew 1-1 with Greenview Sec and process to the Final after a nail-bitting match decided on penalties with Hong Kah winning 5-4 after trailing 2-1, 3-2, 4-3. Then Sports School proceed to meet Hong Kah after scoring a 90+ minute goal. (Trying to move forward after the re-start)

So Sports School were our last hurdle. And in the 2nd minute, I was fouled.

Our captain, no. 7 scored a beautiful free kick so 1-0. Then in the 20th minute, their player tripped over the ball then there was a claim for penalty then the refree just awarded a “ghost” penalty!!! (I'm going to close you down !)

Then we scored a goal!!!! But the refree said we were offside. Then when our player injured, you take advantage of that change and let Sports School score.

It is total crap is it when a person says Sports School were the deserving Champions.

(Yue Seng sprinting away for another quick counter attack)

Even video show the blindness you have. More than 1 video, ok, all show the same things. So it ends there, our season in the "C" division.

Drama was eveywhere.

(Yue Seng catching a breath while keeping a close eye on the Sports School player)

Last minute wins, Last minute goals. Incredible comebacks and great matches.
But what has past has past now, I will have to look forward to the future in the B'division but I seem to be a lousy player and most likely a bench warmer next year or a non-school team member.

We shall see but I hope I am in the school team and become National Champions!!!