Analysis of friendly matches on 28 June'09 and 4 July'09

28 June 2009

Social Frees 4 - 4 AIA

AIA (also a majority Paya Terubong) is a reasonably strong team currently playing in the Merdeka League. It was a see saw game which saw AIA taking a 2-0 lead at half-time. The second half was dramatic as an infusion of fresh players allowed the Social Frees to score 4 goals within a 10 minute period to lead 4-2. Then a further change of players caused a reverse reaction with the Social Frees conceding 2 goals in the last 5 minutes due to a comedy of errors for the game to end all square at 4-4. The result is I believe fair as both teams took turns to dominate each half.

4 July 2009

Social Frees 1 - 0 Sparrow

This represented the fourth occasion that Social Frees have played with Sparrow in Sparrow's young 1 year history with the 26 year old Social Frees having won 2 and drawn 1 game in earlier encounters. The Sparrow team showed tremendous improvement and matched or exceeded the Social Frees in almost every department. However, luck was on the side of the Social Frees with an unexpected clearance by the Sparrow keeper re-bounding of a Social Free player back into its own net. That goal decided the whole match allowing the Social Frees to claim its 3rd win and maintain an unbeaten run in 4 games against Sparrow.

DARKEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF COLOURS

COLOURS 0-9 WHITES.

"Yesterday, June 21st, 2009 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of Colours was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Whites."

(adapted from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation with deliberate changes to names and dates)

Led by the new "Sports Emperor of the OFA" (himself scoring a hat trick), the White army crushed a heavily splintered, disunited and partitioned Colour unit with a salvo of NINE (9) goals suffering at the same time no casualty of its own. White has never scored more than 8 goals against Colours in the 26 year history of the Social Frees. The nine goal margin is the greatest margin in the history of the games and White also recorded their first clean sheet of 2009 in the process.

Surprisingly, Colours did have a number of good players but the results proved a point, that a well coordinated and united team will usually prevail over a team playing with several factions (and leaders) with individual preferences dominating play over strategic positioning. Never has a nation been so divided with a clear line drawn between the inferior players and the better ones. The unfortunate ones were treated as inferior until they felt inferior and in a self-fulfilling prophesy became inferior. Sometimes even a misguided attempt at goal is considered as a "wonderful" pass to an inferior player who seems to have botched the entire move.

However, give credit where credit is due, White played with a vigour and precision never seen (ever!) before in the history of the games. A newly crowned Sports Emperor and his college-aged Prince trading places in goal as if the kingdom belonged to them as the rite of succession was determined by the wounds inflicted on Colours. Then 5 goals later, the dynasty grew with new goal-poachers with the ninth and final goal being scored all the way from the half-way line by a galloping (seemingly tame nowadays) horse who was thought to have lost his speed and stamina. We do however recommend that tests for the possible use of steroids be conducted on the goal scorers........they were not very normal and nearly inhuman.

May 2009 Monthly Chat

Some players are asking for the games to start earlier at 5.30pm. Currently most assume that there will not be enough players by then and prefer to come much later and as a result games usually commence after 6pm. If we tried to start by 5.30pm, how many of you guys would be able to come?

Sunday Social games: Should it continue? How to make it the preferred event of the week?

It is an open secret that the Sunday social game does to a certain extent compete with Saturday or Sunday friendlies. It is seen by many as inferior because it is perceived to be "uncompetitive" because there are no referees involved as well as the non-application of the offside rule. There are also no fixed team mates as players are basically divided according to coloured or white jerseys with those with perhaps with a better torso (body) in their own skin colour making up the balancing group. Meanwhile, players do not have to make a commitment to come as the event is of a social nature thus resulting in differing numbers (between 17 to 32 this year) and identities of people every week. As facilitator, I often have two questions that seeks answers: "Should the games be continued?" and "What can be done to make it the preferred event of the week?"

Current positives are:
1) An opportunity to play in one of Penang's best playing field
2) Complete freedom to decide on whether to come or not to come
3) Opportunity to network with a well diversified group
4) Chance to play or experiment in any soccer position
5) A good retirement alternative for those who prefer not to play friendlies any more

Current negatives are:
1) Lack of an ability to prevent rough or dangerous play
2) Some feel that certain players are too critical and vocal on the pitch
3) Games are starting a little bit late so as to limit play time
4) Hardly as challenging and exciting as friendlies

So what say you?

April 2009 Monthly Chat

I realised that I have been doing most of the talking and have not provided for others to chat as well. Hence, starting from this month (April 2009) and for every subsequent month thereafter, I will create a monthly chat column with no restriction on topics to be discussed. However, please avoid offending others or the use of abusive language. I will put up additional posts if there is a request through this monthly chat column.

Analysis of football match played on 7 March 2009

Orange Ramblers 2-1 Social Frees

Orange Ramblers is the strongest team currently playing at the PFS home ground and its strength is increasing rapidly through exposure to state level competitions. A day earlier, they held team Medical (3rd in last year's Div. 1) to a scoreless draw. It is my believe that the commitment to the match with Medical resulted in Orange Ramblers fielding an understrength team against Social Frees thus allowing the Social Frees (perhaps the weakest team playing in PFS) to get away with a very flattering 2-1 defeat.

Social Frees tried (but failed) to achieve a 5-3-2 formation with players being advised to play wide and to utilise both wings to secure as many corner kicks as possible given that we had taller players to dominate the goal area. The Orange Ramblers tend to play a narrower game with the ball seldom remaining at the wings for long as it is played to centrally located players who were pretty good with short passes. Alas, Social Frees players continued to play a more central game and throughout the match, obtained only one corner which was badly taken eventually. I can only say that there is a natural bias that players possessing better footballing skills are assumed to be better at football strategy as well. Hence, it can be frustrating for a manager not skilled in football techniques to advise those with better skills. Was Sir Alex Ferguson (one of the best managers of all time) an excellent football player?

Results of fiesta social match on 28 January 2009

Final Score Colour 7 - 1 White
First Goal Scorer - Leow Khang Heng (Colour)
Second Goal Scorer - Leow Khang Heng (Colour)
Third Goal Scorer - Andrew Lim (Colour)
Fourth Goal Scorer - Leow Khang Heng (Colour)
Fifth Goal Scorer - Vincent Yeap (Colour)
Sixth Goal Scorer - Kenny Lim (White)
Seventh Goal Scorer - Leow Khang Heng (Colour)
Eighth Goal Scorer - Vincent Yeap (Colour)
Last Goal Scorer (after Azan) - None
Winning team - Colour
Clean sheets - None