Had a game against Albirex at jurong east stadium this morning.My 1st game in a stadium playing full field with a sizeable crowd cheering us on.I kind of like it,the environment is great.Not suprisingly,i was named in the 1st eleven.Did not have a strong defence infront of me.Coach Salim did not want to put Junhao and Harry in the game because they missed their COE training the week before today's game.Our left back Leo was nervy and could not play to his fullest ability.He was eventually replaced very early in the 1st half.Albirex on the other hand was very technicle disaplined,they were tactically sound and were tormenting our defence with their pace throughout the game.Their speedy runs from the blind side were simply too much for our defence.They scored within minutes after the kickoff,a well placed diagonal ball was placed behind our defence,their winger placed a quick square ball into the penalty area,the volley by their striker placed an exclamation mark to that finish.A great goal.We took time to settle down into the game,we could had levelled the score but woeful finishing let us down.However our defence were still unable to cope with the runs from albirex,their striker was put through on goal a little too many.Somehow i managed to keep them out,i myself could not belive what i had done.On one occation,i managed to rob the ball from the striker's feets after he was put through on goal.I was a "giant" between the post.Midway through the 1st half,they had a freekick just outside the area.The ball was drove in hard,somehow i managed to react to the ball and got a good palm to the ball.Managed to keep the score at 1-0 at hald time.Still in a shocked state,i walked back to the bench.Got alot of congrats from my fellow teammates.Was taken off midway through the second half to give the other keeper a chance to play.
Went back home with JunHao and others.Recalled the days when just played soccer under professional training.That was a good 4 years back,in ite bishan every sunday morning.We talked about the players that had played with us,sort of grew up with us.Firstly the coach,nicknamed stonecold because of his hairstyle and his no nonsense way coaching.There's john,our super heavy weight in defence.Remembered as that guy who almost took the entire grocery shop home during a trip to malaysia to take part in a tournament.Glenn,that guy who suffered a heatstroke during training.Our captain and his shoutings in the games.Fellow goalkepper Samuel who's nothing more than a joke.Zul,the guy who always puts his 200% in every game.We will remember the thrashings we went through together,the joys from winning our games,the jokes we shared.It's gonna be a distant memory that i'll take with me in my life.
