A Series of Unfortunate Events

It was a top-of-the-table clash but the hype was probably subdued because both teams had already qualified for the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, the action on the pitch was far from it. Equal on points but with TAMilan perched above the rest on goal difference, the only thing worth playing for was the title of group champ. And both teams went for it passionately, albeit with different approaches.

The younger and fitter TAMilan versus the composed and experienced NTFA. In the end, the older men triumphed 3-2 in a game that TAMilan will have felt hard done by. A controversial penalty when the game was still tied at 0-0 was just the beginning. A corner from the left was chested by Keong but the referee blew for a handball. The penalty was saved brilliantly by Suresh but the referee had it retaken as Wei was deemed to have entered the box when NTFA's penalty-taker was running in to smash the ball. And, they didn't waste the second one.

But Heng would have none of it as minutes later he got to the end of a beautiful through ball by Siang, dribbled the last defender and although the keeper did come out to challenge for the ball, it somehow escaped his grasped onto the path of the grateful striker to level the scores at 1-1. TAMilan were pretty much in control from then on as Poay, Jason and Siang combined well to string together some nifty passes. Our newly acquired winger Azrul was doing fairly well down the left with his simple touches and strong running down that flank. The debutante even had a shot palmed away by the keeper but Heng couldn't get to the loose ball in time.

After the restart, TAMilan could sense that NTFA's legs were creaking and they were getting tired really fast. And so the all-blacks upped the tempo as NTFA defended in numbers and look to hit TAMilan on the break. Unfortunately, for all their dominance, and with the powerful Brown replacing Heng in attack, TAMilan failed (again) to make their superiority count. Although they have a gifted pair of attacking midfielders in Poay and Siang (think Scholes and Lampard), they were lacking someone whose creative spark could unlock defences, someone in the mould of Riquelme or Xavi. And so as it happens so many times in football, if you fail to capitalize on your advantage, then the team is living on the edge.

NTFA struck unexpectedly with a glancing header as their number 20 ghosted in to place the ball pass Suresh from a cross down the right. Then a corner shortly afterwards saw a header placed firmly down to the bottom left post after Keong had cleared his line before the ball was played safely out of the box. TAMilan rallied after that goal and continued dominating possession, punctuated by occassional demands of the referee to change the ball although it was ideally pumped. This had TAMilan players stumped but did provide a welcome breather to NTFA.

Relentless attacks finally yielded a goal when Siang won a penalty after being fouled in the box and Poay stepped up to take the spotkick. The number 2's penalty was put too near the keeper's right but he was alert enough to place the rebound pass the keeper to close the gap to 3-2. It was pretty much one way traffic after that as NTFA held on desperately for a win and dislodged TAMilan from the top of Group A.

Final Score:

NTFA 3 – TAMilan 2