FLYBOYS vs HSBC

Assalamualaikum FlyBoys,
Apologies again for the late Full-Time report.
The match started with a group photo with the HSBC players that included their CEO Tareq Mahmud. Representing our top management was No 13, Capt Khalidkhan, SVP Flight Operations.

Date: 9th May 2009
Venue: RBA Football Field
Time: 0500pm

FlyBoys 1 , Dzulfadli 69th min
HSBC 3

- Goalkeeper:
SFO Yanni (B)
- Defenders:
SFO Nasrul (A)
FO Riduan (B)
FO Hendra (B)
FO Hock (B)
FO Hafiz (?)
FO Azmi (A)
FO Zul-Amali (A)
Julian (PC)
- Midfielders:
Capt Hj Effendy (B)
Capt Amir (A)
Capt Khalidkhan (B)
SFO Irwanizam (B)
SFO Azrol (B)
FO Aziri (A)
FO Azman (B)
FO Abdul Aziim (A)
FO Azim (?)
- Forwards:
SFO Kenny (A)
SFO Dzulfadli (B)
FO Syazwi (A)
FO Nazri (?)

The match kicked off in the afternoon heat with temperatures of 32 degrees and within minutes the players were already sweating out half of their water content. The HSBC team were looking sharp with their forwards, Ben Leong and Tareq Mahmud making some fine passes and trying to cut deep into the Flyboys defence.

Marshalling the defence was Nasrul and Effendy who've been highly dependable in the last few matches. Both of them are midfielders at heart, they took the unenviable task of leading the back line. The only criticism by the pundits has been the defence's inability to push the backline forward close to the midfielders. With the space more open in the middle, the HSBC midfield were starting to find more space and made penetrating passes to their forwards.

But stifling their play was Aziri and Irwanizam who has been our midfield general when he's not away on longhaul. With him was Azman who played a lot of forward long passes to the right winger Azrol and left midfield Khalidkhan.

The game was evenly matched in the first half as no goals were scored nor conceded.

The 2nd half was similar to the 1st as both teams slugged out with misplaced passes but HSBC had brought in new midfield players who seemed to take control of the game. They had more possession and started to make better runs and it wasn't long before they drew first blood and scored their first goal.

Flyboys had introduced Dzulfadli in the 2nd half and was initially operating as a central midfield player. But with the Flyboys defence carved open and a 2nd goal scored by HSBC, Dzul was changed to a forward with Amir brought back to help back in the midfield.

With 22 minutes to go, a Kieran Gibbs-like mistake was made by their central defender and he slipped when he had the ball on his possession. Like a predator, he pounced on the ball and ran towards the goal. The keeper thought he was going to make a cross-shot with his left foot but instead, Dzul used his outside right foot and blasted into the near-post side of the goal.
FlyBoys 1 HSBC 2 !!! Game on!!!

A glimmer of hope but with little time left, Flyboys did their best to find an equaliser but a corner kick from HSBC in the 84th minute fooled the entire FlyBoys defence as the ball hovered over the keeper and onto the head of their shortest midfielder and he easily nodded it into the net. FlyBoys 1, HSBC 3.

Game Over. But well done to Flyboys who are hitting a bad patch at the moment. They are still looking for the form that had them scoring 5 goals a game for 4 consecutive matches in March and April.

Summary:
We play as a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team. So the lesson here is when we are defending ie we dont have possession of the ball, all FlyBoys are to defend from the front line: We must defend as a team. This means putting pressure on the opponents and closing them down.
Putting pressure on the ball does not imply trying to regain its possession. Simply having a defender in front of the ball carrier limits his options in many significant ways. When you are in your own defensive third, make sure to always stay between the enemy and your own goal.

Next match is on today at 4pm against Pertahanan. All the best and Majulah Sukan. Apakan.

- New York Times wannabe writer, Amir.