Written by: Phua Zong Yao
Edited by: Cheng Kai Wen
Photos by: Eusoff Works
It is finally here, the final for one of the most contested sports in IHG, football. It is the 2nd last day of IHG, on a Sunday afternoon. It is a rematch between Eusoff and Kent Ridge. KR came out the victors in the prelim matchup, but things look set to change as we head into the final.
The true story of the game however, was actually the weather. Even before the start of the game, the weather was already starting to act up. During the warm ups, it was already starting to drizzle. By kick off, it had advanced to a light rain. At the time, it was still playable and given the high stakes involved, both teams had no trouble playing through it.
The game started off with EH on the attack, they won a corner and shortly after, Keefe managed to win a free kick along the right wing. Afterwards, the ball found its way to KR as they sent in a grounder shot, which rolled just wide of the post. After some good defense by EH, the ball again finds its way to the right wing. This time, Ethan lines up a freekick. Catching everybody by surprise, he sends it in, in and into the back of the net! Everyone was expecting a cross but lo and behold, the ball finds its way into the top bin. It is now 1-0 to EH and the crowd goes wild.
LYLC Ethan Koh, MOM, who stunned everyone by sending the ball straight into the goal from the free kick.
Score: 1-0 to EH
After letting in that goal, it was evident that KR was getting desperate. They began to play more physically, going for harder tackles and the occasional shove. This all culminated in a scuffle near the EH bench, when 1 of the KR forwards went for a tackle and accidentally hit a Eusoff RF. Everyone was clearly incensed by that and we let the player know about it, demanding an apology. The KR player went over to apologize for what happened, and that seemed to resolve the issue.
Shortly after, sticking with the more physical play, another KR player goes in for a hard tackle on Umar and is swiftly given a yellow card for it. Off the play, the ball gets a few bounces and finds its way to Keefe again. He stops the ball, breaks free of his marker. 1,2,3,4 defenders, they cannot stop him as he gets a shot off. Unfortunately, it barely misses and goes over the crossbar. After winning the ball back, EH goes for another attack and it ends in Shawn going for an acrobatic overhead kick. It is on target, but the KR keeper collects with relative ease.
After that attack, it was KR’s turn to make some moves. They send in a series of crosses and passes into the box but they are cleared by Jeremy, Shawn, Brennan and Shakir. To add on to the solid clearances, EH keeper Yi Hong also had his fair share. First, he saves a shot by KR to put it over the bar and then, he follows it up with another acrobatic save to deny a long range rebound rocket by another KR forward.
Amazing display of tenacity by our boys, as they cleared KR's attacks, one after another.
KR was relentless though, and in the last two minutes of the first half, they broke through the center into the box. The KR forward gives a feint, and then tucks the ball into the bottom right corner, after sending the defense the wrong direction. It is 1-1 as KR gets on the scoreboard.
Score: 1-1
By this point of the game, the rain had intensified greatly from the start and it culminated in an outright downpour towards the dying minutes of the 1st half.
The 2nd half of the game was put on an indefinite hold as the intensity of the rain made it unplayable. To summarize, the initial plan might have been to resume the 2nd half. But after seeing the condition of the pitch, and how passes could not be strung together, a postponement of the match was suggested. However, as both teams were unable to come to a mutual agreement regarding the postponement, the game was declared as a 1-1 draw, with both teams sharing the spoils as joint champions of IHG football. A bittersweet ending for many, but that was the final decision. Thank you for supporting EH football for this IHG 22/23!
Getting closer and closer to our goal with each season. The boys aren't done just yet. Stay tuned.
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