Written By: Choa Zhao Xiang Edited By: Valerie Chua & Jolene Wong Photographs By: Eusoffworks
The long-awaited, highly anticipated and adrenaline pumping semi-finals for EUnited’s season is finally happening. So far, EUnited have won emphatically in the preliminary rounds, battering every team in their group. They have scored an unthinkable 19 goals and conceded only 2 in the past 3 matches. Their performance built up nothing but excitement in the crowd and tension in their opponents: the ever-so boisterous Kent Ridge (KR) Hall. Despite the blue shirt turn up in the stands, our Eusoffians, clad in proud yellow, swarmed the field, creating a phenomenal semi-final atmosphere. Leading up to the match, star attacking players like Andrew Leow, Syafiq and Hyrie had put up incredulous displays for the crowd during the group stages. Furthermore, players like Wen Hao, Amos and Nandha, filled with experience, stability and grit, have turned Eusoff into a force to be reckoned with. They are truly a cohesive and tactically disciplined team, looking for nothing less than a convincing victory this semi-finals. The line up is as follows:
The match kicks off on this windy Wednesday and right from the get go, it’s the promised, tense affair between both sides. However, as Eusoff always does, they found themselves leading early just 5 minutes into the match. The attacking trio of Syafiq, Hyrie and Gautham, ripped KR’s defence apart as Hyrie blazed on the right wing and fired a dangerous cross into the box. The cross initially found Syafiq, who blasted a shot on the volley which the keeper managed to save. However, like a true poacher, Gautham pounced on the mistake and tapped it past the keeper without much difficulty to make it 1-0 to Eusoff.
Great teamwork from Marcus (#17) and Hyrie (#9) left their opponents scrambling around.
The match progressed with many crunching challenges and physical standoffs. Eusoff had a few chances and breakaways from KR but the KR defence always came through with the last ditch challenges. KR would eventually cancel out Eusoff’s lead at the 23rd minute. KR broke away from the right through a counter attack and the right winger goes one on one with Amos. He cuts in the right flank and curls a left footed shot to unfortunately beat Cheng Tat. The equalizer put Eusoff on their toes, eager to get back their goal advantage.
At the 28th minute, Eusoff did regain their lead but it was through a peculiar own goal by Kent Ridge’s keeper. A floating cross by Marcus from the right dipped at the near post and the KR keeper fumbled his handling. The bizarre error led to the second goal for Eusoff.
Just moments later in the 32nd minute, Gautham grabbed his second to make it 3-1. Once again, Eusoff proved that they are deadly from set pieces as Andrew fired a dangerous corner kick into the box that KR struggled to deal with. The ball eventually landed on Gautham and he slotted it in between the keeper’s legs. Eusoff held on to their lead all the way till the half time whistle, but it was hard earned as Cheng Tat had to make a clutch save when he went one-on-one with the KR striker moments before the half ended.
Superstar Andrew (#21) weaving his way through multiple defenders.
They would bring this comfortable two-goal lead into the second half, but the boys were not stopping the hustle. You could hear from the bench players pushing each other constantly. KR started the second half strong, and had to force yet another save from Cheng Tat. His agility and reflexes today proved crucial in denying a few KR goals today. However, he would eventually be beaten, but unluckily, as KR scored from a corner. A slight lapse in the defense had to be paid with by the KR goal, which cut Eusoff’s lead, and once again put everyone on their edge again as the game became wide open.
4 minutes later however, Eusoff ruled out KR’s hopes of coming back as Syafiq unleashed a shot from a loose ball in yet another set piece, making it 4-2 with 16 minutes to play. He raises up his hands towards the sky in celebration of the goal, as his teammates swarmed around to congratulate him. Once again, Eusoff reiterated that they are no laughing matter when it comes to corners and will cease any opportunity that arise from such set pieces.
The last few minutes saw Eusoff continue dominating and KR trying their best to stop the relentless barrage of runs and through balls. Despite not making any substitutions, the EUnited continued to threaten and outrun the KR players in midfield. Hyrie came close to closing out the game early with a 5th but the KR keeper saved that shot, along with a few other attempts, in hopes to keep KR in the running for finalists. However as the referee blew for full-time, it was undisputed who was the better team with the convincing 4-2 scoreline. Our boys hard work have put them into the finals and the final hurdle: the championship, will pit them against formidable opponents. Look forward to seeing them after the Lunar New Years’ break as they ‘dog it out’ to win glory for Eusoff!
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