2 May @ Sembawang Secondary School 5pm
While they didnt get a chance to immediately atone for their league misdemeanors of the previous week, the KKZ warriors embarked on a new journey 2 weeks later in what was to be the first group match of the Champions Cup.
The Champions Cup is a 8-team football tournament organised by Football Republic. The tournament will be played in the following format: 4-team round-robin group stage, Top 2 proceeding to semi-finals. So in their first group match, Kamikaze travelled to Sembawang Secondary School, (which according to some pundits is the best grass pitch in Singapore) to take on Pending United.
KKZ were determined to put the disastrous result against Prisonerz to rest by putting in a good performance against their unknown opponents Pending United. The game started brightly for Kamikaze, as their flowing passing and good off the ball movements showed why they were the current league leaders. Their efforts were duly rewarded, when once again opponents found it hard to mark the mesmerising Cristiano Barathi and conceded a foul to him in the penalty box. Victor King, the designated spot-kick taker stepped up and scored his 6th penalty for this year.
From that point on, KKZ were all over their opponents, and played really eye-catching football complete with exquisite passing, running and switching of play. It was a matter of time before the second goal came, and it was a beauty with a 20 yard curler from Lavanesh Valencia beating keeper before dipping into the far post. Most teams are lucky to have one fantastic winger, but KKZ is really proud to boast of two exciting wingers in the form of Lavanesh and Barathi, and watching the two of them play is really a treat for the eye. Barathi soon got into the act, as he finished off good work from Hari and Havey by slamming the ball past the hapless keeper to put KKZ in the driving seat into the halftime break. 3-0
The teamtalk at half time was clear, there were to be no repeat of the meltdown that afflicted them a couple of weeks ago. The motive was to keep possession and not give a yard to their opponents. True to expectations, Pending came hard on KKZ pouring forward attackers in numbers and making robust tackles. However, KKZ stuck to their planned tactics and repelled their opponents' attacks with class and skill. They even had time to go on counter attacks of their own and two such attacks won free kicks that were to be executed with style. The first saw Hari fake a kick, with Seelan floating the ball into the far post where Lavanesh cut the ball back for Sateesh Balloon Nistelrooy to grab his first goal for KKZ in 2 yrs. The second saw Yasin float the ball towards an offside Victor King, who moved away from the play of the ball to let Cristiano Barathi cut the ball back to Sateesh who doubled his tally immediately. The last goal of the match was off a set-piece too. Faizal played a short corner to Haresh who chipped the ball towards Victor King, who finally scored his first goal of the year from open-play by powering a header past the helpless keeper.
While KKZ did concede a late consolation goal, there was to be no denying that this was a class act by the team in terms of defending, attacking and passing. What needed to be done was done with beauty, and without a recognised keeper too. The omens are there that the league will be sewed up real soon. For that is all that the team is thinking of right now. The very first league title. Here we come.
Squad: Vijay Foster, Lavanesh Valencia, Rio Jana, Jayraj Carragher, Victor King, El Fazail, Hariboy Aerocratz, Yasin Scholes, Cristiano Barathi, Diego Haresh, Havey Adebayor, Neshta, Premnathan Kawabanga, Seelan Kong, Sateesh Balloon Nistelrooy,
Final score: Pending Utd 1 - Kamikaze FC 6
Goals: Victor King (2), Lavanesh Valencia, Cristiano Barathi, Sateesh Balloon Nistelrooy (2)
MOM: Cristiano Barathi
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