Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Player Profiling : Akbar Subo

























Name: Akbar
Age: 23
Position: Goalkeeper
Shirt No: 00
Club: Team Kamikaze (2009 to present)


Akbar, or "akberrrr" as he is fondly known by his team-mates is a 23 yr old goalkeeper who plyes his trade for team kamikaze. Known for his acrobatics and shot-stopping abilities, akbar made a name for himself between the posts and played for his weekend friendly team before kamikaze came calling in 2009. After a lengthy battle with his former club over negotiations, Akbar formally made his appearance for Kamikaze in mid-2009.

Born on 2nd of January 1988, Akbar studied in chestnut drive secondary school and then proceeded to further his studies in ITE Ang Mo Kio. It was at his secondary school days that he is rumoured to have met and known Yassin, who also plays for kamikaze. Akbar realised at a young age that he always had the passion to become a goalkeeper and also be a good one. Therefore, his love for the position kept him driving on and in time, he matured into a fantastic goalkeeper.

In the middle of 2009, when kamikaze was left stranded without a goalkeeper after their then first choice manoj retired and second choice geven bowing out of the game to a serious back injury, they were looking for a goalkeeper in the market for a goalie. At this time, Yassin reccomended akbar to kamikaze saying that, "this fella will complete the jigsaw perfectly". After seeing akbar in action at a friendly, Haresh made an offer bid to get akbar to kamikaze. In his pilot season 09-10, Akbar lent an enormous paw to help kamikaze achieve their first double in history. First, securing their league adventure and then, helping them to their 1st champions cup victory after denying a stoppage time opponent penalty to keep the score 2-1 to kamikaze. Kamikaze fans will definitely remember what this titan of a goalkeeper has done for the club in his first year and were overjoyed when he said that he will be staying on for many seasons to come.

Although plaqued with working erratic hours at his job, he always makes time for kamikaze and is well-respected amongst players and fans. His career highlights would definitely be the penalty save in the champions cup final, and all fans definitely would rate that as their number 1 choice. Kamikaze is still enjoying the dominance of akbar between the post's and hope that in their next season, "Akberrrrr" will again use his gigantic paw to cushion kamikaze to more silverware. Be sure to catch Akbar in action when kamikaze plays. For more updates, refer to kamikaze match alerts. Next week, we will be profiling another player, wait and watch! Ciao!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Kamikaze vs Mexican Aces friendly

This sunday was probably the most exciting friendly to date as fate saw 2 giants, Kamikaze and Mexican Aces get pitted against each other in a fierce battle. Although surprised at first, both teams came to accept reality and prepared to take on each other. Mexican aces, come into this game with an unbeaten streak which saw them taking the Championship trophy back to their trophy cabinet at stadio del Ace.

Kamikaze boasted the return of uspo and had a both ganesh and akbar in goalkeeper duties. As well as a boost, they were also let down by the absence of captain jay raj, creative midfielder fazail who was sent to KL to recuperate from his injury and injured yassin who spectated a match. They were also without hevy and mohawk vicky who were still nursing their injuries. They also recalled balloon and vishnu to add more spice to their attack.

It was kamikaze who drew first blood as safar, with a sweet assist from barathi wiggled his way through before cheekily waiting for the goalkeeper to commit and round him to score. Safar's technique is well known but this goal deserves a special praise. After that aces began their play and started getting comfortable on the ball. Kamikaze packed their midfield with hariboy, seelan and viki working in tandem to break up attacks and provide the ball to either barathi or eli to spring into attack. Their tactics and gameplay worked out well as the wingers made a spectacular pass to safar who in turn, lays it out for balloon to tap in despite an onrushing horde of defenders. Although failing to impress last season, the manager's faith in the young striker paid off and he got onto the scoresheet after almost a year.

In the 2nd half, as always , kamikaze were on the backfoot and could not come out of the defensive half, often parrying away any attacks coming their way. Aces were in full frontal attack and it did pay off as they equalised from 2 goals by their blistering fast winger although replay clearly shows that in the 2nd goal, akbar was actually fouled and the referee failed to spot it. With the score 2-2, kamikaze's final throw of the dice came in the form of matthew.

All they knew about him was that he was fast. Some have seen him play. Some haven't. But what everyone saw that day made a stamp that he was a player to watch. Almost immediately after his introduction, he added that extra edge in attack and close to 70 mins of game play, he struck. He got the ball from midfield, sidestepped 4 onrushing players , and blasted the ball into top left of the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper was left shaking his head and kamikaze were left in jubilation. The last 20 mins was kamikaze's to conquer and they did so with some slick passing and possessional play. Final score was 3-2 to kamikaze and all the credit should go to the players, working harder than last week and showing that they have a point to prove especially after last week friendly's clumsy loss. Special mention would also go out to viki, barathi and eli for busting their lungs out for this game regfardless of the different situations they were in. Keep the same attitude going and kamikaze will be rubbing shoulders with many more giants soon. Although aces would feel hard done by, kkz would like to remind them that they were worthy and equal opponents and in no way, lesser compared to us in terms of result.

This week sunday kamikaze take on an unknown opponent @ serangoon secondary 3pm kickoff. Please come down if you are free and watch the heroes in action. Till then ciao!

Final Score kkz 4 Aces 3
Scorer : Safar , Satheesh , Matthew

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Kamikaze vs Manjan Fc

Kamikaze suffered a defeat in the hands of a manjan team in a lunchtime kickoff friendly. In a contest which saw kamikaze score all 3 of their goals through headers, they just couldn't see out the game and get the point. 2 headers from haresh and 1 from victor helped kamikaze to a 3-3 scoreline but a last minute goal for the opponents sealed the fixture 4-3.

When asked to comment, Fazail, 25 stated that the lack of support for the man on the ball was the main reason why kamikaze couldnt play their game today. With a strong midfield lineup, kamikaze had no excuses for the result and could only blame themselves. All the players felt hard done by especially Nash, who emphasised that this result has come to show that we need to work harder as a team and also focus on turning our weaknesses to strengths. He also stated that the players need to stick together, help each other and also work towards a common goal.

Club Captain Jayraj has agreed with nash's statement and also brought up the issue of having a standard lineup of 15 per match. He said"this way, we have a fixed number of substitutes and need not have a furry of substitutions to make the game messy".

Kamikaze look to improve when they take on their next opponent on 13/03/2011 @ fuchun secondary 3pm friendly kickoff. With kamikaze handed a boost by goalie ganesh back from marriage leave and ace wingers barathi-lavanesh shaking off injuries to join the squad, there should be no excuse but to return with 3 points. Watch kamikaze play their game live at fuchun secondary sunday 3pm kickoff. Thanks guys ciaoz!

Final Score : Kamikaze 3 - manjan fc 4
Goals : Haresh(2) , Victor(1)
M.O.M : Haresh